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.

I love the solitude you can find in Central Oregon, at least compared to the Portland metro area. It's an oasis of wind, dark skies and harsh, rocky landscapes. It's also a fascinating look into the history of our state and the way economics have impacted population centers over time.

This photo was taken near the little town of Grass Valley, about 30 miles south of The Dalles. It's an area that mixes past and present, with cemeteries like this sitting right next to computerized, GPS-guided agricultural operations.

At night, you don't hear much else but the wind and the occasional distant roar of a truck engine or brakes. It's peaceful, and hopefully that comes across in this image.

Images For Make A Plane Crash Photo

For a digital artist the picture is often a means to an end or a composition, its main objective is the transformation both visual and the sensations and feelings that can transmit.

The final composition is his work as a painter or a sculptor imagined, digital art is more than a computerized technique, transmits often imagination and a way of seeing the world, is itself artistic creation that is often unique and unrepeatable.

The beginning is the collection of photographic material for the composition you want to do or in this case the elements for built the composition; it is often necessary to transform them individually because not always have what we wanted.

- In this case the Bridge is the Vasco da Gama Bridge in Lisbon, photos taken in movement ; we can't stop for take photos.

- A bonfire capture.

- An old subsonic light attack aircraft LTV A-7 Corsair II in exposition in the Alcochete Shooting Range (Campo de Tiro de Alcochete) near Lisbon.

Sometimes some compositions need dozens of images and elements, but for this simple case i choose a few elements.

The final result you may see in the link below or in the first comment box.

www.flickr.com/photos/arrhakis/28711231356/in/photostream/

I came across this interesting, unusual boat while walking at Marina Bay in Richmond.

According to their website, "Wind+Wing Technologies has partnered with Photon Composites, pioneers in innovative computerized wing technology, to develop a demonstration vessel for ferry routes on the San Francisco Bay. The vessel is a 42-foot trimaran equipped with a computerized wing, specifically designed to harness wind power to significantly reduce fuel consumption and emissions. In January 2014, the demonstration vessel will begin test sailing five days a week, for three months, on the following ferry routes from the San Francisco Ferry Building to Sausalito, Richmond, Treasure Island, and Alameda."

© All rights reserved

I've been tagged. A big part of me is my work, so here are my 10 favorite papers I've published:

2009- The effects of repeat collaboration on creative abrasion

We developed a theory of why repeat collaboration in highly creative projects can lead to less creative outcomes, and suggested what teams can do about it.

2007- Dynamics of organizational emergence: Pace, punctuation, and timing in nascent entrepreneurship

We posited and empirically validated that successful entrepreneurial ventures have a certain “rhythm”; it’s all about momentum.

2006- An emergence event in new venture creation: Measuring the dynamics of nascent entrepreneurship

This was the first paper published in organizational theory that actually collected data and tested a complexity science model.

2003- Merger as marriage: Communication issues in post-merger integration

Not widely read, but I love how insightful the metaphor is.

2002- Studying complex discursive systems: Centering resonance analysis of organizational communication

This was the paper that explained the computerized text analysis method we invented, which then spun off into its own company.

2002- The dynamics of electronic media coverage

Our analysis of media coverage of 9-11.

2001- Supply networks and complex adaptive systems: Control versus emergence

This was the first paper published in supply chain management discussing the implications of complexity science. Most cited article.

1999- Explaining complex organizational dynamics

Here we laid out what randomness and chaos meant if you found them in organizational data.

1997- A complex adaptive systems model of organization change

My definition of a complex adaptive system in this paper is the one used in Wikipedia.

1986- An integrated quality systems approach to quality and productivity improvement in continuous manufacturing processes

My first published paper…

“I fail to see the reason we’re visiting this...fool...” Nygma kicked up some dust on the floor of the building he and Black Mask had entered.

“Carter is a smart man, and if there is a ‘war’ coming, you’ll need this guy. He’s a jackass though.” Roman answered.

The two men walked up a few stairs and onto a platform with a large compass inlet into the panels. A bellowing British voice echoed through the dark building.

“Ah! Mr. Nygma and Roman! I knew you two would stray into my hemisphere someday!”

A man stepped out of the shadows and onto the compass platform. He wore respectable clothes, topped off with a giant globe on his head.

This was Hammond Carter, the Globe.

Nygma sneered, “Hello Mr. Carter.”

“My name is the Globe, Edward! Hammond Carter doesn’t run the most successful global heist syndicate in the world, the Globe does! I’m more successful than Roman was in his glory days, hah!”

Black Mask flicked at the trigger on his gun, “You’re still just a dumbass, Carter. You have a fucking globe on your head.”

The Globe turned to Black Mask and laughed, “This is no globe, it is a computerized tracking device! I can see every one of my agents all across the world at all times!” He spun the globe around on his head with his right hand.

Riddler was growing tired of this, “Mr. Carter, the Globe, whatever the hell you want to be called...I need your help.”

The Globe tilted his head at Riddler, “You do hmm? You didn’t seem to when you were making that think tank of yours...”

Riddler really didn’t want to come, but Roman insisted. Here was the reason why. Globe kept grudges.

“You see, the thing about this tracker, is it’s all in real time...in fact, 6 of my agents are closing in on you two as we speak...how’s that for smart, Nygma?”

Riddler rolled his eyes beneath his mask and took his cane into both hands, “Take care of the agents, Roman. I have the Globe...”

The UNA's standard 4 barreled anti vehicle rocket launcher. loads from behind with quad missile pods and is semi automatic for infantry. has 4 standard ammunition types (see note) and a side mounted computerized scope. UNA class one mech units can also use these and have the ability to link up with the computerized scope. Also, the strength of the mech units can handle the recoil while firing all 4 rockets at the same time.

If you're going to be abandoned somewhere - or, to take a more whimsical step, if you were an abandoned car - what better place to spend eternity than on the vast, limitless prairie? It would be my first choice. Day follows night (as in this photo), week follows week, year follows year, and you can rust away to your little computerized heart's content.

In June, you have to get up awfully early for a shot like this. By 4 a.m. the robins and mourning doves are competing for the airwaves from every cottonwood tree in the village; by 4:30 the sky is visibly lightening with pre-dawn glow. There is an abandoned homestead a few km from town that has half a dozen or more old cars, rusting away for eternity, by the look of it, surrounded by planted wheat fields.

On this particular morning, as the dawn chorus trilled in the background and before the warming sun coaxed sleeping mosquitoes from the grasses, I set up my tripod and made wide angle shots of this and that. The landowners have given me permission to do so. I'm always careful not to stumble into barbed wire or broken glass. It isn't my all time fave, the 1939 Pontiac, but here sits a relic in its own right, on a long gone morning in June. No doubt it will still be there when June rolls around once more...

Photographed near Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2017 James R. Page - all rights reserved.

The Robot Building, located in the Sathorn business district of Bangkok, Thailand, houses United Overseas Bank's Bangkok headquarters. It was designed for the Bank of Asia by Sumet Jumsai to reflect the computerization of banking (he found inspiration in his son's toy robot); its architecture is a reaction against neoclassical and high-tech postmodern architecture. The building's features, such as progressively receding walls, antennas, and eyes, contribute to its robotic appearance and to its practical function.

The building was completed in 1987 at a cost of US$10 million. By the mid-1980s, architectural modernism had faded in Bangkok; this building is one of the last examples of the style.

Sumet designed the building in conscious opposition to postmodern styles of the era, particularly classical revivalism and high-tech architecture as embodied in the Centre Pompidou. Sumet dismissed mid-1980s classical revivalism as "intellectually bankrupt" and criticized the "catalogues of meaningless architectural motifs" that characterized classical revivalism in Bangkok.

The Robot Building was selected by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles as one of the 50 seminal buildings of the century. The building also earned Sumet an award from Chicago's Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, the first such award given to a Thai designer. According to Stephen Sennott's Encyclopedia of 20th Century Architecture, the building "enhanced the world's recognition of modern Thai architecture".

Visit my website: Southeast Asia Images

Link to Thailand’s premier image gallery: Thailand Showcase Gallery

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

On the ever-changing world of 21st century, some things will not.

One of the first-ever succesful demonstrations of the coilgun technology of 21st century, the General Purpose Coilgun model 45 is a smoothbore coilgun that is intended for civilian and law enforcement market. Having a cylinder with a capacity of six shells of various dimensions (seen in 20mm/10-gauge here, 23mm/6-gauge, 19mm/12-gauge available), and utilizing a Beckenbauer-Bostick (shortened to BB) plasma battery in the stock that can last 240 hours, it is truly a wonder of the future. It is essentially able to fire anything the user desires (standard shells, magnum shells, High-Efficiency shells manufactured by Stoeger [seen here], or even makeshift shells!) at velocities that can exceed 1800 metres per second, depending on shell and voltage setting (which can be set at factory or by the user). Although the gun itself can use any kind of conventionally-propelled ammunition (or even black powder!), Stoeger offers customers SSSS (Self-Sealing, Silent, Smoothbore) shells which use little-to-no propellant of any sort and are almost completely silent. It also has a picatinny rail for optics. All models come with a threaded barrel for sound dampeners, but an ALLDiS (Advanced, Leading, Long-Distance Sight) rangefinding, computerized guiding scope is available for law-enforcement units. ALLDiS sight's options can be set for whatever voltage, caliber or shell type the user desires. And for law-enforcement units, three special types of shells are offered: Mk.546 HVAPHEFS (High-Velocity, Armor-Piercing, High-Explosive, Fin-Stabilized), designed to punch through whatever armor that may be up against (even light tanks!) and explode inside with great power; Mk.531 HE (High-Explosive) shell, a simple but very efficient shell designed to blow away anything it encounters to pieces; Mk.563 HEFISD (High-Explosive, Fragmentating, Incendiary, Self-Destroying), an air-burst ammunition. Of course, there are a myriad of other shells available.

---------------

Shit, this took me way, WAY longer than it should have. It gave me a plenty of headaches, but I'm so damned glad I made this happen.

Many thanks to Vlad, Alice, Atube, Deii and El Mattia for their wonderful advices!

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GPC-45P, with the ALLDiS sight: puu.sh/duDxX/da5cf1fd77.png

Engine close up showing the RED TURBOS

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.

Sitting out in the parking, B&O GP-40 #3684 greets visitors as they step out of their cars. Representing the era of modern dieselization as EMD began to make big strides in their products and brought about the look of modern American rail power.

Now decades later, these EMD diesels are dwarfed by the larger computerized GE diesel engines, and even by EMD's offerings, their SD70's and SD80's are massive in both size and power.

Shot on Ilford HP5 400 (Pushed +1 stop) on a Canon EOS A2

accelerates NS 64N out of East Conway Yard towards the main in Baden, PA as they head towards a refinery somewhere further east.

Union Pacific ordered many of their AC4400CWs with Computerized Tractive Effort software, giving them the designation of AC44CWCTE. It was built new in 2004 for the UP.

Avenue U, Sheepshead Bay

Imagine how many years this space has been vacant, and then ask yourself if the building owner needs some kind of reality check.

via WordPress ift.tt/1Uamedp

The Stridsfordon 9040 (STRF 9040) is a modern IFV designed to give its users an excellent blend of firepower, mobility, and protection all in a low-maintenance and easily modifiable package.

Designed to transport a squad of 8 soldiers over the rough terrain of the Nordic sub-arctic environment, the STRF 9040 gives its crew excellent mobility in places where many other competitors would fail.

The vehicle has all-around protection against 14.5 mm armor-piercing rounds while the frontal plate can stop rounds up to 30mm APFSDS.

For armament, it uses a 40mm Bofors cannon which gives it considerable firepower against targets such as infantry, fortifications, helicopters, and lightly armored vehicles. Even the sides of tanks can be engaged using APFSDS rounds. Secondary armament includes a coaxial machine gun and smoke grenade dispensers.

Despite all these great features, the STRF 90 isn't perfect. While the vehicle does have thermal imaging, its gun lacks any sort of advanced computerized fire control and isn't stabilized making it inaccurate at long range engagements. Furthermore, the vehicle only has an operational range of 320 kilometers before it needs to be refueled.

Stridsfordon 9040 (1.1 price reduction)

Category: IFV

Gun: 40mm (0)

Armor: (+1)

Speed: 70 kmh (0)

Low Maintenance: (+1)

Amphibious: (+1)

Can't hit anything: (-1)

Fuel Inefficient: (-1)

Overheats: (-1)

The Climatron® is the first geodesic dome to be used as a conservatory, incorporating the principles of R. Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic system. It opened to the public on October 1, 1960. The design of the Climatron greenhouse was developed by St. Louis architects Murphy and Mackey, winning the 1961 Reynolds Award, an award for architectural excellence in a structure using aluminum. In 1976 it was named one of the 100 most significant architectural achievements in United States history. The term “Climatron” was coined to emphasize the climate-control technology of the greenhouse dome.

A ground-level entrance and energy-conserving automatic doors make the entire Climatron accessible to disabled visitors. The Shoenberg Temperate House hugs the north side of the building.

Joy Division on the Oldies Station: Love Will Tear Us Apart

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL9rSAz_oc4

Do you cry out in your sleep? - All my failings exposed... - Gets a taste in my mouth - As desperation takes hold. - Why is it something so good - Just can't function no more?

Silver: (is standing with Sheriff Samuels outside the Green Dive, in front of the fortune telling arcade machine, but it isn't the same machine) Weird, right? I mean, first it's that other one, now, this?

Dan: Have you tried it out?

Silver: Not after the things I heard about the other one.

Dan: (deposits a quarter, machinery whirs and the male animatronic, complete with bejeweled turban and evil-universe beard, turns its head, blinks, and a computerize voice emerges from the speakers)

Zoltar: Speak your question and the magnificent Zoltar will reveal all!

Dan: (shakes his head at Silver and they grin) Where is the machine that used to be here?

Zoltar: (blinks his dark, glass eyes then stares) If you look, you may find it. (he goes still)

Silver: That wasn't helpful.

Dan: Not at all. Want to try it, now?

Silver: Sure. (she deposits a quarter and waits)

Zoltar: Speak your question and the magnificent Zoltar will reveal all!

Silver: How much longer will I be working at this bar?

Zoltar: (blinks his dark, glass eyes then stares) Your destiny is up to you. (he goes still)

Silver: I feel unsatisfied by this guy. (grins at Dan) Typical.

Dan: Well, complaints must have gotten back to the company, so they brought this replacement. I guess the only thing the tourist will complain about, now, is getting hokey fortunes.

Paradise Russo: (as she and her brother, Brad, leave the Russo house) I can't believe Mom is making me walk to school with you.

Brad: She wants to make sure Champagne or Amber don't pick you up.

Paradise: (sighs) She doesn't get it. They're not a bad influence on me.

Brad: Uh huh. Champagne's Queen of the Ice People and Amber's her lackey. You want to be a lackey?

Paradise: I'm not a lackey -- Oh, my god! (she stops, staring across the street)

Brad: What is it? (he looks around) Hey, check out the babe.

Paradise: It's HER!

Brad: Par, dude, it's not cool to stare at people, plus, she can probably hear you. Totally rude. (raises his voice) I'm sorry, my sister is an idiot.

HoloFortuna: (turns toward Paradise and Brad) Speak your question and Holo Fortuna will speak the answer.

Paradise: Oh, my god! Oh my god! It's HER! It's the fortune teller from the pier!

Brad: But -- you said that was a machine.

Paradise: It is!

Brad: Trust me, she is NOT a machine.

HF: Speak your question and Holo Fortuna will speak the answer.

Paradise: Come on, we need to get away from it.

Brad: Why?

HF: Your question is too vague. Please try again.

Brad: (grins) Are you free tonight?

Paradise: Don't talk to it!

HF: Yes.

Brad: You want to grab a burger with me?

HF: I will grab a burger with you, if that is what you wish.

Paradise: We have to get to school.

Brad: Are you kidding? I'm totally scoring with a babe who's o far out of my league she might as well be from another solar system!

Paradise: She's a hologram.

Brad: There's no way. Hologram technology isn't capable of that. (motioning at HF)

Paradise: I don't know how, but that IS the same girl I saw in the fortune telling booth I told you about.

Brad: (scoffs) Then you know what this is -- (motions with his hand) It's a freaking publicity stunt.

Paradise: What?

Brad: Sure, it's like when they were releasing that clown movie, and clowns started showing up at random places, and everyone got freaked out because other people started pranking by doing the same thing? This is like that. They want to promote their game, so they hire her to walk around.

Paradise: Are you sure?

Brad: Of course I'm sure. What? You think a hologram came to life? Excuse me, would it be okay if I get a selfie with you? (to HF)

HF: Yes.

Brad: Excellent! (he dashes across the street)

Paradise: (watches nervously as Brad takes a couple pictures with the young woman) We're going to be late!

Brad: Okay, okay. (says something to HF that Paradise can't hear before jogging back across the street)

Paradise: What did you say to her?

Brad: I told her where and when to meet me.

Paradise: (as they walk away) Brad, you're not seriously going to go out with her!

Brad: I am seriously, so VERY seriously, going to go out with her. She is HOT.

Paradise: I think she's older than you.

Brad: (grins) Even better.

Michael: (At home, later in the afternoon he wakes, uses the bathroom, and goes about his normal routine -- which ends when he goes into the kitchen for coffee and spots the envelope with his name on it, while the coffee is filling -- he retrieves the envelope, smiling because he recognizes Chris' handwriting, and he takes out the note, beginning to read -- his smile fading and the coffee forgotten)

Note: Michael, you've been my friend, my teacher, my lover -- my everything. I love you, that won't change, but something has changed, in me. I left home the second I turned eighteen, to find you. Was it because I was so crazy about you, or was it because I knew my parents finally couldn't stop me from living a life I knew they didn't approve of? I'm starting to think it was the latter, because if it was the former then I wouldn't be writing this note -- and I wouldn't be going to him. I don't understand what's happening to me, but I know I want you to be happy. Please be happy -- Chris.

Michael: (drops the note and looks around) Chris? (he dashes upstairs) Christopher! (he opens the dresser drawers, but all of Chris' clothes are gone, he throws open the closet doors -- his clothes are still neatly hung, but Chris' side is empty and his suitcases are gone -- except ... there's a yellow jacket on the floor of the closet, kicked in the corner and missed -- he snatches it up and buries his face in the material ... he inhales deeply, smelling Chris, of course, and his own scent -- but there is a third scent, male, and his head snaps up, dark green eyes going amber ... he knows that scent ... and he bolts from the house)

(Thank you to Erebus for playing Michael and to Seth for playing Chris. Tomorrow is the season finale! The show will go on hiatus after that.)

A derivative of the Haubits FH77, the 12/80 "KARIN" is a highly mobile coastal gun used to defend the shores of the Nordic Union. While barrel's diameter is identical to the original howitzer's 155mm gun, it has instead been bored to 120mm. This allows for a higher rate of fire, better shell velocity. Furthermore, their computerized fire control system allows them to use the sensor data provided by both fixed and mobile radar.

Able to deliver 16 rounds per minute to targets up to 32 kilometers away, batteries of these coastal guns can wreck any ship or landing craft that attempts to threaten the Nordic Union's shores.

An additional highly useful feature is that the KARIN is capable of operating in a self-propelled capability to a limited extent, although it lacks both the speed and range of a true self-propelled weapon.

Note: While the illustration here may look dramatic, in reality the gun would be provided with a camouflage net and would never be positioned in such an open area.

A video of the KARIN in action can be found here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F1zLPiwgn8

The B & B we stayed at (Tulip of Amsterdam on Kloverniersburgwal canal) has a curio collection including clogs sets, this set being one.

The oldest surviving wooden footwear in Europe is found in Amsterdam and Rotterdam dating from 1230 and 1280 respectively.

Since then wooden shoes have barely changed. Some clog makers have existed for generations. Traditionally each clog maker has their own design.

During winter Dutch farmers used to carve shoes for themselves and their families. Wooden shoes were cheap and the perfect footwear for working the land.

During the 18th century the art of making wooden shoes developed rapidly, and by the 19th century it had become a profession.

After the First World War there was over 3,900 wooden shoe factories in Holland.

Due to fierce competetion the number factories reduced rapdily. By 1975 there were only 150 factories left.

Today there are only 20 wooden shoe factories left, all have been computerized. They produce about 1.5 million pairs of poplar wood shoes per year for use as footwear and 3 million for souvenirs and gifts.

Southeast Financial Center is a two-acre development in Miami, Florida, United States. It consists of a 764 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 merged with Wells Fargo and moved to the nearby Wells Fargo Center.

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 websites:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Financial_Center

www.emporis.com/buildings/122292/wachovia-financial-cente...

© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.

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.

Muttrah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Muttrah, (Arabic: مطرح‎) administratively a district, is located in the Muscat province of Oman. Before the discovery of oil, Muttrah was the center of commerce in Oman (Muscat). It is still a center of commerce as one of largest sea ports of the region is located there. Other landmarks include Souq Muttrah, a traditional bazaar and Sour Al-Lawatiah, a small community of houses surrounded by an old wall. To the south lies Muscat District.

Demographics

Muttrah had an estimated population of about 8,000 people when diplomat Edmund Roberts visited in the early 1830s.[1] The district population was 216,578 estimated for 2014, up from 150,124 of the 2010 Census count, and the most densely populated of all districts in the nation

Economy

In the mid 19th century, Muttrah had a vessel repair industry.[1]

Souq Muttrah

The Muttrah Souq

Entrance to the Muttrah Souq

Al Dhalam (Darkness in Arabic) Souq is the local name for the Muttrah Souq. The Muttrah Souq is perhaps one of the oldest marketplaces in the Arab world because Muscat is the world's largest natural harbor and has seen immense trade in the age of sail, being strategically located on the way to India and China.[3] It has been named after darkness because of the crowded stalls and lanes where the sunrays do not infiltrate during the day and the shoppers need lamps to know their destinations. The name of the market has been drawn specifically from the part that extends from Al Lawatiya Mosque to Khour Bimba where the place is really full of stores and stalls and the narrow area of lanes does not allow the sunlight to enter. The market was a source of supply for Omanis where they can buy their needs in the 1960s when life requirements were simpler than today. Most of the goods were imported, in addition to local products like textiles, fruit, vegetables and dates.

In the past the market was built from mud and palm leaves, which suit the high temperatures and the hard climate conditions and hence were the best available materials to build the market at that time. Today, the Muscat Municipality has renovated and decorated the market to maintain the popular style but has also introduced modern amenities and redecorated the market heavily to attract tourists and make the shopping experience comfortable for tourists as well as other ordinary shoppers.

The market becomes more crowded and active during Eid seasons when Oman is come from all over the country to buy garments and jewelry.[4]

The main thoroughfare of the souk carries mainly household goods, shoes and ready-made garments. Further inside, you can enjoy the mixed smells of frankincense, perfume oils, fresh jasmine and spices. Enthusiastic shoppers and travellers can also discover a selection of tiny shops (on the side streets and alleyways leading up to the souq) full of Omani silver, stalls of gleaming white dishdashas and embroided kumahs, brightly colored cloth and multicoloured head scarves. Shoppers can even get their hands on old Arabian muskets at these souqs.

Other things sold at the souq include Omani pots, paintings, hookah pipes, framed khanjars (daggers), leatherwork and incense.[5]

Infrastructure

Port Sultan Qaboos[edit]

Commonly called the Muscat Port, Port Sultan Qaboos is one of the main commercial ports in Oman. It is Oman's premier maritime gateway, enjoying a prime location in the politically stable sultanate. Situated in a natural harbour 250 km south of the Strait of Hormuz on the Indian Ocean coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Port Sultan Qaboos' location makes it an ideal hub, not only for the Persian Gulf but also the Indian sub-continent and markets in East and South Africa.

The location of Port Sultan Qaboos offers considerable savings in steaming time when compared to other ports. The port's tariff compares very favorably with others across the region. The already impressive infrastructure, skilled manpower, fast and efficient handling operations and documentation clearance system in PSC will be further enhanced this year.

During the reign of Sayyid Sultan bin Ahmed in the 18th century, Oman's trading activity again increased and the capital area's two harbours — Muscat and Mutrah — diversified, Mutrah was quickly established as a commercial port while Muscat was used for naval operations. The ruler's son Sayyid Said continued to expand maritime commerce although it again went into decline after his death in 1856. Maritime activity was limited to the import of essential items, mainly from India by old-style wooden dhows. Ships had to anchor offshore and sometimes wait for days before cargo could be unloaded manually into small boats.

Muscat Port

This was all to change with the accession of HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said who inaugurated a new era of maritime commerce and prosperity in Oman when he established Mina Qaboos (now Port Sultan Qaboos) in 1974.

Port Sultan Qaboos has been operated and managed by Port Services Corporation S.A.O.G. since November 1976. Until 1981, the traffic was essentially conventional cargo. With the advent of containerisation, PSQ developed two of its berths to handle container vessels and these facilities were fully operational by 1983–1984.

PSC embarked on computerization of its operations and back office in 1984. The first system to handle container movements became operational from 1985. Thereafter the computer applications were enhanced to cover all back office operations including invoicing and accounts.

In the early 1990s, the port infrastructure was further enhanced. Two more berths were converted to handle multipurpose vessels including container vessels and were equipped with additional three quay-side gantry cranes. The marshaling yard and empty yard was provided with rubber tyred gantries. On date, the port is an ideal transshipment hub for the upper Persian Gulf and Red Sea ports trade flows.

Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muttrah

"Taxi and hold short for a MD-80 on two-mile final." When someone is in trouble, they might say anything to get out of trouble. They might claim something was said that was not said. The recorder is your buddy. Usually. Reel-to-reel logging recorders were made by Dictaphone, Stancil, and others. These were used to log voice-grade audio for activities such as air traffic control, railroad safety, 9-1-1 calls, and radio broadcast audio.

Some reel-to-reel machines had talking clock tracks. One recording track periodically announced of time of day so the time could be matched up with a point on the tape.

Two tape transports allowed recording to continue if a tape broke or the transport failed. These have been replaced by digital recorders which sound just as crappy but are cheaper and don't require changing tape reels. Computerized recorders can look like a 1U server and don't weight 200 pounds. Dictaphone digital recorders had the ability to search for words. You could type the word, "hammer," into a Window and the machinery would search recordings on the hard disk for every utterance of the word.

Chuck fowled up, (again)? Your corrections are welcomed.

[Over the phone:] Unit calling repeat your last traffic for dispatch. [Over the radio:] Just a minute, honey.

— unverified report of a mistake by a 9-1-1 dispatcher attempting simultaneous conversations with spouse by phone and a first responder by two-way radio

Journalism grade image.

Source: 2,200x3,800 16-bit TIF file.

Please do not copy this image for any purpose.

I found this article in the TopTropicals' Encyclopedia fascinating.

Cinnamomum zeylanicum - a legendary commodity and culinary spice, Cinnamon

Scientific name: Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Cinnamomum verum

Family: Lauraceae

Common name: Cinnamon

Origin: Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

An exciting story of Cinnamon - the most famous world spice... This historical plant can be easily grown in your garden. Enjoy the story and brew some cinnamon tea!..

Cinnamon

Cinnamomum aromaticum:

Young leaves of Cinnamon can be pinkish to red

Somewhere in the archives of your mind, do you remember your school days and studying the great explorers of the New World, like Columbus and Magellan? Were you ever asked how and why these extravagant expeditions were funded? These ever-dangerous missions were the sixteenth-century prequel to the Cold War space race, with similar stakes for national prestige and power. In the days before NASA and government grants, who put up the cash for these escapades? It was usually the Spanish king. But, as you doubtless already know if you've ever tried coax a new office computer out of your boss, there never seems to be enough money in the budget. In contrast to the illusion of endless wealth they portrayed, even kings were often in deep financial straits, and competitors were fierce for the few funds they offered. And proving your soundness as a financial risk was no easy thing in those days before computerized credit reports.. As classics of political economics have taught us, capitalists can lend money only in exchange for profit. So, if you approached the king with a "go I know not whither” attitude, you had better at least promise to bring back something worthwhile that was a perennially popular quarry, such as spices, which were often worth more their weight in gold.

Only one out of five ships from Magellan's fleet returned - the "Victoria". However, the hold carried 26 tons of spices, sufficient to cover the losses of the expedition and to actually make a profit for the investors.

Life in those days would have been unbearable without savory spices to disguise the poor quality and preparation of food. The quality of food was disgusting - unless you were royalty, you were destined for a lifetime of boiled meat-and-vegetable soup. The culinary arts existed more in theory than in fact, and only the rich could afford the luxury of fried meat (widespread consumption of fried meat did not come until the 18- and 19th centuries). Today we feed our dogs better meat than most people ate then, and salting was the only method of keeping meat fresh. Toil and harsh conditions were the standards of life... That's why spices were so valued, with their ability to lift the palate and the spirit even slightly above the drudgery of everyday life. Our sense of taste is primitive-- we sense saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, and acidity, and in this, we are not much different from other animals. Most of our culinary enjoyment stems from the sense of smell, which connects aromas to specific foods. Spices were also important as status symbols: something akin to wearing a Rolex watch or owning a yacht.

In those times the spice trade route came by way of Muslim countries and from there by sea through the Italian ports of Genoa and Venice. The fantastic wealth of these and other ports was almost completely due to the spice trade, or rather to the hefty customs duties collected on these goods. Without this excess wealth and the artistic patronage it inspired, the Renaissance would not have been possible (it is interesting to speculate on where we would be without it!). Everything was fine prior to the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the Turks took the Balkans, the Black Sea and Syria, ending the old commercial routes to the East. The developing countries of Europe were very unhappy with these circumstances. They began to cherish the idea of going directly to the source of the riches themselves, cutting out the middleman.. It was this prospect of grand profit which fueled the first risky expeditions. Perhaps one of the most crucial points in the history of commerce was May 20, 1498, when Vasco de Gama sailed to Calcutta, initiating “spice fever”!

Two countries, Spain and Portugal, were dearest to the Pope's heart at this time. They burned their heretics, unlike the more freethinking France and England. To the great dismay of Pope Alexander VI, by the end of the fifteenth century, there was no love lost between these two rival siblings of the Pope's affections. Portugal mastered the route around Africa, and Spain (a little late on the exploration scene, as it was preoccupied with disarming the Moors), decided to move to another side, sending Columbus westward. They took different directions with the same intent -- to possess the riches of the Orient. The outcome is now legendary. In 1494, under the auspices of the Pope the world was divided in two: Spanish (to the West from the 49th meridian) and Portuguese (to the east). This agreement did not interfere with the existence of countries already established. It is interesting that this arbitrary division allowed Portugal to colonize Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken to this day.

Meanwhile, other countries were not at rest and were no less greedy in their aspirations. England and Holland took their share of colonies as well. For example, the Dutch East Indian company practically governed Indonesia and therefore monopolized world trade in spices from the 17th century on. English companies in India monopolized the perfume trade, and these are only two commodities that were plundered by empirical ambition.

Here we will discuss only one plant - cinnamon (Cinnamomum). Various varieties exist, only two of which are commercially popular: plain cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum, native to Ceylon and Malabar off the coast of India; and Cassia cinnamon - Cinnamomum aromaticum, native to Burma and South China (not to be confused with the Cassia plant). The spice cinnamon is obtained from the young bark of the branches. The two differ in appearance in the fact that the bark of cinnamon is thin and yellowish-brown, and the bark of Cassia is thicker and gray in color. Cinnamon possesses the stronger aroma, but to deduce the form of the plant from the appearance of the spice is practically impossible.

The first references to Cassia are encountered in Chinese books dated about 3000 B.C. The Egyptian queen Hatshepsut, who ruled approximately 1500 B.C., was an outstanding monarch, especially considering how rare it was for a woman to rule in those times. Among her accomplishments, she organized an expedition into present-day Yemen to find valuable species of wood and ivory for the building of the palace and temple in Thebes. Among the treasures was a large quantity of cinnamon.

In the works of John the Apostle (Revelation 18:12-13, New International Version), cinnamon is mentioned among the “excesses” of the riches of Babylon:

...Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh, and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.

The Roman historian Pliny wrote that the cost of cinnamon was fifteen times that of silver. Romans used this spice to make expensive perfumery as well as to improve the taste of wine. Emperor Nero, after the murder of his wife, ordered cinnamon to be gathered from the entire city for the funeral bonfire.

Medieval Europe all but forgot about cinnamon, and only rare contacts with Muslims and Marco Polo's expedition revived the use of cinnamon and sugar in cooking. In the 15th century, cinnamon was so expensive that it was paid for in Muslim markets with "hard currency"- eunuchs and white female slaves.

In the spring of 1530, The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V went to Germany to visit one of the richest bankers in Europe - Fugger. It was an unpleasant mission for the emperor- he was there to ask for more time to pay old loans as well as to obtain new funds. Charles complained about the cold weather in Germany and compared it with the warm spring of Italy. In reply, the banker threw cinnamon bark into the furnace, after first throwing in the old debts of the emperor - a gesture to show that Germans were at least warm of heart!

As previously discussed, the Portuguese and Spaniards rushed to the Spice Islands from either side. Lorenzo de Almeida discovered Ceylon and its cinnamon trees in 1505. Before this cinnamon was the source of wealth for rulers. In 1580 the Portuguese took the coast and required 125 tons of cinnamon as a yearly tribute from the natives.

In desperation, the king of Candi (one of four kingdoms of Ceylon) turned to the Dutch for help, and in 1658 the island fell under the possession of the Dutchmen. However, their administration was no more merciful than the Portuguese- in fact, it was much worse.

The men who harvested cinnamon belonged to one of the lowest castes - Chaliya. Each of them had to gather about 60 lb of cinnamon each season. Dutchmen raised this quota ten times that amount, a practically impossible amount. Then they freed the harvesters from taxes at least. Still, it is not surprising that many chose to run away into the mountains, increasing the burden on those remaining. And there was only one punishment for a fugitive caught- capital punishment. Capital punishment also awaited any who attempted to smuggle cinnamon or anyone who had unreported cinnamon trees on his property. When Dutchmen learned that cinnamon grew on the Malabar coast of India, they persuaded local rulers by bribes and threats to destroy the trees in order to completely monopolize the market.

The majority of cinnamon was grown in the kingdom of Candi, and its rulers often destroyed trees in order to sabotage the Europeans. In 1761 they attacked the Dutchmen, killing about 7,000 people and destroying huge reserves of cinnamon. It is not surprising that the price of cinnamon in Holland leaped instantly. To prevent another such incident, the Dutch began to cultivate cinnamon on plantations. This arrangement was no more tasteful to the harvesters, who once again began to sabotage trees in protest. In response to this, the Dutch imposed a severe punishment- anyone caught in sabotage had his right hand chopped off.

Plantations proved to be successful, and the collection of wild cinnamon ceased to be profitable. Breeding cinnamon trees led to the crisis of overproduction, and in June of 1760 in Amsterdam, a cinnamon reserve worth 16 million French livre (an imposing sum in today's currency, one could buy a good horse for 100 livre in those days) burnt in a building of the Admiralty over the course of two days. It was noted that for several days the entire land of Holland smelled of cinnamon.

When France took Holland after the French revolution, it also gained Ceylon. When England defeated the French in 1795, they put this resource to work immediately, putting the rich plantations under the control of the East India Company. The island was completely subject to England and the cultivation of cinnamon was sharply limited to drive the market. However, this monopoly collapsed in the middle of the nineteenth century due to the Dutch smuggling exported cinnamon trees to Java and Borneo, and Frenchmen revealed that the cinnamon also grew well on the islands of Maverick and Reunion.

All this led to the price of cinnamon falling drastically in Europe, allowing even the non-rich to use this spice which was previously reserved for only the most wealthy of diners.

Nowadays, world production of cinnamon is about 8,000-10,000 tons per year, with 80-90% of this coming from Sri Lanka. World production of cassia is 20,000-25,000 tons per year, two-thirds of which is grown in Indonesia. Cinnamon and Cassia are used in the production of liqueurs, perfumery, and for cooking.

The cinnamon tree can reach 50 ft in height, but on plantations, trees are trained into bushes of 6-8 ft. The leaves are fragrant (they are often used to impart a cinnamon flavor to tea, for example). The cinnamon tree "drinks" a large amount of water. In its natural habitat, more than 6 ft of rainfall annually. The flowers are very small and unimposing.

The cinnamon tree is propagated by seeds or cuttings. The plant is pruned after two or three years to form a bush, and cinnamon can already be harvested in the rainy season from a two-year-old tree.

The harvesting method is relatively simple. First, branches are cut from the tree. These are left for a day or two- in the dampness the bark rots and becomes easier to separate from the tree. After this comes the most complex part of the operation. The twigs and leaves are trimmed from the branches and the outer rough layer of bark is scraped off. After this, “stripes” are cut into the branches to separate the bark from the inner wood of the branch. The bark is then cut from the branch by making two accurate parallel cuts, and it then forms the characteristic curled twigs that we recognize as cinnamon sticks. These are then cut accurately into 42-inch lengths and dried.

One acre yields about 200 lb of cinnamon per year...

Cinnamon trees can be easily grown as an exotic container plant or planted in the ground in areas with frost-free climates. Fresh leaves may be added to tea. Enjoy the aroma of this tropical plant collection gem!

Courtesy TopTropicals Nursery

via Instagram ift.tt/2bNS1ly

I found this article in the TopTropicals' Encyclopedia fascinating.

Cinnamomum zeylanicum - a legendary commodity and culinary spice, Cinnamon

Scientific name: Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Cinnamomum verum

Family: Lauraceae

Common name: Cinnamon

Origin: Sri Lanka (Ceylon)

An exciting story of Cinnamon - the most famous world spice... This historical plant can be easily grown in your garden. Enjoy the story and brew some cinnamon tea!..

Cinnamon

Cinnamomum aromaticum:

Young leaves of Cinnamon can be pinkish to red

Somewhere in the archives of your mind, do you remember your school days and studying the great explorers of the New World, like Columbus and Magellan? Were you ever asked how and why these extravagant expeditions were funded? These ever-dangerous missions were the sixteenth-century prequel to the Cold War space race, with similar stakes for national prestige and power. In the days before NASA and government grants, who put up the cash for these escapades? It was usually the Spanish king. But, as you doubtless already know if you've ever tried coax a new office computer out of your boss, there never seems to be enough money in the budget. In contrast to the illusion of endless wealth they portrayed, even kings were often in deep financial straits, and competitors were fierce for the few funds they offered. And proving your soundness as a financial risk was no easy thing in those days before computerized credit reports.. As classics of political economics have taught us, capitalists can lend money only in exchange for profit. So, if you approached the king with a "go I know not whither” attitude, you had better at least promise to bring back something worthwhile that was a perennially popular quarry, such as spices, which were often worth more their weight in gold.

Only one out of five ships from Magellan's fleet returned - the "Victoria". However, the hold carried 26 tons of spices, sufficient to cover the losses of the expedition and to actually make a profit for the investors.

Life in those days would have been unbearable without savory spices to disguise the poor quality and preparation of food. The quality of food was disgusting - unless you were royalty, you were destined for a lifetime of boiled meat-and-vegetable soup. The culinary arts existed more in theory than in fact, and only the rich could afford the luxury of fried meat (widespread consumption of fried meat did not come until the 18- and 19th centuries). Today we feed our dogs better meat than most people ate then, and salting was the only method of keeping meat fresh. Toil and harsh conditions were the standards of life... That's why spices were so valued, with their ability to lift the palate and the spirit even slightly above the drudgery of everyday life. Our sense of taste is primitive-- we sense saltiness, sweetness, bitterness, and acidity, and in this, we are not much different from other animals. Most of our culinary enjoyment stems from the sense of smell, which connects aromas to specific foods. Spices were also important as status symbols: something akin to wearing a Rolex watch or owning a yacht.

In those times the spice trade route came by way of Muslim countries and from there by sea through the Italian ports of Genoa and Venice. The fantastic wealth of these and other ports was almost completely due to the spice trade, or rather to the hefty customs duties collected on these goods. Without this excess wealth and the artistic patronage it inspired, the Renaissance would not have been possible (it is interesting to speculate on where we would be without it!). Everything was fine prior to the beginning of the fifteenth century, when the Turks took the Balkans, the Black Sea and Syria, ending the old commercial routes to the East. The developing countries of Europe were very unhappy with these circumstances. They began to cherish the idea of going directly to the source of the riches themselves, cutting out the middleman.. It was this prospect of grand profit which fueled the first risky expeditions. Perhaps one of the most crucial points in the history of commerce was May 20, 1498, when Vasco de Gama sailed to Calcutta, initiating “spice fever”!

Two countries, Spain and Portugal, were dearest to the Pope's heart at this time. They burned their heretics, unlike the more freethinking France and England. To the great dismay of Pope Alexander VI, by the end of the fifteenth century, there was no love lost between these two rival siblings of the Pope's affections. Portugal mastered the route around Africa, and Spain (a little late on the exploration scene, as it was preoccupied with disarming the Moors), decided to move to another side, sending Columbus westward. They took different directions with the same intent -- to possess the riches of the Orient. The outcome is now legendary. In 1494, under the auspices of the Pope the world was divided in two: Spanish (to the West from the 49th meridian) and Portuguese (to the east). This agreement did not interfere with the existence of countries already established. It is interesting that this arbitrary division allowed Portugal to colonize Brazil, where Portuguese is spoken to this day.

Meanwhile, other countries were not at rest and were no less greedy in their aspirations. England and Holland took their share of colonies as well. For example, the Dutch East Indian company practically governed Indonesia and therefore monopolized world trade in spices from the 17th century on. English companies in India monopolized the perfume trade, and these are only two commodities that were plundered by empirical ambition.

Here we will discuss only one plant - cinnamon (Cinnamomum). Various varieties exist, only two of which are commercially popular: plain cinnamon - Cinnamomum zeylanicum, native to Ceylon and Malabar off the coast of India; and Cassia cinnamon - Cinnamomum aromaticum, native to Burma and South China (not to be confused with the Cassia plant). The spice cinnamon is obtained from the young bark of the branches. The two differ in appearance in the fact that the bark of cinnamon is thin and yellowish-brown, and the bark of Cassia is thicker and gray in color. Cinnamon possesses the stronger aroma, but to deduce the form of the plant from the appearance of the spice is practically impossible.

The first references to Cassia are encountered in Chinese books dated about 3000 B.C. The Egyptian queen Hatshepsut, who ruled approximately 1500 B.C., was an outstanding monarch, especially considering how rare it was for a woman to rule in those times. Among her accomplishments, she organized an expedition into present-day Yemen to find valuable species of wood and ivory for the building of the palace and temple in Thebes. Among the treasures was a large quantity of cinnamon.

In the works of John the Apostle (Revelation 18:12-13, New International Version), cinnamon is mentioned among the “excesses” of the riches of Babylon:

...Cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh, and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.

The Roman historian Pliny wrote that the cost of cinnamon was fifteen times that of silver. Romans used this spice to make expensive perfumery as well as to improve the taste of wine. Emperor Nero, after the murder of his wife, ordered cinnamon to be gathered from the entire city for the funeral bonfire.

Medieval Europe all but forgot about cinnamon, and only rare contacts with Muslims and Marco Polo's expedition revived the use of cinnamon and sugar in cooking. In the 15th century, cinnamon was so expensive that it was paid for in Muslim markets with "hard currency"- eunuchs and white female slaves.

In the spring of 1530, The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V went to Germany to visit one of the richest bankers in Europe - Fugger. It was an unpleasant mission for the emperor- he was there to ask for more time to pay old loans as well as to obtain new funds. Charles complained about the cold weather in Germany and compared it with the warm spring of Italy. In reply, the banker threw cinnamon bark into the furnace, after first throwing in the old debts of the emperor - a gesture to show that Germans were at least warm of heart!

As previously discussed, the Portuguese and Spaniards rushed to the Spice Islands from either side. Lorenzo de Almeida discovered Ceylon and its cinnamon trees in 1505. Before this cinnamon was the source of wealth for rulers. In 1580 the Portuguese took the coast and required 125 tons of cinnamon as a yearly tribute from the natives.

In desperation, the king of Candi (one of four kingdoms of Ceylon) turned to the Dutch for help, and in 1658 the island fell under the possession of the Dutchmen. However, their administration was no more merciful than the Portuguese- in fact, it was much worse.

The men who harvested cinnamon belonged to one of the lowest castes - Chaliya. Each of them had to gather about 60 lb of cinnamon each season. Dutchmen raised this quota ten times that amount, a practically impossible amount. Then they freed the harvesters from taxes at least. Still, it is not surprising that many chose to run away into the mountains, increasing the burden on those remaining. And there was only one punishment for a fugitive caught- capital punishment. Capital punishment also awaited any who attempted to smuggle cinnamon or anyone who had unreported cinnamon trees on his property. When Dutchmen learned that cinnamon grew on the Malabar coast of India, they persuaded local rulers by bribes and threats to destroy the trees in order to completely monopolize the market.

The majority of cinnamon was grown in the kingdom of Candi, and its rulers often destroyed trees in order to sabotage the Europeans. In 1761 they attacked the Dutchmen, killing about 7,000 people and destroying huge reserves of cinnamon. It is not surprising that the price of cinnamon in Holland leaped instantly. To prevent another such incident, the Dutch began to cultivate cinnamon on plantations. This arrangement was no more tasteful to the harvesters, who once again began to sabotage trees in protest. In response to this, the Dutch imposed a severe punishment- anyone caught in sabotage had his right hand chopped off.

Plantations proved to be successful, and the collection of wild cinnamon ceased to be profitable. Breeding cinnamon trees led to the crisis of overproduction, and in June of 1760 in Amsterdam, a cinnamon reserve worth 16 million French livre (an imposing sum in today's currency, one could buy a good horse for 100 livre in those days) burnt in a building of the Admiralty over the course of two days. It was noted that for several days the entire land of Holland smelled of cinnamon.

When France took Holland after the French revolution, it also gained Ceylon. When England defeated the French in 1795, they put this resource to work immediately, putting the rich plantations under the control of the East India Company. The island was completely subject to England and the cultivation of cinnamon was sharply limited to drive the market. However, this monopoly collapsed in the middle of the nineteenth century due to the Dutch smuggling exported cinnamon trees to Java and Borneo, and Frenchmen revealed that the cinnamon also grew well on the islands of Maverick and Reunion.

All this led to the price of cinnamon falling drastically in Europe, allowing even the non-rich to use this spice which was previously reserved for only the most wealthy of diners.

Nowadays, world production of cinnamon is about 8,000-10,000 tons per year, with 80-90% of this coming from Sri Lanka. World production of cassia is 20,000-25,000 tons per year, two-thirds of which is grown in Indonesia. Cinnamon and Cassia are used in the production of liqueurs, perfumery, and for cooking.

The cinnamon tree can reach 50 ft in height, but on plantations, trees are trained into bushes of 6-8 ft. The leaves are fragrant (they are often used to impart a cinnamon flavor to tea, for example). The cinnamon tree "drinks" a large amount of water. In its natural habitat, more than 6 ft of rainfall annually. The flowers are very small and unimposing.

The cinnamon tree is propagated by seeds or cuttings. The plant is pruned after two or three years to form a bush, and cinnamon can already be harvested in the rainy season from a two-year-old tree.

The harvesting method is relatively simple. First, branches are cut from the tree. These are left for a day or two- in the dampness the bark rots and becomes easier to separate from the tree. After this comes the most complex part of the operation. The twigs and leaves are trimmed from the branches and the outer rough layer of bark is scraped off. After this, “stripes” are cut into the branches to separate the bark from the inner wood of the branch. The bark is then cut from the branch by making two accurate parallel cuts, and it then forms the characteristic curled twigs that we recognize as cinnamon sticks. These are then cut accurately into 42-inch lengths and dried.

One acre yields about 200 lb of cinnamon per year...

Cinnamon trees can be easily grown as an exotic container plant or planted in the ground in areas with frost-free climates. Fresh leaves may be added to tea. Enjoy the aroma of this tropical plant collection gem!

Courtesy TopTropicals Nursery

iss068e029379 (Dec. 12, 2022) --- Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 68 Flight Engineer Anna Kikina is pictured inside the Zvezda service module filling out a computerized report at the end of her work day.

I didn't even know there were Goldeneyes on the river. I was looking for Great Blue Herons. Half a dozen Goldeneyes suddenly launched, and raced past me. Little ducks, VERY fast in the air, I couldn't even get the camera up before they were past.

But a flying pair of Goldeneyes...wanted that one a lot. Fired away, hoping. Too far away, moving like little winged missles, I needed computerized camera guidance; didn't have any in my pockets.

So the photo is a major (did I say major) crop. Enlarged more than is reasonable, and worked on like crazy to make an almost-presentable image.

But it is, after all, a pair of flying Goldeneyes.

Registration: N755PA

Named: Clipper Sovereign of the Seas”

Type: 747-121

Engines: 4 × PW JT9D-7A

Serial Number: 19659

First flight: May 21, 1970

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 flag carrier of the United States from 1927 until its collapse on December 4, 1991. It was founded in 1927 as a scheduled air mail and passenger service operating between Key West, Florida and Havana, Cuba. The airline is credited for 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 (IATA), the global airline industry association. Identified by its blue globe logo ("The Blue Meatball"), 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.

Airliner Profile Art Prints

www.aviaposter.com

In the nave of a 16th-century basilica in Venice, Italy, visitors saw a beautiful apparition this weekend. Conjured up by renowned Catalan artist Jaume Plensa for this year’s Venice Biennale, the installation, with a duo of colossal heads made of stainless steel mesh at the centerpiece, is now at the Basilica di San Giorgio Maggiore.

The award-winning sculptor and teacher is a humanist and a master of scale. For the Crown Fountain in Chicago, Illinois, he toyed with the city’s towering skyscrapers by installing larger-than-life totems that project a video loop of 1,000 faces of its residents. In Bordeaux, France, he installed a large seated figure that vied for attention with the palaces that surrounded it.

The concept for Plensa’s dreamy installations in San Giorgio is not exactly new. Versions of his “perforated” sculptures, which look like colossal computerized 3D renderings, have appeared in a field in Yorkshire, England; in an outdoor plaza in Calgary, Canada; and even at hotel lobbies in New York City, not to mention at numerous museums and galleries around the world.

And though these “portraits” (more like truncated busts) are different for each site-specific installation, the sculptures tend to look similar, with idealized facial features, closed eyes, and serene expressions. Plensa actually models the heads from real people—mostly girls aged 8 to 14, a period that he describes as “that moment when beauty is in motion, changing every second.”

(Jonty Wilde)

“It’s like a collaboration between me, here and Palladio, in heaven.” But to encounter Plensa’s sculptures in one of Venice’s venerated landmarks makes his work seem somehow new again. The Benedictine monastery, established in the year 952, and later overhauled by the influential Italian architect Andrea Palladio, has never been such a prominent venue for secular art. A sanctuary for reflection (or from the Biennale’s crowds), the church, which stands on its own island, offers a more tranquil context for Plensa’s giant heads than some of the outdoor spaces where they’ve been displayed. In it, the heads seem to have found a strange communion with the Palladian architecture and the Renaissance paintings by Tintoretto, Vittore Carpaccio, and Jacopo.

“It’s like a collaboration between me, here and Palladio, in heaven.”

Lunar Eclipse, Ewa Bch, HI.

Shot with a 5DMkIII and a EF800mm lens on a Celestron CGEM DX computerized mount.

08Oct14

Next Sunday I am running the Lincoln Tunnel Challenge 5K for the third year straight. Love this run, because it's really fun and because it is a fundraiser for Special Olympics NJ. I set my fundraising goal,met it, doubled it and am close to meeting the new goal, and fairly confident that I will. So, I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing. Except for one small detail... I kind of never got around to training. Just when I had finally started running, I got sick and then did something to my back and that was that. I had too much going on (I had too many excuses!) Last year I ran every day for 10 weeks leading up to the run, in snow, rain and sub zero temps. I had a goal to run it at a 10 minute/mile pace. I came really close. Missed it by seconds. This year, my goal is to finish without my heart exploding and being carried out of the tunnel on a stretcher. A 10 minute mile is a distant memory. Tonight, with one week left before the run, I decided to start running. After fighting with my new phone to get logged into "Map my Run" and getting music to play ( I am technologically challenged and this new phone hates me, as do most computerized gadgets) I hit the road. The music played for one song... and then ... nothing. I hate running without music (to be honest, I'm not a fan of running at all ... and I'm not good at it either). I almost made it to 3 miles. Quit at 2.93 miles... should have pushed myself harder. Then I decided that I needed to go up this dirt road to see where it leads. The sun was setting. There was a muddy pick up truck up there, and I finally got creeped out and went back down... will check it out another day. Then I decided I would go down by this pond and sit on a bench and see if I could get the music to play on my phone for the run/walk back home. I decided to take a short cut... turned out to be a very muddy short cut. I fell in the mud. So, I sat by the pond and took this picture... and while this phone is supposed to take fabulous photos, this is NOT one of them (which is why it became a candidate for Sliders Sunday). I never did get the music to play. And then I realized that it was dark, and I was 3 miles from home. I needed the flashlight on my phone to find my way through the mud and back to the road. My phone battery was at about 20% at this point. So, I finished my first training session, running on a busy county road with my phone flashlight to guide me (and identify me to oncoming traffic). The good news is, my phone did not die (and I didn't fall in a hole, or fall in the mud again, or get hit by a car, and my heart didn't explode). This is going to be a tough week ahead. I need to keep reminding myself that it's all about Special Olympics and making a difference... not about the running (or is this just another excuse that non-runners, or unprepared runners come up with?!! Well... it's MY excuse and I'm sticking with it!) Happy Silders Sunday

Between the switchboard and the cash register, this is one of my favorite rooms in Bodie. My grandmother started a telephone answering service over 50 years ago, and up until about 5 years ago, they were using switchboards that look very similar to the one here. They have since updated to a state-of-the-art computerized system, but it was not long ago that switchboards like this were in everyday use.

Eugenics theories were popularized in England by Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin. According to Galton, the human race could be improved through selective breeding and by exterminating the unfit. Galton hoped that eugenics would one day become “the religion of the future.” According to Galton’s thought, the intelligence of the aristocrats was genetically inherited. Galton came up with the word eugenics from the Greek word ‘eugenes,’ meaning ‘well born.’ The first International Congress of Eugenics was held at the University of London In 1912. The president of this meeting was Charles Darwin’s son.

Throughout the years, the Rockefeller’s have spent large sums of money funding eugenics. The Rockefeller’s even funded eugenics research in Germany during World War II, stating that war should not impede scientific research.

The British National Association for Mental Health (NAMH) was formed in 1944. It was lead by Montagu Norman, who had been the Governor of the Bank of England from 1920 to 1944. In the beginning, the group met at Norman’s home. In the 1930s, Norman had also invited Nazi Economics Minister Hjalmar Schacht into his home to arrange financing for Hitler. The British National Association for Mental Health was just a rebranding of the National Councils of Mental Hygiene, which had been one of the major advocates for eugenics programs around the world. This group had collaborated with Nazi eugenicists prior to World War II.

The British National Association for Mental Health (NAMH), joined forces with the United Nations and the Tavistock Institute In 1948. The Tavistock Institute had been collaborating with British military intelligence and numerous psychiatrists. NAMH and the Tavistock Institute held an International Congress of Mental Health at the Ministry of Health. In this meeting they formed The World Federation of Mental Health, in order to coordinate global psychological operations.

The Tavistock Institute also sponsored group ‘sensitivity’ programs. The purpose of these programs was for the breaking down of an individual’s personality, so that it could be reconstructed to go along with the group (herd). Millions of people have gone through these programs. Today we have sensitivity programs like DEI: diversity, equity, and inclusion.

They have also used the education system to dumb down the population. Students do not receive a classical education, in which they can learn how to critically think. Instead, they are indoctrinated. Look no further then sex education and queer theory, which are both forms of eugenics indoctrination. The education system has been used to help drug up students on mass with Ritalin, antidepressants, and puberty blockers.

One technique of eugenics is to destroy traditional morality and normalize deviancy. Mass communications are used to promote the rejection of chastity, self control, and ethics. Since the social engineers have been promoting illicit sexual conduct, most sexual acts are now accepted. They have become normalized. The sexual revolution was used to disassociate sex from procreation, all the while selling birth control and abortion to the masses. This has eaten away at the foundations of the nuclear family. The Nazi’s also promoted sexual immorality. “It was the Nazis who restored the ‘right to love’ in their propaganda.” Indeed, “Love was old-fashioned, sex was modern!” The Nazi’s even pushed the idea of premarital sex in school, as a means to increase the Aryan race.

In 1949, under Project BLUEBIRD, the CIA used drugs to experiment with mind control. “Basic to the financing of mind control projects, Nelson Rockefeller merged three federal corporations into the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and HEW and its sub-agency the National Institute of Mental Health were used to fund ARTICHOKE and other early CIA mind control projects.” In a recently released Project Artichoke document, they spoke about putting drugs and chemicals in food, water, Coca-Cola, beer, liquor, cigarettes, vaccinations, shots, gases, and aerosols. They also mentioned taking nutritional elements out of food to create dietary deficiencies as a method to condition people for mind control. They wanted to produce agitation, anxiety, nervousness, tension, and depression in order to create feelings of despondency, hopelessness, and lethargy. In another document, they asked the question, “Can we get control of an individual to the point where he will do our bidding against his will and even against such fundamental laws of nature such as self-preservation?” Project Artichoke was a precursor to the MK-Ultra program, which was launched in 1953.

The CIA was obsessed with LSD. In one experiment, they used four times the normal dosage to keep seven addicts stoned for 77 days straight, and they using electroshocks to keep them from falling asleep. They used prostitutes to lure men into a certain room in order to give them LSD-spiked drinks. They sprayed LSD in public places. LSD and hypnosis were used to persuade individuals that they had been abducted by aliens. They promoted psychedelics to the public. Charles Manson, with his occult practices, LSD, and murders, can be linked to the CIA. Their sex, drugs, rock ‘n’ roll, and spiritualism, neutered the antiwar activists of the time. Indeed, the hippy generation became passive materialistic yuppies.

The CIA, with its social engineering programs, media propaganda, and its sexual revolution, was used to prepare America for change—the revamping of society through the use of psychedelic drugs and mysticism. “As illogical as it may seem at first glance, the LSD drugging of the world and an accompanying injection of mystical religion fits neatly into the New World Order—and eugenics—intention for population control and a ‘post-technological’ world. Believing that the world is overpopulated and that resources are being squandered through consumption by the masses, dystopian social visionaries epitomized by those of Tavistock and the Club of Rome have repeatedly urged that the solution is a return to a mystical primitivism—at least for the vast majority of the world’s population. And that primitivism, they seem to believe, can be furthered through the use of drugs and mysticism.”

Captain Alfred Hubbard, who was labeled the “Johnny Appleseed of LSD,” said that LSD was discovered years prior to its announced. He said that it was first discovered by members of Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophical Society—an offshoot of Blavatsky’s occultist Theosophy group—in their quest to discover a “peace pill.” It also looks like Aldous Huxley and George Orwell were both connected to British Intelligence due to their various connections. In Brave New World Revisited, Aldous Huxley said, “If the first half of the twentieth century was the era of the technical engineers, the second half may well be the era of the social engineers—and the twenty-first century, I suppose, will be the era of World Controllers, the scientific caste system and Brave New World. To the question quis cusodiet custodes?—Who will mount guard over our guardians, who will engineer the engineers?—the answer is a bland denial that they need any supervision.” Aldous Huxley was a proponent of LSD. He asked his wife for LSD on his death dead. He had his soma and died.

They implanted electrodes into people’s brains, while injecting various drugs into their brain tissue. By implanting electrodes into the brain, they could switch on and off various emotional and mental states such as feelings of fear or well-being. They could even cause sexual sensations. They also had the ability to manipulate memory and artificially induce hallucinations.

Dr. Delgado, MK-Ultra’s infamous psychopath, found that low intensity electromagnetic fields could alter DNA. He remarked, “Our understanding of genetics is very clumsy at present. But if we can produce lethal mutations with EMF fields, perhaps we will someday be able to use the technique to produce behavior changes.” Delgado said, “This new knowledge is so important that I think it should radically change the philosophy of our educational system, which believes in the sanctity of individuals, thinking that an individual exists at birth. This belief is not true. And this science is going to prove the fallacy of democracy in the sense that we talk about the rights of the individual; this democratic belief is not true. Because we are forming this individual, because we are constructing his brain, we are willy nilly making the differences we either desire or dislike.”

In 1956, Curtiss Shafer said, “The ultimate achievement of biocontrol may be man himself. The controlled subjects would never be permitted to think as individuals. A few months after birth, a surgeon would equip each child with a socket mounted under the scalp and electrodes reaching selected areas of brain tissue.” He stated that “sensory perceptions and muscular activity could be either modified or completely controlled by bioelectric signals radiating from state-controlled transmitters.” In 1968, Dr. Stuart Mackay, a specialist in brain implants wrote, “Among the many telemetry instruments being used today are miniature radio transmitters that can be swallowed, carried externally, or surgically implanted in man or animal.”

As early as World War II, American Intelligence was using psychiatrists to split the personalities of military personnel, so that they could insert false memories into their minds. They found that certain drugs, along with hypnosis, worked well with some subjects.

It appears that Lee Harvey Oswald was under mind control. A book written in 1969 claimed that the CIA used a method called Radio Hypnotic Intracerebral Control and Electronic Dissolution of Memory (RHIC-EDOM) to program Oswald. A CIA agent named Herman Kimsey said that “Oswald was programmed to kill.” Of course, Kimsey quickly ended up dead. As documented in the Warren Report, Oswald allegedly lived at the home of a psychiatrist named Francisco Silva prior to the assassination of JFK. Silva had collaborated in his scientific writings with scientist Robert Heath, who was known for his surgical brain physiology experiments. Oswald was friends with David Ferrie, who was also a hypnotist. On the day of the assassination, Oswald’s wallet contained Ferrie’s library card. A friend of Ferrie, Jack Martin, said that Ferrie had hypnotically programmed Oswald to kill Kennedy. Lee Harvey Oswald had attended ritualistic parties with David Ferrie. During the time that Ferrie was testifying about the Kennedy assassination, he was found dead in his apartment.

Jack Ruby, who killed Lee Harvey Oswald, also appeared to be under mind control. An evaluation of Jack Ruby by a number of doctors yielded some interesting results. According to Dr. Walter Bromberg, Ruby was “preset to be a fighter, to attack.” Dr. Bromberg also stated, “Definitely there is a block to his thinking which is no part of his original mental endowment.” Dr. Roy Schafer remarked, “He appears to feel not altogether in control of his body actions, as if they occur independently of his conscious will at times.” Dr. Manfred Guttmacher, suggested that Ruby’s brain had somehow been damaged. Ruby, in his correspondence with journalist Lincoln Lawrence, said they had used clever means to trick him into silencing Oswald. Ruby remarked, “I walked into a trap the moment I walked down that ramp Sunday morning.” Ruby also stated that he was framed and that they were after his blood. “In the end, no one listened to what Ruby had to say, except for journalist Dorothy Kilgallen, who was found ‘suicided’ shortly after her interview with him. Ruby himself was to die soon after from a cancer that he believed had been injected into him.”

Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, who assassinated Robert F. Kennedy, also appeared to be under mind control. Sirhan had received a head injury. He was seeing doctors at the time, and then disappeared for three months. When he returned, he had gained an interest in the occult. Many times drugs, hypnosis, and the occult are used in mind control. After the murder of Kennedy, numerous people said that Sirhan had a hypnotic-like demeanour. When Sirhan was questioned about the assassination, he said, “I don’t remember much about the shooting, sir, did I do it? Well, yes, I am told I did it. I remember being at the Ambassador [Hotel]. I am drinking Tom Collinses. I got dizzy. I went back to my car so I could go home. But I was too drunk to drive. I thought I’d better find some coffee. The next thing I remember I was being choked and a guy was twisting my knee.” A man named Bill Bryan, who was the president of the American Institute of Hypnosis, also worked for the CIA. Bryan stated that Sirhan had been his client in 1968. It is also known that Bryan hypnotized Albert De Salvo, the “Boston Strangler.” A notebook of Sirhans’ made references to a guy named “Di Salvo.” Without a doubt, there were CIA agents on the ground at the time of the assassination, one of which shouted, “We shot him! We shot him!”

The Jonestown massacre appears to have also been part of a CIA project. It looks like a group brainwashing gone wrong. Congressman Leo Ryan was assassinated during the Jonestown massacre. His friend and attorney, Joe Holsinger, said, “The more I investigate the mysteries of Jonestown, the more I am convinced there is something sinister behind it all. There is no doubt in my mind that Jones had very close CIA connections. At the time of the tragedy, the Temple had three boats in the water off the coast. The boats disappeared shortly afterwards. Remember, Brazil is a country that Jones is very familiar with. He is supposed to have money there. And it is not too far from Guyana. My own feeling is that Jones was ambushed by CIA agents who then disappeared in the boats. But the whole story is so mind-boggling that I’m willing to concede he escaped with them.”

It appears that the FBI was behind the Weather Underground, which was responsible for a series of bombings. American intelligence can also be linked to the Symbionese Liberation Army, which kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst in 1974.

During the cold war, both Russia and the United States were beaming radio signals worldwide. These signals affected the human brain. These low frequencies could travel through the earth and the atmosphere, and there was no escaping them—they penetrated anything and everything. These frequencies could not be jammed. They caused symptoms of headaches, anxiety, lack of body coordination, and other symptoms such as depression.

Various beliefs can be implanted in people after brain function has been greatly disturbed by fear, anger, or excitement. The most common effect is temporarily impaired judgment and heightened suggestibility. When this happens to a group, it is sometimes called ‘herd instinct.’ This phenomenon usually happens during war, epidemics, and periods of danger, which increases anxiety and mass suggestibility.

The CIA likes to use trauma based mind control. They show individuals pictures and movies of bestiality, human sacrifices, and cannibalism. They cause some subjects to participate in such acts. They mess with peoples sensories by drugging them up for long periods, putting them in confined spaces (include holes), placing them in water, and using strobe lights and various noises. The victims lose all sense of time and end up in a zombie-like state. The CIA has also used trauma-based mind control on small children, turning them into little Epstein-style pawns to entrap unwitting men with hidden cameras. These poor children have been abused in the most vile and wicked ways! These evils are still happening today!

“A person’s memory, consciousness, and sense of self can be fully accessed and modified by electromagnetic means.” “Experiences, feelings, memories—virtually any mental state—can be artificially injected into a human brain from an exterior source. The most frightening thing is that the means for doing this already exist in a fully operational form on a worldwide basis.”

In the early 90s, they spoke about hardwiring humans with silicon computer chips in order to not only trigger neuron impulses but also to receive them. A lab in the 90s was working on an implantable chip that could record the data of the electrical pulses that flow through the nervous system from the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and sense of touch. They said that in the future they would use Directed Energy Systems for molding the perception of the public. Those who would reject this mind control would be identified through inter-agency databases, and computerized personality simulators would develop tailor-made psychological warfare programs for use against them. They also said that if the U.S. were to remain a successful superpower, it would need to have information dominance. Part of this dominance would include developing a satellite-linked information grind that would monitor those who would be implanted with a “microscopic brain chip.” Since the mid-eighties, they have used satellites not only to track victims but also to beam them with electromagnetic weapons from space. Anyone remember the Star Wars project that was started in the eighties? Twenty-five scientists, who worked for a UK firm linked to the Star Wars project, died suspiciously.

“As reported in the New York Times, in 1998, British Telecommunications is currently at work on a device that they dub the Soul Catcher, a computer chip implanted in the optic nerve behind the eye that, in conjunction with genetic programming, will monitor and record the entirety of a person’s thinking, what they see, what they feel. This information, according to Dr. Chris Winter of British Telecommunications, will be stored in a central computer. Information will also be fed to the person from an exterior computerized source, for ‘extrasensory’ experience. Among the other capabilities foreseen for Soul Catcher is the implanting of one person’s chip into a newborn baby, thus transplanting the entire experience of one person into another.”

They use microwaves to beam images and voices into people’s heads. They use Voice to Skull technology to verbally abuse them. They use frequencies to cause them great pain. The CIA can use these tactics to persuade their victims to kill others or to commit suicide. Their victims have no privacy, their every thought is read. Artificial intelligence is also used to reply to their thoughts, constantly driving their victims crazy.

Indeed, today the CIA is using Directed Energy Weapons in conjunction with Voice of God Weapons. These attacks can cause extreme torment, even severe burns. People are being physically and psychologically tortured. They even use these electromagnetic weapons to sexual assault and rape their female victims. Gang-stalking is also used against their victims—perpetrators physically stalk, harass, and intimidate them. Victims will have their homes broken into and their property vandalized. Stalkers will approach their victims on the streets and tell them about something they were thinking. A gang-stalker came out as a whistleblower and said that the CIA was paying him 10 thousand a month to stalk people. His job was to stalk at least one person a day. He had to make sure the victim saw him. Then, to prove that he did his job, he had to send a video of the victim to the CIA. A lot of these victims lose their family and friends, their jobs and homes, and many commit suicide. The victims become powerless, and society looks on them as crazy or mentally ill. Therefore, these people do not have a voice.

Whole families are targeted, including children. They even speak to young children using their mother’s voice. They torture these little ones, causing them to writhe and scream uncontrollably. This has happen to children as young as three!

DARPA has been working on next-generation non-surgical neurotechnology for the development of bi-directional brain control technology interfaces. This nanotechnology will be capable of entering the body through the mouth, nose, or by injection. Once this nanotechnology enters the body, it will migrate to the brain, where it will act as sensors and transmitters. This technology has the capability of mind control.

While Investigating Havana Syndrome, individuals were found emitting electromagnetic radiation in the lower megahertz range. This was due to nanotechnology, which was assembling at high density nerve endings in the body. At present, this nanotechnology can literally be measured in everyone. This technology exponentially increased after COVID-19. This nanobot technology is made with silicon. Jesse Beltran is an expert on Havana Syndrome, and his job is to investigate and test people who are suspected of having Havana Syndrome. He claims that everyone he has tested, whether targeted or not, has this nanotechnology in their bodies. He thinks there is a switch that turns this technology on, so that it can pick up outside frequencies. Those who have Havana Syndrome have this switch turned on. Those who don’t have Havana Syndrome have this switch turned off. He hypothesizes that once 6G is set up and fully functional, all switches will be turned on and everyone will be on this system.

I love Revelation 18:13! The end of verse 13 is usually translated something like the “slaves and souls of men,” but it can be translated the “bodies and souls of men” like in the New King James Version. I love the ring to that! In the original language this word slave, properly indicates the body. The word means body first, then secondarily it means slave. If one expounded on the verse, it could be translated like this: the bodies of slaves and the souls of men. Enslaving the body is one thing, enslaving the soul is another! This Babylonian (Tower of Babel) system in Revelation 18 makes merchandise of the bodies and souls of men. I have chosen the words “made merchandise of” strategically. In the context of Christianity, one meaning of this phrase denotes the exploitation of a person for profit in a deceptive or unethical manner, and it indicates a betrayal of trust in a relationship. An example of this in the Bible was when Laban took advantage of Jacob. The Beast system will be sold as something great, as something to help unit humanity, yet this promise will be betrayed and those who take the Mark of the Beast will be exploited. The Beast system will usher humanity into transhumanism. This will be the betrayal of humanity. This global mind control network will control the masses remotely, exploiting the bodies and souls of men. You have been forewarned. Repent and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The OV-10 Bronco was initially conceived in the early 1960s through an informal collaboration between W. H. Beckett and Colonel K. P. Rice, U.S. Marine Corps, who met at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, California, and who also happened to live near each other. The original concept was for a rugged, simple, close air support aircraft integrated with forward ground operations. At the time, the U.S. Army was still experimenting with armed helicopters, and the U.S. Air Force was not interested in close air support.

The concept aircraft was to operate from expedient forward air bases using roads as runways. Speed was to be from very slow to medium subsonic, with much longer loiter times than a pure jet. Efficient turboprop engines would give better performance than piston engines. Weapons were to be mounted on the centerline to get efficient aiming. The inventors favored strafing weapons such as self-loading recoilless rifles, which could deliver aimed explosive shells with less recoil than cannons, and a lower per-round weight than rockets. The airframe was to be designed to avoid the back blast.

The MV-10Hs are expected to provide support for these ground units in the form of all-weather reconnaissance and observation, close air support and also forward air control duties for supporting ground units. Precision ground strikes and protection from enemy helicopters and low-flying aircraft were other, secondary missions for the modernized Broncos, which are expected to serve well into the 2040s. Exports or conversions of foreign OV-10s to the Black Pony standard are not planned, though.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2

Length: 42 ft 2½ in (12,88 m) incl. pitot

Wingspan: 45 ft 10½ in(14 m) incl. tip sails

Height: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)

Wing area: 290.95 sq ft (27.03 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 64A315

Empty weight: 9,090 lb (4,127 kg)

Gross weight: 13,068 lb (5,931 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 17,318 lb (7,862 kg)

Powerplant:

2× General Electric CT7-9D turboprop engines, 1,305 kW (1,750 hp) each,

driving 8-bladed Hamilton Standard 8 ft 6 in (2.59 m) diameter constant-speed,

fully feathering, reversible contra-rotating propellers with metal hub and composite blades

Performance:

Maximum speed: 390 mph (340 kn, 625 km/h)

Combat range: 198 nmi (228 mi, 367 km)

Ferry range: 1,200 nmi (1,400 mi, 2,200 km) with auxiliary fuel

Maximum loiter time: 5.5 h with auxiliary fuel

Service ceiling: 32.750 ft (10,000 m)

13,500 ft (4.210 m) on one engine

Rate of climb: 17.400 ft/min (48 m/s) at sea level

Take-off run: 480 ft (150 m)

740 ft (227 m) to 50 ft (15 m)

1,870 ft (570 m) to 50 ft (15 m) at MTOW

Landing run: 490 ft (150 m)

785 ft (240 m) at MTOW

1,015 ft (310 m) from 50 ft (15 m)

Armament:

1x M197 3-barreled 20 mm Gatling cannon in a chin turret with 750 rounds ammo capacity

7x hardpoints for a total load of 5.000 lb (2,270 kg)

2x wingtip launch rails for AIM-9 Sidewinder AAMs

The kit and its assembly:

This fictional Bronco update/conversion was simply spawned by the idea: could it be possible to replace the original cockpit section with one from an AH-1 Cobra, for a kind of gunship version?

The basis is the Academy OV-10D kit, mated with the cockpit section from a Fujimi AH-1S TOW Cobra (Revell re-boxing, though), chosen because of its “boxy” cockpit section with flat glass panels – I think that it conveys the idea of an armored cockpit section best. Combining these parts was not easy, though, even though the plan sound simple. Initially, the Bronco’s twin booms, wings and stabilizer were built separately, because this made PSR on these sections easier than trying the same on a completed airframe. One of the initial challenges: the different engines. I wanted something uprated, and a different look, and I had a pair of (excellent!) 1:144 resin engines from the Russian company Kompakt Zip for a Tu-95 bomber at hand, which come together with movable(!) eight-blade contraprops that were an almost perfect size match for the original three-blade props. Biggest problem: the Tu-95 nacelles have a perfectly circular diameter, while the OV-10’s booms are square and rectangular. Combining these parts and shapes was already a messy PST affair, but it worked out quite well – even though the result rather reminds of some Chinese upgrade measure (anyone know the Tu-4 copies with turboprops? This here looks similar!). But while not pretty, I think that the beafier look works well and adds to the idea of a “revived” aircraft. And you can hardly beat the menacing look of contraprops on anything...

The exotic, so-called “tip sails” on the wings, mounted on short booms, are a detail borrowed from the Shijiazhuang Y-5B-100, an updated Chinese variant/copy of the Antonov An-2 biplane transporter. The booms are simple pieces of sprue from the Bronco kit, the winglets were cut from 0.5mm styrene sheet.

For the cockpit donor, the AH-1’s front section was roughly built, including the engine section (which is a separate module, so that the basic kit can be sold with different engine sections), and then the helicopter hull was cut and trimmed down to match the original Bronco pod and to fit under the wing. This became more complicated than expected, because a) the AH-1 cockpit and the nose are considerably shorter than the OV-10s, b) the AH-1 fuselage is markedly taller than the Bronco’s and c) the engine section, which would end up in the area of the wing, features major recesses, making the surface very uneven – calling for massive PSR to even this out. PSR was also necessary to hide the openings for the Fujimi AH-1’s stub wings. Other issues: the front landing gear (and its well) had to be added, as well as the OV-10 wing stubs. Furthermore, the new cockpit pod’s rear section needed an aerodynamical end/fairing, but I found a leftover Academy OV-10 section from a build/kitbashing many moons ago. Perfect match!

All these challenges could be tackled, even though the AH-1 cockpit looks surprisingly stout and massive on the Bronco’s airframe - the result looks stockier than expected, but it works well for the "Gunship" theme. Lots of PSR went into the new central fuselage section, though, even before it was mated with the OV-10 wing and the rest of the model.

Once cockpit and wing were finally mated, the seams had to disappear under even more PSR and a spinal extension of the canopy had to be sculpted across the upper wing surface, which would meld with the pod’s tail in a (more or less) harmonious shape. Not an easy task, and the fairing was eventually sculpted with 2C putty, plus even more PSR… Looks quite homogenous, though.

After this massive body work, other hardware challenges appeared like small distractions. The landing gear was another major issue because the deeper AH-1 section lowered the ground clearance, also because of the chin turret. To counter this, I raised the OV-10’s main landing gear by ~2mm – not much, but it was enough to create a credible stance, together with the front landing gear transplant under the cockpit, which received an internal console to match the main landing gear’s length. Due to the chin turret and the shorter nose, the front wheel retracts backwards now. But this looks quite plausible, thanks to the additional space under the cockpit tub, which also made a belt feed for the gun’s ammunition supply believable.

To enhance the menacing look I gave the model a fixed refueling boom, made from 1mm steel wire and a receptor adapter sculpted with white glue. The latter stuff was also used add some antenna fairings around the hull. Some antennae, chaff dispensers and an IR decoy were taken from the Academy kit.

The ordnance came from various sources. The Sidewinders under the wing tips were taken from an Italeri F-16C/D kit, they look better than the missiles from the Academy Bronco kit. Their launch rails came from an Italeri Bae Hawk 200. The quadruple Hellfire launchers on the underwing hardpoints were left over from an Italeri AH-1W, and they are a perfect load for this aircraft and its role. The LAU-10 and -19 missile pods on the stub wings were taken from the OV-10 kit.

Painting and markings:

Finding a suitable and somewhat interesting – but still plausible – paint scheme was not easy. Taking the A-10 as benchmark, an overall light grey livery (with focus on low contrast against the sky as protection against ground fire) would have been a likely choice – and in fact the last operational American OV-10s were painted in this fashion. But in order to provide a different look I used the contemporary USAF V-22Bs and Special Operations MC-130s as benchmark, which typically carry a darker paint scheme consisting of FS 36118 (suitably “Gunship Gray” :D) from above, FS 36375 underneath, with a low, wavy waterline, plus low-viz markings. Not spectacular, but plausible – and very similar to the late r/w Colombian OV-10s.

The cockpit tub became Dark Gull Grey (FS 36231, Humbrol 140) and the landing gear white (Revell 301).

The model received an overall black ink washing and some post-panel-shading, to liven up the dull all-grey livery. The decals were gathered from various sources, and I settled for black USAF low-viz markings. The “stars and bars” come from a late USAF F-4, the “IP” tail code was tailored from F-16 markings and the shark mouth was taken from an Academy AH-64. Most stencils came from another Academy OV-10 sheet and some other sources.

Decals were also used to create the trim on the propeller blades and markings on the ordnance.

Finally, the model was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish (Italeri) and some exhaust soot stains were added with graphite along the tail boom flanks.

A successful transplantation – but is this still a modified Bronco or already a kitbashing? The result looks quite plausible and menacing, even though the TOW Cobra front section appears relatively massive. But thanks to the bigger engines and extended wing tips the proportions still work. The large low-pressure tires look a bit goofy under the aircraft, but they are original. The grey livery works IMHO well, too – a more colorful or garish scheme would certainly have distracted from the modified technical basis.

The work of Leo Villareal at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC -- see the link below. This moving walkway between the West and East Galleries of the NGA was always cool -- then the artist Leo Villareal made it utterly spectacular with this computerized 41000 LED bulb display.

Feel free to use the image in whatever way you want! I would be very grateful for a credit link to www.planetofsuccess.com/blog/ IF you publish this image on a reputable website (such as about.com) or in a reputable newspaper. Thank you!

__________

The depicted calendar is a simple week and weekday calendar-system (ISO8601 standard). Two levels of cycles: year, month and day. A system that is used by the Gregorian, Hebrew, Islamic and Julian calendar.

__________

A calendar is a system of organizing days for social, religious, commercial, or administrative purposes. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months, and years. The name given to each day is known as a date. Periods in a calendar (such as years and months) are usually, though not necessarily, synchronized with the cycle of the sun or the moon. Many civilizations and societies have devised a calendar, usually derived from other calendars on which they model their systems, suited to their particular needs.

A calendar is also a physical device (often paper). This is the most common usage of the word. Other similar types of calendars can include computerized systems, which can be set to remind the user of upcoming events and appointments.

The English word calendar is derived from the Latin word kalendae, which was the Latin name of the first day of every month.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar

San Antonio, TX. 3226

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Georgian Air Force and Air Defense Division (თავდაცვის ძალების ავიაციისა და საჰაერო თავდაცვის სარდლობა; tavdatsvis dzalebis aviatsiisa da sahaero tavdatsvis sardloba) was established on January 1, 1992, and in September the Georgian Air Force conducted its first combat flight during the separatist war in Abkhazia. On August 18, 1998, the two divisions were unified in a joint command structure and renamed the Georgian Air Force.

In 2010, the Georgian Air Force was abolished as a separate branch and incorporated into the Georgian Land Forces as Air and Air Defense sections. By that time, the equipment – primarily consisting of Eastern Bloc aircraft inherited from the Soviet Union after the country’s dissolution – was totally outdated, the most potent aircraft were a dozen Suchoj Su-25 attack aircraft and a handful of MiG-21U trainers.

The TAM-1’s development was long and protracted, though, primarily due to lack of resources and the fact that the Georgian air force was in an almost comatose state for several years, so that the potential prime customer for the TAM-1 was not officially available. However, the first TAM-1 prototype eventually made its maiden flight in September 2017. This was just in time, because the Georgian Air Force had formally been re-established in 2016, with plans for a major modernization and procurement program. Under the leadership of Georgian Minister of Defense Irakli Garibashvili the Air Force was re-prioritized and aircraft owned by the Georgian Air Force were being modernized and re-serviced after they were left abandoned for 4 years. This program lasted until 2020. In order to become more independent from foreign sources and support its domestic aircraft industry, the Georgian Air Force eventually ordered eight TAM-1s as Su-25K replacements, which would operate alongside a handful of modernized Su-25KMs from national stock. In the meantime, the new type also attained interest from abroad, e. g. from Bulgaria, the Congo and Cyprus. The IDF thoroughly tested two early production TAM-1s of the Georgian Air Force in 2018, too.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 15.53 m (50 ft 11 in), including pitot

Wingspan: 14.36 m (47 ft 1 in)

Height: 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in)

Wing area: 35.2 m² (378 sq ft)

Empty weight: 9,800 kg (21,605 lb)

Gross weight: 14,440 kg (31,835 lb)

Max takeoff weight: 19,300 kg (42,549 lb)

Powerplant:

2× Rolls-Royce AE 3012 turbofans with 44.1 kN (9,920 lbf) thrust each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 975 km/h (606 mph, 526 kn, Mach 0.79)

Range: 1.000 km (620 mi, 540 nmi) with internal fuel, clean

Combat range: 750 km (470 mi, 400 nmi) at sea level with 4.500 kg (9,911 lb) of ordnance,

incl. two external fuel tanks

Service ceiling: 7.800 m (25,550 ft)

g limits: +6.5

Rate of climb: 58 m/s (11,400 ft/min)

Armament:

1× 35 mm (1.38 in) Oerlikon KDA cannon with 200 rds in two magazines

under the lower forward fuselage, offset to port side.

11× hardpoints with a capacity of up to 4.500 kg (9,911 lb) of external stores

The kit and its assembly:

This rather rigorous conversion had been on my project list for many years, and with the “Gunships” group build at whatifmodellers.com in late 2021 I eventually gathered my mojo to tackle it. The ingredients had already been procured long ago, but there are ideas that make you think twice before you take action…

This build was somewhat inspired by a CG rendition of a modified Su-25 that I came across while doing online search for potential ideas, running under the moniker “Su-125”, apparently created by someone called “Bispro” and published at DeviantArt in 2010; check this: (www.deviantart.com/bispro/art/Sukhoi-Su-125-Foghorn-15043...). The rendition shows a Su-25 with its engines re-located to the rear fuselage in separate nacelles, much like an A-10, plus a T-tail. However, as many photoshopped aircraft, the shown concept had IMHO some flaws. Where would a landing gear go, as the Su-125 still had shoulder wings? The engines’ position and size also looked fishy to me, quite small/narrow and very far high and back – I had doubts concerning the center of gravity. Nevertheless, I liked the idea, and the idea of an “A-10-esque remix” of the classic Frogfoot was born.

This idea was fueled even further when I found out that the Hobbycraft kit lends itself to such a conversion. The kit itself is not a brilliant Su-25 rendition, there are certainly better models of the aircraft in 1:72. However, what spoke for the kit as whiffing fodder was/is the fact that it is quite cheap (righteously so!) and AFAIK the only offering that comes with separate engine nacelles. These are attached to a completely independent central fuselage, and this avoids massive bodywork that would be necessary (if possible at all) with more conventional kits of this aircraft.

Another beneficial design feature is that the wing roots are an integral part of the original engine nacelles, forming their top side up to the fuselage spine. Through this, the original wingspan could be retained even without the nacelles, no wing extension would be necessary to retain the original proportions.

Work started with the central fuselage and the cockpit tub, which received a different (better) armored ejection seat and a pilot figure; the canopy remained unmodified and closed, because representing the model with an open cockpit would have required additional major body work on the spinal area behind the canopy. Inside, a new dashboard (from an Italeri BAe Hawk) was added, too – the original instrument panel is just a flat front bulkhead, there’s no space for the pilot to place the legs underneath the dashboard!

In parallel, the fin underwent major surgery. I initially considered an A-10-ish twin tail, but the Su-25’s high “tail stinger” prevented its implementation: the jet efflux would come very close to the tail surfaces. So, I went for something similar to the “Su-125” layout.

Mounting the OOB stabilizers to the fin was challenging, though. The fin lost its di-electric tip fairing, and it was cut into two sections, so that the tip would become long enough to match the stabilizers. A lucky find in the scrap box was a leftover tail tip from a Matchbox Blackburn Buccaneer, already shortened from a former, stillborn project: it had now the perfect length to take the Su-25 stabilizers! To make it fit on the fin, an 8mm deep section was inserted, in the form of a simple 1.5mm styrene sheet strip. Once dry, the surface was re-built with several PSR layers. Since it would sit further back on the new aircraft’s tail, the stinger with a RHAWS sensor was shortened.

On the fuselage, the attachment points for the wings and the engine nacelles were PSRed away and the front section filled with lots of lead beads, hoping that it would be enough to keep the model’s nose down.

Even though the wings had a proper span for a re-location into a low position, they still needed some attention: at the roots, there’s a ~1cm wide section without sweep (the area which would normally cover the original engine nacelles’ tops). This was mended through triangular 1.5 mm styrene wedges that extended the leading-edge sweep, roughly cut into shape once attached and later PSRed into the wings’ surfaces

The next construction site were the new landing gear attachment points. This had caused some serious headaches – where do you place and stow it? With new, low wings settled, the wings were the only logical place. But the wings were too thin to suitably take the retracted wheels, and, following the idea of a retrofitted existing design, I decided to adopt the A-10’s solution of nacelles into which the landing gear retracts forward, with the wheels still partly showing. This layout option appears quite plausible, since it would be a “graft-on” solution, and it also has the benefit of leaving lots of space for underwing stores, since the hardpoints’ position had to be modified now, too.

I was lucky to have a pair of A-10 landing gear nacelles at hand, left over from a wrecked Matchbox model from childhood time (the parts are probably 35 years old!). They were simply cut out, glued to the Su-25 wings and PSRed into shape. The result looked really good!

At this point I had to decide the model’s overall layout – where to place the wings, the tail and the new engine nacelles. The latter were not 1:72 A-10 transplants. I had some spare engine pods from the aforementioned Matchbox wreck, but these looked too rough and toylike for my taste. They were furthermore too bulky for the Su-25, which is markedly smaller than an A-10, so I had to look elsewhere. As a neat alternative for this project, I had already procured many moons ago a set of 1:144 resin PS-90A engines from a Russian company called “A.M.U.R. Reaver”, originally intended for a Tu-204 airliner or an Il-76 transport aircraft. These turbofan nacelles not only look very much like A-10 nacelles, just a bit smaller and more elegant, they are among the best resin aftermarket parts I have ever encountered: almost no flash, crisp molding, no bubbles, and perfect fit of the parts – WOW!

With these three elements at hand I was able to define the wings’ position, based on the tail, and from that the nacelles’ location, relative to the wings and the fin.

The next challenge: how to attach the new engines to the fuselage? The PS-90A engines came without pylons, so I had to improvise. I eventually found suitable pylons in the form of parts from F-14A underwing missile pylons, left over from an Italeri kit. Some major tailoring was necessary to find a proper position on the nacelles and on the fuselage, and PSRing these parts turned out to be quite difficult because of the tight and labyrinthine space.

When the engines were in place, work shifted towards the model’s underside. The landing gear was fully replaced. I initially wanted to retain the front wheel leg and the main wheels but found that the low wings would not allow a good ground clearance for underwing stores and re-arming the aircraft, a slightly taller solution was necessary. I eventually found a complete landing gear set in the scrap box, even though I am not certain to which aircraft it once belonged? I guess that the front wheel came from a Hasegawa RA-5C Vigilante, while the main gear and the wheels once belonged to an Italeri F-14A, alle struts were slightly shortened. The resulting stance is still a bit stalky, but an A-10 is also quite tall – this is just not so obvious because of the aircraft’s sheer size.

Due to the low wings and the landing gear pods, the Su-25’s hardpoints had to be re-arranged, and this eventually led to a layout very similar to the A-10. I gave the aircraft a pair of pylons inside of the pods, plus three hardpoints under the fuselage, even though all of these would only be used when slim ordnance was carried. I just fitted the outer pair. Outside of the landing gear fairings there would have been enough space for the Frogfoot’s original four outer for pylons, but I found this to be a little too much. So I gave it “just” three, with more space between them.

The respective ordnance is a mix for a CAS mission with dedicated and occasional targets. It consists of:

- Drop tanks under the inner wings (left over from a Bilek Su-17/22 kit)

- A pair of B-8M1 FFAR pods under the fuselage (from a vintage Mastercraft USSR weapon set)

- Two MERs with four 200 kg bombs each, mounted on the pylons outside of the landing gear (the odd MERs came from a Special Hobby IDF SMB-2 Super Mystère kit, the bombs are actually 1:100 USAF 750 lb bombs from a Tamiya F-105 Thunderchief in that scale)

- Four CBU-100 Rockeye Mk. II cluster bombs on the outer stations (from two Italeri USA/NATO weapon sets, each only offers a pair of these)

Yes, it’s a mix of Russian and NATO ordnance – but, like the real Georgian Su-25KM “Scorpion” upgrade, the TAM-1 would certainly be able to carry the same or even a wider mix, thanks to modified bomb racks and wirings. Esp. “dumb” weapons, which do not call for special targeting and guidance avionics, are qualified.

The gun under the nose was replaced with a piece from a hollow steel needle.

Painting and markings:

Nothing unusual here. I considered some more “exotic” options, but eventually settled for a “conservative” Soviet/Russian-style four-tone tactical camouflage, something that “normal” Su-25s would carry, too.

The disruptive pattern was adapted from a Macedonian Frogfoot but underwent some changes due to the T-tail and the engine nacelles. The basic tones were Humbrol 119 (RAF Light Earth), 150 (Forest Green), 195 (Chrome Oxide Green, RAL 6020) and 98 (Chocolate) on the upper surfaces and RLM78 from (Modelmaster #2087) from below, with a relatively low waterline, due to the low-set wings.

As usual, the model received a light black ink washing and some post-shading – especially on the hull and on the fin, where many details had either disappeared under PSR or were simply not there at all.

The landing gear and the lower areas of the cockpit were painted in light grey (Humbrol 64), while the upper cockpit sections were painted with bright turquoise (Modelmaster #2135). The wheel hubs were painted in bright green (Humbrol 101), while some di-electric fairings received a slightly less intense tone (Humbrol 2). A few of these flat fairings on the hull were furthermore created with green decal sheet material (from TL Modellbau) to avoid masking and corrections with paint.

The tactical markings became minimal, matching the look of late Georgian Su-25s. The roundels came from a Balkan Models Frogfoot sheet. The “07” was taken from a Blue Rider decal sheet, it actually belongs to a Lithuanian An-2. Some white stencils from generic MiG-21 and Mi-8 Begemot sheets were added, too, and some small markings were just painted onto the hull with yellow.

Some soot stains around the jet nozzles and the gun were added with graphite, and finally the kit was sealed with a coat of matt acrylic varnish.

A major bodywork project – and it’s weird that this is basically just a conversion of a stock kit and no kitbashing. A true Frogfoot remix! The new engines were the biggest “outsourced” addition, the A-10 landing gear fairings were a lucky find in the scrap box, and the rest is quite generic and could have looked differently. The result is impressive and balanced, though, the fictional TAM-1 looks quite plausible. The landing gear turned out to be a bit tall and stalky, though, making the aircraft look smaller on the ground than it actually is – but I left it that way.