View allAll Photos Tagged Strategic
The Sustainability Consortium, where I am Chief Scientist, is ten years old! We created and are stewards of the Walmart Sustainability Index, and we engage in projects with retailers and brands to make consumer products and their supply chains more sustainable. Here are some of my colleagues in a strategic planning exercise in ASU's Skysong building in Scottsdale.
This prominent vantage point and strategic site was quickly recognised by the Normans, who built a huge timber fortress here by 1100 AD. Originally built by Robert de Toeni, (later known as Robert of Stafford),
in the Norman period, Stafford Castle has dominated the local skyline for over 900 years.
In the years shortly after the Norman invasion of 1066, William the Conqueror is believed to have ordered defences to be built against a still hostile and rebellious native community. The fortunes of the castle and its owners, the Stafford family, fluctuated greatly.
An impressive example of the motte and bailey system, Stafford Castle enjoyed mixed fortunes throughout the medieval period. In the 14th century Ralph, a founder member of the Order of the Garter, became the1st Earl of Stafford. He ordered the building of a stone keep on top of the motte in 1347 and the following year was granted a licence to crenellate and so constructed the battlements.
In 1444 Humphrey Stafford was created Duke of Buckingham and the castle entered its heyday. By the early 17th century however the condition of the castle had deteriorated and during the English Civil War the Parliamentary Committee in Stafford ordered it to be demolished.
By the early 17th century, the castle's fortunes waned. During the early part of the Civil War it was defended by the Gallant Lady Isabel but was eventually abandoned and demolished. Extensively rebuilt in the Gothic Revival Style in 1813, the castle fell into ruin through this century. Rebuilt by the Jerningham family in the early 19th Century using the same foundations the keep was again a magnificent four storey structure. However, given over to caretakers and then abandoned again in the 1950s it became derelict once more.
Now after recent restoration work and a programme of archaeological investigation Stafford Castle is considered one of the best surviving examples of Norman earthworks in the country. A programme of archaeological excavations has gradually revealed many of its secrets. Visitors can follow an informative trail of interpretation panels to discover the castle's history. Today, the remains of the castle, together with the surrounding grounds, give visitors a fascinating insight to the 900 year history of this important site.
An inventory taken in 1537 shows how herbs were an important part of daily life at Stafford Castle. They were widely used for their medicinal, aromatic and edible properties. From this detailed inventory, a herb garden was planted in the castle grounds. Great faith was placed in the use of herbs and they still have an important role to play today. This garden has been designed with sixteen beds, each containing herbs related to specific illnesses. As well as being extremely enjoyable to walk around, the herb garden provides a unique insight into living history.
Strategically placed astride the London Road, guarding an important crossing of the River Medway, this imposing fortress has a complex history of destruction and rebuilding. Today it stands as a proud reminder of the history of Rochester, along with the cathedral and cobbled streets.
Its Norman tower-keep of Kentish ragstone was built about 1127 by William of Corbeil, Archbishop of Canterbury, with the encouragement of Henry I. Consisting of three floors above a basement, it still stands 113 feet high. Attached is a tall protruding forebuilding, with its own set of defences to pass through before the keep itself could be entered at first floor level.
In 1215, garrisoned by rebel barons, the castle endured an epic siege by King John. Having first undermined the outer wall, John used the fat of 40 pigs to fire a mine under the keep, bringing its southern corner crashing down. Even then the defenders held on, until they were eventually starved out after resisting for two months.
Rebuilt under Henry III and Edward I, the castle remained as a viable fortress until the 16th century.
Brasov, Romania
"Strategically located on a hill overlooking the town and the plains to the north, the citadel was part of Brasov's outer fortification system. Built in wood in 1524, it was replaced with a stone structure in the 16th century, only to be abandoned in the 17th century after technological innovations made cannons stronger than the building. Today, it serves as a restaurant." (romaniatourism.com/brasov.html)
Often trade entrances into cities in Historica are modest affairs... not so however in Sultan's Gate! The cities strategic location has seen flourishing trade, which has made some merchants very rich indeed. This allowed the powerful merchant's guild to commission the lift many years before, completed in the grand style to advertise the wealth and power of the city. Goods that are perishable or particularly valuable are often sent by lift to avoid the treacherous climb up the escarpment. The lift is very safe with only a few losses, mainly from overbearing merchants ordering it's use on high wind days. (A local legend has it that a giant roc once bit through the lift chain and made off with the entire box, but this has never been substantiated.) A ride in the lift to the ground and back again is a rite of passage for many of the young thrillseekers in the city, who often try to stow away or bribe the guards for the experience.
Finally got around to taking and editing some pics of my Brickvention model for this year - which was originally going to be my entry into the Sultan's Gate community build on GoH (last year!), but then life happened and suddenly it was 6 months later. :P The lift actually is remote controlled using PF, which was fun to build and operate. Sorry the pics aren't that good but this was quite a challenge to photograph - significant height and length taxed my home set-up, and the large area of white didn't make things easy either.
EB-47E Stratojet 53-2135/135 ex Strategic Air Command/SAC USAF.Preserved, Pima Air-Museum, Tucson, Arizona. 06 June 2016.
A B-47 is on display at The Museum of Flight adjacent to Boeing Field in Seattle, along with a Harrier and a MiG.
I am stalking this squirrel, I strategically place peanuts on the deck so I can get a photo and watch him. Now the squirrels stops by several times a day and will sometimes come right up to the patio doors looking for his treats.
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I have returned from a long road journey into the Southwest of the United States. While the large amount of film that I shot is being processed and readied for scanning I thought that I would post an image taken from from my iPhone for your consideration . . .
Strategic Airlift Capability | Heavy Airlift Wing | Papa Air Base, Hungary
RAF Fairford, 17/07/2024.
18/365v4
Good morning! Anyone wants a sandwich and a chocolate banana milk? Made with real bananas and 100% cocoa powder and a dip of honey directly from a beekeeper. It's delicious! :)
Two more shifts before I'm off, but now that I'm back to night shifts I feel so much better. I really don't deal well with working during the day. It exhausts me. I'm a night owl :) The 14 days straight wouldn't have been such an ordeal if 8 of those weren't days.
The 26,641 gt bulk carrier, the STRATEGIC ALLIANCE [IMO 9648075, MMSI 563642000 ] was built in 2014 at the Xingang Shipbuilding Heavy Industry shipyards in Tianjin, China. The STRATEGIC ALLIANCE sails as part of the MT Maritime Management Group fleet, and is registered in Singapore. Her beneficial owner is SBC Alliance Pte Ltd of Singapore and she is managed by MTM Ship Management Pte Ltd of Singapore.
The STRATEGIC ALLIANCE was photographed at 07:00 on December 18, 2015 as she was about to depart the private berth, Alcoa No. 1 in the outer harbour at Kwinana, Western Australia.
Die Geschichte des Fort de Bellegarde beginnt mit dem Königreich Mallorca. Im Jahre 1285, als dieses Königreich noch keine zehn Jahre Bestand hatte stellte Pierre III d'Aragon eine starke Bedrohung für den König von Mallorca Jacques II de Majorque dar, insbesondere dieser im Besitz der Grafschaft Perpignan war und auch dort residierte.Als im vierzehnten Jahrhundert der König von Aragon seinen Nachbarn militärisch übernahm, wurde der Turm aus königlicher Sicht aufgegeben, er wurde nur vom Herrn der Region benutzt, um Reisende zur Zahlung eines Zolls zu zwingen. Mit dem Pyrenäenvertrag 1659 wurde die Grenze zwischen Frankreich und Spanien gerade am Col des Panissars gezogen. Diese Lage machte den Turm zu einem strategischen Hochplatz, der von den Franzosen besetzt wurde.Aber der eigentliche Bau von Bellegarde stammt von Vauban, der 1668 beschloss, anstelle des Turms eine echte Zitadelle zu bauen. Während die Arbeiten im Gange waren, eroberten die spanischen Truppen 1674 das Fort und beschlossen dann, es selbst zu modifizieren. Danach wird das Fort bis zum Zweiten Weltkrieg, wenn eine schmerzhafte Episode gespielt wird, keine wichtige Rolle mehr in der Geschichte spielen.
The history of the Fort de Bellegarde begins with the Kingdom of Mallorca. In 1285, when this kingdom had not yet existed for ten years, Pierre III d'Aragon posed a strong threat to the King of Mallorca Jacques II de Majorque, in particular the latter was in possession of the county of Perpignan and also resided there. When, in the fourteenth century, the King of Aragon took over his neighbour militarily, the tower was abandoned from a royal point of view, being used only by the lord of the region to force travellers to pay a duty. With the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, the border between France and Spain was drawn just at the Col des Panissars. This location made the tower a strategic high ground occupied by the French.But the actual construction of Bellegarde came from Vauban, who decided in 1668 to build a real citadel instead of the tower. While the work was in progress, Spanish troops captured the fort in 1674 and then decided to modify it themselves. After that, the fort will no longer play an important role in history until the Second World War, when a painful episode is played out.
In my mind, the thing about Futuron MOCs is that you can't just throw together white and black bricks, some trans elements, and slap a trans blue windscreen on there and call it done.
It's got to have the right balance of those colors, in the right spots. And that's a tough thing to do. Take a look here to see what I mean.
Anyway, please click through the various shots and let me know what you think. There's some trans red hidden in there, and what I'd really like to have is a 1x2 tile with a yellow arrow on it in front of the cockpit there. That would make it complete, I think.
Bafureira beach, Cascais. Portugal
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Since the Middle Ages, Cascais lived from fishing, maritime commerce (it was a stop for ships sailing to Lisbon), and from agriculture, producing wine, olive oil, cereals, and fruits. Due to its location close to the Tagus estuary, it was also seen as a strategic post in the defence of Lisbon. Around 1488, King John II built a small fortress in the village, located by the sea. This medieval fortress was not enough to repel the invasion and in 1580, Spanish troops led by the Duque of Alba took the village during the conflict that led to the union of the Portuguese and Spanish crowns. The fortress was enlarged towards the end of the 16th century by King Philip I (Philip II of Spain), turning it into a typical renaissance citadel with the characteristic flat profile and star-shaped floorplan. Various fortresses were built on the coast around Cascais during the 17th century, and many of them still exist.
In 1755, the great Lisbon earthquake destroyed a large portion of the village. Around 1774, the Marquis of Pombal, prime-minister of King José I, took protective measures for the commercialisation of the wine of Carcavelos and established the Royal Factory of Wool in the village, which existed until the early 19th century. During the invasion of Portugal by Napoleonic troops in 1807, the citadel of Cascais was occupied by the French, with General Junot staying some time in the village.
This situation of decadence started to change when King Luís II decided to turn the citadel of Cascais into his summer residence. From 1870 to 1908, the Royal Family came to Cascais to enjoy the sea, turning the somnolent fishing village into a cosmopolitan address. The citadel gained electric light in 1878, the first in the country, thanks to King Luís. The village gained better roads to Lisbon and Sintra, a casino, a bullfight ring, a sport club, and improvements in the basic infrastructure for the population. The railway arrived in 1889. Many noble families built beautiful mansions in Cascais, as can still be seen in the centre and surroundings of the town.
Today, there is a large yacht harbour and several small sand beaches in and around town such as Carcavelos Beach, Parede Beach, S. João and S. Pedro de Estoril beaches, BAFUREIRA BEACH, Estoril Beach, Many small others, Queen Beach in Cascais, Cascais beach (with a fisher port) Cresmina Beach, Guincho Beach... Cascais is easily reached from Lisbon by car, (A5 Lisboa-Cascais highway), or by frequent inexpensive commuter trains. It has the ruins of a castle, an art and sea museum, as well as parks and the charming cobbled streets of the historic centre. The town has many hotels and tourist apartments as well as many good restaurants of varying cost. It is a fine base to use for those visiting Lisbon and its environs who prefer to stay outside of the city yet in an equally urban and sophisticated environment.
Cascais is surrounded by popular beaches, such as Guincho Beach to the west, and the lush Sintra mountains to the north. Some of its shoreline is cliff-y, attracting tourists for its seascapes and other natural sights such as the Boca do Inferno. It is also becoming a popular golf destination, with over 10 golf courses nearby. Surfing, sailing, windsurfing, and kitesurfing are also popular in the region around Cascais due to favourable weather, wind, and sea conditions. In 2007, Cascais was the official host of the ISAF World Championship in sailing for dinghies and racing yachts.
NATO - Strategic Airlift Capability Boeing C-17A Globemaster III 03 on Static Display during the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) at RAF Fairford in 2018.
During the Cold War the United States deployed Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) in sparsely populated areas of the United States to counter the Soviet Union's nuclear attack threat. The 577th Strategic Missile Squadron was activated in 1961 and assigned to the 11th Strategic Aerospace Wing, based at Altus Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Twelve Atlas F Missile launch sites were built near Altus Air Force Base between 1960 and 1962. Each of the sites were approximately 20 acres with 5 acres enclosed by a 7-foot chain link fence where the underground launch site and aboveground support facilities were located. The aboveground support facilities were primarily two 4,000-square-foot Quonset buildings. The launch site was capable of launching an Atlas F missile with a range of about 6,000 miles that would reach the Soviet Union in 43 minutes. The 577th Strategic Missile Squadron was on-line from July 1961 to March 1965. The introduction of the solid fuel missiles rendered the Atlas series of missiles obsolete. (Sources: Various, my compilation.)
The photograph is one of the Quonset support buildings at Launch Site 4.
Based on the same frame as the Stealth Assault Fighter, this high-tech jet plays an important part as a tank killer and strategic bomber. Chirugical strikes are its field of operations.
I was a bit disapointed by the cockpit on the SAF and i'm happy i managed a two-seater version of it.
New Earth Strategic Trust
Classification: Long range Combat
Armaments:
(1) AC-NBG12
(1) MS-VM4MM
(2) RK-SH2001X
The newest heavy reFrame from the New Earth Strategic Trust, the Mammoth was designed to be a high performance, high defense, heavy hitter mech for defensive purposes. It is a huge improvement over the Goliath model and features a newer inner structure allowing for better balance and mobility even with the same defense rating.
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Build notes:
You can find more about the build in my blog article :D
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More info, WIP details, and other LEGO mechs over at my blog: messymaru.com/
Follow me at other social media sites:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MessyWorksLEGO
Twitter: twitter.com/Messymaru
Instagram: www.instagram.com/messymaru/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/messymaru
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reFrame Version 3.0 frame (instructions / full kit) now available
For those interested in LEGO mech building, I also have an eBook from 2015 called Mech Wars 2015 Instructional Primer. It contains some things I wrote about basic mech building, a bit about my Mech Warsuniverse, and all my early models from 2014-2015. If you’re looking for a resource that could help you start or even improve your mech building skills, you might find this eBook useful.
he quietly placed himself under the bench where we were snacking. gravity is sometimes his best friend.
A properly placed slit can make or break the dress, don't you think? The slit on this Vince Camuto dress could not be placed any better, giving the wearer every opportunity to display the gams.
New Earth Strategic Trust
Classification: Mid Range / Melee
Armaments:
(1) AR-X99BURST-TG
(1) FW-BONEBUSTER
(2) SH-REACT02H1
After the success of the Mammoth model, the Zenithal was born out of NESF's aim for a better defense combat reFrame with improved mobility. The new heavy model features a thicker armor plating than its predecessor and is equipped with the DASH movement system. This allows it to briefly move in a straight line, closing the gap between enemy combatants.
Equipped with an improved version of the AR-G99BURST, the AR-X99BURST-TG can load armor piercing rounds and carry more ammo. The FW-BONEBUSTER allows the Zenithal to take out enemy reFrames foolish enough to get into close range, while the shoulder-mounted SH-REACT02H1 deflects enemy fire from a distance.
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This build is highly inspired by the Zenith Wanzer from the Front Mission series. I actually combined elements from various Zenith models (FM1, FM3, Left Alive's Zenith) to make this version.
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More info, WIP details, and other LEGO mechs over at my blog: messymaru.com/
Follow me at other social media sites:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/MessyWorksLEGO
Twitter: twitter.com/Messymaru
Instagram: www.instagram.com/messymaru/
YouTube: www.youtube.com/messymaru
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reFrame Version 3.0 frame (instructions) now available
For those interested in LEGO mech building, I also have an eBook from 2015 called Mech Wars 2015 Instructional Primer. It contains some things I wrote about basic mech building, a bit about my Mech Warsuniverse, and all my early models from 2014-2015. If you’re looking for a resource that could help you start or even improve your mech building skills, you might find this eBook useful.
PACIFIC OCEAN (Aug. 30, 2020) Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Stuart (FFG 153) conducts a live Harpoon Missile Firing during exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) 2020. Ten nations, 22 ships, one submarine, and more than 5,300 personnel are participating in Exercise Rim of the Pacific from August 17 to 31 at sea around the Hawaiian Islands. RIMPAC is a biennial exercise designed to foster and sustain cooperative relationships, critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific region. The exercise is a unique training platform designed to enhance interoperability and strategic maritime partnerships. RIMPAC 2020 is the 27th exercise in the series that began in 1971. (Royal Australian Navy courtesy photo)