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Santa Fe 2-10-4 #5000, nicknamed Madame Queen.
The locomotive is tender-driven but houses an own Power Functions L-Motor to help the coupling rods and valve gear rotate smoothly.
The head lamp is lit by an old style 9V lamp and two additional 9V light bars produce a flickering fire in the fire box.
The locomotive measures 10 studs across the cab.
Madame Queen has been featured on Brick Model Railroader! Read my interview here:
brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2018/05/11/madame-quee...
ModĆØle / Model : Renault Kangoo II
Affectation / Assignment : Gendarmerie Nationale, Gendarmerie DĆ©partementale / National Gendarmerie, Departmental Gendarmerie
Fonction / Function : VƩhicule lƩger multi-usage / Multi-use light vehicle
Mise en service / Commissioning : Juillet 2009 / July 2009
Ćquipementier / Maker : Gruau
ĆvĆ©nement / Event : Rencontres de la SĆ©curitĆ© 2016 / Meetings of the Safety 2016
Black Cat with Power Functions!
I noticed no one has ever put PF to this set, so I had to do it!
1 servo motor
1 XL motor
1 battery box
1 SBrick
Let's you drive the truck with your smartphone.
All power function parts are packed into the truck's chassis, so the interieur is not modified at all!
I also added double tires on the rear axles
Although not intended to be pretty, the turntable elegantly solves a problem: how to turn the small locomotive round so that it can pull the coaches back up the track.
Today the Hereios of the Weāre Here! Group are shooting Pretty Pictures of Ugly Things.
For more pictures and a video please go here. And I'd appreciate it if You'd comment there as well as here. Thank You for stopping by.
ModĆØle / Model : Renault Master II
Affectation / Assignment : Service DĆ©partemental d'Incendie et de Secours de l'Oise (SDIS 60) / Departmental Fire and Rescue Service of Oise
Fonction / Function : VĆ©hicule Communication (COM) / Communication Vehicle
Ancienne fonction / Former function : VĆ©hicule de Secours et d'Assistance aux Victimes (VSAV) / Vehicle of Rescue and Assistance to the Victims
RĆ©-immatriculation / Re-registration : Novembre 2012 / November 2012
Ćquipementier / Maker : TIB (Tolerie Industrielle de Brezolles) / TIB (Industrial Sheet Metal Workshop of Brezolles)
ĆvĆ©nement / Event : JournĆ©e dĆ©couverte du savoir faire des pompiers de Creil 2018 / Day of discovery of the work of the fire brigades of Creil 2018
Santa Fe 2-10-4 #5000, nicknamed Madame Queen.
The locomotive is tender-driven but houses an own Power Functions L-Motor to help the coupling rods and valve gear rotate smoothly.
The head lamp is lit by an old style 9V lamp and two additional 9V light bars produce a flickering fire in the fire box.
The locomotive measures 10 studs across the cab.
Madame Queen has been featured on Brick Model Railroader! Read my interview here:
brickmodelrailroader.com/index.php/2018/05/11/madame-quee...
Wotton House is a hotel, training centre and former country house in Wotton near Dorking, Surrey, England. Originally the centre of the Wotton Estate and the seat of the Evelyn family, it was the birthplace in 1620 of diarist and landscape gardener John Evelyn, who built the first Italian garden in England there.
Construction
The house was built in the early 17th century by the Evelyn family who extended it in the later 17th century. In the 18th century it was extended eastwards by William Kent. Further extensions and alterations were made in the early 19th century by Francis Edwards. Following a fire in the 1870s the house was restored and enlarged by Henry Woodyer for William John Evelyn in 1877.[2]
Its architectural features include distinctive terracotta decorations on brickwork, octagonal turrets and stacks, winged gryphons on the porch, and plaster wall panels by Kent painted in Chinese style by Belgian Jean Derraux.[2] The old orangery (now the centre's bar[3]), has a decorative parapet and banded piers. Many of the doors feature small paintings above them
The estate
Wotton House, rear view showing terraced gardens, 2003
John Evelyn (1620ā1706) and his elder brother George created the first Italian garden in England. Work on it started in 1643, was completed by 1652,[1] and it is the house's most famous feature.[2] The grounds are unusually highly listed as Grade II* and have two grottoes close to the house.[2][4][5][6]
The River Tillingbourne flows through the estate, which had its own mill at one time. The mill was originally used for the manufacture off gunpowder, a major source of the family's fortune. Later the mill was adapted for use as a wire-works and copper mill
Notable residents
Wotton House was the family seat of the Evelyn Family. John Evelyn, a diarist, landscape designer and collector, was born in a room still in existence there. He inherited the house and estates on the death of his brother George in 1699.[2]
The descendants who inherited the house in turn included Conservative politician William John Evelyn (1822-1908), who was elected MP for Western Surrey from 1849 until 1857 and became MP for Deptford in 1885 until resigning in 1888.
Post-war use
Between 1947 and 1981 the house was leased to the Home Office and used as the Fire Service College.[8][9]
Grade II* listed status was given to the garden in 1984, and the house and its two garden grottoes became Grade II* listed in 1987.[10]
Twenty-first century
Wotton House being used as a wedding venue
In 2003, having been fully refurbished following a period of relative neglect, Wotton House was re-opened as a hotel, wedding venue, training and conference centre.[11][2][10][3] The property is currently owned and run by the Principal Hayley Group. wikipedia
Camera: Nikon D800E
Lens: Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G
Filter: B+W UV
Tripod/Handheld: Handheld
Post-processing:
Nikon ViewNX 2
Building history
Until 1918, the sprawling castle complex in the heart of Vienna was the political center of the monarchy; today it fulfills the same function for democratic Austria. Where once Emperor Joseph II designed his revolutionary reform program, where events of the Congress of Vienna took place (the "Vienna Congress danced") and where Emperor Franz Joseph granted audience, the President of the Republic resides. Numerous cultural institutions - from the Austrian National Library to the Spanish Riding School - are also housed in the asymmetrical building complex with its 19 courtyards and 18 wings, which has grown over the centuries.
In the Silver chamber document splendid dining services, up to 30-meter-long centerpieces and exquisite table linen the impressive splendor of the imperial table culture. A complex picture of Empress Elisabeth opens up to the visitors in the Sisi Museum. Numerous, partly very personal exhibits provide exciting insights into the official and the private world of the monarch. Visiting the imperial apartments, the visitors gain an insight into the lifeworld of Austria's most famous ruling couple. The 24 working, living and reception rooms of Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Sisi are for the most part historically authentically furnished and, in their comparatively modest appearance, are a striking contrast to the lush splendor of the summer residence Schƶnbrunn.
For more than 600 years, the Vienna Hofburg had been the residence of the Austrian sovereign princes and developed into a center of European history that had evolved over the centuries, to which the constant expansion of the Habsburg city residence also contributed. From here, the Habsburgs ruled since the 13th century, first as Austrian rulers, from 1452 as elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and finally from 1806 as Austrian emperors until the end of the monarchy in 1918.
Starting from a medieval, fortified castle of the 13th century, each emperor extended the residence by building a new wing or tract. The extensive asymmetric complex, which stretches over 240,000 m2, consists of 18 wings, 19 courtyards and 2,600 rooms, in which around 5,000 people still live and work today.
The oldest part of the Hofburg is the Alte Burg (Old Castle), which has been called the Swiss Wing since the 18th century after the Swiss Guard, who served here as the castle guard. The medieval castle complex is preserved in its core to this day, only the four corner towers, the largest part of the moat and the drawbridge had to give way to the changes over time. In the middle of the 16th century, the facade was renewed in the style of the Renaissance.
1552 arose the by Pietro Ferabosco designed Swiss gate, one of the few Renaissance monuments in Vienna. In this tract is the Treasury, where the insignia of the Holy Roman Empire as well as those of the Austrian Empire are kept. In the castle chapel, built in 1449, the Vienna Boys' Choir still sings at the Sunday mass.
1559 was begun with the construction of the stable castle as a new residence. The stables of the famous Lipizzaner horses have been here since the 18th century. Every day (except Mondays) they do their morning training or demonstrations in the opposite Winter riding school.
Opposite the Swiss Wing, the Amalienburg was built as a freestanding building in the 16th century. It owes its name to the Empress Wilhelmine Amalie, for whom here after the death of her husband Emperor Joseph I, a corresponding widow's apartment was established. Most recently Empress Elisabeth lived in this part of the Hofburg, whose apartments can be visited today.
In the 17th century, Emperor Leopold I had the Swiss Wing linked to the Amalienburg. The newly created and named after the emperor early Baroque Leopoldinian tract was built in 1668-1680 and inhabited in the 18th century by Maria Theresa. After her death, the premises were used until the end of the monarchy as splendid state rooms. Since 1946 here is the official residence of the Austrian Federal President.
In one part of the Hofburg, the Hofweinkeller (Imperial wine cellar) was located in the basement on three underground floors. After the end of the monarchy, the wine stocks stored there were auctioned off and a plaster model depot was set up, in which the models of the fountains and monuments of the Ring Road buildings are kept.
In the 18th century, the Hofburg was under Emperor Charles VI expanded by sumptuous Baroque buildings designed and begun by Court architect Joseph Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. In 1723, after the death of the architect, his son Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach took over the construction management.
1723-1735, the National Library was built as a Court library for the precious book inventory of the Habsburgs. With its impressive Baroque interior, the State Hall is one of the most beautiful library halls in the world.
After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in 1806, the chancellery and representation rooms have been converted into living quarters for the now Austrian imperial family. From the middle of the 19th century, Emperor Franz Joseph resided here.
The sculptures on the portals are by Lorenzo Mattielli, circa 1730, depicting the deeds of Hercules. In the middle section is the Emperor's Gate, which forms the entrance to the imperial apartments. On the edge of the roof rises the imposing escutcheon of Emperor Charles VI with the double-headed eagle, which among other things carries the Austrian Bindenschild ("gules a fess argent", with the Austrian colors red-white-red) and is superelevated by the imperial crown.
With the death of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach another architect of the Austrian Baroque, Lukas von Hildebrandt, saw his chance. While Fischer's son was to realize his father's plans, Hildebrandt was able to begin planning activities at the Reichskanzleitrakt (Imperial Chancellery Wing), where the Chancery of the Holy Roman Empire was initially housed. At the request of the emperor, after all, Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach finally finished the wing in 1730.
In 1735, Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach also completed the Winter Riding School, in which the Spanish Riding School shows are still held today. Subsequently, the RedoutensƤle (Redoute ballrooms) were built, in which large receptions, balls and other festivities took place and which today serve as a convention center.
The sumptuous ceremonial hall, in which also many of the imperial family celebrations have been celebrated and in which many of the famous Viennese balls take place, was built by Ludwig Montoyer at the beginning of the 19th century.
Only at the end of the 19th century, when the Old Burgtheater was demolished, completed Ferdinand Kirschner after plans by Fischer von Erlach the Michaelertrakt (St. Michael Wing), with its curved facade and its fifty-meter-high dome shaping the appearance of the inner city side of the Hofburg until today.
At the beginning of the 20th century, shortly before the end of the monarchy, the most imposing part of the Hofburg, the Neue Hofburg (New Hofburg Castle), was finally completed as part of the "Kaiserforum" planned by Gottfried Semper and Karl Hasenauer. Today, it houses a part of the Austrian National Library and its various collections, as well as those of various museums.
Baugeschichte
Bis 1918 war die weitlƤufige Burganlage im Herzen Wiens das politische Zentrum der Monarchie, heute erfĆ¼llt sie dieselbe Funktion fĆ¼r das demokratische Ćsterreich. Wo einst Kaiser Joseph II. sein revolutionƤres Reformprogramm entwarf, wo Veranstaltungen des Wiener Kongresses stattfanden (der āWiener Kongress tanzteā) und wo Kaiser Franz Joseph Audienz gewƤhrte, residiert nun der BundesprƤsident der Republik. Auch zahlreiche kulturelle Institutionen - von der Ćsterreichischen Nationalbibliothek bis zur Spanischen Hofreitschule - sind in dem Ć¼ber Jahrhunderte gewachsenen asymmetrischen GebƤudekomplex mit seinen 19 Hƶfen und 18 Trakten untergebracht.
In der Silberkammer dokumentieren prachtvolle Speiseservice, bis zu 30 Meter lange TafelaufsƤtze und exquisite TischwƤsche die beeindruckende Pracht der kaiserlichen Tafelkultur. Ein vielschichtiges Bild der Kaiserin Elisabeth erschlieĆt sich im Sisi Museum den BesucherInnen. Zahlreiche, teils sehr persƶnliche Exponate ermƶglichen spannende Einblicke in die offizielle und in die private Welt der Monarchin. Mit der Besichtigung der Kaiserappartements gewinnen die BesucherInnen einen Einblick in die Lebenswelt von Ćsterreichs berĆ¼hmtesten Herrscherpaars. Die 24 Arbeits-, Wohn- und EmpfangsrƤume von Kaiser Franz Joseph und seiner Gemahlin Sisi sind zum GroĆteil historisch-authentisch ausgestattet und bilden in ihrer vergleichsweise bescheiden anmutenden Ausstattung einen merkbaren Kontrast zum Ć¼ppigen Prunk der Sommerresidenz Schƶnbrunn.
Die Wiener Hofburg war Ć¼ber 600 Jahre lang Residenz der ƶsterreichischen LandesfĆ¼rsten und entwickelte sich zu einem im Laufe von Jahrhunderten gewachsenen Zentrum der europƤischen Geschichte, zu dem auch der stƤndige Ausbau der habsburgischen Stadtresidenz beitrug. Von hier aus regierten die Habsburger seit dem 13. Jahrhundert, zunƤchst als ƶsterreichische Landesherren, ab 1452 als gewƤhlte Kaiser des Heiligen Rƶmischen Reiches und schlieĆlich ab 1806 als ƶsterreichische Kaiser bis zum Ende der Monarchie 1918.
Ausgehend von einer mittelalterlichen, befestigten Burganlage des 13. Jahrhunderts erweiterte jeder Kaiser die Residenz, indem er einen neuen Trakt oder FlĆ¼gel errichten lieĆ. Der ausgedehnte asymmetrische Komplex, der sich Ć¼ber 240.000 m2 erstreckt, besteht aus 18 Trakten, 19 Hƶfen und 2.600 RƤumen, in denen bis heute rund 5.000 Menschen wohnen und arbeiten.
Der Ƥlteste Teil der Hofburg ist die Alte Burg, die seit dem 18. Jahrhundert nach der Schweizergarde, die hier als Burgwache diente, Schweizertrakt genannt wird. Die mittelalterliche Burganlage ist in ihrem Kern bis heute erhalten, nur die vier EcktĆ¼rme, der grƶĆte Teil des Burggrabens und die ZugbrĆ¼cke mussten im Laufe der Zeit den Neuerungen weichen. Mitte des 16. Jahrhunderts wurde die Fassade im Stil der Renaissance erneuert.
1552 entstand das von Pietro Ferabosco gestaltete Schweizertor, eines der wenigen RenaissancedenkmƤler in Wien. In diesem Trakt befindet sich die Schatzkammer, in der die Insignien des Heiligen Rƶmischen Reiches sowie jene des ƶsterreichischen Kaisertums aufbewahrt werden. In der 1449 errichteten Burgkapelle singen bis zum heutigen Tag die Wiener SƤngerknaben bei der Sonntagsmesse.
1559 wurde mit dem Bau der Stallburg als neue Residenz begonnen. Seit dem 18. Jahrhundert befinden sich hier die Stallungen der berĆ¼hmten Lipizzaner, die tƤglich (auĆer Montag) in der gegenĆ¼berliegenden Winterreitschule ihr Morgentraining oder ihre VorfĆ¼hrungen absolvieren.
GegenĆ¼ber dem Schweizertrakt wurde im 16. Jahrhundert die Amalienburg als freistehendes GebƤude errichtet. Sie verdankt ihren Namen der Kaiserin Wilhelmine Amalie, fĆ¼r die hier nach dem Tod ihres Gemahls Kaiser Joseph I. ein entsprechendes Witwenappartement eingerichtet wurde. Zuletzt bewohnte Kaiserin Elisabeth diesen Teil der Hofburg, deren Appartements heute besichtigt werden kƶnnen.
Im 17. Jahrhundert lieĆ Kaiser Leopold I. den Schweizertrakt mit der Amalienburg verbinden. Der neu entstandene und nach dem Kaiser benannte frĆ¼hbarocke Leopoldinische Trakt wurde 1668-1680 errichtet und im 18. Jahrhundert von Maria Theresia bewohnt. Nach ihrem Tod wurden die RƤumlichkeiten bis zum Ende der Monarchie als prunkvolle ReprƤsentationsrƤume verwendet. Seit 1946 befindet sich hier der Amtssitz des ƶsterreichischen BundesprƤsidenten.
In einem Teil der Hofburg war im KellergeschoĆ auf drei unterirdischen Stockwerken der Hofweinkeller untergebracht. Nach dem Ende der Monarchie wurden die dort gelagerten WeinbestƤnde versteigert und ein Gipsmodelldepot eingerichtet, in dem die Modelle der Brunnen und DenkmƤlern der RingstraĆenbauten aufbewahrt werden.
Im 18. Jahrhundert wurde die Hofburg unter Kaiser Karl VI. durch prunkvolle Barockbauten erweitert, die vom Hofarchitekten Joseph Bernhard Fischer von Erlach geplant und begonnen wurden. 1723, nach dem Tod des Architekten, Ć¼bernahm dessen Sohn Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach die Bauleitung.
1723-1735 wurde die Nationalbibliothek als Hofbibliothek fĆ¼r den kostbaren BĆ¼cherbestand der Habsburger gebaut. Der Prunksaal gehƶrt mit seinem beeindruckenden barocken Interieur zu den schƶnsten BibliothekssƤlen der Welt.
Nach der Auflƶsung des Heiligen Rƶmischen Reiches deutscher Nation im Jahre 1806 wurden die Kanzlei- und ReprƤsentationsrƤume
in WohnrƤume fĆ¼r die nunmehrige ƶsterreichisch kaiserliche Familie umgewandelt. Ab der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts residierte hier schlieĆlich Kaiser Franz Joseph.
Die Skulpturen an den Portalen stammen von Lorenzo Mattielli, um 1730, und stellen die Taten des Herkules dar. Im Mitteltrakt befindet sich das Kaisertor, das den Zugang zu den Kaiserappartements bildet. Am Dachrand erhebt sich der imposante Wappenschild des Kaisers Karl VI. mit dem Doppeladler, der unter anderem den ƶsterreichischen Bindenschild (mit den ƶsterreichischen Farben rot-weiĆ-rot) trƤgt und von der Reichskrone Ć¼berhƶht ist.
Mit dem Tod Johann Bernhard Fischers von Erlach sah auch ein anderer Architekt des ƶsterreichischen Barock, Lukas von Hildebrandt, seine Chance gekommen. WƤhrend Fischers Sohn die PlƤne seines Vaters verwirklichen sollte, konnte Hildebrandt planerische TƤtigkeiten am Reichskanzleitrakt, in dem zunƤchst die Kanzlei des Heiligen Rƶmischen Reiches untergebracht war, beginnen. Auf Wunsch des Kaisersvollendete schlieĆlich doch Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach 1730 den Trakt.
1735 vollendete Johann Emanuel Fischer von Erlach auch die Winterreitschule, in der bis heute die VorfĆ¼hrungen der Spanischen Reitschule stattfinden. Daran anschlieĆend wurden die RedoutensƤle errichtet, in denen groĆe EmpfƤnge, BƤlle und andere Festlichkeiten stattfanden und die heute als Kongresszentrum dienen.
Der prunkvolle Zeremoniensaal, in dem ebenfalls viele Feste des Kaiserhauses gefeiert wurden und in dem bis heute viele der berĆ¼hmten Wiener BƤlle stattfinden, wurden von Ludwig Montoyer zu Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts errichtet.
Erst Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts, als das Alte Burgtheater abgetragen wurde, vollendete Ferdinand Kirschner nach PlƤnen Fischers von Erlach den Michaelertrakt, der mit seiner geschwungenen Fassade und seiner fĆ¼nfzig Meter hohen Kuppel das Erscheinungsbild der Innenstadtseite der Hofburg bis heute prƤgt.
Am Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts, kurz vor Ende der Monarchie, wurde schlieĆlich der imposanteste Teil der Hofburg, die Neue Hofburg, als Teil des von Gottfried Semper und Karl Hasenauer geplanten "Kaiserforums" fertiggestellt. Heute sind hier ein Teil der Ćsterreichischen Nationalbibliothek und deren verschiedene Sammlungen und wie auch die von verschiedenen Museen untergebracht.
Sanatan Association
York Hall, 5-15 Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green, London E2 9PJ (Tube Station: Bethnal Green)
Durga Puja - the ceremonial worship of the supremely radiant mother goddess, is one of the most important festivals, is celebrated every year in the month of October with much gaiety and grandeur in India and abroad, especially in Bengal, where the ten-armed goddess riding the lion and killing the Buffalo-Demon (Mahishasura) is worshiped with great passion and devotion. In Durga, the Gods bestowed their powers to co-create a beautiful goddess with ten arms, each carrying their most lethal weapon. The tableau of Durga also features her four children - Kartikeya, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi.
Samsung 16mm f/2.4 i-Function Lens
SAMSUNG CSC
Single receiver, Individual left and right drive with no lift capacity. Yet.
Original track inspiration by 2in1 with modifications to fit the chassis.
My mod of 8081 with PF elements. Very easy and almost withou change the original model. You can instructions on my LUGs topic:
I'm kind of torn on this picture. I shot it hand held - and as anybody who has been back there at night knows - it is super dark! So I probably shouldn't have even attempted this without a tripod. But, I tried to save it anyway. Post process I tried to make the colors look kind of like the Return of the Jedi movie. I don't know if I really like this - kind of looks dark to me...
Quick EXIF:
Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: Nikon Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G
Mode: Aperture Priority
Exposure: 1/30
Aperture: f/1.4
Focal Length: 50mm
ISO: 1400
Bias: -2-1/3 EV
Thanks for stopping by!
Like this picture? Check out these other fantastic Disney pictures from a few of my contacts in this gallery!
āAn attempt at visualizing the Fourth Dimension: Take a point, stretch it into a line, curl it into a circle, twist it into a sphere, and punch through the sphere.ā
~Albert Einstein.
[my hero!]
Its days numbered as a fully functioning railway station, Wolverhampton's Low Level railway station was at this time seeing increased traffic due to the electrification work that was in progress on the West Coast Main Line. This resulted in services being diverted away from Wolverhampton's High Level Station and through Low Level. When the Stour Valley Line reopened, the services through Low Level were quickly reduced. The last London to Birkenhead express ran in March 1967, and in 1968 Shrewsbury services switched to High Level. By 1970, the only services left running from Low Level were local trains to Birmingham Snow Hill via Wednesbury Central. This service ceased when the line closed to passengers in 1972, also seeing the closure of Birmingham's Snow Hill Station.
In 1970, Low Level station was converted to a Parcels Concentration Department. Much of the track work was lifted, and the north signal box demolished. It opened to parcels traffic on 6th April 1970, handling up to 8,000 parcels every day. However, when British Rail's policy on parcel handling altered in the late 1970s, the station was no longer needed and finally closed in June 1981.
Redevelopment of the Low Level station site began in 2006, retaining the main station building (a listed building) while the remainder of the station, including the former main southbound platform was demolished to make way for a retail, hotel, and residential development. The station building itself was destined to become a casino, but thankfully, this fell through Today, the station building has been transformed into a banqueting hall and wedding venue.
Photo - 16th March 1968
Photographs taken at the launch function for the NSW Rail Museum's new branding program on 20 May 2017.
After reading a review of 2015 Lewa, I was inspired to reconfigure 2001 Lewa. His right arm can be posed manually AND with the gear function, just like 2015 Lewa!
Visitors translate a DNA sequence (a row of wooden blocks) into a sequence of amino acids using wooden ātranslator blocksā. They then use a static version of the FASTA database to look up a set of prescribed amino acid sequences to find out which organism the amino acid sequence is from.
www.ebi.ac.uk/training/schools/relate/ (unfortunately a dead link from the EBI)
www.yourgenome.org/downloads/function_finder_forweb.pdf (dead link from yourgenome.org) see www.yourgenome.org/activities/function-finders
at DNA, Diversity and You via www.sanger.ac.uk and www.ebi.ac.uk
MORE THAN YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SPIDERS!
Spiders are chelicerates and therefore arthropods. As arthropods they have: segmented bodies with jointed limbs, all covered in a cuticle made of chitin and proteins; heads that are composed of several segments that fuse during the development of the embryo. Being chelicerates, their bodies consist of two tagmata, sets of segments that serve similar functions: the foremost one, called the cephalothorax or prosoma, is a complete fusion of the segments that in an insect would form two separate tagmata, the head and thorax; the rear tagma is called the abdomen or opisthosoma.[6] In spiders, the cephalothorax and abdomen are connected by a small cylindrical section, the pedicel. The pattern of segment fusion that forms chelicerates' heads is unique among arthropods, and what would normally be the first head segment disappears at an early stage of development, so that chelicerates lack the antennae typical of most arthropods. In fact, chelicerates' only appendages ahead of the mouth are a pair of chelicerae, and they lack anything that would function directly as "jaws". The first appendages behind the mouth are called pedipalps, and serve different functions within different groups of chelicerates.
Spiders and scorpions are members of one chelicerate group, the arachnids. Scorpions' chelicerae have three sections and are used in feeding. Spiders' chelicerae have two sections and terminate in fangs that are generally venomous, and fold away behind the upper sections while not in use. The upper sections generally have thick "beards" that filter solid lumps out of their food, as spiders can take only liquid food. Scorpions' pedipalps generally form large claws for capturing prey, while those of spiders are fairly small appendages whose bases also act as an extension of the mouth; in addition, those of male spiders have enlarged last sections used for sperm transfer.
In spiders, the cephalothorax and abdomen are joined by a small, cylindrical pedicel, which enables the abdomen to move independently when producing silk. The upper surface of the cephalothorax is covered by a single, convex carapace, while the underside is covered by two rather flat plates. The abdomen is soft and egg-shaped. It shows no sign of segmentation, except that the primitive Mesothelae, whose living members are the Liphistiidae, have segmented plates on the upper surface
Like other arthropods, spiders are coelomates in which the coelom is reduced to small areas round the reproductive and excretory systems. Its place is largely taken by a hemocoel, a cavity that runs most of the length of the body and through which blood flows. The heart is a tube in the upper part of the body, with a few ostia that act as non-return valves allowing blood to enter the heart from the hemocoel but prevent it from leaving before it reaches the front end. However, in spiders, it occupies only the upper part of the abdomen, and blood is discharged into the hemocoel by one artery that opens at the rear end of the abdomen and by branching arteries that pass through the pedicle and open into several parts of the cephalothorax. Hence spiders have open circulatory systems. The blood of many spiders that have book lungs contains the respiratory pigment hemocyanin to make oxygen transport more efficient.
Spiders have developed several different respiratory anatomies, based on book lungs, a tracheal system, or both. Mygalomorph and Mesothelae spiders have two pairs of book lungs filled with haemolymph, where openings on the ventral surface of the abdomen allow air to enter and diffuse oxygen. This is also the case for some basal araneomorph spiders, like the family Hypochilidae, but the remaining members of this group have just the anterior pair of book lungs intact while the posterior pair of breathing organs are partly or fully modified into tracheae, through which oxygen is diffused into the haemolymph or directly to the tissue and organs. The trachea system has most likely evolved in small ancestors to help resist desiccation. The trachea were originally connected to the surroundings through a pair of openings called spiracles, but in the majority of spiders this pair of spiracles has fused into a single one in the middle, and moved backwards close to the spinnerets.[8] Spiders that have tracheae generally have higher metabolic rates and better water conservation. Spiders are ectotherms, so environmental temperatures affect their activity.
Uniquely among chelicerates, the final sections of spiders' chelicerae are fangs, and the great majority of spiders can use them to inject venom into prey from venom glands in the roots of the chelicerae. The family Uloboridae has lost its venom glands, and kills its prey with silk instead. Like most arachnids, including scorpions, spiders have a narrow gut that can only cope with liquid food and spiders have two sets of filters to keep solids out. They use one of two different systems of external digestion. Some pump digestive enzymes from the midgut into the prey and then suck the liquified tissues of the prey into the gut, eventually leaving behind the empty husk of the prey. Others grind the prey to pulp using the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps, while flooding it with enzymes; in these species, the chelicerae and the bases of the pedipalps form a preoral cavity that holds the food they are processing.
The stomach in the cephalothorax acts as a pump that sends the food deeper into the digestive system. The mid gut bears many digestive ceca, compartments with no other exit, that extract nutrients from the food; most are in the abdomen, which is dominated by the digestive system, but a few are found in the cephalothorax.
Most spiders convert nitrogenous waste products into uric acid, which can be excreted as a dry material. Malphigian tubules ("little tubes") extract these wastes from the blood in the hemocoel and dump them into the cloacal chamber, from which they are expelled through the anus. Production of uric acid and its removal via Malphigian tubules are a water-conserving feature that has evolved independently in several arthropod lineages that can live far away from water,[14] for example the tubules of insects and arachnids develop from completely different parts of the embryo. However, a few primitive spiders, the sub-order Mesothelae and infra-order Mygalomorphae, retain the ancestral arthropod nephridia ("little kidneys"), which use large amounts of water to excrete nitrogenous waste products as ammonia
Most spiders have four pairs of eyes on the top-front area of the cephalothorax, arranged in patterns that vary from one family to another.[8] The pair at the front are of the type called pigment-cup ocelli ("little eyes"), which in most arthropods are only capable of detecting the direction from which light is coming, using the shadow cast by the walls of the cup. However, the main eyes at the front of spiders' heads are pigment-cup ocelli that are capable of forming images. The other eyes are thought to be derived from the compound eyes of the ancestral chelicerates, but no longer have the separate facets typical of compound eyes. Unlike the main eyes, in many spiders these secondary eyes detect light reflected from a reflective tapetum lucidum, and wolf spiders can be spotted by torch light reflected from the tapeta. On the other hand, jumping spiders' secondary eyes have no tapeta. Some jumping spiders' visual acuity exceeds by a factor of ten that of dragonflies, which have by far the best vision among insects; in fact the human eye is only about five times sharper than a jumping spider's. They achieve this by a telephoto-like series of lenses, a four-layer retina and the ability to swivel their eyes and integrate images from different stages in the scan. The downside is that the scanning and integrating processes are relatively slow.
There are spiders with a reduced number of eyes, of these those with six-eyes are the most numerous and are missing a pair of eyes on the anterior median line, others species have four-eyes and some just two. Cave dwelling species have no eyes, or possess vestigial eyes incapable of sight.
As with other arthropods, spiders' cuticles would block out information about the outside world, except that they are penetrated by many sensors or connections from sensors to the nervous system. In fact, spiders and other arthropods have modified their cuticles into elaborate arrays of sensors. Various touch sensors, mostly bristles called setae, respond to different levels of force, from strong contact to very weak air currents. Chemical sensors provide equivalents of taste and smell, often by means of setae. Pedipalps carry a large number of such setae sensitive to contact chemicals and air-borne smells, such as female pheromones. Spiders also have in the joints of their limbs slit sensillae that detect forces and vibrations. In web-building spiders, all these mechanical and chemical sensors are more important than the eyes, while the eyes are most important to spiders that hunt actively.
Like most arthropods, spiders lack balance and acceleration sensors and rely on their eyes to tell them which way is up. Arthropods' proprioceptors, sensors that report the force exerted by muscles and the degree of bending in the body and joints, are well understood. On the other hand, little is known about what other internal sensors spiders or other arthropods may have.
Each of the eight legs of a spider consists of seven distinct parts. The part closest to and attaching the leg to the cephalothorax is the coxa; the next segment is the short trochanter that works as a hinge for the following long segment, the femur; next is the spider's knee, the patella, which acts as the hinge for the tibia; the metatarsus is next, and it connects the tibia to the tarsus (which may be thought of as a foot of sorts); the tarsus ends in a claw made up of either two or three points, depending on the family to which the spider belongs. Although all arthropods use muscles attached to the inside of the exoskeleton to flex their limbs, spiders and a few other groups still use hydraulic pressure to extend them, a system inherited from their pre-arthropod ancestors. The only extensor muscles in spider legs are located in the three hip joints (bordering the coxa and the trochanter). As a result, a spider with a punctured cephalothorax cannot extend its legs, and the legs of dead spiders curl up. Spiders can generate pressures up to eight times their resting level to extend their legs, and jumping spiders can jump up to 50 times their own length by suddenly increasing the blood pressure in the third or fourth pair of legs. Although larger spiders use hydraulics to straighten their legs, unlike smaller jumping spiders they depend on their flexor muscles to generate the propulsive force for their jumps.
Most spiders that hunt actively, rather than relying on webs, have dense tufts of fine hairs between the paired claws at the tips of their legs. These tufts, known as scopulae, consist of bristles whose ends are split into as many as 1,000 branches, and enable spiders with scopulae to walk up vertical glass and upside down on ceilings. It appears that scopulae get their grip from contact with extremely thin layers of water on surfaces. Spiders, like most other arachnids, keep at least four legs on the surface while walking or running.
The abdomen has no appendages except those that have been modified to form one to four (usually three) pairs of short, movable spinnerets, which emit silk. Each spinneret has many spigots, each of which is connected to one silk gland. There are at least six types of silk gland, each producing a different type of silk.
Silk is mainly composed of a protein very similar to that used in insect silk. It is initially a liquid, and hardens not by exposure to air but as a result of being drawn out, which changes the internal structure of the protein. It is similar in tensile strength to nylon and biological materials such as chitin, collagen and cellulose, but is much more elastic. In other words, it can stretch much further before breaking or losing shape.
Some spiders have a cribellum, a modified spinneret with up to 40,000 spigots, each of which produces a single very fine fiber. The fibers are pulled out by the calamistrum, a comb-like set of bristles on the jointed tip of the cribellum, and combined into a composite woolly thread that is very effective in snagging the bristles of insects. The earliest spiders had cribella, which produced the first silk capable of capturing insects, before spiders developed silk coated with sticky droplets. However, most modern groups of spiders have lost the cribellum.
Tarantulas also have silk glands in their feet.
Even species that do not build webs to catch prey use silk in several ways: as wrappers for sperm and for fertilized eggs; as a "safety rope"; for nest-building; and as "parachutes" by the young of some species
Spiders reproduce sexually and fertilization is internal but indirect, in other words the sperm is not inserted into the female's body by the male's genitals but by an intermediate stage. Unlike many land-living arthropods, male spiders do not produce ready-made spermatophores (packages of sperm), but spin small sperm webs on to which they ejaculate and then transfer the sperm to special syringe-like structures, palpal bulbs or palpal organs, borne on the tips of the pedipalps of mature males. When a male detects signs of a female nearby he checks whether she is of the same species and whether she is ready to mate; for example in species that produce webs or "safety ropes", the male can identify the species and sex of these objects by "smell".
Spiders generally use elaborate courtship rituals to prevent the large females from eating the small males before fertilization, except where the male is so much smaller that he is not worth eating. In web-weaving species, precise patterns of vibrations in the web are a major part of the rituals, while patterns of touches on the female's body are important in many spiders that hunt actively, and may "hypnotize" the female. Gestures and dances by the male are important for jumping spiders, which have excellent eyesight. If courtship is successful, the male injects his sperm from the palpal bulbs into the female's genital opening, known as the epigyne, on the underside of her abdomen. Female's reproductive tracts vary from simple tubes to systems that include seminal receptacles in which females store sperm and release it when they are ready.
Males of the genus Tidarren amputate one of their palps before maturation and enter adult life with one palp only. The palps are 20% of male's body mass in this species, and detaching one of the two improves mobility. In the Yemeni species Tidarren argo, the remaining palp is then torn off by the female. The separated palp remains attached to the female's epigynum for about four hours and apparently continues to function independently. In the meantime, the female feeds on the palpless male. In over 60% of cases, the female of the Australian redback spider kills and eats the male after it inserts its second palp into the female's genital opening; in fact, the males co-operate by trying to impale themselves on the females' fangs. Observation shows that most male redbacks never get an opportunity to mate, and the "lucky" ones increase the likely number of offspring by ensuring that the females are well-fed. However, males of most species survive a few matings, limited mainly by their short life spans. Some even live for a while in their mates' webs
Thanks, Wikipedia
Model of one of the largest crawler draglines in the world in scale 1:28.5.
All functions motorized using three SBricks and Power Functions motors:
- Hoist gear: 1 XL motor
- Drag gear: 1 XL motor
- Swing drive: 2 L motors
- Boom hoist: 1 M motor
- Left crawler track: 1 XL motor
- Right crawler track: 1 XL motor
- Two access ladders: 2 9V micro motors
Power is provided by each a Power Functions rechargeable battery box in the lower carriage and in the upper structure.
Besides the motorized functions, there are four floodlights and another four interior lights, using four pairs of Power Functions LEDs.
Access to the machinery house for the service personnel is given by two doors on each side. The operator's cab is accessible through another door.
Five removable panels, one on each side, one on the back and two on the roof give access to the hoist and drag motors, the boom luffing winch and the two swing motors respectively.
The real dragline was in service in Australia in the Rix's Creek Mine in the Hunter Valley.
It performs well on frozen earth (as seen in video), carpet, a pile of clothes and other somewhat rough surfaces, it can't climb on smooth objects (it slips away), on the other hand it tends to turn better on a smooth surface.
It may be slow but is sure has decent torque, it's slow because of the gear set I used (worm-worm gear eqaul to a speed reduction of 1/8).
To perform well it needs a somewhat rough surface to ride on, especially when climbing, climbing on a sloped wooden plank for instant is pretty much impossible for this vehicle, the tracks simply slip over the wood.
In the video it stops sometimes because I lose contact with the IR receiver, the crane on top of the vehicle is in the way when I make the vehicle drive in my direction.
I really hope it snows tomorrow, I'd love to test it out in the snow :D