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One of the visitors for the Shetland Classic Motor Show 2018 was Leyland Olympian Alexander RH H49/29D 131 E131 DRS new to Grampian Regional Transport in 1989 as part of a batch of 10. They were powered with Cummins L10 engines mated to ZF Ecomat gearboxes. 122/23 were the only 2 out of the batch that were fitted with single doors while the other 8 of the batch were fitted with dual doors. It was also the last of the batch to be delivered without destination equipment but it was tested with a Dot Matrix/Flipdot display. Those displays didn’t work and it was later converted to Powerblinds making it the only Aberdeen bus to have a Powerblind fitted. It transferred over to First Aberdeen in 1998 and was later repainted into the ‘Barbie 2’ livery. In 2003, it was renumbered to 31557 as part of the national First numbering scheme and underwent internal refurbishment which included a new floor, seat backs, seat re-trim and a full clean. It was withdrawn with the rest of the batch and replaced in 2008 by new Volvo B9TL Wright Eclipse Geminis (which are the now double deckers for the Platinum 19) after almost 20 years of service. It entered preservation shortly after it was withdrawn but the rest of the batch was unfortunately scrapped. It is now preserved as the last numerically new Olympian bus bought by Grampian RT before privatisation and restored to the GRT livery by First Aberdeen to mark 20 years since privatisation in 1989 and it can now be seen at the Grampian Transport Museum, Bus Collection, Alford. Prior to its part when FirstGroup was invented, Grampian was the city operator of Aberdeen. It also currently retains its pastel-shaded interior, and First seat trims and floor coverings. Also shows that it reminds some people back in the day when buses were normal buses instead of the modern buses that are out on the road these days! As can be seen here, it is in amazing nick and in really good condition and definitely still suits the Grampian livery! Theres so much details about this fine old bus I could add due to it being a well known bus and being around for almost 30 years. But I’ll stop here before everyone gets bored to death reading all this!
Seen here at the Shetland Classic Motor Show 2018 at the Clickimin Leisure Complex on Sunday 3 June 2018
Have there always been shower squeegees? When did they suddenly come into existence?
Whoever invented it must be filthy rich - every shower has one. There’s serious money in limescale – maybe it could be floated on the stock market.
I never remember limescale being an issue as a child – We didn’t have a shower and with baths it is a symbiotic relationship – the bath cleans you and then, with your bum sliding up and down and around the surface of the bath you, in turn, clean it’s surface of limescale and scum.
First time I used one it was all very novel.
‘I’m a window cleaner!’ I thought, ‘Maybe I should get one of those holsters to carry my squeegee.’ Oh just look at the water sliding away! This is so completely and utterly satisfying, it could actually be better than sex.’
Second time round the novelty had worn off. It now just ruins the nice shower that I have just had with a horrible chore at the end of it. All warm and soft and sweet smelling I then have to get out the squeegee and stand, getting rapidly cold and irritated, swiping and sliding the thing all over the blasted screen doors. Then, no one else in the household bothers to do it and I start to wonder if it would just be easier to buy new doors at the end of my tenancy. I start to ruminate on a new invention to make the squeegee obsolete – maybe I could manufacture screen protectors like formula one drivers have on their visors - you just peel the thing off and throw it away once it becomes so deeply encrusted with stalagmites and stalactites that you no longer fit inside the shower alongside them.
Lately I have realised that just wiping off the water doesn’t do enough, ‘chalky residue lingers’ (good name for a racehorse that). So I find myself on a regular basis, in the nuddy, spraying some noxious chemical spray all over the screen, rubbing it in with a scratchy scouring pad (and occasionally my buttock if I’m not careful) whilst holding my breath and leaving it to soak in before having to then rinse it and start the whole bloody squeegee process all over again!
I do love the image in my mind though that all over the world, in every household, at some point, each occupant will stand naked in their shower playing at window cleaner. I would like to collate a photographic book.
I shall name it: “The Naked Squeegeer - How do you wipe yours?”
L'invention du dessin (étude)
Oeuvre de Joseph-Benoît Suvée (1743-1807)
1776-1791
Huile sur toile
Belgique, ville de Bruges, Musea Brugge
Selon un mythe grec sur l'origine du dessin rapporté par Pline l'Ancien au 1er siècle, une jeune fille appelée Dibutade a tracé le contour de l'ombre d'un jeune homme aimé sur le mur avant qu'il ne s'en aille. Le père de la jeune fille, potier de son métier, a alors utilisé ce dessin pour modeler son portrait. La commissaire indique que ce mythe a été souvent représenté par les artistes depuis la Renaissance. Elle souligne que c'est néanmoins par le père et non par la fille que l'oeuvre d'art prend forme ce qui relègue la femme au second plan.
Oeuvre présentée dans l'exposition "Peintres Femmes. 1780-1830", musée du Luxembourg, Paris
On croit volontiers qu’après la gloire d’Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun liée à l’Ancien Régime, il faut attendre la deuxième moitié du XIXe siècle pour trouver des peintres femmes aussi remarquables. Pourtant, c’est entre 1780 et 1830, que le combat de ces dernières a trouvé ses racines : le droit à la formation, la professionnalisation, une existence publique et une place sur le marché de l’art.... Extrait du site de l'exposition "Peintres Femmes, 1780-1830 au musée du Luxembourg, Paris
museeduluxembourg.fr/fr/agenda/evenement/peintres-femmes-...
Jack Williamson is credited with inventing the terms “terraforming” and “genetic engineering.” His novel “Dragon’s Island,” first published in 1951, is the first novel to use the term “genetic engineering.” It’s a fast-paced adventure story in which a young scientist seeks the whereabouts of a missing geneticist. He is whisked away to a secret location called Dragon’s Island, where strange creatures and a mutant race that is faster, smarter and stronger than humans seem to have been created.
The paperback publisher Popular Library put out "Dragon's Island" a few months later, in August 1952, and it had another great cover by Earle Bergey: www.flickr.com/photos/57440551@N03/14408479633/in/set-721...
Born in Arizona and raised on a New Mexico farm, Jack Williamson (1908-2006) acquired degrees in English from Eastern New Mexico University. He became a member of the faculty in 1960 and remained with the University the rest of his life. He sold his first story at twenty and had a long and successful writing career well into his nineties, winning a Hugo at 93 and a Nebula at 94. He was named a Grand Master of Science Fiction by the Science Fiction Writers Association.
This miniature dollhouse scale (1:12) pine cabinet is filled, inside and outside, with wondrous, curious, and enchanted gizmos, gadgets, surprises, and enchantments… all the things the Wizard of Wizardly Gizmos and Gadgets Invented to Study the Nighttime Sky would need and would invent to enable him to follow his wizardly destiny.
Issoudun (Indre).
Musée de l'Hospice Saint-Roch.
Clystères du XIXe siècle (argent et étain).
Le "Répertoire générale des sciences médicales du XIXe siècle" donne la définition du clystère:
" On donne le nom de lavemens ou de clystères aux injections de liquides ou de vapeurs qui se font par l'anus. Les liquides sont portés dans le rectum au moyen de différentes espèces de seringues , ou à l'aide d'autres instrumens connus sous le nom de clysoir, de clysopompe, etc..." Le nom de "clystère" a depuis glissé du traitement à l'outil permettant ce traitement.
Alphonse Allais dans "Le railleur puni" nous décrit l'utilisation du clystère :
"Le lendemain, c’était le premier jour de l’an.
La boutique de M. Hume-Mabrize était à peine ouverte qu’un garçon de l’auberge du Roi-Maure vint demander un lavement émollient pour un client qui se tordait dans les plus pénibles coliques.
– Bien, répondit l’apothicaire ; aussitôt préparé, Athanase ira l’administrer lui-même.
En ce temps, vous savez, le grand Éguisier n’avait pas accompli sa géniale invention et, presque toujours, les lavements étaient administrés par les apothicaires eux-mêmes ou par leurs garçons.
Comme une invention modifie les mœurs !
Hume-Mabrize prépara, avec son soin ordinaire, un bon liquide émollient, sédatif et mucilagineux, l’introduisit bouillant dans le cylindre d’étain que vous savez, et voilà mon Athanase parti pour accomplir sa mission.
La clef du voyageur était sur la porte. Athanase entra.
Sans mot dire, le voyageur découvrit la partie intéressée.
Athanase, avec une attention et une précision professionnelles, fit son devoir.
Doucement, sans précipitation, le piston s’enfonça dans le cylindre, poussant devant lui le bon liquide, tel un docile troupeau, doux et tiède.
Là... ça y est !
Il n’y avait plus qu’à se retirer et à s’en aller.
Mais, tout à coup, comme un volcan, comme une explosion, il se produisit un phénomène inattendu.
Projeté violemment dehors, le bon liquide venait de sortir, comme déshonoré d’avoir été amené en tel endroit.
Le visage d’Athanase était là, tout près, à bout portant. Il n’en perdit pas une goutte.
Alors le voyageur tourna son autre face vers le jeune apothicaire et lui demanda sur le ton de la politesse empressée :
– Voulez-vous une brosse ?
Au XVIIe siècle, le lavement était déjà largement pratiqué. C'est une des préoccupations importantes d'Argan dans le "Malade imaginaire" :
Argan
Allons, il faut en passer par là. Ote-moi ceci, coquine, ôte-moi ceci. (Argan se lève de sa chaise.) Mon lavement d'aujourd'hui a-t-il bien opéré?
Toinette
Votre lavement?
Argan
Oui. Ai-je bien fait de la bile?
Toinette
Ma foi! je ne me mêle point de ces affaires-là; c'est à monsieur Fleurant à y mettre le nez, puisqu'il en a le profit.
Les anciens égyptiens connaissaient le lavement et en attribuaient l'invention à l'ibis, oiseau sacré :
« L'ibis nous a montré l'usage des clystères, lequel se sentant aggravé d'humeur, estant au rivage de mer, remplit son bec et son col d'eau marine, puis se seringue par la partie par laquelle il jette ses excréments, et peu de temps après se vuide et se purge. » Telle est l'origine du clystère, ainsi qu'elle nous est rapportée par Ambroise Paré, d'après Pline.
short-edition.com/fr/classique/alphonse-allais/le-railleu...
Voir : Quelques pensées sur le clystère : Divagazioni sul clistere e sul suo inventore , in Minerva medica, 1933. In: Revue d'histoire de la pharmacie, 22ᵉ année, n°85, 1934.
A bicycle, also called a cycle or bike, is a human-powered or motor-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A bicycle rider is called a cyclist, or bicyclist.
Bicycles were introduced in the late 19th century in Europe, and by the early 21st century, more than 1 billion were in existence at a given time. These numbers far exceed the number of cars, both in total and ranked by the number of individual models produced. They are the principal means of transportation in many regions. They also provide a popular form of recreation, and have been adapted for use as children's toys, general fitness, military and police applications, courier services, bicycle racing and bicycle stunts.
The basic shape and configuration of a typical upright or "safety bicycle", has changed little since the first chain-driven model was developed around 1885. However, many details have been improved, especially since the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design. These have allowed for a proliferation of specialized designs for many types of cycling.
The bicycle's invention has had an enormous effect on society, both in terms of culture and of advancing modern industrial methods. Several components that eventually played a key role in the development of the automobile were initially invented for use in the bicycle, including ball bearings, pneumatic tires, chain-driven sprockets and tension-spoked wheels.
ETYMOLOGY
The word bicycle first appeared in English print in The Daily News in 1868, to describe "Bysicles and trysicles" on the "Champs Elysées and Bois de Boulogne". The word was first used in 1847 in a French publication to describe an unidentified two-wheeled vehicle, possibly a carriage. The design of the bicycle was an advance on the velocipede, although the words were used with some degree of overlap for a time.
Other words for bicycle include "bike", "pushbike", "pedal cycle", or "cycle". In Unicode, the code point for "bicycle" is 0x1F6B2. The entity 🚲 in HTML produces.
HISTORY
The "Dandy horse", also called Draisienne or Laufmaschine, was the first human means of transport to use only two wheels in tandem and was invented by the German Baron Karl von Drais. It is regarded as the modern bicycle's forerunner; Drais introduced it to the public in Mannheim in summer 1817 and in Paris in 1818. Its rider sat astride a wooden frame supported by two in-line wheels and pushed the vehicle along with his or her feet while steering the front wheel.
The first mechanically-propelled, two-wheeled vehicle may have been built by Kirkpatrick MacMillan, a Scottish blacksmith, in 1839, although the claim is often disputed. He is also associated with the first recorded instance of a cycling traffic offense, when a Glasgow newspaper in 1842 reported an accident in which an anonymous "gentleman from Dumfries-shire... bestride a velocipede... of ingenious design" knocked over a little girl in Glasgow and was fined five shillings.
In the early 1860s, Frenchmen Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement took bicycle design in a new direction by adding a mechanical crank drive with pedals on an enlarged front wheel (the velocipede). This was the first in mass production. Another French inventor named Douglas Grasso had a failed prototype of Pierre Lallement's bicycle several years earlier. Several inventions followed using rear-wheel drive, the best known being the rod-driven velocipede by Scotsman Thomas McCall in 1869. In that same year, bicycle wheels with wire spokes were patented by Eugène Meyer of Paris. The French vélocipède, made of iron and wood, developed into the "penny-farthing" (historically known as an "ordinary bicycle", a retronym, since there was then no other kind). It featured a tubular steel frame on which were mounted wire-spoked wheels with solid rubber tires. These bicycles were difficult to ride due to their high seat and poor weight distribution. In 1868 Rowley Turner, a sales agent of the Coventry Sewing Machine Company (which soon became the Coventry Machinists Company), brought a Michaux cycle to Coventry, England. His uncle, Josiah Turner, and business partner James Starley, used this as a basis for the 'Coventry Model' in what became Britain's first cycle factory.
The dwarf ordinary addressed some of these faults by reducing the front wheel diameter and setting the seat further back. This, in turn, required gearing - effected in a variety of ways - to efficiently use pedal power. Having to both pedal and steer via the front wheel remained a problem. Englishman J.K. Starley (nephew of James Starley), J.H. Lawson, and Shergold solved this problem by introducing the chain drive (originated by the unsuccessful "bicyclette" of Englishman Henry Lawson), connecting the frame-mounted cranks to the rear wheel. These models were known as safety bicycles, dwarf safeties, or upright bicycles for their lower seat height and better weight distribution, although without pneumatic tires the ride of the smaller-wheeled bicycle would be much rougher than that of the larger-wheeled variety. Starley's 1885 Rover, manufactured in Coventry is usually described as the first recognizably modern bicycle. Soon the seat tube was added, creating the modern bike's double-triangle diamond frame.
Further innovations increased comfort and ushered in a second bicycle craze, the 1890s Golden Age of Bicycles. In 1888, Scotsman John Boyd Dunlop introduced the first practical pneumatic tire, which soon became universal. Willie Hume demonstrated the supremacy of Dunlop's tyres in 1889, winning the tyre's first-ever races in Ireland and then England. Soon after, the rear freewheel was developed, enabling the rider to coast. This refinement led to the 1890s invention of coaster brakes. Dérailleur gears and hand-operated Bowden cable-pull brakes were also developed during these years, but were only slowly adopted by casual riders.
The Svea Velocipede with vertical pedal arrangement and locking hubs was introduced in 1892 by the Swedish engineers Fredrik Ljungström and Birger Ljungström. It attracted attention at the World Fair and was produced in a few thous and units.
In the 1870s many cycling clubs flourished. They were popular in a time when there were not cars on the market and the principal mode of transportation was horse-drawn vehicles, such the horse and buggy or the horsecar. Among the earliest clubs was The Bicycle Touring Club, which has operated since 1878. By the turn of the century, cycling clubs flourished on both sides of the Atlantic, and touring and racing became widely popular. The Raleigh Bicycle Company was founded in Nottingham, England in 1888. It became the biggest bicycle manufacturing company in the world, making over two million bikes per year.
Bicycles and horse buggies were the two mainstays of private transportation just prior to the automobile, and the grading of smooth roads in the late 19th century was stimulated by the widespread advertising, production, and use of these devices. More than 1 billion bicycles have been manufactured worldwide as of the early 21st century. Bicycles are the most common vehicle of any kind in the world, and the most numerous model of any kind of vehicle, whether human-powered or motor vehicle, is the Chinese Flying Pigeon, with numbers exceeding 500 million. The next most numerous vehicle, the Honda Super Cub motorcycle, has more than 60 million units made, while most produced car, the Toyota Corolla, has reached 35 million and counting.
USES
From the beginning and still today, bicycles have been and are employed for many uses. In a utilitarian way, bicycles are used for transportation, bicycle commuting, and utility cycling. It can be used as a 'work horse', used by mail carriers, paramedics, police, messengers, and general delivery services. Military uses of bicycles include communications, reconnaissance, troop movement, supply of provisions, and patrol. See also: bicycle infantry.
The bicycle is also used for recreational purposes, such as bicycle touring, mountain biking, physical fitness, and play. Bicycle competition includes racing, BMX racing, track racing, criterium, roller racing, sportives and time trials. Major multi-stage professional events are the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, the Vuelta a España, the Tour de Pologne, and the Volta a Portugal.
Bikes can be used for entertainment and pleasure, such as in organised mass rides, artistic cycling and freestyle BMX.
TECHNICAL ASPECTS
The bicycle has undergone continual adaptation and improvement since its inception. These innovations have continued with the advent of modern materials and computer-aided design, allowing for a proliferation of specialized bicycle types, improved bicycle safety, and riding comfort.
TYPES
Bicycles can be categorized in many different ways: by function, by number of riders, by general construction, by gearing or by means of propulsion. The more common types include utility bicycles, mountain bicycles, racing bicycles, touring bicycles, hybrid bicycles, cruiser bicycles, and BMX bikes. Less common are tandems, low riders, tall bikes, fixed gear, folding models, amphibious bicycles, cargo bikes, recumbents and electric bicycles.
Unicycles, tricycles and quadracycles are not strictly bicycles, as they have respectively one, three and four wheels, but are often referred to informally as "bikes" or "cycles".
DYNAMICS
A bicycle stays upright while moving forward by being steered so as to keep its center of mass over the wheels. This steering is usually provided by the rider, but under certain conditions may be provided by the bicycle itself.
The combined center of mass of a bicycle and its rider must lean into a turn to successfully navigate it. This lean is induced by a method known as countersteering, which can be performed by the rider turning the handlebars directly with the hands or indirectly by leaning the bicycle.
Short-wheelbase or tall bicycles, when braking, can generate enough stopping force at the front wheel to flip longitudinally. The act of purposefully using this force to lift the rear wheel and balance on the front without tipping over is a trick known as a stoppie, endo, or front wheelie
PERFORMANCE
The bicycle is extraordinarily efficient in both biological and mechanical terms. The bicycle is the most efficient human-powered means of transportation in terms of energy a person must expend to travel a given distance. From a mechanical viewpoint, up to 99% of the energy delivered by the rider into the pedals is transmitted to the wheels, although the use of gearing mechanisms may reduce this by 10–15%. In terms of the ratio of cargo weight a bicycle can carry to total weight, it is also an efficient means of cargo transportation.
A human traveling on a bicycle at low to medium speeds of around 16–24 km/h uses only the power required to walk. Air drag, which is proportional to the square of speed, requires dramatically higher power outputs as speeds increase. If the rider is sitting upright, the rider's body creates about 75% of the total drag of the bicycle/rider combination. Drag can be reduced by seating the rider in a more aerodynamically streamlined position. Drag can also be reduced by covering the bicycle with an aerodynamic fairing. The fastest recorded unpaced speed on a flat surface is 144.18 km/h.
In addition, the carbon dioxide generated in the production and transportation of the food required by the bicyclist, per mile traveled, is less than 1/10 that generated by energy efficient motorcars.
PARTS
FRAME
The great majority of modern bicycles have a frame with upright seating that looks much like the first chain-driven bike. These upright bicycles almost always feature the diamond frame, a truss consisting of two triangles: the front triangle and the rear triangle. The front triangle consists of the head tube, top tube, down tube, and seat tube. The head tube contains the headset, the set of bearings that allows the fork to turn smoothly for steering and balance. The top tube connects the head tube to the seat tube at the top, and the down tube connects the head tube to the bottom bracket. The rear triangle consists of the seat tube and paired chain stays and seat stays. The chain stays run parallel to the chain, connecting the bottom bracket to the rear dropout, where the axle for the rear wheel is held. The seat stays connect the top of the seat tube (at or near the same point as the top tube) to the rear fork ends.
Historically, women's bicycle frames had a top tube that connected in the middle of the seat tube instead of the top, resulting in a lower standover height at the expense of compromised structural integrity, since this places a strong bending load in the seat tube, and bicycle frame members are typically weak in bending. This design, referred to as a step-through frame or as an open frame, allows the rider to mount and dismount in a dignified way while wearing a skirt or dress. While some women's bicycles continue to use this frame style, there is also a variation, the mixte, which splits the top tube laterally into two thinner top tubes that bypass the seat tube on each side and connect to the rear fork ends. The ease of stepping through is also appreciated by those with limited flexibility or other joint problems. Because of its persistent image as a "women's" bicycle, step-through frames are not common for larger frames.
Step-throughs were popular partly for practical reasons and partly for social mores of the day. For most of the history of bicycles' popularity women have worn long skirts, and the lower frame accommodated these better than the top-tube. Furthermore, it was considered "unladylike" for women to open their legs to mount and dismount – in more conservative times women who rode bicycles at all were vilified as immoral or immodest. These practices were akin to the older practice of riding horse sidesaddle.
Another style is the recumbent bicycle. These are inherently more aerodynamic than upright versions, as the rider may lean back onto a support and operate pedals that are on about the same level as the seat. The world's fastest bicycle is a recumbent bicycle but this type was banned from competition in 1934 by the Union Cycliste Internationale.
Historically, materials used in bicycles have followed a similar pattern as in aircraft, the goal being high strength and low weight. Since the late 1930s alloy steels have been used for frame and fork tubes in higher quality machines. By the 1980s aluminum welding techniques had improved to the point that aluminum tube could safely be used in place of steel. Since then aluminum alloy frames and other components have become popular due to their light weight, and most mid-range bikes are now principally aluminum alloy of some kind. More expensive bikes use carbon fibre due to its significantly lighter weight and profiling ability, allowing designers to make a bike both stiff and compliant by manipulating the lay-up. Virtually all professional racing bicycles now use carbon fibre frames, as they have the best strength to weight ratio. A typical modern carbon fiber frame can weighs less than 1 kilogram.
Other exotic frame materials include titanium and advanced alloys. Bamboo, a natural composite material with high strength-to-weight ratio and stiffness has been used for bicycles since 1894. Recent versions use bamboo for the primary frame with glued metal connections and parts, priced as exotic models.
DRIVETRAIB AND GEARING
The drivetrain begins with pedals which rotate the cranks, which are held in axis by the bottom bracket. Most bicycles use a chain to transmit power to the rear wheel. A very small number of bicycles use a shaft drive to transmit power, or special belts. Hydraulic bicycle transmissions have been built, but they are currently inefficient and complex.
Since cyclists' legs are most efficient over a narrow range of pedaling speeds, or cadence, a variable gear ratio helps a cyclist to maintain an optimum pedalling speed while covering varied terrain. Some, mainly utility, bicycles use hub gears with between 3 and 14 ratios, but most use the generally more efficient dérailleur system, by which the chain is moved between different cogs called chainrings and sprockets in order to select a ratio. A dérailleur system normally has two dérailleurs, or mechs, one at the front to select the chainring and another at the back to select the sprocket. Most bikes have two or three chainrings, and from 5 to 11 sprockets on the back, with the number of theoretical gears calculated by multiplying front by back. In reality, many gears overlap or require the chain to run diagonally, so the number of usable gears is fewer.
An alternative to chaindrive is to use a synchronous belt. These are toothed and work much the same as a chain – popular with commuters and long distance cyclists they require little maintenance. They can't be shifted across a cassette of sprockets, and are used either as single speed or with a hub gear.
Different gears and ranges of gears are appropriate for different people and styles of cycling. Multi-speed bicycles allow gear selection to suit the circumstances: a cyclist could use a high gear when cycling downhill, a medium gear when cycling on a flat road, and a low gear when cycling uphill. In a lower gear every turn of the pedals leads to fewer rotations of the rear wheel. This allows the energy required to move the same distance to be distributed over more pedal turns, reducing fatigue when riding uphill, with a heavy load, or against strong winds. A higher gear allows a cyclist to make fewer pedal turns to maintain a given speed, but with more effort per turn of the pedals.
With a chain drive transmission, a chainring attached to a crank drives the chain, which in turn rotates the rear wheel via the rear sprocket(s) (cassette or freewheel). There are four gearing options: two-speed hub gear integrated with chain ring, up to 3 chain rings, up to 11 sprockets, hub gear built into rear wheel (3-speed to 14-speed). The most common options are either a rear hub or multiple chain rings combined with multiple sprockets (other combinations of options are possible but less common).
STEERING
The handlebars connect to the stem that connects to the fork that connects to the front wheel, and the whole assembly connects to the bike and rotates about the steering axis via the headset bearings. Three styles of handlebar are common. Upright handlebars, the norm in Europe and elsewhere until the 1970s, curve gently back toward the rider, offering a natural grip and comfortable upright position. Drop handlebars "drop" as they curve forward and down, offering the cyclist best braking power from a more aerodynamic "crouched" position, as well as more upright positions in which the hands grip the brake lever mounts, the forward curves, or the upper flat sections for increasingly upright postures. Mountain bikes generally feature a 'straight handlebar' or 'riser bar' with varying degrees of sweep backwards and centimeters rise upwards, as well as wider widths which can provide better handling due to increased leverage against the wheel.
SEATING
Saddles also vary with rider preference, from the cushioned ones favored by short-distance riders to narrower saddles which allow more room for leg swings. Comfort depends on riding position. With comfort bikes and hybrids, cyclists sit high over the seat, their weight directed down onto the saddle, such that a wider and more cushioned saddle is preferable. For racing bikes where the rider is bent over, weight is more evenly distributed between the handlebars and saddle, the hips are flexed, and a narrower and harder saddle is more efficient. Differing saddle designs exist for male and female cyclists, accommodating the genders' differing anatomies and sit bone width measurements, although bikes typically are sold with saddles most appropriate for men. Suspension seat posts and seat springs provide comfort by absorbing shock but can add to the overall weight of the bicycle.
A recumbent bicycle has a reclined chair-like seat that some riders find more comfortable than a saddle, especially riders who suffer from certain types of seat, back, neck, shoulder, or wrist pain. Recumbent bicycles may have either under-seat or over-seat steering.
BRAKES
Bicycle brakes may be rim brakes, in which friction pads are compressed against the wheel rims; hub brakes, where the mechanism is contained within the wheel hub, or disc brakes, where pads act on a rotor attached to the hub. Most road bicycles use rim brakes, but some use disk brakes. Disc brakes are more common for mountain bikes, tandems and recumbent bicycles than on other types of bicycles, due to their increased power, coupled with an increased weight and complexity.
With hand-operated brakes, force is applied to brake levers mounted on the handlebars and transmitted via Bowden cables or hydraulic lines to the friction pads, which apply pressure to the braking surface, causing friction which slows the bicycle down. A rear hub brake may be either hand-operated or pedal-actuated, as in the back pedal coaster brakes which were popular in North America until the 1960s.
Track bicycles do not have brakes, because all riders ride in the same direction around a track which does not necessitate sharp deceleration. Track riders are still able to slow down because all track bicycles are fixed-gear, meaning that there is no freewheel. Without a freewheel, coasting is impossible, so when the rear wheel is moving, the cranks are moving. To slow down, the rider applies resistance to the pedals, acting as a braking system which can be as effective as a conventional rear wheel brake, but not as effective as a front wheel brake.
SUSPENSION
Bicycle suspension refers to the system or systems used to suspend the rider and all or part of the bicycle. This serves two purposes: to keep the wheels in continuous contact with the ground, improving control, and to isolate the rider and luggage from jarring due to rough surfaces, improving comfort.
Bicycle suspensions are used primarily on mountain bicycles, but are also common on hybrid bicycles, as they can help deal with problematic vibration from poor surfaces. Suspension is especially important on recumbent bicycles, since while an upright bicycle rider can stand on the pedals to achieve some of the benefits of suspension, a recumbent rider cannot.
Basic mountain bicycles and hybrids usually have front suspension only, whilst more sophisticated ones also have rear suspension. Road bicycles tend to have no suspension.
WHEELS AND TIRES
The wheel axle fits into fork ends in the frame and fork. A pair of wheels may be called a wheelset, especially in the context of ready-built "off the shelf", performance-oriented wheels.
Tires vary enormously depending on their intended purpose. Road bicycles use tires 18 to 25 millimeters wide, most often completely smooth, or slick, and inflated to high pressure in order to roll fast on smooth surfaces. Off-road tires are usually between 38 and 64 mm wide, and have treads for gripping in muddy conditions or metal studs for ice.
ACCESSORIES
Some components, which are often optional accessories on sports bicycles, are standard features on utility bicycles to enhance their usefulness, comfort, safety and visibility. Mudguards, or fenders, protect the cyclist and moving parts from spray when riding through wet areas and chainguards protect clothes from oil on the chain while preventing clothing from being caught between the chain and crankset teeth. Kick stands keep bicycles upright when parked, and bike locks deter theft. Front-mounted baskets, front or rear luggage carriers or racks, and panniers mounted above either or both wheels can be used to carry equipment or cargo. Pegs can be fastened to one, or both of the wheel hubs to either help the rider perform certain tricks, or allow a place for extra riders to stand, or rest. Parents sometimes add rear-mounted child seats, an auxiliary saddle fitted to the crossbar, or both to transport children. Training wheels are sometimes used when learning to ride.
Toe-clips and toestraps and clipless pedals help keep the foot locked in the proper pedal position and enable cyclists to pull and push the pedals. Technical accessories include cyclocomputers for measuring speed, distance, heart rate, GPS data etc. Other accessories include lights, reflectors, mirrors, racks, trailers, bags, water bottles and cages, and bell. Bicycle lights, reflectors, and helmets are required by law in some geographic regions depending on the legal code. It is more common to see bicycles with bottle generators, dynamos, lights, fenders, racks and bells in Europe. Bicyclists also have specialized form fitting and high visibility clothing.
Bicycle helmets can reduce injury in the event of a collision or accident, and a suitable helmet is legally required of riders in many jurisdictions. Helmets may be classified as an accessory or as an item of clothing.
Bike trainers are used to enable cyclists to cycle while the bike remains stationary. They are frequently used to warm up before races or indoors when riding conditions are unfavorable.
Bicycles can also be fitted with a hitch to tow a trailer for carrying cargo, a child, or both.
STANDARDS
A number of formal and industry standards exist for bicycle components to help make spare parts exchangeable and to maintain a minimum product safety.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has a special technical committee for cycles, TC149, that has the scope of "Standardization in the field of cycles, their components and accessories with particular reference to terminology, testing methods and requirements for performance and safety, and interchangeability".
The European Committee for Standardization (CEN) also has a specific Technical Committee, TC333, that defines European standards for cycles. Their mandate states that EN cycle standards shall harmonize with ISO standards. Some CEN cycle standards were developed before ISO published their standards, leading to strong European influences in this area. European cycle standards tend to describe minimum safety requirements, while ISO standards have historically harmonized parts geometry.
MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR
Maintenance of adequate tire inflation is the most frequent and troublesome concern for cyclists and many means and methods are employed to preserve pneumatic integrity. Thicker tires, thicker tubes, tire liners (of a number of rather impenetrable devices installed between the tire and tube), liquid sealing compounds squeezed into the tube, and automotive-style patch kits are all used to reliably contain the typical tire pressures of 40 to 60 pounds per square inch that are required for bicycle operation. Thin, light bicycle tires are particularly vulnerable to penetration and subsequent deflation caused by goat's heads and other burs, colloquially known as stickers. Inflation of bicycle tires to pressures higher than typical for automotive use requires special pumps. The complexity of bicycle tire maintenance and repair may cause many to not consider the bicycle for transport or leisure.
Some bicycle parts, particularly hub-based gearing systems, require considerable torque for dis-assembly and may thus need professional services. Self-service and assisted-service maintenance and repair may be available.
Some cyclists choose self-service: they maintain their own bicycles, perhaps as part of their enjoyment of the hobby of cycling or simply for economic reasons.
There exist several hundred assisted-service Community Bicycle Organizations worldwide. At a Community Bicycle Organization, laypeople bring in bicycles needing repair or maintenance; volunteers teach them how to do the required steps.
Full service is available from bicycle mechanics at a local bike shop. In areas where it is available, some cyclists purchase roadside assistance from companies such as the Better World Club or the American Automobile Association.
TOOLS
There are specialized bicycle tools for use both in the shop and on the road. Many cyclists carry tool kits. These may include a tire patch kit (which, in turn, may contain any combination of a hand pump or CO2 Pump, tire levers, spare tubes, self-adhesive patches, or tube-patching material, an adhesive, a piece of sandpaper or a metal grater (for roughing the tube surface to be patched), Special, thin wrenches are often required for maintaining various screw fastened parts, specifically, the frequently lubricated ball-bearing "cones". and sometimes even a block of French chalk.), wrenches, hex keys, screwdrivers, and a chain tool. There are also cycling specific multi-tools that combine many of these implements into a single compact device. More specialized bicycle components may require more complex tools, including proprietary tools specific for a given manufacturer.
LEGAL REQUIREMENTS
Early in its development, as with automobiles, there were restrictions on the operation of bicycles. Along with advertising, and to gain free publicity, Albert A. Pope litigated on behalf of cyclists.
The 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic of the United Nations considers a bicycle to be a vehicle, and a person controlling a bicycle (whether actually riding or not) is considered an operator. The traffic codes of many countries reflect these definitions and demand that a bicycle satisfy certain legal requirements before it can be used on public roads. In many jurisdictions, it is an offense to use a bicycle that is not in a roadworthy condition.
In most jurisdictions, bicycles must have functioning front and rear lights when ridden after dark. As some generator or dynamo-driven lamps only operate while moving, rear reflectors are frequently also mandatory. Since a moving bicycle makes little noise, some countries insist that bicycles have a warning bell for use when approaching pedestrians, equestrians, and other cyclists, though sometimes a car horn can be used when a 12 volt battery is available.
Some countries require child and/or adult cyclists to wear helmets, as this may protect riders from head trauma. Countries which require adult cyclists to wear helmets include Spain, New Zealand and Australia. Mandatory helmet wearing is one of the most controversial topics in the cycling world, with proponents arguing that it reduces head injuries and thus is an acceptable requirement, while opponents argue that by making cycling seem more dangerous and cumbersome, it reduces cyclist numbers on the streets, creating an overall negative health effect (fewer people cycling for their own health, and the remaining cyclists being more exposed through a reversed safety in numbers effect).
THEFT
Bicycles are popular targets for theft, due to their value and ease of resale. The number of bicycles stolen annually is difficult to quantify as a large number of crimes are not reported. Around 50% of the participants in the Montreal International Journal of Sustainable Transportation survey were subjected to a bicycle theft in their lifetime as active cyclists. Most bicycles have serial numbers that can be recorded to verify identity in case of theft.
LONGEST BICYCLE
The worlds longest bicycle was created by Santos and University of South Australia. It measures at 41.42 m long.
WIKIPEDIA
Built for Brickworld 2013 as part of the "Wonka" collaborative. These builds represent all the chocolaty goodness of Mr. Willy Wonka's factory, the demise of undeserving children, and the simple heroics of Charlie Bucket. Welcome to the Inventing Room!
"Charlie Bucket stared around the gigantic room in which he now found himself. The place was like a witch's kitchen! All about him black metal pots were boiling and bubbling on huge stoves, and kettles were hissing and pans were sizzling, and strange iron machines were clanking and spluttering, and there were pipes running all over the ceiling and walls, and the whole place was filled with smoke and steam and delicious rich smells."
Tour the factory and see these other amazing bignettes that were part of the collaborative:
The Chocolate Room by Max Pointner
The Nut Room by Max Pointner
The Television Room by Dave Kaleta
The Bucket's House by Ian Spacek
paysage entièrement construit avec des brushes et ajout d'une texture avec flou gaussien de :
www.flickr.com/photos/boccacino/3359754215/in/set-7215761...
This tragic tale of the Orient was only the second feature film in which a color film process invented by Technicolor was used throughout (and was the first to use their subtractive two-color process). It stars the stunningly beautiful Anna May Wong as Lotus Flower, a Chinese girl who finds an American sailor washed up on the shore. The sailor, Allen Carver (Kenneth Harlan), professes to love her and they marry. He goes back out to the sea and Lotus Flower has a baby. But Carver is a faithless man, and he returns to China with an American wife, Barbara (Beatrice Bentley). Lotus Flower is devastated. She hands the baby over to Barbara and then "pays her debt to the sea" by throwing herself into it and drowning. Barbara adopts the child, as per Lotus Flower's last wishes. If this story seems to bear some similarities to Madame Butterfly, scenarist Frances Marion didn't exactly deny it. In fact, she later said it was "practically the step-daughter of Madame Butterfly." Despite its lack of an original story, Technicolor made it a success. But the process was so complicated -- in those days, the blue-greens were photographed on one strip of film, and orange-reds on another, to be glued together later -- that it took many more years and innovations before color was commonly used.
FIRST ASIAN AMERICAN STAR!
Written by PHILIP LEIBFRIED
Her complexion was described as "a rose blushing through old ivory;" she was beautiful, tall (5'7"), slender, and Chinese-American. The last fact kept her from attaining the highest echelon among Hollywood's pantheon of stars, but it did not affect her popularity, nor keep her from becoming a household name. She was Anna May Wong, nee Wong Liu Tsong, a name which translates to "Frosted Yellow Willows," and she was born, appropriately enough, on Flower Street in Los Angeles' Chinatown on 3 January 1905, above her father's laundry. Anna May Wong's contribution to show business is a unique one; she was the first Asian female to become a star, achieving that stardom at a time when bias against her race was crushing. With determination and talent allied to her exotic beauty, she remained the only Asian female star throughout her forty-year career, never fully overcoming all prejudices in maintaining that position. Perhaps the rediscovery of her art will elevate her star to the pantheon of great performers and serve as a guiding light to Asian performers who still struggle to find their rightful place. Anna May Wong's life and career is something that is important for all who value greatly the Asian / Asian Pacific American communities' many artists and what we can all contribute!
Excerpt from : That Old Feeling: Anna May Wong
Part II of Richard Corliss' tribute to the pioneer Chinese-American star.
Daughter of the Dragon. Paramount 1931.
Based on a Fu Manchu novel by Sax Rohmer.
Daughter of the Dragon extended the curse sworn by Dr. Fu on the Petrie family to the next generation. Fu Manchu (Warner Oland), long ago injured and exiled in an attempt on Petrie Sr., returns to London and confronts the father: "In the 20 years I have fought to live," he says in his florid maleficence, "the thought of killing you and your son has been my dearest nurse." He kills the father, is mortally wounded himself and, on his deathbed, reveals his identity to his daughter Ling Moy (Wong) and elicits her vow that she will "cancel the debt" to the Fu family honor and murder the son, Ronald (Bramwell Fletcher)... who, dash it all, is madly infatuated with Ling Moy. Ronald has seen "Princess Ling Moy Celebrated Oriental Dancer" perform, and the vision has made him woozy. "I wish I could find a word to describe her," this calf-man effuses. "Exotic that's the word! And she's intriguing, if you know what I mean." In a near-clinch, Ling Moy wonders if a Chinese woman can appeal to a British toff. When he begs her to "chuck everything and stay," she asks him, "If I stayed, would my hair ever become golden curls, and my skin ivory, like Ronald's?" But the lure of the exotic is hard to shake. "Strange," he says, "I prefer yours. I shall never forget your hair and your eyes." They almost kiss ... when an off-camera scream shakes him out of his dream. It is from his girlfriend Joan (Frances Dade), and the societal message is as clear and shrill: white woman alerting white man to treachery of yellow woman. Ling Moy, a nice girl, previously unaware of her lineage, might be expected to struggle, at least briefly, with the shock of her identity and the dreadful deed her father obliges her to perform. But Wong makes an instant transformation, hissing, "The blood is mine. The hatred is mine. The vengeance shall be mine." Just before his death, Fu mourns that he has no son to kill Ronald. But, in a good full-throated reading, Wong vows: "Father, father, I will be your son. I will be your son!" The audience then has the fun of watching her stoke Ronald's ardor while plotting his death. When she is with him, pleading and salesmanship radiate from her bigeyes. But when an ally asks her why she keeps encouraging the lad, she sneers and says, "I am giving him a beautiful illusion. Which I shall crush." As a villainess, she is just getting started. Revealing her mission to Ronald, she tells him she plans to kill Joan "Because you must have a thousand bitter tastes of death before you die." (The ripe dialogue is by Hollywood neophyte Sidney Buchman, whose distinguished list of credits would include Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Here Comes Mr Jordan and The Talk of the Town.) She soon ascends on a geyser of madness as she decides on a new torture: "My vengeance is inspired tonight. You will first have the torture of seeing her beauty eaten slowly away by this hungry acid." An aide holds a hose gadget over Joan's soon-to-be-corroded face, and Ronald cries for Ling Moy to stop. Very well she says. "Ling Moy is merciful." She barks at Ronald: "Kill her!" He must decide if his favorite white girl is to be etched with acid or stabbed to death. Great stuff! Melodrama is the art of knowing how precisely too far to goThe film is a triangle: not so much of Ling Moy, Ronald and Joan as of Ling Moy, Ronald and a Chinese detective, Ah Kee, played by Sessue Hayakawa, the Japanese actor who in the teens was Hollywood's first Asian male star. He's not plausibly Chinese here, and he is in a constant, losing battle with spoken English. But he is a part of movie history, in the only studio film of the Golden Age to star two ethnically Asian actors. And he gives his emotive all to such lines as "It is the triumph of irony that the only woman I have ever deeply loved should be born of the blood that I loathe." And in the inevitable double-death finale neither the villainess nor the noble detective can survive the machinations of Hollywood justice he gently caresses the long hair of the lady he would love to have loved. "Flower Ling Moy," he says, a moment before expiring. "A flower need not love, but only be loved. As Ah Kee loved you."
The Personal Anna May Wong
This 5'7 beauty loved to study and could speak in an English accent, as well as being fluent in German and French with more than a passing knowledge of other tongues including Italian and Yiddish. For exercise she rode horses, played golf, and tennis. She liked to cook and regaled her guests with succulent Chinese dishes at frequent dinner parties. She preferred casual clothes, wearing slacks and sweaters at home, but cultivated an oriental motif in her very smart formal wardrobe. She studied singing with Welsh tenor Parry Jones before she participated in the film Limehouse Blues as George Raft's mistress. Anna loved to dance to contemporary music. Anna was quoted as saying, "I think I got my first chance because they thought I was peculiar. But, now I like to believe that the public are fond of me because they think I'm nice."
The story of Anna May Wong’s life traced the arc of triumph and tragedy that marked so many of her films. Wong's youthful ambition and screen appeal got her farther than anyone else of her race. But her race, or rather Hollywood's and America's fear of giving Chinese and other non-whites the same chance as European Americans, kept her from reaching the Golden Mountaintop. We can be startled and impressed by the success she, alone, attained. And still weask: Who knows what Anna May Wong could have been allowed to achieve if she
had been Anna May White?
Anna May Wong passed away on Feb. 3rd 1961 she was 56 years old.
Filmography:
The Red Lantern. Metro 1919.
Shame. Fox 1921. Bits of Life. Assoc. First National 1921.
The First Born. Robertson Cole 1921. Thundering Dawn. Universal 1923
The Toll of the Sea. Metro 1922 Drifting. Universal 1923 Fifth Avenue. PRC 1926.
Lillies of the Field. Assoc. First National 1924. The Thief of Bagdad. United Artists 1924
The Fortieth Door. Pathé serial 1924. The Alaskan. Paramount 1924.
Peter Pan. Paramount 1924. Forty Winks. Paramount 1925.
The Silk Bouquet/The Dragon Horse. Hi Mark Prod. 1926 The Desert's Toll. MGM 1926.
A Trip to Chinatown. Fox 1926. The Chinese Parrot. Universal. 1927.
Driven from Home. Chadwick 1927. Mr. Wu. MGM 1927.
Old San Francisco. Warner Bros. 1927. Why Girls Love Sailors. Pathé short 1927.
The Devil Dancer. United Artists 1927. Streets of Shanghai. Tiffany 1927.
Across to Singapore. MGM 1928. Pavement Butterfly (aka City Butterfly).
The City Butterfly. German 1929. Across to Singapore. MGM 1928.
The Crimson City. Warner Bros. 1928. Song. German 1928
Chinatown Charlie. First National 1928. Piccadilly, British International 1929.
Elstree Calling. British International 1930. The Flame of Love. British International 1930.
Hay Tang. German 1930. L'Amour Maitre Des Choses. French 1930.
Daughter of the Dragon. Paramount 1931. Shanghai Express. Paramount 1932.
A Study in Scarlet. World Wide 1933. Tiger Bay. Associated British 1933.
Chu Chin Chow. Gaumont 1934. Java Head. Associated British 1934.
Limehouse Blues. Paramount 1934. Daughter of Shanghai. Paramount 1937.
Hollywood Party. MGM short subject 1937. Dangerous to Know. Paramount 1938.
The Toll of the Sea. Metro 1922.
Shanghai Express 1932
Mural by Sheep Chen aka @sheep.chen for SprayseeMO 2025, seen at 3030 Roanoke Road in Kansas City, Missouri.
The artist states: This piece takes inspiration from the Chinese myth of Cangjie creating characters. Legend has it that Cangjie, the mythological figure who invented Chinese characters, was highly skilled in observing the world, hence he had four eyes. He drew from bird footprints, leaf shapes, and human gestures to create the earliest Chinese pictographs.
I’ve rearranged the English words ”Love, Peace, World“ into the Chinese characters 爱 (love), 和平 (peace), and 世界 (world). Just as Cangjie connected nature’s symbols to form writing, this reimagining of language aims to bridge Eastern and Western cultures—symbolizing how linguistic forms can forge deep connections between different civilizations."
Drone photo by James aka Urbanmuralhunter on that other photo site.
Edit by Teee.
pienso que le hubiera hecho feliz inventar algo asì para los niños...
Ver - HAARP - High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program
I don't know who exactly invented this challenge, but it's perfect for me and my huge pile of scraps. This coaster is the first of the 100 projects using scraps only. I want to use as many of them as possible and fabric pieces smaller than a fat eight which I would otherwise cut into squares and strips.
Let's see how long it will take me to make 100 projects. Although I must confess the sheer number seems a bit intimidating, I'm convinced it will be fun.
100/1
rArchivoltes centrales. La Trinité, nos XVIII et XIX (pi. VII et VIII; fig. 10). — Les
effets réunis de neuf insertions et de retaillages ont déformé sinon détruit les caractères de Dieu
tenant l'agnus dei, à la clef de voûte de la troisième archivolte (n° XVIII). Comme le montre le
diagramme, la tête proéminente, ainsi que les pieds, sont du xixe siècle. Le retaillage dévastateur des
draperies inférieures s'étend sur les surfaces adjacentes du voussoir où s'étendaient à l'origine des
draperies gracieuses des manches et l'ourlet. L'examen de cet endroit suggère que les pieds sont une
invention du xixe siècle qui a transformé ce qui avait dû être un buste de Dieu, visuellement
admissible, en une figure de nain, toute tordue. Néanmoins, cette figure perpétue l'iconographie du xne siècle
dans la représentation de Dieu tenant un disque contenant « le signe du fils de l'homme dans les cieux »
(Matthieu 24, 30), précurseur, selon l'évangile de saint Matthieu, du « fils de l'homme venant dans les
nuées du ciel » sculpté à la clef de voûte de la première archivolte. Dans le contexte de l'Apocalypse, ce
pourrait être aussi l'agneau au milieu des vingt-quatre vieillards avec leurs harpes et leurs fioles, tels T
qu'ils sont représentés dans les archivoltes (Apocalypse 5, 8). L'importance de cette iconographie et les
aspects douteux de la restauration méritent une analyse de détail.
Deux insertions remplacent les quartiers supérieurs gauche et droit du nimbe de Dieu. Ces
insertions sont reliées par les bras de la croix lourdement retaillée. L'absence de pierreries et de décoration
semble très surprenante ; mais il ne reste aucune indication des embellissements du xne siècle. Il subsiste toute la tête originelle en silhouette derrière la nouvelle. Le fragment a 1,5 centimètre de saillie à
hauteur, et la ligne du joint départage cette partie ancienne qui comprend toute la chevelure en dessous des
oreilles et sur les épaules. Les restes non retouchés de la tête du xne siècle avec ses cheveux authentifient
les proportions de la réparation du xixe siècle.
Le disque et la plus grande partie de Yagnus dei, comme le montre le diagramme (pi. VIII), sont
du xne siècle (1). Le retaillage du disque est important surtout dans le quart supérieur droit, a supprimé
jusqu'à un demi-centimètre de pierre. La profondeur du retaillage, que l'on peut calculer grâce à une arête
qui court le long de la colonne vertébrale et de la croupe de l'agneau, a aussi causé des déformations au
disque, dans cet endroit. Le retaillage en dessous de la poitrine de l'agneau a dû supprimer toutes les
traces de son pied et de sa patte avant, pliée et levée à l'origine suivant la pose traditionnelle. Le trou laissé par la cheville au bout de la jambe
indique que la perte de la réparation du xixe siècle
a entraîné celle de morceaux encore bons du
xne siècle. La patte de devant, originelle,
supporte encore la base de la croix du xne siècle.
Le départ de celle-ci, arrondi, soulève le
problème de la forme donnée à cet emblème dans
l'insertion du xixe siècle. Rigide et sévère, sans
aucune garniture, la croix latine restaurée ne
tient pas compte de la forme originelle, visible
sous l'agneau.
Le corps de l'agneau, la sculpture la mieux
préservée de cet ensemble, est remarquable par
son réalisme. Les proportions naturelles, le nez,
les pieds fourchus, le fanon et les parties génitales sont autant de preuves de l'observation attentive
de la nature par l'artiste. Cependant, en même pIG 10 __ piEDS Du mEU de la trinite
temps, il a emprunte des conventions de stylisa- restaurés au xixe. clef de la troisième archivolte.
tion utilisées pour représenter les cheveux et a détail du n° xviii
délicatement strié les mèches qui se chevauchent (Consultez Pi. VIII)
et qui représentent la toison de l'agneau.
Les restaurateurs du xixe siècle ont dû rencontrer des dégâts sérieux et des fragments trompeurs
dans la draperie en dessous des mains et du disque ; peut-être ont-ils mal lu les enroulements de draperie
le long du bord inférieur de la pierre du voussoir et interprété incorrectement les ondulations de l'ourlet
comme des indications de pieds qui n'ont jamais existé. Ils n'ont en tout cas pas compris la signification
de cette nouvelle esthétique basée sur le respect de la figure humaine et des proportions naturelles. Nulle
part ailleurs dans tout le portail les sculpteurs du xne siècle n'ont déformé une figure pour la faire
rentrer dans un cadre limité. Négligeant ceci, les restaurateurs du xixe siècle ont pris des mesures
exceptionnelles qui requièrent des moyens importants pour leur permettre d'insérer les nouveaux pieds (fig. 10).
Sous le disque la figure a été si gravement retaillée que seule la draperie resculptée sur les cous-de-pieds
fait maintenant saillie par rapport à la surface originelle de l'archivolte. Le long du bord inférieur entre
les pieds du xixe siècle et autour d'eux jusqu'aux deux tiers du relief originel du voussoir, la pierre a été
recoupée pour placer les pieds du xixe siècle. Les insertions sont toutes en saillie par rapport au bord
inférieur de la pierre originelle. Cette seule figure parmi les quatre archivoltes contient des portions qui chevauchent à la fois les bords inférieurs et supérieurs du voussoir et d'autres qui sont en retrait par
rapport à la surface plane. Toutes les surfaces sculptées en dessous du disque montrent des retaillages, et
certains des plis évasés sur le côté, ainsi que la plupart des draperies des manches, ont été supprimés.
La restauration a détruit la disposition des draperies originelles ; mais, en plus, l'insertion des pieds a
transformé le buste de Dieu en une figure grotesque, anomalie dans un ensemble où les proportions
naturelles et le respect de la forme humaine prédominent.
La colombe, insertion mais non invention du xixe siècle, est perchée sur un voile tenu par deux
anges qui, bien qu'assez éraflés, subsistent cependant, presque sans retouches (pi. VII b) (1). Le joint
de l'insertion qui remplace la colombe s'insère au sommet de la tête de l'ange de gauche, descend tout
droit près du corps de l'oiseau, passe au bout de la griffe la plus à gauche de sa patte droite au centre du
pli le plus largement creusé du voile, vers le bas. S'incurvant vers la droite, il traverse ce pli en respectant
sa courbe, remonte vers le côté droit, coupe en deux le pouce gauche de l'ange de droite et monte encore,
près de la patte gauche de la colombe. Après avoir fait le tour du pied, le joint retourne vers la colombe
et poursuit sa course entre l'ange de droite et l'oiseau. La limite supérieure de l'insertion repose sur la
surface plane derrière la queue en éventail, détachée de tout support (2). Des examens effectués à
différents endroits amènent à penser que le voile lui-même n'a pas été retaillé, bien que la croûte de pierre
érodée rende impossible un brossage soigneux.
A travers la couche épaisse de suie et de pierre décomposée qui couvre les anges, la main du maître
des anges du tympan semble probable. En dépit de l'usure occasionnée par le temps, ces figures non
retouchées conservent leurs détails du xne siècle. La draperie des manches de l'ange de gauche a le même
caractère et le même drapé large que celle qui moule la jambe des anges supérieurs du tympan (pi. III).
Les traces des accents incisés sur les bords des plis se remarquent à travers la décomposition de la
surface de la manche. Les pieds des deux anges de l'archivolte font écho aux pieds larges, aplatis et tordus
de l'ange à droite du buste du Christ (n° XI, pi. VII). La draperie de la manche de l'ange de droite montre
une convention plus archaïque faite de plis qui entourent la jointure de l'épaule pour la souligner et la
mettre en valeur. Là où la draperie du voile qui soutient la colombe s'incurve sur l'épaule de l'ange de
gauche, ses plis en « forme de nuages » ressemblent aux écharpes et aux voiles des anges du tympan. La
surface des ailes, bien que sévèrement abîmée par les intempéries, se conforme aux modèles établis.
Une insertion remplace le visage de l'ange de droite, mais celle non restaurée de l'ange de gauche
fournit un exemple rare du type de visage du xne siècle que les sculpteurs du xixe siècle essayaient
d'imiter, avec des résultats si laids. Il suffît de comparer le visage du xne siècle de l'ange de gauche avec celui
de Dieu, situé en dessous. Son large front, son nez plat, ses lèvres à la fois gonflées et plates, ses yeux à
fleur de tête entourés de larges bandes qui représentent les paupières sont autant de parodies maladroites
de ces mêmes caractères dans la figure stylisée de l'ange. La surface corrodée a pu masquer des endroits
retouchés mais — dans la mesure où le brossage paraissait faisable — l'ange de gauche semble bien ne pas
avoir été touché par la restauration, exception unique dans le portail d'après le rapport hyperbolique de
Didron selon lequel : « ... pas une pierre n'échappa à la main des ouvriers (3) ».
"La muerte es el destino qué todos compartimos, nadie ha escapado de ella y así tiene que ser; porque la muerte es posiblemente el mejor invento de la vida." Steve Jobs.
As seen at Henry Ford's Greenfield Village.
The first time I seen one of these was in a 1930's Three Stooges Short called, Yes, We Have No Bonanza.
Originally published in the Wheelman Magazine, 1979
The Ingo-bike was invented by two brothers, Phillip and Prescott Huyssen, during the early 1930's.
Its safety and versatility-two could ride as easily as one - made it a healthy source of family fun. The Ingo's revolutionary driving principle was akin to perpetual motion, and its ride was compared to "the sensation you get standing at a ship's prow enjoying the lift and lull of the rhythmic swell as the ship rides high on the crest and gently falls into the trough of the wave." It was touted at the time as the "first great advance in wheels in almost half a century."
Phillip Huyssen got the idea for the Ingo while he was at Prescott were returning home from the Chicago World's Fair. They were riding in the upper deck of a double-decker bus in order to enjoy the view. While riding south on South Park Avenue, Phil began to watch a group of small boys riding home-made scooters. The scooters were made of 2x4's and used a roller skate for wheels. one board was used to stand on, one to steer, and a cross-stick was used for handle-bars. One boy was using a 1x6 instead of a 2x4 to stand on, and when he pushed off, the board would hit the sidewalk and act as a brake. As Phil watched the boys, he got an idea, and told Prescott that if the rear wheel hub was off-center, the scooter could be propelled by pulling on the steering bar, and using a little "body English."
The two brothers went home, and began to work on their idea. They built a number of scooters with various size wheels and experimented with putting the eccentric wheel in the front and then in the back. These being depression days, there was no work and the banks were closed, the brothers were short of money and often had to improvise. The first working Ingo had a 12-inch front wheel and a 36-inch
rear wheel. The tried it out on a cold winter night, but avoided riding in their neighborhood at 70th and Calumet in Chicago, as they feared the neighbors would think they were crazy. This first success greatly encouraged the Huyssens, as they had invested hard-to-get money into their invention. They continued their work and made a final prototype with an 18-inch rear wheel made of 3/4-inch plywood wrapped in hard rubber. The bike received U.S. patent no. 1,679,819 with others pending.
The Huyssens took their prototype to Derinforth, Lee, Criten, and Wiles-Patent Attorneys. They demonstrated their invention to their attorney, Horace Dawson, by riding it in the hallways of the office building, and he liked it very much. The brothers borrowed some money and had movies made to show the Ingo in action. They took it to the Toy Fair in New York City where the bike was a hit. The Huyssens received hundreds of tentative orders while they were at the New York's McCalpine Hotel. On their return from New York, Mr. Dawson recommended
Illustrations courtesy Phil Huyssen, Hot Springs, Arkansas
giving the idea to Borg-Warner Company, a manufacturer of automobile, home appliance, aviation, marine, and agricultural products. They decided to release the Ingo-bike idea to Borg-Warner Company, who then transferred it to a subsidiary, Ingersol. The two brothers then spent some time testing the design at the Borg-Warner plant in Rockford, Illinois.
Production of the Ingo was set up in the fall of 1934. Many mistakes were made in the first construction, and a second, improved version was later developed. The second version was quicker and easier to ride, but it still had one drawback, its curved, steel platform supports would crack between the wooden riding platform and the rear wheel when the bike was ridden too hard. Then the rider would have to take the two halves of his broken into to the nearest welding shop. The bike was also very heavy which provided the rider with good exercise or a lot of work, according to his point of view.
Unfortunately, the Ingo was only manufactured for a short time. Production stopped in 1937, when the building the Ingo was made in was converted into an army shell factory. Then World War II broke out, and the Ingo idea was side-tracked.
The Ingo is both a novel and practical invention. It steals the show at any parade, and can be used in eye-catching tricks, such as jumping over low-fences, and pyramid riding in which a group of people form a pyramid while riding on an Ingo. In Hollywood it was pictured in many magazines, ridden in movies and in a Three
Stooges comedy and it was featured in the Pathe News. In the 1930's, rental agencies from Hollywood beaches, to New York's Central Park, did a substantial business renting out Ingos and teaching people how to ride them. They often gave out membership cards, which allowed the carrier to ride for free, after having paid for a certain number of rides. Games such as Ingo-polo became popular. Regular Ingo races were held at Victor McLaglen's Hollywood Sports Center in the '30's, and today, these bikes which can reach speeds of up to 20 miles per hour are raced on the quarter-mile track at Wheelmen meets.
The Ingo is not only fun to ride, it is also one of the safest bikes ever invented. The riding platform is only six inches from the ground, so injuries from falling or being bounced off are unlikely. There are no chains, sprockets, or gears to catch fingers or clothes, and the fenders prevent both flying mud and injuries from the wheels.
When compared to modern-day 10-speeds, the Ingo bike doesn't seem to be a distance machine, but its inventors proved otherwise. On one of their early rides, Prescott and Phil rode from Chicago to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 8-1/2 hours. On another long and widely publicized ride,
Phillip Huyssen rode from Chicago to Miami, Florida, in April, 1935. The trip took him 12 days, and on his arrival he was officially greeted by the mayor of Miami. Six Ingos were shipped to Florida for publicity on his arrival, and many people learned to ride there. This ride also led to the Ingo being featured in the Miami Chamber of Commerce promotional magazine. The inventors weren't the only people who used the Ingo for long-distance travel. A 113-mile long Ingo-bike derby, running from Los Angeles to the Desert Circus Day Celebration in Pal Springs, California, was planned both to prove the practicality of the Ingo for traveling long distances, and to demonstrate the ease which which it could be used for sport and to improve one's health.
Many people used the Ingo for basic transportation, and office workers bouncing to work down Woodward Avenue were a familiar sight in World War II era Detroit. Others rode the Ingo as a safe, effective way to keep in shape. Ingo riding was promoted as a health-giving sport and was compared to tennis and jogging. It was advertised as a new Hollywood craze, used by the stars to keep their healthy good looks. The exercising theme was carried out in the Ingo's original name, "Exercycle," which was used in early news accounts. Its name was later changed to Ingo because R. C. Ingersol made "Ingo-clad" steel. Ingo-riding was touted as a gentle, rhythmic, non-monotonous daily exercise, which was a pleasant way to lose weight and gain perfect posture, poise, and balance. Ingo-riding was said to flex the muscles, rest the nerves, tone the system, and renew vitality.
The slogans, "It's fun to keep healthy," and "The Ingo is for everyone from 8 to 80," promoted this idea.
In recent years, the Ingo has not been forgotten. Wheelmen from all over the country collect, restore, and ride them. In various cities, modern bicycles which have been customized with an Ingo-like off-center rear hub, have been ridden in parades and as street bikes. Phil Huyssen has continued working on the Ingo idea. He has made a child's scooter patterned after the Ingo and is trying to make connections with a company to develop it. Mr. Huyssen also obtained a patent on an improved, easier-riding Ingo in 1972, which he hopes to get into production.
“The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, HE was a genius.”
Sid Caesar
There was an antique car show going on during the convenZioNE... this is one of the cars...
Reached Flickr Explore on Oct 19, 2008 #395
P. Coupeaid invented the cyclo in Cambodia and introduced it to Vietnam in 1939. It replaced the rickshaw, which was introduced to Vietnam from China but originated from Japan.
Unlike the rickshaw, which was a human powered cart pulled by a runner from behind, the cyclo is a pedaled version with the passengers at the front. Also unlike the rickshaws, which were mainly used by the elites, the cyclos were mostly used by the lower class.
Cyclos are reliable, cheap, environmentally friendly, very aesthetically pleasing, and were the main income, though meager, for tens of thousands of unskilled Vietnamese. (source - AsiaLIFE).
Explore - Highest position: 317 on Thursday, August 13, 2009
I took these 11 Photographs of the Machinery used in Bottling Coca Cola at the World of Coca Museum, in Atlanta, Georgia.
Pharmacist John Stith Pemberton invented Coca Cola in 1886. The Coca Cola Museum fronts on a small park near the Hilton Garden Inn Hotel where we stayed during our visit to Atlanta. The World of Coca Cola Museum is located at 121 Baker Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30313.
In June 2018, my wife & I attended a Family Wedding at the Hilton Garden Inn, 275 Baker Street in Atlanta, Georgia. One end the hallway on the on the 13 Floor (they call it Floor PH) gave me a Great View of the CSX Tracks, while the other end of the hallway gave me a great view of the Skyview Ferris Wheel across the street from Centennial Olympic Park.
Since we were in Atlanta for several days, I had some time to visit the Coca Cola Museum, which was a short 2 blocks away from our Hotel.
"Wajir, 21 de enero de 2006
Querido Ernesto:
Podría contarte unas cuantas mentiras. Unas cuantas mentiras o una sola muy grande. Tan grande que no hiciese falta pulir los pequeños detalles para que resultase creíble.
Por ejemplo: soy feliz, Ernesto. Me gusta estar aquí, viendo cómo me sonríen los niños cuando me acerco hasta ellos. Sabes que el calor no es un problema para mí. Disfruto con las altas temperaturas. Mi termómetro personal considera que los cuarenta grados centígrados no dan sensación de sofoco.
¿Sirve?
Otra: me siento realizada, Ernesto. Porque sé que lo que hago es útil. Porque con mi trabajo ayudo a otros. Porque no tienen nada y yo lo tengo todo.
¿Sirve?
La última: me encanta cómo estas personas afrontan el día a día. No saben lo que es quejarse y ni tan siquiera se les escucha llorar.
¿Sirve?
Por supuesto, las tres son pequeñas mentiras.
El ejemplo de la grande sería algo parecido a esto: Ernesto, no me he equivocado. No tenías razón. Sé separar perfectamente lo que soy y de dónde vengo de lo que en estos momentos estoy viendo y el lugar en el que estoy.
¿A que suena convincente?
Soy una luchadora, ya sabes.
Te quiero,
Matilde
Posdata: tengo miedo, me duele el alma y sólo duermo a ratos por culpa del calor. Las imágenes de tanta miseria junta las llevo colgadas en la mochila y no encuentro un clavo lo suficientemente resistente como para que aguante el peso de tanta injusticia.
Beso"
________________________________
La historia es real a medias: he cambiado el lugar original por Wajir (Kenya) y los nombres. Le ocurrió a una amiga que perdió las fuerzas desbordada por la situación, por el dolor ajeno y por el abandono tan desolador que contempló. Claudicó y después de una semana, consiguió reponerse, entre otras cosas, porque entendió que sus compañeros ya tenían bastante: cuestión de supervivencia.
El texto lo escribí hace un año, más o menos, dentro del grupo "Inventa una historia" y acompañaba a una foto que no era mía. Hoy he querido rescatarlo y como no sabía qué hacer para juntar las palabras a una imagen, he acabado recreando yo misma la situación.
Had brewed coffee with Clever Coffee Dripper this morning. The way the dripper works eliminate several flaw it may happen cause under extraction with conventional dripper. which makes it easy to use for even untrained coffee brewer. and IT IS INVENTED IN TAIWAN :D
The method goes very well with the Guatemala La Bolsa received last week from Tonxcoffee
Many things have been invented in Birmingham, including the postal service and the postage stamp. This owl features celebratory stamps depicting all the things that are great about the city, past and present, including bands that were formed here, tourist attractions, architecture and in-ventions. This owl delivers every time and wears all of these quirky and evocative stamps with cheerful panache.
Artist: Helen Dodsworth
Has worked as a community artist and freelance designer since she graduated in 2001. Since 2011, she has been working as a freelance illustrator and running art workshops for children. She has a particular soft spot for drawing animals!
Website: helendodsworth.carbonmade.com
Sponsor: Citypress
Auction Price: £3500
The Big Hoot captured the imagination of everyone in Birmingham and beyond, with hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets with their Big Hoot Trail maps to explore the colourful invasion of individually designed owls. Taking in the city’s 10 districts, tourists and residents alike enjoyed their owl adventure, discovering and celebrating the extraordinary creativity produced by many of Birmingham’s artistic community and over 25,000 young people.
The Big Hoot owls went under the hammer on 15 October 2015 at The Big Hoot auction sponsored by Vodafone and we are thrilled to have smashed our target by raising the incredible sum of £508,035!
The money raised from the auction will support Birmingham Children’s Hospital Charity’s £3.65m Star Appeal. This appeal will enable us to create a first of its kind, a Rare Diseases Centre in the UK specifically for children. It will provide co-ordinated care, treatment, support and most importantly hope to children and families living with a rare or undiagnosed condition.
In addition the auction raised £15,000 for G’owl’d by Temper with proceeds going to Edward’s Trust, and £7,800 for Fleet and Free with proceeds going to Birchfield Harriers.
So thank you - we simply couldn’t have done it without you.
Artists have played a major role in The Big Hoot, creating almost 100 owl sculptures. We would like to thank all the artists for their incredible creativity and hard work.
Professional artists from Birmingham, the wider Midlands region and further afield have created extraordinary giant owls that are all unique in style and character and represent the city’s creativity, history and heritage, music, fashion, architecture and attractions.
Birmingham is home to a wealth of artistic and creative individuals and communities and many award-winning and nationally and internationally acclaimed artists. We are delighted with the response from Birmingham’s creative community and are thrilled to work in collaboration with them to transform the streets, squares and parks of the city.
For five months artists have been creating owls in their studios, at home and in The Big Hoot Artists’ Studio at the Custard Factory in Digbeth. Their inspiring and innovative designs have been realised in genres including graffiti, illustration, fine art, graphics, typography, mosaic and new media. They have worked with both community groups and with corporates to realise ideas and create their stunning designs.
The Big Hoot not only provides a high quality and ambitious free public event for families but also supports the creativity of artists and celebrates talent and diversity. The Big Hoot has provided an inspiring relationship between the city and the arts.
The artists have also reached out to communities enabling more people to participate in the arts, to experience working with professional artists and to be inspiring and inspired. From the north to the south of the city residents groups, youth groups and older peoples’ groups have been collaborating with artists to generate ideas, design and create owls for The Big Hoot.
Creativity is everywhere but the opportunity to participate is not. A range of activities have been programmed within Birmingham’s diverse communities and people from the age of 3 – 97 and from wards within the city boundaries have contributed to The Big Hoot and helped make the event extraordinary. Our projects have seen artists working with hundreds of residents and community members including children in looked after care, older peoples’ clubs, young people and residents organisations to design and decorate the owls displayed as part of the 10 week public event.
Gentlemen -- When your very lovely lady calls you this afternoon, what will you tell her? Even if the most perfect COVID-19 vaccine is invented tomorrow, will that mean that the bars and nightclubs will open tomorrow? Will that mean the end of men and women having to wear face masks and will it mean the end of social distancing? Will that mean that a man and a woman will no longer have to wear white cotton and satin gloves when they dance together in the hotel ballrooms and hotel nightclubs up-and-down the Fabulous Las Vegas Strip?
Probably not...
A perfect COVID-19 vaccine invented tomorrow will surely result in more Vegas Strip bars, restaurants, and nightclubs being open for longer hours with more tables and seating available for more couples. But will those wary couples be too eager to drop their guard as they come back to the Fabulous Vegas Strip?
That remains to be seen...
And this is what you must tell your very lovely lady when she calls you this afternoon. As bars, and restaurants, and nightclubs come back, couples will still need to make reservations well in advance, couples may continue to choose to wear their face masks and their white cotton and satin gloves to dinner and dancing. Couples may still choose to maintain their personal space from other couples. Perhaps one day after the perfect COVID-19 vaccine has been invented and reinvented several times, the world will be perfect again -- But Not Today! So continue your long and leisurely exploration of life and love on the Vegas Strip -- do so because life is still good here!
By the way, once your very lovely lady is ready to begin 'Living Las Vegas' again, you two must explore the wonderful wealth of new dining experiences (Milos; ZUMA; Blue Ribbon) to be had up on the 3rd Floor Fine Dining Food Court at the Cosmopolitan Hotel & Casino!! 😷😋
GEORGIA - SUICIDE OR SUICIDE PREVENTION?
WELCOME TO THE ALMOST-UNKNOWN
To the average Westerner, there is a not-so-well-known piece of land stuffed in by the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains called Georgia. It is hard to describe where Georgia and the Georgians fit in, appearance-wise and culturally being European – think Jesus (culturally speaking) and red wine (and they pretty much invented both). Only physically the country sits in Asia, therefore being a bit an offcut, sometimes being classified as part of Europe and sometimes as part of Asia – you can decide on that one. I’m not going to reveal every detail about Georgia because that is what Wikipedia and Lonely Planet are for. I do not do travel guides and tourist reviews, except, I might just mention that it is a stunning little place that has not been discovered by the tourist masses yet – Amen, let’s have a wine to that!
But, then maybe it should be better known? I like Georgia. I like the fact I can stay here visa-free for 365 days, and buy a home and set up a business without restrictions – if I wanted to. I like that everything is inexpensive and easy. I love the fact that it only takes twenty minutes to get a car registered in your name by only showing your passport, thus being the reason I bought my car here. I felt quite proud setting out to conquer the world in a Georgian flagged car - the Georgian number plates turned many heads the whole way from Turkey to Morocco, but the head-turning was probably more likely due to the fact that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. In Georgia, you drive on the right-hand side of the road (like everywhere in Europe), but since they import cars from both east and west, steering wheels are on both the left and the right. Mine is a Japanese import (a right-hand drive) meaning I awkwardly go around seeing grass more than anything else. Very nice views indeed, but passing can be challenge at times, but I got used to it – as with every other challenge life has ever presented. At the car registration office - which is conveniently located inside the big second hand car market in Rustavi - they gave me a little driver’s license-like card (car ownership card) in which acts as the car’s ‘passport’, and that coupled with my own passport allowed me to get from one country to the next – I technically had no issues with that from the Georgian-Turkish border all the way to the Sahara Desert in Africa. Any issue that did arise was only because of some ‘official’ merely being an official asshole. Those exist from time to time, but not so much in Georgia.
In the summer of July 2016, I brought my Chinese students to Georgia for three exceptional weeks. We stayed a week each in the crumbling old town of Tbilisi, on the semi-subtropical Black Sea coast near Turkey and high up in the Caucasus Mountains in a green alpine valley covered in summer wild flowers. The scenery was quite dramatic. We raided little bakeries of their cheese pies whenever we could. They are cheap. We grinded ourselves like millet between aggressive waves and the rocky shores of the coastline and almost floated off visa-free to Turkey. That was fun. And the Georgians are very, very friendly. It’s the type of country where you can spend the days as you like; lay drunk in a church garden, sit under a grapevine with a book, sip a latte at coffee shop table by the street (their coffee kind of sucks actually), be forced to drink a cognac with the bus driver as you fly around the mountainous bends… These were some of the reasons that pulled me back in September, alone though, the second time around.
And lastly, and most importantly, I like the fact that, with Georgia, you can be in a European country and still be able to find freedom from of a heavy, burden-like energy. It is a place in which the human being still comes before rules. It is a place where God is still more important than regulations. It is a society that is still more humanistic than robotic. A place where health is in the heart and not in the insurance policy. It is one of the last places left where white people are not suppressing themselves into square boxes and straight lines and defining every last inch of themselves and their lifestyles by categories and labels. It’s a place where people can live and let live, in the more natural sense. Most importantly, it is a place where you can breathe; a place where you can surrender to your natural instincts.
WISDOM LIES IN THE ROADS?
Any civilization with centuries of experience in survival in the midst of mountainous terrain with rogue neighbours all around (think: Ottoman Empire/Turkey, the Soviet Union/Russia, Persia/Iran) certainly would have some valuable wisdom to share. Architecture, alcohol and photos aside, it is my goal to dig out something deeper. Worthwhile lessons from other lands is what I am searching for. We would be wiser to run our lives and societies like big companies that become worth billions by imitating others and then adapting and improving on what we have learnt. Absorbing wisdom from far-reaching corners of the globe is what any smart person or society should do. So, with an idea in my head, car keys in hand, and with a goal to expose humanity’s more unfortunate sides, it was time to get behind the wheel and head into the frenzy of the Georgian roads!
When driving, or purchasing any type of ticket for road transport in Georgia you might feel as if you are applying to go on the suicide waiting list, but Georgian roads just may be a cure to suicide. The way the Georgians drive can probably be best described as ‘dangerous’. Georgian drivers are fast, erratic and aggressive with all their stunts conducted through cracked windscreens. In fact, it seems that half their cars have lost half their parts and it’s almost common to see two doors on a Lada chassis fly down the road - with haystacks on top. The general road rule is ‘stick to the side of the road’ (off the side in the dust is okay too) and allow the middle to be a creative zone, even around sharp bends at night – as long as whatever it is, is done fast, you can’t really go wrong. This is no worries for the Georgians because driving is like art - it is almost like an improvising time for a group of musicians. I drove in China for six years which at times can be exhilarating, and in many parts of the world with ‘uncivilized’ streets (to the Western eyes) and I can say that I rejoice in the chaos. I’m the last person in the world to want to say something is ‘dangerous’, but, Georgia… my dear Georgia… you’re in a league of your own and I LOVE IT!!
IS DANGER ACTUALLY DANGER?
Some find the act of reading a book to be relaxing. Many find reading to be tiring and quite stressful. I am one of the latter ones. Many might say driving is tiring and stressful, and that reading is a relaxing way to escape to another place. But in the ideal feminized society that modern-day Westerners are trying to create, everyone would be able to relieve stress by reading a novel, but thankfully, many people (particularly men) are unable to get their all stimulation from books (and thank Georgian Jesus for that if someday war were to encroach because throwing all your books at enemies would not help much). Georgians bring Jihad to the roads, and for me, the more chaotic and aggressive the roads are, the more relaxed I become. Words from a book just don’t flow through me like the movement of humans and vehicles battling for the same space does. This is also when my natural instincts set in. I love to be in control of, not only the car, but my life as well. I love having to concentrate. I love the stimulation of it. I love the sense of achievement it brings when arriving at where I was going – it is like winning a grand-prix. I love the adrenalin rush of Georgian roads. More often than not, I want (read: need) to feel my heart beating, my palms sweating, my blood rushing, the butterflies in my stomach. I want to remember I'm alive!
Everyone needs to feel alive in order to ‘be alive’ and live a healthy, fulfilled life. The modern over-controlled society of the West causes frustration and creates barriers and road blocks, hence allowing for more time and energy for road rage and the likes. The boredom leads to a lack of concentration. A lack of concentration leads to accidents. When we disengage from our instincts, it gives rise to more issues instead of solving the ones we set out to. We no longer understand the root causes of societal problems, because we have become so disconnected from our natures. We no longer understand the world from our intuition, but only from ideologies. Our brains have well advanced above our hearts leaving us lost and confused. Our brains categorize things so strongly now that we no longer know what we are categorizing. In turn, roads in the West have become a place of rules and misery. What happened to the fact that roads were invented for ‘going places’ as their main purpose?
AN ILLNESS OF MODERN WESTERN SOCIETY
I probably just seemed to be suggesting that you might have a good chance of killing yourself if you get within ten inches of any Georgian road, but in fact, I am implying the opposite – Georgian roads just may well be an example of a cure to suicide, and other miseries that the developed world suffers from these days. There may seem to be a paradox here, but things generally are the opposite of what they appear to be. When facing difficulty and danger, you need to give a top performance – no one swims lazily with a shark fin in tow. When you are in full concentration mode, all your senses become alive and alert. When you have survived the moment, you have a sense of accomplishment. When you have a combination of these ‘daily necessities’ (the ones that are not available at the supermarket) you start inching closer to a little friend called ‘nature’ - that forgotten thing that inherently lives within us. Humans have come a long way, we’ve forgone dangers to revel in the security of modern-day life, but it is boring. Modern life is boring. Excitement, adrenalin, fun; gone to the pits of safety. To fight, to battle, to use your brain, your body, your skills, your senses – all at the same time - there is no more of that, because it’s not allowed, not tolerated. It’s easy to see and provide for human being’s physical needs such as fresh food, clean water and oxygen, but the psychological needs of creativity, challenge, decision making and stimulation during everyday activity have not only been forgotten, but they have been banished to the darkest corners of hell – all in the name of safety.
SUICIDE OR SUICIDE PREVENTION?
The post WW2 feminizing of society has already served its benefits; people are more passive, society more equal, women have taken up more positions, marriage equality achieved and the list goes on, but this movement should now deactivate as it seems that its last purpose to achieve is to obliviously drag us by the teeth to a cliff’s edge. This nannying is running rife and, in effect, it is the source of many people’s depression, boredom, frustration and, in some cases, desperation. It’s not only suffocating, but it is against our survival instincts. The reason we still quiver when we think of a snake is because we still have nature inside us, but we don’t hesitate about getting into a car despite the overwhelming global statistics in car related deaths. So, sorry to say, but our nature (and the snake-quivering) is not going anywhere, but the fear of fun definitely needs to go…
I do not know of anyone who would ponder over the idea of suicide while feeling stimulated. Georgians commit suicide too, and are definitely not immune to misery, but they are certainly not being robbed of the simple human needs for excitement and danger. In fact, Georgian suicide rates rank among the lowest and the traffic related death rate is not excruciatingly high (although a bit higher than the most developed countries, but this could be down to geographic and financial reasons too - Georgia is being significantly poorer and steeper). Georgian drivers are highly skilled and take necessary precautions at every bend in the road, because they have to. Having to do something and just doing something are two very different concepts with very different outcomes. Georgian drivers are self-taught, well practiced with refined skill, and they make decisions based on the situation rather than the rule. It is the same idea as a person taking extra safety precautions while on a bicycle, knowing that the likelihood of getting bowled over is significantly higher. Keep in mind that musicians also get more orgasms out of improvising than playing along to a tune set out by someone else, because they are relying on something deeper; their senses, their feelings, their emotions. As kids, we are often told to slow down, so we correlate ‘slow’ with being safe, but it is not always so. Sometimes fast is safe. Sometimes danger equals carefulness. My cat only fell out the 9th floor window because it didn’t learn how to climb. Insulation and safety of the poor white mutt lead to the end of it. This insulation not only leads to the inability to foresee danger and react to it, but in effect, it makes us not only depressed but… stupider.
PUTTING SOME GEORGIA INTO OUR OWN LIVES
Georgian ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili turned his country around from the crime-ridden, corrupt, ex-Soviet police state that it was once. Jeez, this was even the place that gave birth to Stalin. After eventually being voted out, Saakashvili moved to Ukraine to help rid that country of its infestation of political crime and corruption. It is possible for a country and society to turn itself around, Georgia did it. I wonder if Saakashvili has time to come and oil the rusted Westerners, steer the West onto the path of logic; a road to something a bit healthier, a bit more sustainable, something a bit more exciting? Elements of difficulty need to be released back into society so that our survival instincts can be kicked back into gear. The feeling of being alive needs to be promoted. The nannying culture needs to be sent back to nurseries. Luckily for Georgia, it still faces enough difficulties to keep it down to earth and bit more realistic.
Maybe we could start by crushing half of the ministers and ministries and replacing them with a Ministry of Stimulation, perhaps? Maybe ex-Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili could even head it. Stalin can be given a pass on that one. It amazes me that humans can build airplanes and spaceships to whip us around the earth and even to the moon, but what astounds me is that the most simple and obvious solutions to easy-to-solve issues can still be so puzzlingly far off. This level of human stupidity on display is equal to a duck quacking into a pipe believing the echo to be a friend. If we are aware of these issues (and admit they exist), we will continue to flourish as a great civilization. If not, we will have led ourselves to disaster through oblivion, because while the Western world nannies around, the rest of the world is gearing up, reinvigorating itself. The West is walking itself into sedation, uninterested in life, believing that all forms of strength are weaknesses. Being out of touch can only give rise to the rogue ones around us – ask Georgia. We seem to have a collective suicide wish, and that seems to be the only thing uniting us. Have our lives been too comfortable for too long that we have lost our minds? And do we now need a massive disaster to occur to unleash the Georgian driver within us?
Mosteiro de São Bentro
Centro - Rio de Janeiro
Detalhe de uma janela.
............................
Depilação (versão masculina)
Estava eu assistindo tv numa tarde de domingo, naquele horário em que não se pode inventar nada o que fazer, pois no outro dia é segunda-feira, quando minha esposa deitou ao meu lado e ficou brincando com minhas 'partes'. Após alguns minutos ela veio com a seguinte idéia: Por que não depilamos seus ovinhos, assim eu poderia fazer'outras coisas' com eles.
Aquela frase foi igual um sino na minha cabeça. Por alguns segundos fiquei imaginando o que seriam 'outras coisas'. Respondi que não, que doeria coisa e tal, mas ela veio com argumentos sobre as novas técnicas de depilação e eu imaginando as 'outras coisas' não tive mais como negar.
Concordei.
Ela me pediu que ficasse pelado enquanto buscaria os equipamentos necessários para tal feito. Fiquei olhando para TV, porém minha mente estava vagando pelas novas sensações que só acordei quando escutei o beep do microondas.
Ela voltou ao quarto com um pote de cera, uma espátula e alguns pedaços de plástico. Achei meio estranho aqueles equipamentos, mas ela estava com um ar de 'dona da situação' que deixaria qualquer médico urologista sentindo-se como residente.
Fiquei tranqüilo e autorizei o restante do processo. Pediu para que eu ficasse numa posição de quase-frango-assado e liberasse o aceso a zona do agrião. Pegou meus ovinhos como quem pega duas bolinhas de porcelana e começou a passar cera morna. Achei aquela sensação maravilhosa!!
O Sr. Pinto já estava todo 'pimpão' como quem diz: 'sou o próximo da fila'!! Pelo início, fiquei imaginando quais seriam as 'outras coisas' que viriam.
Após estarem completamente besuntados de cera, ela embrulhou ambos no plástico com tanto cuidado que eu achei que iria levá-los para viajem.
Fiquei imaginando onde ela teria aprendido essa técnica de prazer: Na Thailândia, na China ou pela Internet mesmo. Porém, alguns segundos depois ela esticou o saquinho para um lado e deu um puxão repentino.
Todas as novas sensações foram trocadas por um sonoro PUUUUTA QUEEEE O PARIUUUUUUU quase falado letra por letra.
Olhei para o plástico para ver se o couro do meu saco não tinha ficado grudado. Ela disse que ainda restaram alguns pelinhos, e que precisava passar de novo. Respondi prontamente: Se depender de mim eles vão ficar aí para a eternidade!!
Segurei o Dr. Esquerdo e o Dr. Direito em minhas respectivas mãos, como quem segura os últimos ovos da mais bela ave amazônica em extinção, e fui para o banheiro. Sentia o coração bater nos ovos.
Abri o chuveiro e foi a primeira vez que eu molho o saco antes de molhar a cabeça. Passei alguns minutos só deixando a água gelada escorrer pelo meu corpo.
Saí do banho, mas nesses momentos de dor qualquer homem vira um bebezinho novo: faz merda atrás de merda. Peguei meu gel pós barba com camomila 'que acalma a pele', enchi as mãos e passei nos ovos. Foi como se tivesse passado molho de pimenta.
Sentei no bidê na posição de 'lava tcheca' e deixei o chuveirinho acalmar os Drs, peguei a toalha de rosto e fiquei abanando os ovos como quem abana um boxeador no 10° round.
Olhei para meu pinto. Ele tão alegrinho minutos atrás, estava tão pequeno que mais parecia irmão gêmeo de meu umbigo.
Nesse momento minha esposa bate na porta do banheiro e perguntou se eu estava passando bem. Aquela voz antes tão aveludada e sedutora ficou igual uma gralha .
Saí do banheiro e voltei para o quarto. Ela estava argumentado que os pentelhos tinham saído pelas raízes, que demorariam voltar a nascer.
'Pela espessura da pele do meu saco, aqui não nasce nem penugem, meus ovos vão ficar que nem os das codornas ', respondi.
Ela pediu para olhar como estavam. Eu falei para olhar com meio metro de distância e sem tocar em nada e se ficar rindo vai entrar na PORRADA!!
Vesti a camiseta e fui dormir (somente de camiseta). Naquele momento sexo para mim nem para perpetuar a espécie humana.
No outro dia pela manhã fui me arrumar para ir trabalhar. Os ovos estavam mais calmos, porém mais vermelhos que tomates maduros. Foi estranho sentir o vento bater em lugares nunca antes visitados.
Tentei colocar a cueca, mas nada feito. Procurei alguma cueca de veludo e nada. Vesti a calça mais folgada que achei no armário e fui trabalhar sem cueca mesmo.
Entrei na minha seção andando igual um cowboy cagado. Falei bom dia para todos, mas sem olhar nos olhos. E passei o dia inteiro trabalhando em pé, com receio de encostar os tomates maduros em qualquer superfície.
Perguntaram para mim se eu estava com hemorróidas.
Respondi não, e que estava de saco cheio de trabalhar sentado....
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