So proud i made it through the MR SL Competition and won the title MR SL 2022. Thankful for all your support, i met so much beautiful souls and made friends. I will never forget these amazing journey. All were so amazing- the MISS SL Organization Team and all the finalists did a great job.

Also congratulations to Zieb Zen and Hasu Valentino for first and second runner up, you both deserve it so well.

I hope we can do some projects in the future together - i see us three as the winners and a team.

Also was so touched of Marcus Wisser‘s speech, it hit my heart. I know what it means to start a project from zero and grow it to a great solid event, which is known all around the grid. You are very special for me. You and the team were always professional, kind and respectful with all of us finalists, your guiding through the challenges i appreciated so much.

It made me grow personally and with my skills and qualities.

I still dont see myself perfect because i am only a human with flaws but i know i can challenge and grow even more confident and professional.

My next journey will be finishing my 6. book of neverending and open the sim soon.

Then next i have lot of projects in my mind, one of it will be to help new pageants, guiding them threw their own experiences in MISS SL and be a positive model for them giving them lots of love and power to be themself and proud of it.

Points to „be themself“ was a big challenge for me and thanks to the experience i reached it and be finally proud of myself, of who i am, where i come from and where i am now. I am not scared anymore to show it and neither voiceless. It’s who i am - a human with a kind big heart for everyone.

Hello there! I hope all is well! Happy Tuesday my friends! I am here featuring Chez Moi with the Sassy Messy Futon which is new to the Tres Chic Event. It is texture change by hud. I liked the black color and went with it. I love black spaces and adding bold colors! This futon has some clothes and shoes thrown about it. It inspired me to decorate a closet or dressing room. Having clothes on a living room sofa for me would make my OCD go in overdrive. But it's fine in the closet. LOL This Futon can go in any space you choose though. Don't let my weird ways influence you! It would also look cute in a nice foyer entry. The animations in here are really nice and there is something for everyone. I always have to try out animations in furniture. You don't want something you and your guests will look crazy sitting on! LOL Full details are on the blog! Feel free to have a look! Thank you so much for the support and have a blessed day! xoxo <3333 Ebony

Majesty- Unorganized Organization- majestyfiles.blogspot.com/2019/07/majesty-unorganized-org...

Visit Majesty Blog: majestyfiles.blogspot.com/

Clock in the City of London, with North American spelling. No idea who 'organised' the installation.

Starlings

Stare

I succumbed to a moment of nostalgic weakness and perused my archives. Given my complete lack of organizational know-how, matched only by my supreme hoarding skills (this, by the way, is a recipe for disaster), I was pleasantly surprised to find this little gem languishing there. I was even more impressed by the fact that, apparently, I had already done most of the processing on this. I began to ponder what made me abandon those efforts in favour of whatever else I ended up doing. Was it the Instant Pot and my quest for the perfect Hungarian Goulash recipe? Who knows and who really cares. (It did end up tasting delicious, however).

So, I am sharing with you now the female Downy as she does her best Nuthatch impression. Actually, she needs to rotate some more, but not bad for a first try. Just as a point of interest, I am proud to report that no canoe was involved here to move myself into position to obtain the best possible perspective and light on the iris. The reason I mention a canoe is that I have found that some of the best iris shots I have ever seen were taken from the vantage point of a canoe (Jerome). So I did some research and I found that a canoe can indeed be quite instrumental in navigating to the position required for a perfect iris shot. As my mind drifts off to ponder the possibilities of this, I quickly realize that my circumstances up here differ somewhat drastically from Jerome’s . For one thing, there is no bayou in this area and I do appreciate that a canoe is best used on water. Yes, we do have some lakes that might do the job but I don’t think they would really function as adequate stand-ins for the bayou. I would also have to acquire a trailer and permit to transport the canoe but then I’d need some practice backing up with the trailer … the more I contemplate this, the more I discover the difficulties with this plan. Of course, I could just plant the canoe in the yard and use it as a stationary structure to take my shots from. But the sun does travel during the day which would require me to push/pull/drag the canoe to the most advantageous spot, given the time of day. How likely am I to do that? Right, … not! I could invest in multiple canoes and position them strategically in the yard to solve the placement variation quandary. But wait, wait … wait! I realized quickly when I knew I should I already have something that works quite nicely for me without having to invest in a pelican box. Yes, you got it … The Adirondack. Much more easily positioned in my location of choice – I actually have two, which simplifies matters even further. True, it’s not as exotic as a canoe but really we are after results here and not the actual journey. And another benefit is that it’s much easier to sip a Krombacher in the Adirondack and maintain my balance and a semblance of decorum, especially if it’s more than one during the course of the day. And … I don’t have to leave the premises …

What’s up – 4 Non Blondes

What’s up – 4 Non Blondes Cover by Aleksandra Josic This one blows me away. Certainly not worse than the original.

How the heck do I just find out about this song and Linda Perry now? Oh yeah, not leaving the house …

Aluminum Carabiners

Focus Stack with 11 images and 52 mm Extension

#2 is 13/16" wide

MD, Catonsville MD.

When I left the house that morning, I had no idea that I'd be walking into a visual feast of colour. I missed all the street festivals in Toronto this summer. I hope next year that we'll have even more to celebrate.

Buckling Organizations.

Res illustrantes magnas respectus chartulae acutae variae interactiones spiritus transformantes phaenomena reflexiones interna.,

συσχετιζόμενοι χώροι αποδίδονται πινακίδες που καταρρέουν καρέκλες επιδείξεις φιλοσοφία απογύμνωση υλικού αποκήρυξη κανόνων φυσική κόλαση,

manières entrelacées divers symboles inspirés énergies modèles de naufrage absorptions spectacles appelant focus superficialité dirigeants guerres agressives à l'intérieur,

proses hanesyddol geiriau dwfn reverberating rhyngweithio apathy trachwant awgrymiadau lethargies gwersi cynhenid awdurdodau anwybodaeth,

prljave strane kontradikcije izložene bučne štete neoprezni varvarski katalozi zanemarivanje slika stoka poziva daleki zvukovi sve veći nanosi,

協会を誘惑する評価されていない動き信じられないほどのゲーム無制限の火大声で叫び声を上げて固体の声を却下武器無数の仮定死の病気の心スペクターが崩れた.

Steve.D.Hammond.

Dutchtown is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is called "Dutch" from Deutsch, i.e., "German", as it was the southern center of German-American settlement in St. Louis in the early 19th century.[2] It was the original site of Concordia Seminary (before it relocated to Clayton, Missouri), Concordia Publishing House, Lutheran Hospital, and other German community organizations. The German Cultural Society still has its headquarters there. St Anthony of Padua Catholic Church towers over the neighborhood and is a symbol of the neighborhood. - Courtesy Wikipedia

The Organization of Cape Verdean Women (OMCV) in partnership with the Cape Verdean Institute for Gender Equality and Equity (ICIEG) and other partners announced on Sunday, March 7th in the City of Assomada, the main commemorative event of International Women's Day under the motto Djuntu na Paz, nu kombati violênsia na Cabo Verde (Together in Peace, in the fight against violence in Cape Verde).

The opening ceremony was co-chaired by His Excellency the Prime Minister, Jose Maria Neves and the UN System Resident Coordinator, Mrs. Petra Lantz and was also attended by the US Ambassador, Government representatives, and representatives of local municipalities, among others.

Celebrating International Women's Day we know that we join thousands of people around the world, to celebrate a date that marked the world 100 years ago. It is celebrated worldwide this year under the motto Equal Rights, Equal Opportunities: Progress for All.

At the same time, the 15th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is celebrated. In 1995 during the IV World Conference on Women, world leaders committed themselves to promote equality, development and peace to women around the world.

The Beijing Declaration remains as current as it was 15 years ago: as long as women are not liberated from poverty and injustice all the objectives for which we work – peace, security and sustainable development - will be threatened. There are several examples of progress, although gender stereotyping and discrimination based on gender persist in all cultures and communities.

The International Women's Day is an opportunity to make a critical review of the successes achieved over the past 15 years, which are not few, and to take stock on how to achieve what is missing.

In Cape Verde a lot has been done since the independence in favor of women, allowing to create a favorable environment for increased participation of women, and to contribute to the development of the country. Great results have been achieved with emphasis on education, health, and political participation of women over the last years. Highlighting at the government level, among the ministers, eight are women.

However, it cannot be said that women have achieved the same equality as men, to emphasize the important achievements in favor of women in Cape Verde and thereby stimulate and continue this struggle. Because social ills still persist, such as unemployment, extreme poverty which affects mostly female heads of households, and the violence against women, that are in flagrant contradiction with the promise contained in the Charter of the United Nations "to promote the social progress and better standards of life in a broader concept of freedom".

The consequences of the violence for women and girls as well as to their families, communities and societies are incalculable. Too often the crimes are unpunished and the criminals go free. In this context the States have the responsibility to protect women and punish their aggressors, ensuring a continuing improvement of judicial processes.

With increasing frequency, men manifest themselves against this blot in our society. It is not easy to change mentalities and habits that endure for generations. It is a task for all – individuals, organizations and governments. We should work together to declare, loud and clear at the highest level, that violence against women will not be tolerated, whatever form it takes, the context in which it occurs and the circumstances that surround it.

Recognizing this fact, the African Union at the Conference of 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action that was celebrated in March 2010 in New York, launched the African Women's Decade 2010-2020, reaffirming the commitment assumed since the Dakar and Beijing conferences and the resolutions on gender equality and women empowerment taken by the Assembly of the African Union, to accelerate the achievement of results set out in the Millennium Development Goals.

*Ministry of Youth and President of the Council of Ministers, Ministry of Work, Family and Social Unity, Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Environment, Rural Development and Marine Resources, Secretary of State Adjunct of Prime Minister.

Overview of Codex Alimentarius

by Rima Laibow, M.D.

At the request of the United Nations (UN) in 1962, the World Health Organization (WHO) and Food and

Agriculture Organization (FAO) took on the joint role of running and administering the Codex

Alimentarius Commission (CAC) to establish standards and remove barriers to trade for all food and

food products. Having declared that nutrients are toxins from which we must be protected, the CAC

has been busy establishing enforceable international guidelines for upper limits of nutritional

supplement dosing. Codex has goals that affect every person in the UN’s 170+ member nations,

including the United States. As a tool for furthering these goals, member nations are urged to adopt

Codex standards and guidelines as domestic policy. The United States has already committed itself to

doing so despite U. S. law which prohibits this compliance.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) has adopted Codex as a standard for the adjudication of foodrelated

international trade disputes and has the authority to enforce Codex standards through

implementation of harsh economic sanctions on non-Codexcompliant member nations. Pre-existing

international treaty laws dictate that WTO rulings will override the domestic laws already in place in

its member nations and, in fact, the WHO has successfully taken both states and the U. S. government

to court in the U. S. to force changes in our domestic laws eleven times. This means our nation’s hard

won laws that give you access to over-the-counter, natural health supplements will become

meaningless. Codex’s original mandate to remove barriers to trade and assure a clean food supply has,

under the influence of private, economically-driven multinational pharmaceutical, agricultural and

chemical corporations, self-expanded far beyond its original mandate. The result is a body of highly

dangerous and restrictive policies that threaten to become domestic law in the U. S. and, as such, are

a threat to your health and freedom.

The FDA has stated explicitly that its goal is complete "harmonization" with Codex and, in order to

bring that about, international regulations i.e., Codex will be given preference over domestic ones!

(Federal Register, 10/ 11 /95)

If Codex gets its way, as it already has in the EU, we can expect that, ultimately, only 18 or so dietary

supplements will be available over-the-counter in doses which are, by design, far too small to have any

discernible impact on any human being since codex classifies nutrients as toxins. High potency

nutrients will not be available either with or without physician’s prescription since these molecules

and compounds will be forbidden under any circumstances. The big surprise? Once in the hands of

pharmaceutical companies, consumer supplement costs are expected to more than quadruple. This

has, in fact, been the experience in Europe where this process is already underway and micro-dose

nutrient prices have increased 10 to 100 fold or more (e.g., in Norway a bottle of zinc lozenges which

previously cost $2 now costs $54; in France 12 Vitamin C tabs of just10 mg cost $117; while 10 Vitamin

E caps of only 10 IU each cost $110).

Australia and the European Union (EU) are in the process of enacting harmonized Codex policies that

restrict consumer access to nutritional supplements. America is next. Though Americans value

personal freedom, the fact Codex meets infrequently (and almost always offshore) and is bogged

down in highly technical language that is difficult to understand has resulted in many Americans

being unaware of this threat. The nearly total media blackout on Codex and its activities helps to

keep the U. S. uninformed and therefore, pliant.

While there have been rare serious adverse reactions to nutritional supplements during the past

decades, (usually when taken far in excess of the recommended dosing), numerous severe and even

fatal reactions to drugs (usually when taken at the recommended dosing) occur every day and are the

fourth leading cause of death in hospitalized clients in the United States when properly

used. When improperly used, they are, in fact, far and away the leading cause of death in

the United States. Even so, drug deaths are very likely underreported. Drugs are

inherently dangerous; nutrients are not. This fact makes it clear why the drug culture

2

needs to eliminate all access to natural health options, including nutritional supplements,

in order to expand and intensify its influence and thus its profitability. Healthy people

take fewer drugs and thus are poor customers.

The global pharmaceutical powers -that-be have already purchased a large piece of the

lucrative global nutritional supplement pie but the considerable size of this pie keeps the

hugely profitable pharmaceutical profit -share-pie from reaching its maximum size so the

competing nutrient pie must be destroyed. Though unable to patent a natural substance,

pharmaceutical corporations can hold patents on synthetic versions of vitamins and

minerals that, unfortunately for the consumer, often do not act like their natural vitamin

counterparts in the body and often act in unpredic table and harmful ways. If Codexcompliant

Europe is any guide, the permitted micro-doses of permitted nutrients will be

only synthetic ones.

In addition to regulatory and/or administrative takeover and destruction of the dietary

supplement market and consumer access, Codex also mandates irradiation of food;

mandatory use of antibiotics, hormones and growth stimulants in all animals raised for

food, is expected to legalize the unlabeled inclusion of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) (whose

safety has never been established while their serious dangers have) into our seed and food supplies and

will increase the allowable maximum tolerated levels of pesticides, herbicides, veterinary drugs and

other dangerous industrial toxins in food, likely driving up degenerative illnesses, including cancer,

diabetes, cardiovascular disease, macular degeneration, MS, etc. All of these policies are made under

the guise of free and equal access to trade for all nations and protection of the public.

Some people have “Codex Anesthesia,” a state of overwhelming, numb confusion that occurs just

before people lose their health freedom. Many otherwise well-informed people from the manufacturing

and retailing sectors of natural healthcare believe that the Dietary Supplement Health and Education

Act (DSHEA), passed in 1994 to protect Americans’ access to natural healthcare substances, will still be

in place to protect them. This is not the case: Fundamental health freedoms afforded the American

public by DSHEA, which classifies supplements as food which, as such, can have no upper limit set on

their use, are now under well orchestrated legislative and/or administrative attack. Health nuts and

junk food devotees alike are not immune from this legislative attack on health freedom.

The following is a link to Dr. Laibow's website which gives a self-prompting 5-minute presentation that

tells you about Codex: http: //www.healthfreedomusa.org/aboutcodex.shtml

More in-depth information can be found on her website, www.healthfreedomusa.org, and on

the highly informative "Nutricide: the DVD" http: /

/www.healthfreedomusa.org/aboutcodex/dvd.shtml

It's funny how, no matter how well you know a person, if you no longer live with them you don't know some of their little habits. Like the way my brother has his shirts color-coordinated to the hangers they are on.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research (French: Organisation européenne pour la recherche nucléaire), known as CERN, is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the franco-Swiss border.

The organisation is currently the workplace of approximately 2600 full-time employees. Some 7931 scientists and engineers (representing 500 universities and 80 nationalities), about half of the world's particle physics community, work on experiments conducted at CERN.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CERN

www.cern.ch

My boyfriend helped me do this today. Definitely needed to be done. Haha. It was a mess before.

This shows the addition of a reversed overlay of the original image positioned in a pleasing way.

This important step establishes the form of the composition going forward.

Hours of work but so worth it! My embroidery floss is so pretty and organized now (I have stickers of the DMC numbers on the back of each bobbin).

This photo really has no redeeming qualities as far as being of photographic value or significance to my trip. My sister pointed this scene out in the parking lot at Sand Beach, making a remark about this being what she looks like on one of her backpacking trips. I find that hard to believe. She is NOT me! She plans, she organizes, she makes lists, she pares down the list and repacks. I wait until half an hour before it's time to get in the car and drive away and then I start chucking everything I can think of in my car. If you know me, you know I speak the truth. And, quite frequently, I end up looking like.... well... looking like THIS!!

Hope you found what you were looking for buddy! I know the feeling! All too well!!

The big organizer...

An obsolete slides holder turned into the perfect art and office supplies organizer for a desk...or on the go :)

Other vintage repurposed organization ideas blogged at www.poetichome.com

At the Federal Training Ground of the THW in Hoya.

This tank car was purposely "derailed" for training purposes of the THW (a disaster relief organization).

In France, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (“CMN”) is a State-run organization that manages many of the most important historic monuments. As such, it is composed mostly of civil servants, some truly knowledgeable and in love with the monument they’re administering, others with a decidedly and predominantly “administrative” (read: fussy and regulations-loving) mindset. Anyway, having learned my lesson the hard way, I now never approach a CMN-run monument with my photo tripod without having made prior contact, gained as much legitimacy as possible, and secured the authorization to take photos on site. With that in mind, one is, most of the time, very welcome, and even given access to very interesting parts the general public doesn’t get to see.

That is just what happened in Le Puy-en-Velay, the starting point of the Via Podiensis to Compostela and home to many Romanesque wonders, some of which I had never seen but firmly intended to photograph on this trip. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t cooperating and it rained most of the day. Furthermore, the Saint Michael of Aiguilhe chapel wasn’t accessible owing to works being underway. In other words, another trip to Le Puy will need to be scheduled in March, but for the time being, I will upload the photos I managed to take in the canons’ cloister next to the Notre-Dame cathedral, as well as in other, more “secret” parts of the cathedral complex. I hope you will enjoy them.

During the Middle Ages, the cathedral of Le Puy-en-Velay was a major Marian pilgrimage site, thanks to the devotion of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims for a small statue of the Virgin Mary, one of those “Black Marys” of Auvergne that made miracles. That one was supposedly brought back from the Holy Land Crusade by Saint Louis himself (i.e., French King Louis IX), and it may have come originally from Coptic Egypt, or even Ethiopia. There’s no way to tell now, as the wooden statue was burned by revolutionaries in 1794. The Black Virgin one can still see in the cathedral today was made in the 19th century to replicate the genuine one, using descriptions made by visitors who had the opportunity to see it before the French Revolution.

This cloister pillar and its surrounding columns is a typical example of the restorations undertaken around the cloister during the 19th century: the arch on the right has period stones with redone joints, while the arch on the left is new. As far as capitals are concerned, the one on the right is genuine, the one on the left is a 19th century creation copied from the former, and the character in the center is also completely new —possibly from a Mediæval model, but no one knows, as this has not been documented.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with representatives of scouting organizations who handed him the Peace Light of Bethlehem. He thanked them and congratulated them on the upcoming Christmas.

Among the attendees were members of the youth organization Plast – National Scout Organization of Ukraine, the nationwide youth NGO National Organization of the Scouts of Ukraine, and the NGO Association of Ukrainian Guides.

The children shared how they support youth in frontline regions and maintain connections with young Ukrainians abroad. The scouting organizations also support our wounded warriors. More than half a thousand members of the Plast – National Scout Organization of Ukraine have joined the Defense Forces.

The Peace Light of Bethlehem will later be delivered to the front lines and handed over to Ukrainian defenders.

Mosso da un'esperienza classica, in qualche modo affine alla tendenza del "Novecento", se ne andò poi distaccando, per ricollegarsi a più arcaici esempî, soprattutto all'arte egiziana ed etrusca. La sua ricerca è rivolta essenzialmente all'interna struttura della forma, all'organizzarsi dello spazio stesso in forme plastiche; i suoi nudi e i suoi ritratti, pur conservando un vigoroso accento realistico, mirano sempre a valori di pura plastica, intesi come una "costante" di ogni aspetto della realtà.

Moved by a classical experience, in some ways akin to the trend of the "Twentieth Century", then he went detaching, to reconnect to more archaic examples, especially the Egyptian and Etruscan art. His research is essentially aimed at the internal structure of the form, the organization of space itself in plastic forms; his nudes and portraits, while retaining a vigorous realistic accent, always aim at values of pure plastic, understood as a "constant" of every aspect of reality.

The local Soldiers fight against the groups of terrorists to organise a better place.

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

This is somehow really new . On the one hand, this is a set for a brickfilm I'm producing for a local Brickfilm contest. This is just a short scene and the film is not an action movie.

On the other hand the soldiers on the right are somehow my new faction. Do you like them?

The brief and questions I gave myself for this project were:

if I truly had to design my very own craft what would I want it to look like?

As a pilot, what kind of tech would I want to see in the cockpit?

What real life scenario could I incorporate making it a unique experience?

If I needed it repaired/ refueled, would I have the correct gear?

Could I build in real safety features?

What if I crashed in a remote place and needed to survive?

Can I challenge myself from a builders persepctive using parts that hardly ever come out to play?

Could I revisit my stickering techniques on such a small build?

My answers were:

I wanted something that visually had a very aerodynamic shape that looked like it was moving even when stationery, it had to have a unique "skin" that set it apart from any of my previous builds. Plus been a Starfighter, it had to be equipped with lots of weapons, that could shoot any enemy in any direction. If I wanted to be able to end a mission I could just inject and still tell the tale to my mates. My wishlist for this very personal project was, make it truly mine!

Over 80 hours of building and experimental phases was a challenge, only as its 16 x 35 studs and 9-in height, made it rather difficult to integrate not only the many play features but the final balance display stand. Ive truly enjoyed the Jam, guys you are all my hero`s, such a wonderful creative bunch. Thank you kindly to the organization of this great contest! Over &-Out

Play features on FXX (-number of features after the # )

·Front pronge shooters rotate 180° (left & right) #2

·Hidden frontend loading slot for missiles #2

· Squeeze side panels to release main missiles to fire (left and right) #2

·Open side panels to release the drop target bombs (left and right) #2

·Trigger the side decoy flares (left & right) #2

·Swivel hydrolysis pipe for regas when in servcie (left & Right) #2

·Fully opened bottom panels reveal computer charger panel and refuelling ports which are numbered from 1·3: 1) is jet fuel 2) is for hydrogen and 3) us for oxygen #5

·Removable engine covers on rear mechanism, access to batteries and cooling refuelling ports #2

·Removable quantum batteries #2

·Refuelling connection port for cooling #2

·Swivel side panel opens hatch (left):

Contains 9 items that can be removed and used: Hammer, spanner, ice hammer, screwdriver, GPS unit, emergency sky flare, galaxy neutral passport card, tablet and first aid kit #10

Swivel side panel opens hatch (right):

Contains 6 items whuch can be removed and used: main laser shotgun, Handheld tazer gun, a pack of Hero Bullets, camo face paint cream, 2 meters carbon rope, 1.5m bugee card hidden in the door #7

·Under carriage features frontend full foldable landing gear integrated into body#1

·Turn nob switch activates light inside cockpit to show pilot landing gear is activated (for real) #2

·Fold down panel fires a rear bomb disc #1

·Once pushed into full lock it automatically fires without the need to finger fire #1

·Swivel and folable landing rear gear #2

·Fully removable cockpit screen #1

·Wind screen holder for pilot entry and exit #1

·Pilot has own personal storage unit #1

·Datacard used to release Drone, which automatically falls from craft #2

·Drone folds open and has adjustable antennas #3

·Hidden side lazer guns can swivel up to 172° (left & right) #2

·Injectable pilot seat release #1

·Pilot has flying seat once fully activate folded for flight #1

·Fold down display stand #1

·Removable steering /-navigator tablet for pilot #1

· can come in/ out #1

Its been a while since I've posted any pictures of my (our) Lego building studio.

Last year, the room was completely renovated. Originally, the room was built as part of a house extension in 1985 to enclose a hot tub and shower. Since owning the house, we used the hot tub only a few years until we shut it down and converted the room into a playroom. The playroom then evolved into a family Lego studio. During this time, we built storage and work spaces around the hot tub. This of course resulted in inefficient use of space and inconvenient accessibility.

Finally, in 2018 we embarked on a much needed renovation. This involved removal of the hot tub and infrastructure, followed by new floor joists and framing. The shower was converted into a storage closet and the entire room received new tiled floor with under floor heating system.

Of the best attributes of this studio is abundant natural light emanating from large floor to ceiling windows and three overhead skylights. For nighttime use, the room is illuminated from ceiling mounted track lighting and a series of adjustable gooseneck LED worklights fitted along the entire length of the work spaces.

Lastly, a custom centre island was constructed from 2x Ikea Kalax storage units. The units were bolted together, a table top surface was installed (with bullnose edges) and heavy duty castor wheels were fitted to the bottom. This centre island not only incorporates integrated storage but serves as an immensely useful worksurface for staging models, sorting parts, or collaboration.

Storage and parts organization is a topic for another day. Suffice to say, we use Ikea Trofast drawers for bulk parts storage of major colours. We use wall mounted Kalax units (not shown) for less used colours, the island Kalax units store monochrome colour detail parts (e.g. slopes, round bricks, etc.), and finally the workspaces are completely surrounded by many 100's of small parts bins organized by part type and also colour if applicable. All storage is labelled using custom python software scripts which generate part thumbnails, part descriptions etc. and automatically lays out label graphics for a variety of Avery brand label sheets of different sizes.

It is a wonderful space to spend time being creative and having fun! Now I just need time to enjoy it!

One of my goals on the doll front for 2015 was improving the doll clothes storage system. I'll put that at about 75% success. It worked out best for the pukifee.

Arnold Research Organization (ARO) designed and operated Arnold Center until 1980. My dad began working there in 1953 until he retired in early 90s. He is 98 1/2 and as sharp as ever. Here's a bit of history on AEDC / ARO:

Arnold AFB (Air Force Base) began as Camp Forrest, an Army training camp during WWII. Camp Forrest's training facilities included William Northern Field, used for training Army Air Force pilots. Camp Forrest was secured after the war by the new Air Force as the site for the Air Engineering Development Center in 1949, and named the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) in honor of General Henry "Hap" Arnold, one of the founding fathers of the US Air Force and a five-star general.

AEDC was created to be the primary jet and rocket development for the Air Force, and developed the premier flight, jet, rocket, and simulation testing in the world. The Jet Age of the 1950s and 1960s, and Space Race kept pushing the AEDC to expand their capabilities. [In the early 50s, my mom, dad, and father-in-law began working at the Center - the dads were engineers and my mom was a secretary for the Air Force Generals.] The AEDC was instrumental to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs, including testing space capsules, the Saturn V rocket upper stage engines. The main function of the AEDC was to test military aircraft and missiles. In the 1970s, systems for the Space Shuttle, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Fighting Falcon, A-10 Thunderbolt, MX missile, Air-Launched Cruise Missile, and Global Positioning Satellite system were tested by the AEDC. Arnold's testing in more recent years has included systems of the Patriot Air Defense Missile, F-117A Nighthawk, and other vital defense systems. Source: www.arnoldafbhousing.com/history

This is a building right next to this one in Barcelona. The building itself is rather plain and ugly, however I found the shutters kind of interesting.

See it Right (flickr's sharpening kinda kills those lines...)

b l o g g e d

Bamberg, Germany-14 June 2012, 391st celebrates the Army's 237th Birthday. The Army's Birthday is a tradition that is recognized worldwide at all Army post. Photo by SFC Craig Knapp 317th Maintenance Company.

Organization of modern Barbie accessories

Clear storage boxes from Walmart in the craft aisle

The European Space Research Organization, which later became the European Space Agency (ESA), agreed in 1973 to develop a manned laboratory as Europe's contribution to the Space Shuttle Program. What became Spacelab was conceived originally at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center as a sortie can, a modular laboratory that could be installed in the space shuttle for week-long science missions. The first Spacelab mission was launched aboard space shuttle Columbia on the STS-9 mission on November 28, 1983.

Image credit: NASA

Marshall Space Flight Center History, Flickr photoset:

www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157636868630444/

_____________________________________________

These official NASA photographs are being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photographs. The photographs may not be used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement by NASA. All Images used must be credited. For information on usage rights please visit: www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelin...

Week of January 8-14, 2017

Organization is my word for this year. Beginning to organize the house after Christmas.

Sort, contain and label...Re Ment storage in the Nook.

Drawer holds plastic craft containers (purchased at Walmart) of re ment. Used dymo tape to label containers and color coded as follows, pink= kitchen items, yellow=food items, green=home decor and bath.

Bigger boxes (made by Paperchase/purchased at Borders) hold larger, boxed furniture and are stored on shelves. Pink photo boxes hold larger loose miniatures and other craft supplies.

[These are the last three of my series on the abbey church of Pontigny.

I thank all of you who follow my stream for your visits and the comments you left during this year 2024 that’s coming to an end, and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! See you in 2025!]

A few days ago, at the beginning of December 2024, celebrations televised worldwide heralded the coming back to life of the Notre–Dame Cathedral in Paris, after the accidental and disastrous timber roof fire of April 2019. This joyous occasion was an opportunity to vaunt the vastness of the cathedral.

Well, today and over the following days, I invite you to discover a much-less known, but much more surprising, church, the abbey church of Pontigny, in the equally little known département of Yonne (a part of Burgundy), about 150 kilometers southeast of Paris. There, at the edge of a small village and framed by the tall trees of a dark forest, an enormous vessel of stone stands in the middle of wheat fields, towering above everything else, even though it doesn’t have towers nor spire...

It has two things in common with the cathedral of Paris: at 120 meters, the length of its nave almost that of Notre–Dame (130 meters), and in addition to being an abbey church, Pontigny is also a cathedral... It is also the oldest, as when the first stone of Notre–Dame was laid in 1163, Pontigny was already built.

The abbey of Pontigny was founded in 1114 by a group of monks led by Hugues of Mâcon. For the second time after the foundation of La Ferté the year before, monks of the Cîteaux Abbey left the mothership to found a new monastery. Pontigny thus became and will forever remain “the second daughter of Cîteaux”, an important claim in an order than will number more than 2,200 monasteries of monks and nuns.

Donations flow in. Counting more than a dozen Kings of France among its benefactors, not to mention a good half-dozen Kings of England, the abbey will also give refuge to three archbishops of Canterbury, two of them saints: Thomas Becket and Edme (or Edmund) of Abingdon, whose relics are still buried in the choir of the church.

Built largely thanks to generous funding by Thibaut the Great, Earl of Champagne whose daughter Adele will marry King Louis VII, the church we can still admire today is built between 1138 and around 1150, although additions will be made to it as late as the early 1200s. It is mostly Romanesque, but the influence of the Gothic style can be seen in the latest rows of the nave, and of course in the ceiling, which is rib-vaulted —the first time this architecture was ever used in Burgundy.

During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the abbey will be one of the richest and most powerful of the Western world, counting more than forty priories, vast lands and assorted properties in many different cities. Its library was also famous.

Listed as a Monument historique (Historic Landmark) on the very first list drawn up in 1840 by Minister Prosper Mérimée, the abbey church is almost all that’s left of the abbey, which was severely damaged during the Hundred Years War, then during the Wars of Religion, and finally during the French Revolution.

Since 1954, the abbey church is also the legal seat and headquarters of the “Mission de France” territorial prelature, which inspired the so-called “worker priests” which are quite well known in France. For that reason, the abbey church was granted by the Pope the status of cathedral of that prelature.

I’ve had the pleasure to visit this grandiose church, the largest ever in the Cistercian order, in late May 2024, within the scope of a photographic mission for the Fondation pour La Sauvegarde de l’Art Français, one of the not-for-profit organizations I work for as a pro bono photographer. I was given access to what’s left of the cloister, a part which is normally off-limits.

The overwhelming apse of the abbey church dominates the parish cemetery. Here you can see those flying buttresses I mentioned in an earlier caption. They were added during the early Gothic period to support the top part of the nave.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

Its been a while since I've posted any pictures of my (our) Lego building studio.

Last year, the room was completely renovated. Originally, the room was built as part of a house extension in 1985 to enclose a hot tub and shower. Since owning the house, we used the hot tub only a few years until we shut it down and converted the room into a playroom. The playroom then evolved into a family Lego studio. During this time, we built storage and work spaces around the hot tub. This of course resulted in inefficient use of space and inconvenient accessibility.

Finally, in 2018 we embarked on a much needed renovation. This involved removal of the hot tub and infrastructure, followed by new floor joists and framing. The shower was converted into a storage closet and the entire room received new tiled floor with under floor heating system.

Of the best attributes of this studio is abundant natural light emanating from large floor to ceiling windows and three overhead skylights. For nighttime use, the room is illuminated from ceiling mounted track lighting and a series of adjustable gooseneck LED worklights fitted along the entire length of the work spaces.

Lastly, a custom centre island was constructed from 2x Ikea Kalax storage units. The units were bolted together, a table top surface was installed (with bullnose edges) and heavy duty castor wheels were fitted to the bottom. This centre island not only incorporates integrated storage but serves as an immensely useful worksurface for staging models, sorting parts, or collaboration.

Storage and parts organization is a topic for another day. Suffice to say, we use Ikea Trofast drawers for bulk parts storage of major colours. We use wall mounted Kalax units (not shown) for less used colours, the island Kalax units store monochrome colour detail parts (e.g. slopes, round bricks, etc.), and finally the workspaces are completely surrounded by many 100's of small parts bins organized by part type and also colour if applicable. All storage is labelled using custom python software scripts which generate part thumbnails, part descriptions etc. and automatically lays out label graphics for a variety of Avery brand label sheets of different sizes.

It is a wonderful space to spend time being creative and having fun! Now I just need time to enjoy it!

The "office" side of my home office. Shelving by elfa, various storage bins and boxes. The blue paper boxes are really nice and are from The Container Store. The large gray file boxes are some generic things from an office supply store. The four small white bins are actually ice cube bins! I use them for iPod stuff, phone stuff, camera stuff, and small tools (all labeled as such).