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Kilconquhar has been thought a significant site even before Christianity. In the area around the village there is reported evidence of a Pictish dwelling in Balcarres estate and a lone standing stone can be seen on the brow of the ridge that runs towards Pittenweem. Mention of Saint Conquhar, a Scottish Saint, is found only in the Perth Psalter written towards the end of the 15th century and records his saint’s day as being the 3rd May.
"The Christian finds in human work a small part of the Cross of Christ and accepts it in the same spirit of redemption in which Christ accepted his Cross for us. In work, thanks to the light that penetrates us from the Resurrection of Christ, we always find a glimmer of new life, of the new good, as if it were an announcement of "the new heavens and the new earth" in which man and the world participate precisely through the toil that goes with work. Through toil-and never without it. On the one hand this confirms the indispensability of the Cross in the spirituality of human work; on the other hand the Cross which this toil constitutes reveals a new good springing from work itself, from work understood in depth and in all its aspects and never apart from work" - Pope Bl. John Paul II.
Domestic work is part of the life of a Domincian friar, which we do well to celebrate and recall on today's feast of St Martha.
I bought this Trek 920 mountain bike secondhand from a pawnshop in Maine back in September 2000, when I was unemployed and barely had a dime in the bank. I talked the salesguy down to $140. It has ridden thousands of commuting and pleasure miles since, including Cape Cod's rail trails, Acadia's carriage roads, Block Island, and the White Mountains.
It's still my main bike. I ride it to work about two or three times per week. My other bike is a Brompton.
This weekend, workers installed new continuous welded rail in the N/R/Q 60th Street Tube under the East River. This photo shows a track worker using hammer to clip in stringer rails. Photo by Metropolitan Transportation Authority / Leonard Wiggins.
I'm in hardware experimentation mode, trying out a mac keyboard and a "dedicated-to-code" screen which is flipped 90 degrees.
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet aircraft during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneered by Sir Frank Whittle and his company, Power Jets Ltd. Development of the aircraft itself began in 1940, although work on the engines had been underway since 1936. The Meteor first flew in 1943 and commenced operations in 1944 with the RAF.
Several major variants of the Meteor incorporated technological advances during the 1940s and 1950s. In order to replace the increasingly-obsolete de Havilland Mosquito as a night fighter, the Meteor was adapted to serve in the role as an interim aircraft. The new night fighter was designed to specification F.24/48 for a two seat, twin-engine, night fighter capable of intercepting contemporary bombers.
Gloster had initially proposed a night fighter design to meet the Air Ministry specification for the Mosquito replacement, based on the two-seater trainer variant of the Meteor, with the pilot in the front seat and the navigator in the rear. Once accepted however, work on the project was swiftly transferred to Armstrong Whitworth to perform both the detailed design process and production of the type; the first prototype flew on 31 May 1950.
Although based on the T.7 twin-seater, the night fighter used the fuselage and tail of the F.8 and the longer wings of the F.3. An extended nose contained the AI Mk 10 Air Intercept radar (the 1940s Westinghouse SCR-720). As a consequence the 20 mm cannons had to be moved from the fuselage flanks into the wings, outboard of the engines. A ventral fuel tank and wing mounted drop tanks completed the Armstrong Whitworth Meteor NF.11.
As radar technology developed, a new Meteor night fighter was developed to use the improved US-built APS-21 system. The NF.12 first flew on 21 April 1953. It was similar to the NF 11 but had a nose section 17 inches (43.2 cm) longer; the fin was enlarged to compensate for the greater keel area of the enlarged nose and to counter the airframe reaction to the "wig-wag" scan of the radar which affected the gunsight.
An anti-tramp motor operating on the rudder was fitted midway up the front leading edge of the fin. The NF.12 also had the new Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engines and the wings were reinforced to handle the new engine. Deliveries of the NF.12 started in 1953, with the type entering squadron service in early 1954. The NF.12 was also exported, e. g. to Belgium, France or Denmark. In RAF service, however, the type was already replaced over 1958–59.
The final Meteor night fighter was the NF.14 (The NF.13 was a tropicalized variant of the NF.11, which served in Egypt, Syria and Israel). First flown on 23 October 1953, the NF.14 was based on the NF.12 but had an even longer nose, extended by a further 17 inches to accommodate new equipment, and a larger bubble canopy to replace the framed T.7 version.
Just 100 NF.14s were built; they first entered service in February 1954 beginning with RAF No. 25 Squadron and were being gradually replaced as early as 1956 with the Gloster Javelin. Overseas, they remained in service a little longer, serving with No. 60 Squadron at Tengah, Singapore, until 1961.
With only few flying hours on the clock several NF.14 were earmarked for being revamped and offered for export. 14 of these aircraft stayed in the UK, though, and were converted to training aircraft as NF(T).14 and given to No. 2 Air Navigation School on RAF Thorney Island where they served until 1965.
But some of the young NF.14s In 1955 Sweden ordered 22 of these surplus machines as replacement for its obsolete J30 (Mosquito NF.30) fleet that had entered service in 1948 and which was already due to be phased out. The Meteors were allocated only intended to act as stopgaps, though, just as in RAF service, while the Saab J32 Lansen (specifically its dedicated, radar-equipped all-weather fighter variant ‘B’) was still under development.
The batch of revamped Meteor NF.14s was gradually delivered and allocated to F 17 at Kallinge and F 21 at Luleå, starting in late 1956 when the first retired RAF aircraft trickled back to Armstrong Whitworth, and the last one was handed over to the Flygvapnet in mid-1957. In Swedish service the Meteor NF.14 received the domestic designation J31 (‘Jakt’). The machines differed only slightly from the RAF NF.14, main armament remained the four 20mm cannons in the wings. The external tanks were kept, too, in order to provide a sufficient range for patrol flights.
The J31s career was short and unspectacular, though. When the J32B finally reached the fighter units in 1958, the Swedish Meteors were gradually replaced and retired. Six machines were kept for radar operator training, and in this second line role six machines eventually served until 1965.
Strangely, none of the Swedish J31 Meteors were converted to target tugs. Instead Sweden bought several retired Meteors (T.7 and NF.11) from Denmark and used these aircraft with civil registrations through Svenska Flygtjanst as target tugs.
General characteristics:
Crew: 2
Length: Length: 51 ft 4 in (15.65 m)
Wingspan: Span: 43ft
Height: 13 ft 11 in (4.2 m)
Wing area: 350 ft² (32.52 m²)
Empty weight: 12.620 lb (5.725 kg)
Loaded weight: 21.200 lb (9.625 kg)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Derwent 9 engines, rated at 3.800lb/16,9kN each
Performance:
Maximum speed: 585mph (511 knots, 942 km/h, Mach 0.8) at 10.000 ft (3.050 m)
Range: 875 mi (765 nmi, 1.408 km)
Service ceiling: 43,000 ft (13,100 m)
Rate of climb: 5,800ft/min at sea level
Wing loading: 44.9 lb/ft² (218.97 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.45
Armament:
4× 20 mm British Hispano Mk. V cannons in the outer wings
The kit and its assembly:
This whif is another tribute to fellow user SPINNERS at whatifmodelers.com who came up with a CG simulation of a Meteor NF.14 in Swedish colors. This looked VERY plausible - see the respective screenshots. I had a Matchbox/Revell Gloster Meteor NF.11, 12 and 14 night fighter in the pile without a real plan – until now!
SPINNERS’ screenshots basically became the design benchmark for my build, even though my hardware differs a bit in scheme and markings in order to match the narrow, historic slot for this whif.
Concerning the Matchbox kit there’s not much to say. It’s a simple kit that has been re-boxed several times and is also offered through Hannants under the Xtrakit brand. Fit is mediocre, how to mount the landing gear is up to the modeler, the cockpit is intended for pygmies (even though with nice dahsboard and radar equipment), you get several sink holes, and the fine, raised panels more or less disappear due to the unavoidable and extensive putty work all over the thing.
Since we have a NF.14 here, the kit was built OOB with the respective option parts. Even the belly and drop tanks are standard, only two pilot figures were added for the photo shooting.
Calling it J31 is a bit of a double, since the 31 had already been used for the Spitfire PR.19 photo reconnaissance variant, domestically called S31 (for ‘Spaning’). Therefore the J31 was theoretically ‘free’, even though not really correct. ;)
Painting and markings:
Basically, no surprises here, too, even though mimicking Swedish Air Force colors is a rather tricky task for the ambitious modeler. Especially the "mörk olivgrön/mörkblå/blågrå" scheme from the late 50ies is described with very contradictive suggestions concerning the tones to use, I even found “Blue Angel Blue” (FS 15050!) as serious paint suggestion from Hasegawa.
The colors themselves obviously varied considerably under light conditions and weathering influences: the blue could turn grey or even into a kind of turquoise, and depending on light and perspective the blue tone would even appear like a dull, very dark grey (think WWII German tank grey). The green, on the other side, also ranges from a dark green (FS 34079 is frequently suggested, but IMHO too "green") to a very dark olive drab, and in real life the tone could turn into an almost brownish khaki drab when thoroughly weathered. Much room for interpretation and speculation, even consulting pics of museum and service aircraft did not yield anything conclusive and consistent.
Well, I tried to find a compromise for the upper sides' basic colors for the and settled for Humbrol 163 (Extra Dark Slate Grey, it has that olive drab, reddish touch) and 77 (Navy Blue, which is discernable as a deep, greenish blue; Humbrol 123 is also often suggested, e. g. through Heller, but it’s IMHO too dark), while I used Model Master's "French Dark Grey Blue" (an authentic WWII tone; it is much less 'dark' than you'd expect) for the undersurfaces.
The authentic tone for the lower sides is supposed to be FS 36173 (US Neutral Grey), and pics from museum aircraft (e. g. close-ups from an J32E at the Linköping Swedish Air Force Museum) confirm that. But I think that the pure/original tone is much too dark for a 1:72 scale model kit. Pictures of real service aircraft rather appear like a pale bluish-grey, almost like RLM76?
The pattern itself was adapted from a late Saab J32 instead of SPINNERS’ RAF scheme with modified colors.
After basic painting the Meteor received serious dry-painting on the upper surfaces in order to create a worn and bleached look, e. g. with Humbrol 86 & 155 on the green, with Revell 79 and Humbrol 230 (PRU Blue!) on the blue as well as some "Italian Light Blue Grey" from Modelmaster on the lower surfaces. A black ink wash was also added to emphasize panel lines and other small details.
In order to add some color variation I painted the drop tanks in Aluminum. The radome was painted in satin black, the landing gear and the air intakes in various Aluminum shades. The cockpit was painted in very dark grey (Humbrol 184) with some medium grey dry painting. Gauges and instruments were added with black clear paint.
Roundels and tactical codes mostly come from an RBD aftermarket sheet from Sweden (great stuff!), which features many options for about a dozen J32 aircraft from all of the type's career. Most stencils come from the Matchbox sheet, though.
The red radome band is personal even though authentic addition. These nose colors were common practice in the Swedish Air Force, matching the tail letter code in earlier times that would indicate the aircraft's division (red for 1st, yellow for 2nd and blue for 3rd), even though this code would disappear with the change to individual aircraft numbers on the fin around 1960.
Finally, the kit was sealed with a coat of matt varnish.
Well, “Röd Niklas” is not a spectacular or complicated whif, rather just a color variant - realised in eactly one week from sprues to pics. But the Swedish colors and markings suit the Meteor SO well that it deserved to be taken to the hardware stage, at least as a 1:72 model kit. :D
In Morocco, roughly one-third of the population is employed in agriculture, another one-third make their living in mining, manufacturing, and construction, and the remainder are occupied in the trade, finance, and service sectors. Not included in these estimates is a large informal economy of street vendors, domestic workers, and other underemployed and poorly paid individuals.
Architect: Fernando Higueras, 1977
Landscape, pools & murals: César Manrique
One of the most notable contributions of César Manrique to the appearance of Lanzarote besides the built work is the absence of some of the most common (and bland) signs of mass tourism, including oversized seafront hotel complexes. Manriques idea was to “harness” the expanding tourist industry in the 70’s, and build accommodations and infrastructure only in a native way and to a limited extend – thus turning Lanzarote into an exclusive destination rather than compete with the other Canaries on a mass-market basis. His strategy was somewhat successful at the time (although constantly challenged, and after his death in 1996 mostly not upheld), and as result the scale of the tourist industry’s impact on Lanzarote feels less overwhelming than nearby examples such as Tenerife.
One of the exceptions built in Manriques lifetime was the large five-star Hotel Las Salinas (now Meliá Salinas) near Costa Teguise, by the Spanish architect Fernando Higueras, whom Manrique hat met in the early 60’s in Madrid. Designed as a structurally bold concrete frame with organic references, the hotel could nevertheless easily have become yet another cruise ship-sized block simply occupying the Teguise seafront, but the cleverness of Higueras’ sweeping lines and stacking slabs has been successfully coupled with an indoor and outdoor landscape designed by Manrique, who also delivered a series of mural reliefs that contribute greatly to the feel of the interior.
The jungle-like internal water gardens occupy the greatest part of the groundfloor of the pyramidically stacked levels, and even drop a floor, thus allowing daylight into the lower (staff) levels and concluding the water’s course with a small waterfall. Partly indoor and partly outdoor, this grand atrium is the main attraction of the design and is today referred to as a “botanical cathedral”. In the bar and reception areas, Manrique’s cubist bas-reliefs in plaster and volcanic stone are a perfect complement to Higueras’ almost sci-fi reminiscent structures – overshadowing the otherwise pretty poor and standard fit-out of the interiors.
Outside, Manrique’s contribution has been to design a playful mix of natural and artificial elements in the grand “poolscape” occupying most of the seafront, with lava rocks and small islands turning the pools into something to explore rather than swim laps, and taking the previous pool designs, such as the ones found in the Jameos del Agua or in his own house, to the next level.
Linemen at work on the pole behind Staples Plaza. They are replacing the overhead service drops to each store with underground lines to a bank of grouped meters.
Current work desktop with wallpaper based on heeeraldo's image, Rainmeter with custom 10-Foot-HUD set-up. Windows XP Pro on a nine-year old machine.
Enjoying Dark & Stormy drinks with my co-workers at New Media Strategies
Update: Featured photo in this blog post about employee happy hours at work www.waiter.com/blog/office-events/bringing-office-happy-h...
As seen in this blog post about simple steps to keeping your employees happy www.accelawork.com/seven-tips-happy-employees/
I fitted my 135mm f3.4 Apo-Telyt to the Panasonic G1 and wondered what would happen if I attached a Leitz Elpro 2 to the front. This shouldn't work, the lens was designed for telephoto work on the M series and close-up work was never part of its design, never mind macro work. This is the set up, the Elpro closeup lens won't screw onto the 135. My Nikon-using friends can refrain from comments about typical Leica, lashed together with masking tape.
this is what i have been working on over the last few days. this is by no means the real layout -- i just wanted to spread out all the pieces on my bed to get a visual of how many more i need to make. (and wembley kept trying to attack the squares so i had to work fast.) as with most of my works-in-progress, i'm already sick of the color scheme. purple is one of my least favorite colors, but when i started this project last year i wanted to not have to buy any fabrics specifically for it and for some reason i have a lot of lavender fabric. i think i just need to add way more green/turquoise blocks so there is less purple/lavender overall...
also, i guess i started this project almost a year ago exactly: flickr.com/photos/mylaar/135032824/