View allAll Photos Tagged alignments
I was walking along an upper walkway at my work looking out the window. This was one of those moments when you are glad a camera is never far.
As I walked, the lampost and the trees came into a wonderful alignment. Unfortunately the white pine in the background didn't get the memo.
Is a need to be comfortable with lots of pockets an alignment? I am not sure if this is an inner reflection or a practical choice or a familiar crutch.
Alignment of the five bright planets, in order of their distance from the Sun, together with the waning crescent moon, as seen from Mout Coot-tha, Brisbane, Australia. The last time these five planets aligned was in 2004 and the next occurence will be in 2040. Mercury can be seen in the lower right, just above the pre-dawn glow. The other planets are aligned diagonally along the path of the ecliptic, first Venus, then the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and finally Saturn in the upper left corner. Six images stacked to a vertical panorama in Photoshop.
Before sculpting the necks, both heads were mounted to thin wire so they could be positioned correctly.
Street scenes of Lincoln
An alignment :)
You can see a random selection of my photos here at Flickriver: www.flickriver.com/photos/9815422@N06/random/
The crescent Moon, Venus and Jupiter in almost a perfectly straight line tonight over North York (Toronto).
Focal length: 35 mm
Aperture: f/22.0
Exposure: 1/80 Sec
ISO Speed: 100
Pentax K-5 + smc Pentax-DA 35mm f/2.8
Sequence, structure, and phylogenetic analyses of various MtnBs.(A) Multiple sequence alignment of MtnBs. Magenta triangles indicate histidine residues essential for binding divalent metal ion. Numbers on left of sequences show innate amino acid number for each protein. The alignment was created using ClustalW; identical and similar amino acids were highlighted/shaded with Boxshade. (B) Predicted tertiary structure of the T. thermophila MtnB domain. This was predicted from the known structure of A. aeolicus MtnB (PDB ID: 2IRP) using Swiss-model (swissmodel.expasy.org/). Three histidine residues essential for metal binding are shown by magenta sticks. Nitrogen atoms of histidine residues at active site are shown in blue. Structure was drawn using PyMOL version 0.98 (pymol.org). (C) Phylogenetic tree based on primary sequences of MtnB family. Alignments were created with ClustalW and displayed using Treeview. Scale bar indicates difference of 0.1 substitutions per site. Full names and gene accession numbers are as follows: Anopheles gambiae str. PEST (XP_310624), A. aeolicus VF5 (NP_214357), Arabidopsis thaliana (NP_974931 residues 1?247), Aspergillus nidulans FGSC A4 (XP_661197), B. subtilis str 168 (NP_389244), Caenorhabditis elegans (NP_509690), Chlorella variabilis (EFN54454 residues 1?254), Cryptococcus neoformans var. neoformans JEC21 (XP_572402), Danio rerio (NP_001004679), Dictyostelium discoideum (XP_639930), Drosophila melanogaster (NP_572916), Enterobacter cloacae subsp. cloacae ATCC 13047 (YP_003613571), Geobacillus kaustophilus HTA426 (YP_146808), Homo sapiens (NP_057041), Hydra magnipapillata (XP_002165198), Klebsiella oxytoca (formerly Klebsiella pneumoniae 342) (YP_002239745), Microcystis aeruginosa PCC7806 (CAO89699), Monosiga brevicollis MX1 (XP_001750472), Mus musculus (NP_062709), Neurospora crassa OR74A (XP_964699), Oryza sativa Japonica Group (NP_001067908 residues 1?252), Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (NP_250374), Saccharomyces cerevisiae S288c (NP_012558), Schizosaccharomyces pombe 972h- (NP_593625), Strongylocentrotus purpuratus (XP_794552 residues 3114?3362), Synechococcus elongatus PCC 6301 (YP_172813), Vitis vinifera (XP_002274553 residues 1?257), Volvox carteri f. nagariensis (XP_002956646 residues 1?218), Xenopus tropicalis (NP_001015712). Although some MtnBs consist of more than two domains, only MtnB domains were used for phylogenetic analysis. Proteins described in (A) are underscored.
To hold the legs of my upper staging deck into an exact position, I made alignment keys from thin wood. The wood is 3/16" thick in 1" x 12" strips given away by hardware stores to stir house paint. The support legs for my upper staging deck are 3/4 thick and mostly 6" long. I place the upper deck exactly where it needs to be and cut the wood strips to fit the location and trap the legs into place. Two strips fastened down by carpenter's glue and wood screws will keep the legs from wandering, and I only need to make alignment keys for three legs at the corners of the big unit and one key for the smaller unit.
The track in the photo is part of my current eastbound staging and will be relocated to the new upper deck. Three "mouseholes" visible in this shot are for the switch machine control wires from the upper deck through the main layout sections.
Had forgotten about the planetry alignment so only had my phone available to photograph it. Might set my camera up tonight and hope for another clear sky at 5:30 tomorrow morning
I've been thinking about New Year's resolutions, changed, improvement, etc. - and then I remembered that the world is supposed to end in 2012 -
The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date, though none have been accepted by mainstream scholarship.
A New Age interpretation of this transition is that this date marks the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era. Others suggest that the 2012 date marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include the arrival of the next solar maximum, or Earth's collision with a black hole, passing asteroid or a planet called "Nibiru".
"Timewave zero" is a numerological formula that purports to calculate the ebb and flow of "novelty", defined as increase over time in the universe's interconnectedness, or organized complexity. According to Terence McKenna, the universe has a teleological attractor at the end of time that increases interconnectedness, eventually reaching a singularity of infinite complexity in 2012, at which point anything and everything imaginable will occur simultaneously. He conceived this idea over several years in the early to mid-1970s while using psilocybin mushrooms and DMT.
In India, the guru Kalki Bhagavan has promoted 2012 as a "deadline" for human enlightenment since at least 1998. Over 15 million people consider Bhagavan to be the incarnation of the god Vishnu and believe that 2012 marks the end of the Kali Yuga, or degenerate age.
In 2006, author Daniel Pinchbeck popularized New Age concepts about this date in his book 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, linking b'ak'tun 13 to beliefs in crop circles, alien abduction, and personal revelations based on the use of entheogens and mediumship. Pinchbeck claims to discern a "growing realization that materialism and the rational, empirical worldview that comes with it has reached its expiration date ... [w]e're on the verge of transitioning to a dispensation of consciousness that's more intuitive, mystical and shamanic."
Beginning in 2000, the small French village of Bugarach, population 189, began receiving visits from "esoterics"—mystic believers who have concluded that the local mountain, Pic de Bugarach, is the ideal location to weather the transformative events of 2012. In 2011, the local mayor, Jean-Pierre Delord, began voicing fears to the international press that the small town would be overwhelmed by an influx of thousands of visitors in 2012, even suggesting he may call in the army.
The 2009 disaster film 2012 was inspired by the phenomenon, and advance promotion prior to its release included a stealth marketing campaign in which TV spots and websites from the fictional "Institute for Human Continuity" called on people to prepare for the end of the world. As these promotions did not mention the film itself, many viewers believed them to be real and contacted astronomers in panic. Although the campaign was heavily criticized, the film became one of the most successful of its year, grossing nearly $770 million worldwide.
Mayan Calendar Runs Out In One Year
No one knows exactly what will happen on Dec. 21, 2012, the day that the Mayan Calendar runs out, but it's safe to say there will be a lot of hype regarding what might happen. And a lot of people could make big bucks by capitalizing on the folks who are concerned enough about perceived threats, real or imagined, to make a change in their life.
Robert Richardson's business, Off Grid Survival, caters to all sorts of survivalists, but admits that he's seen increased traffic as the calendar comes closer to the Mayan Calendar end date. "There is something to it," he said. "It's interesting that strange things are converging -- political tensions, weird weather, economic problems -- but it may all be a self-fullfilling prophecy."
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.
~ Martin Luther
Motor workshop found on the way back from a work pub lunch celebrating a previously British colleague now becoming an Aussie.
A composite image of the planetary alignment taken at the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Park in La Jolla, CA on January 30, 2016 at around 5:30 a.m.
Photos were taken @ 16mm = image distortion :( Distortion was fixed and then photos were stitched together in Photoshop. I will try to take pictures again when I can but this time with a different lens. Hoping for clear skies!
(This is the same composite image as the previous one but without the illustration of constellations).
These megalith alignments, contemporary to those (more famous) of Carnac, show that the Crozon peninsula was inhabited since many thousands of years. The standing stones date from about 2500 BC. In the beginning there were probably more than 400 stones; today there are only 65 left, arranged in three lines that form three of the four sides of a rectangle. The longest line is about 200 m. It is assumed that the arrangement had an astronomic significance related to the constellation of Pleiades whose name in Breton is “ar yar” (the hen), hence the name of the place derived from “Lagad-Yar” (hen’s eye).
***
Aliniamentele de megaliţi, contemporanele cu cele (mai cunoscute) de la Carnac, aratǎ cǎ peninsula Crozon a fost locuitǎ de mai multe mii de ani. Menhirele dateazǎ din anii 2500 î.Ch. Iniţial, în amplasament s-au aflat probabil peste 400 de pietre; astǎzi au mai rǎmas 65, dispuse în trei linii formând trei din laturile unui dreptunghi. Cea mai lungǎ dintre ele are cca. 200 m. Se presupune cǎ amplasamentul a avut unele semnificaţii de naturǎ astronomicǎ, fiind legate de constelaţia Pleiadelor, purtând în bretonǎ numele de “ar yar” (gǎina), de unde şi numele locului derivat din “Lagad-Yar” (ochiul gǎinii).
Source: WIKIPEDIA
Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Fighting Falcon (Block 52) 2009 – until? The 2009 show season marks the transition to the US Air Force’s premier, front-line F-16 fighter. The Block 52s have an upgraded Avionics package that brings the Thunderbird fleet into alignment with the rest of the worldwide F-16 fleet. Additionally, the more powerful Pratt & Whitney 229 engine adds an additional 3,600 lbs of thrust. This in turn increases the maximum allowable gross weight for ground handling, taxi, takeoff and in-flight maneuvers nearly 5000 lbs. Note: The F-16 represents 53% of USAF Fighter Force Structure and 49% of the USAF’s total combat force (source: USAF as of 6/07)
The Squadron was activated, after 6 months training in an unofficial status, on January 1, 1953 as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke AFB, just west of Phoenix. They flew their debut exhibition at Luke a week later, and began public exhibitions at the 1953 Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The team had flown 26 shows by that August. The first team leader was Major General Dick Catledge, and the first plane flown by the squadron was the F-84 Thunderjet. As the F-84G Thunderjet was a single seat fighter, a 2 seat T-33 Shooting Star served as the narrator's aircraft and was used as the VIP/Press ride aircraft. The T-33 served with the Thunderbirds in this capacity in the 1950s & 1960s.
The next year, the Thunderbirds performed their first overseas air shows, in a tour of South America. A year later, in 1955, they moved to the F-84F Thunderstreak aircraft, in which they performed 91 air shows. The aircraft of the squadron was again changed in June 1956, to the F-100 Super Sabre, which gave the pilots supersonic capability. This switch was accompanied by a move of headquarters to Nellis AFB, Nevada on June 1 with their first show after the move being held on June 23. It also signaled a shift in their performance routine—for example, the Cuban 8 opening routine was dropped, and emphasis was placed on low, screaming flyovers and demonstrations of takeoff performance. For a time, if the show's sponsor permitted it, the pilots would create a "sonic boom" (this ended when the FAA banned supersonic flight over the continental U.S.)
In 1960 a decision was made to allow the tail (vertical stabilizer) of the #4 slot plane, blackened by the exhaust of the other planes, to remain black. (Contrary to rumor, the stabilizer was never painted black.) This practice remained in force through the 1973 season. In 1961, the team was compelled to discontinue the vertical bank maneuver due to an FAA regulation prohibiting aerobatics that pointed the nose of the aircraft toward the crowd. 1962 saw the introduction of dual solo routines, and the Thunderbirds went on their first European deployment in 1963, the year after the disbanding of the "Skyblazers" (see below). The team switched to the F-105 Thunderchief for a brief period, but returned to the F-100 in 1964 after only six airshows, following Capt. Gene Devlin's death resulting from structural failure of the aircraft in a high-G climbing maneuver. The F-100 was also judged to be more maneuverable for demonstration displays, and was retained through the 1968 season.
By 1967, the Thunderbirds had flown 1,000 shows. In 1969, the squadron adopted the noisy and huge F-4E Phantom, which it flew until 1973, the only time the Thunderbirds would fly jets similar to those of the Blue Angels, as it was the standard fighter for both services. A special white paint had to be developed to cover high-temperature metals, replacing the bare metal paint scheme of past planes. The white paint scheme has been continued to the present. Due to the 1973 oil crisis, the team was grounded for some time. In 1974 they switched to the more economical T-38 Talon, a supersonic trainer based on the F-5 fighter. Five T-38s used the same amount of fuel needed for one F-4 Phantom. The switch to the T-38 also saw an alteration of the flight routine to exhibit the aircraft's maneuverability in tight turns, and also ended the era of the black tail on the #4 slot plane, which would now be regularly cleaned and shined like the others.
In 1982, there was another disaster for the Thunderbirds, occurring during pre-season training on January 18. While practicing the 4 plane diamond loop, the formation impacted the ground at high speed, instantly killing all four pilots: Major Norm Lowry, leader, Captain Willie Mays, Captain Pete Peterson and Captain Mark Melancon. The cause of the crash was officially listed by the USAF as the result of a mechanical problem with the #1 aircraft's control stick actuator. During formation flight, the wing and slot pilots visually cue off of the #1 lead aircraft, completely disregarding their positions in relation to the ground
In 1983, the team returned to front-line fighters with the General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon. They would change to the updated F-16C (now Lockheed-Martin) in 1992, an aircraft which has proven its outstanding effectiveness in both air-to-ground and air superiority competitions.
After switching to the F-16s the Thunderbirds had no major incidents until September 14, 2003 when #6 Pilot, opposing solo, Capt. Chris Strickland failed to calibrate his altimeter to the elevation of Mountain Home AFB where their flight demonstration was to be held. He instead flew with the same settings as their home base of Nellis AFB their home base. Moments after the start of the show Capt. Strickland sent his white F-16 thundering down the runway, pulling vertical then rolling his aircraft over to perform a Split-S, his first maneuver of the show. To the shock and horror of the onlookers, Stricklands aircraft failed to complete the maneuver and instead smashed into the ground less than 500 yards from spectators. "It was really quiet," remembers Michael Draper, who saw the crash first hand. "Nobody said a word until we saw the pilot stand up. Everyone shouted 'he got out! he got out!' he got out at the last second."
In 1986, the Thunderbirds did a fly-by for the re-dedication of the Statue of Liberty in New York City, which was viewed by tens of millions. They also performed the first American military demonstration in a Communist country when the team visited Beijing, China in 1987. Their 3,000th air show was performed in 1990. In 1996, the team participated in the Atlanta Olympics' opening ceremonies, which were viewed by an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide. The squadron celebrated its 50th anniversary on June 1, 2003.
Also in 2005, the Thunderbirds temporarily grounded themselves pending an investigation into a minor mid-air incident during the Chicago Air & Water Show on August 20. During a diamond formation slow-roll pass, the tip of the missile rail on the right wing of the slot (#4) aircraft contacted the left stabilator of the right (#3) aircraft. A four-foot section of the missile rail snapped off, while the #3 aircraft sustained damage described by one of the Thunderbirds pilots as a "medium deep scratch" to the red paint of the stabilator. Amateur video showed the missile rail falling into the "safety box" on Lake Michigan away from boaters. While there were no injuries and the aircraft remained apparently flightworthy, the demonstration was immediately terminated, all aircraft returned to Gary International Airport, and the Thunderbirds did not return for the second day of the Chicago show. The Right Winger (#3) was Major D. Chris Callahan, and the Slot position (#4) was flown by Major Steve Horton.
The 2007 European Goodwill Tour was conceived as an opportunity to spread international goodwill and demonstrate the pride, precision and professionalism of Airmen worldwide. It was the Thunderbirds’ first visit to Europe after the tragic events of 9-11 and the team took to this monumental challenge with tenacity. History was made at the first stop during an expertly coordinated flag-panel unveiling in Ireland, which highlighted the Thunderbirds’ first-ever air show performance in the country. Despite inclement weather, more than 100,000 people attended the air show, garnering nationwide exposure by Irish media. Coverage also spanned the globe when Air Force Link posted the story and photos provided by the team.
Additional stops along the way included aerial demonstrations in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria's Graf Ignatievo Air Base, Italy, France and England, where the Thunderbirds participated in The Royal International Air Tattoo, world’s largest air show. VIPs in attendance included Parliament and even British royalty. Outside of aerial demonstrations, the team participated in eight official public relations events attended by heads of state and local civic leaders. There were also multiple community visits with needy children throughout the European theater in an effort to make new friends and eliminate the stereotypical Eastern view of Americans as the world’s police. It took months of planning and hundreds of man-hours to pull it off, but the five-week trip to seven different European countries was diplomatic, historic and sensational.
On November 10 and November 11, 2007, the City of Las Vegas and Nellis AFB saluted the U.S. Air Force, hosting the capstone event of the USAF's 60th anniversary celebration. Those that came to this historic event witnessed some of the best aerobatic performances and aerial demonstrations seen anywhere in the world. Thanks to endorsement and sponsorship by Las Vegas, Aviation Nation was the most publicized air show in America with more than $680,000 in guaranteed media reaching regional, national and international audiences through an extensive advertising and promotions program.
The 2009 air show schedule
March
Luke AFB, AZ Mar. 21/22
MacDill AFB, FL Mar. 28/29
April
Keesler AFB, MS Apr. 4/5
Ceiba, Puerto Rico Apr. 18/19
Langley AFB, VA Apr. 25/26
May
Robins AFB, GA May 2/3
Branson, MO May 9/10
Andrews AFB, MD May 15/16/17
Wantagh, NY (Jones Beach) May 23/23
USAF Academy, CO May 27
Ellsworth AFB, SD May 30/31
June
Hill AFB, UT June 6/7
Ocean City, MD June 13/14
Dover AFB, DE June 20/21
Helena, MT June 27/28
July
Battle Creek, MI July 4/5
Peoria, IL July 11/12
Dayton, OH July 18/19
Cheyenne, WY July 22
Milwaukee, WI July 25/26
August
Vienna, OH (Youngstown ARB) Aug 8/9
Chicago, IL Aug. 15/16
Atlantic City, NJ Aug. 19
Selfridge ANGB, MI Aug. 22/23
Hillsboro, OR Aug. 29
September
Cleveland, OH Sep. 5/6/7
Sacramento, CA Sep. 12/13
Hickam AFB, HI Sep. 19/20 (Start of Far East Tour)
October
The final list of Far East Tour locations is still to be determined
November
Homestead ARB, FL Nov. 7/8
Nellis AFB, NV Nov. 14/15