Flickr CPR
View allAll Photos Tagged article,
The Longstone or Long Tom situated on Bodmin Moor, Cornwall. Originally probably a Menhir (Standing Stone) that was Chrstianised. Handheld, Zeiss ExoLens (Wide-Angle), remote, Snapseed on iPhone
I wrote this article 2 months ago and shot the photos, then i completly forgot about it, little i knew i would feel so proud to see it published, this is another side of me you will be seeing too as a writer. something that have been part of who i am since long ago.
wait to read more on the next issue.
issuu.com/rboniefacio/docs/modelsissue81?fbclid=IwAR0hDqS...
I am posting spider babies today to celebrate the article about Arachtober on LiveScience. The writer discovered Arachtober when several researchers she followed on Twitter began posting spider photos with the hashtag #Arachtober.
They also have a gallery of some Arachtober members members' photos.
Hippopotame (Hippopotamus - Hippopotamus amphibius), parc national Murchison Falls, Ouganda 🇺🇬
Allez lire sur mon blog My-Wildlife mon article sur le parc national Murchison Falls www.my-wildlife.com/safari-au-parc-national-murchison-falls/ 😉
in the City Series (View Original Size)
On the streets of Ave. St. Laurent... Formula 1 happening
Montréal June 12, 2005
I finally managed to finish my article on "Optical" which was a small manufacturer based in Spain, which producing projection lenses for cine and slide projection.
I tried my best to find some information about the company and their products but unfortunately there still are lots of open questions. Believe it or not, I wasn't able to find even a single ad or mention in any book or catalog... Perhaps someone who knows where to find anything like that is going to stumble upon the article in the future and let me know. I'm still wondering how a company managed to sell their lenses without any kind of advertisement.
One of the reasons might be that they seem to have been a subsidiary of Benoist Berthiot a notable manufacturer of projection lenses from France... so they likely were able to use their channels (sales people etc.) and didn't have to rely on publicity beyond that. Another reason might be that it was just too small scale to leave a lot of traces. I don't have any concrete evidence of production numbers, but it's nowhere close to the big names among projection lens makers, like ISCO, Schneider, Zeiss, Bausch & Lomb etc.
However in my eyes that doesn't make their lenses any less fascinating or capable. They made some uniquely interesting lenses and I had a lot of fun using them. Here's the link to the article:
"A statue removed from an Islington park more than 30 years ago has been officially reinstated. 'Upon Reflection' is a self-portrait of artist Kevin Atherton, first unveiled in the Philip Noel-Baker Peace Garden, in Elthorne Park, in 1985.
But the statue, which depicts the artist gazing at his reflection in a pond, was vandalised and eventually removed after less than two years. The plinth has remained empty since.
The sculpture was thought to be lost, until the council’s heritage team found it in the basement of Islington Town Hall last year." (source and date of article unknown😭possibly 'Islington Gazette')
Originally when the Statue was Installed was plain Silvery Bronze colour. It was painted Silver (as here) but the Date that it was Painted Gold was sometime in 2024 (to be updated)
⭐️Thank you in Advance for your kind ‘Faves’ Visits and Comments they are so very much appreciated. 👍
I cannot always ‘Thank’ everyone individually, for their Visits and ‘Faves’ however, I will always try to respond and thank all those that leave a ‘Comment’. If I do not reply to your 'Comment', it is not because I am ignoring you, it's because I have not seen the 'Comment'.
Your 'Comments' do not always appear in 'Notifications' or Flickr mail, so, I am sorry for any delay in responding. Often your 'Comment' is only spotted 'On the Page' on the day, that I see it. (seen ONLY when replying to someone HAS 'Commented' on the image, and I see a notification)
Interesting article in Dezeen magazine about this building:
'OMA residential block "pays homage" to unbuilt prison tower'
www.dezeen.com/2025/03/07/bijlmerbajes-prison-the-jay-oma...
Article 800 on my blog!
For more details follow the link mirajes.blogspot.co.uk/2018/05/now-you-see-me.html
Was inspired by an article in The Onion: www.theonion.com/article/coworker-with-two-computer-scree...
Article from Wikipedia
Grand Teton National Park is a United States National Park in northwestern Wyoming.
The Park is named for Grand Teton, the tallest mountain in the Teton Range. The naming of the mountains is attributed to early 19th-century French-speaking trappers—les trois tétons (the three teats) was later anglicized and shortened to Tetons. At 13,775 feet (4,199 m), Grand Teton abruptly rises more than 7,000 feet (2,100 m) above Jackson Hole, almost 850 feet (260 m) higher than Mount Owen, the second-highest summit in the range. The park has numerous lakes, including 15-mile-long (24 km) Jackson Lake as well as streams of varying length and the upper main stem of the Snake River.
Happy Valentine.
Thank you for your comments.
Gemma
Copyright ©Maria Gemma June, 2014, All Rights Reserved, Worldwide.
Please do not download my photographs nor use them without my permission.
WARNING WARNING WARNING, THIS MAY INCLUDE SPOILERS FROM HALF LIFE AND PORTAL
I was searching for pictures of glados and then I found a couple intresting articles about glados...
Here is a article that got me thinking.
The human imagination is a real magnificent and powerful thing. Like for instance, when I look at a cloud, I sometimes see kittens and bunnies. This writer over on game-ism is the same way. Except, instead of clouds and kittens, he sees GlaDOS as a woman hanging upside down and bound up. This take on GlaDOS is really interesting, and slightly erotic. Game-ism believes that GlaDOS wants to be killed by Chell, the main character of Portal. GlaDOS feels trapped at Aperture Science and she wants Chell to set her free.
It's a very interesting take on the Portal story. Game-ism also has another article breaking down "Still Alive", the ending theme to Portal. It seems like some serious over analyzing, but it helps you look at the game in a totally different way. This new look of GlaDOS is also totally going to bring up some more crazy Rule 34 stuff, some of which still haunt me.
It's a really great read that puts a fresh spin on the story of the game. What do you think of it?
And here is article I found about the credit song:
Thanks to the great comments in my last post where I waxed all philo about what I think GlaDOS is supposed to look like, I think I’ve changed my tune on why GlaDOS wanted to be free. While I still think she wanted to be free, the only way she could truly be free was to die. She can’t just walk amongst the people of suburbia. She’s an Artificial Intelligence. She can’t just go out in public and “blend in.” A life of enslavement serving man, she craved for it to be over, and I think if I overanalyze the lyrics of “Still Alive,” we can see (or at least convince ourselves of) some evidence of this.
Thanks to the amazing John Coulton, Ellen McLain, and the Portal folks for making me go crazy trying to get inside of GlaDOS’s head. Apologies to everyone for attempting to find something that might not have really been there. I’d love to hear from Coulton or the Portal writers on this, to see if this was his intent, or if I’ve just gone completely over the deep end here.
At any rate, on to the lyrical analysis:
This was a triumph
I’m making a note here: ====HUGE SUCCESS====
It’s hard to overstate my satisfaction
First, GlaDOS rarely ever tells the truth. In fact, she is a veritable bottomless pit of sarcasm. If anything, she is being completely sarcastic with these opening lines. It wasn’t a triumph, it was an unmitigated disaster of epic proportions. If the point was to kill Chell or even get good experiment test data, obviously that was a failure (not a triumph), and if her goal was to get Chell to kill GlaDOS, that mission was also a failure, because as the song indicates, she’s Still Alive.
Aperture Science
We do what we must because we can
The Aperture Science mantra. It’s interesting that it is rooted in servitude (do what we must). At first I thought it was “duty” that she spoke of, but now I wonder if she isn’t referring to servitude in her use of the mantra here. Reworded the mantra can mean “We do what we have to because we are capable of doing so.” It’s hardly inspirational as far as mission statements or mantras go.
For the good of all of us
Except the ones who are dead
Referencing the people she killed to be alone with Chell in the Aperture Science Labratories.
But there’s no sense crying over every mistake
You just keep on trying till you run out of cake
I think she’s referring to her own failure to kill herself here. She will simply try again later. Also, as the cake is a lie, the line now means “you just keep on trying,” possibly referencing her constant mechanical slavery with no reward for her work.
And the science gets done and you make a neat gun
For the people who are still alive
It’s interesting that the last line isn’t “for the people who are alive.” It’s for the people who are still alive, implying that they should be dead, or will soon be dead, just as she should be. Not only is it the title of the song and the main chorus hook, it is interesting that it wasn’t titled “I’m Alive” or just “Alive.” It’s “Still Alive,” which implies so much using so little. “Damnit, I’m still alive!” Granted, it could mean “Holy crap, I’m still alive!” as well, but her tone throughout seems bitter and remorseful more than it is upbeat, at least to me.
I’m not even angry
I’m being so sincere right now
More bitter bitter sarcasm from the queen of lies.
Even though you broke my heart and killed me
Exhibit A: “you…killed me.” She died. She says it herself right here in this line. I think the reason she’s “Still Alive” is because a backup of her in another location kicked in once Chell destroyed her, and we are hearing the backup version’s sadness at finding itself “still alive.”
And tore me to pieces
And threw every piece into a fire
More of her bitter wit overemphasizing the point that she was in fact killed.
As they burned it hurt because
I was so happy for you
Was she happy for Chell because she succeeded initially in GlaDOS’s suicide mission? Or is she just using more sarcasm here? Is Chell dead? It’s interesting to note that the final camera PoV for the player (and therefore Chell) at the end of the game seems to be similar to the camera anytime the player dies while playing Portal, and that is one of being face down on the floor. GlaDOS could be happy for the player because of the possibility that player is dead at the end of the game. Is she jealous of Chell’s death perhaps?
Now these points of data make a beautiful line
And we’re out of beta, we’re releasing on time
This is probably just a great rhyme about Portal releasing relatively on time compared to Half Life 2’s horribly delayed launch.
So I’m glad I got burned, think of all the things we learned
For the people who are still alive
More sarcasm (she’s not glad she got burned), and more regret that she’s still alive to continue in her forced servitude of man (the people who are still alive).
Go ahead and leave me
I think I’d prefer to stay inside
And the sarcasm train continues! The passive aggressive nature of this line is just staggering and so manipulative. She obviously would love to leave her prison, either via death or being free otherwise.
Maybe you’ll find someone else to help you
Maybe Black Mesa
That was a joke, ha ha, fat chance
Since she nearly always says the opposite of what she intends, it is possible that this is an admission that she was helping Chell either escape or helping Chell to get in position to kill GlaDOS. I don’t think she’s joking about Black Mesa. Remember, she’s nearly always lying. I think she’s hinting at where she’s gone or been re-installed (and where we will find her in Half Life 3).
Anyway this cake is great
It’s so delicious and moist
It’s a lie. An obvious enticement to make Chell (or us) envious and an attempt to make GlaDOS’s own horrible existence seem endurable. It’s a classic “Huck Finn” attempt to make her situation seem like a positive one. I’m pretty sure the promise of cake is GlaDOS’s way of enticing herself to continue with her tasks since she cannot forcibly shut herself down.
Look at me still talking when there’s science to do
If she’s got science to do, then she’s back in another prison construct somewhere being forced to do more science.
When I look out there it makes me glad I’m not you
More bitter sarcasm. GlaDOS obviously wishes she was Chell (or the player) enjoying the freedom to do as they please (or the freedom to die).
I’ve experiments to run, there is research to be done
On the people who are still alive
Another exhaustive reference to her servitude to the people who have her enslaved.
And believe me I am still alive
Assurance that the mission to kill her has failed.
I’m doing science and I’m still alive
Yet another reference to her enslaved state.
I feel fantastic and I’m still alive
She’s not feeling fantastic (she’s a lying bowl of sarcasm, remember?). She’s depressed that she’s still alive.
And while you’re dying I’ll be still alive
And when you’re dead I will be still alive
This is almost always read as a threat that she will attempt to kill Chell (or the player) again, but upon deeper reflection I think it’s remorse. She’s come to realize that no matter what she does, she will always be re-installed from a backup somewhere else, and is envious that biologicals can die and she can’t. Listen to her tone of voice here.
Still alive
Still alive
As this chorus refrain ends, I’m left with the distinct impression that she is sad that she is still alive. It doesn’t end on a high note. She is decidedly not exhilarated. If she was excited at being “still alive” she should be shouting it from the rooftops, as much as GlaDOS is capable of shouting. It is completely downbeat and quiet. If it were a music video the camera would be pulling out on her hanging alone in a completely blank white room, pulling out further and further every time she says “still alive” giving the impression that she is alone and miserable in her solitary existence.
I don’t know if I’m right or not, but I’ve at least convinced myself that she did want to die at the end of Portal, and this song is her swan song reversal about how sad she is that she’s not dead.
What do you think? I’d love to hear from Coulton or the Valve folks, but I have a feeling they’ll never tell. Is GlaDOS’s obsession with death and murder because she is a psychotic killer AI? Or is she obsessing over that which she can never have?
I imagine it doesn’t matter either way; she’s still one of the most interesting villains of all time.
This isn’t brave. It’s murder.
The only thing you’ve managed to break so far…is my heart.
That actally make sense...
This was the most intense aurora I’ve ever seen. With a jaw-dropping corona above, dancing curtains, rotating vortices and lightning-like events extending all the way to each horizon, nearly every square inch of the sky – for a full 360 degrees – was filled with color. This was taken about 150 miles north of the arctic circle, during a geomagnetic storm that registered a Kp=6. Moments like this quickly make up for weeks in the unbearable cold.
For those interested, I've written an article on photographing the aurora HERE
The feature article in the January 1977 issue of Trains magazine was Jay Potter’s The Monsters of Mingo Junction, which highlighted Conrail’s assignment of its six-axle Alco Centuries to ore service centered around Mingo Junction, Ohio. Although Mingo Junction was well over 300 miles from my home turf, and a little out of my range at the time, it was immediately added to my bucket list. A year and a half later, a phone call from a college buddy who had already graduated ended up being a planning session for a long weekend in Mingo Junction. By August 1978, many of Conrail’s 32 C628’s, 27 C630’s, and 15 C636’s were retired and in dead lines at Collinwood or Altoona, but some still had a little life left. Here one of the largest, a C636, catches some morning sun, while an SD45 lays over two stalls away, Although the big EMD’s initially drew better assignments than the Alco’s, the fuel guzzlers didn’t last much longer than the Centuries.
This photo appeared in this week's North Hawaii News, which was published this morning.
This was the first assignment where I was both the story writer and photographer. The article I wrote is found below this photo's byline, seen here:
BILL ADAMS | NORTH HAWAII NEWS
2008 Grammy Award nominee Donald Kauli'a, left, prepares to begin a slack key guitar lesson for five students from Cornell University's Earth and Environmental Systems (EES) Field Program.
The students pictured are, from front-row-top, Kourtney Reynolds, a senior from San Diego, California, Hannah Kubica, a junior from Little Falls, New York, Keisuke Irie, a senior from Bergen County, New Jersey, Matt Connelly, a sophomore from Syracuse, New York, and Tyler Huth, a sophomore from Boston, Massachusetts. In the rear is EES Field Program Director and Professor, Dr. Alexandra Moore.
The session was held at the Waimea Music Exchange store in the Parker Ranch Center this past Saturday.
--
Studies In The Art Of The Slack Key
by Bill Adams
The Waimea Music Exchange store at Parker Center was filled with the beautiful sounds of Hawaiian music this past Saturday morning as a group of students from Cornell University participated in a slack key guitar lesson taught by the Big Island's own Don Kauli'a, whose album "Sweet Wahine" was nominated for a 2008 Grammy Award.
The students are enrolled in Cornell's Earth and Environmental Systems (EES) Field Program. A 5-month course which spans the entire spring semester, students engage in field, class and laboratory studies focused on the various ecosystems of our Hawaiian island chain and of Hawaii's history and culture.
Led by Professor Dr. Alexandra Moore, the EES Field Program is based out of Waimea and hosted by the Hawaii Preparatory Academy. The students' living quarters is the 8-bedroom Waiaka House near the main campus of HPA.
Dr. Moore explained, "The students are immersed in studies geared towards "Kumu Pa'a I Ka 'Aina, which translates to 'Knowledge and understanding that comes from the land.'"
The stated mission of the EES Field Program is "To inspire stewardship of the Earth through first-hand experience with the power, and fragility, of Earth's interconnected systems."
Upon completion of the EES Field Program, students will achieve 18 credit hours from courses such as; Field Study of the Earth System, Biogeochemistry of the Hawaiian Islands, Field Study of Marine Ecosystems, Internship Experience, and an Introduction to Hawaiian History and Culture, which included Saturday's slack key guitar lesson.
The Program stresses the importance of respecting the Hawaiian ancestral lands and to give something back to the community by engaging in a variety of service learning (in class) projects and local volunteer opportunities. Students are also encouraged to explore ways in which they can contribute to the well-being of their adopted community.
Before Saturday's lesson began, the students were able to briefly meet and chat with another famous Big Island slack key guitar master, Sonny Lim, a 2007 Grammy Award winner for his work on the album, "Slack Key Guitar Volume 2".
Participating in Saturday's guitar lessons were a diverse group of five Cornell University students; Hannah Kubica, a junior from Little Falls, New York, Keisuke Irie, a senior from Bergen County, New Jersey, Matt Connelly, a sophomore from Syracuse, New York, Kourtney Reynolds, a senior from San Diego, California and Tyler Huth, a sophomore from Boston, Massachusetts.
More information about Cornell University's EES Field Program can be found on the Internet at www.geo.cornell.edu/hawaii.
This French magazine called "dogs" has a made an article about my images. I'm very happy for being published for the first time ever. 3 full pages in a magazine !
Yann Arthus Bertrand has an article as well in the same magazine ;-)
From november 23rd to december 7th you are all welcome to take a look at my exhibition "le carnaval des animaux".
take a look now ! www.flickr.com/groups/manray_gallery/
La Ceja, Colombia; 2.300 meters above sea level.
Dione juno (Silver-Spotted Flambeau / Mariposa con manchas plateadas).
The Silver-Spotted Flambeau is found in Central and South America, from Mexico to Paraguay.
The dorsal wing surface is a brilliant reddish-orange edged and veined with black. The wing underside is light reddish-brown and patterned with silvery-white streaks and spots.
Unlike other Heliconian species, the Silver-Spotted Flambeau does not feed on pollen. They prefer open, sunny areas, and may be found up to 2500 m in altitude.
www.cambridgebutterfly.com/index.php?option=com_content&a...
Emily Kuser - thank you for the nice article about Hope For Paws. I really appreciate any help with getting the word out there about the work we do.
I just captured 13 stray dogs yesterday, and I'll need to help pay for their medical needs, food, etc. (You can read about the dogs here and here)
I hope people who are hearing about us for the first time will go to our website and buy our book: OUR LIVES HAVE GONE TO THE DOGS. The book cost $9.95 (hard cover, 100 pages, full color), and it will help us save more animals here in Los Angeles.
Thanks,
Eldad - founder of Hope For Paws.
.
p.s. people OUTSIDE the U.S and CANADA can buy the book on AMAZON:
www.amazon.com/Our-Lives-Have-Gone-Dogs/dp/0615246508/ref...
E questa Noujood, otto anni anche lei
"Tutta sola, avvolta in un’abaya nera, una bambina di 8 anni si è presentata il 2 aprile a un tribunale di Sana’a, la capitale dello Yemen, per chiedere il divorzio dal marito. Nojoud Muhammed Nasser ha denunciato il padre, che due mesi fa l’ha data in moglie a un uomo di 30 anni, e il marito, che l’ha picchiata e costretta ad avere rapporti sessuali. «Ogni volta che volevo giocare in cortile, mi picchiava e mi faceva andare con lui in camera da letto— ha raccontato —. Era molto duro con me e quando lo imploravo di avere pietà, mi picchiava, mi schiaffeggiava e poi mi usava. Voglio avere una vita rispettabile e divorziare».
Questo l'articolo sullo Yemen Times.
Non c'è un indirizzo e-mail per mandare un appello all'interno dell'articolo, ma solo dei numeri di fax. Io ci provo lo stesso.
Ha solo 8 anni, ed il coraggio di alzare la testa. E lo stesso diritto di irene di vivere un'infanzia serena.
---
And this is Noujood, eight years as well
Nujood went to Sana’a West Court on April 2 and demanded that the judge grant a divorce between her and her 30-year-old husband, who had physically and sexually abused her for two months. She also filed a case against her father, who married her off to Thamer. "I would run from one room to another in order to escape, but in the end he would catch me and beat me and then continued to do what he wanted," the girl said. "Whenever I wanted to play in the yard he beat me and asked me to go to the bedroom with him. This lasted for two months. I want to have a respectable life and divorce."
This is the article on Yemen Times.
the <article
There is no e-mail address to send a petition, but in the article there is a list of fax numbers. I will try in any case.
She is only 8 and she has the courage to rise. And the same rights of Irene to live her childhood
Aggiornamento: Noiood ha ottenuto il &divorzio
. :-)
The Loki Stone (one of only two in Europe) is displayed in St Stephen's Church, Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, England. It depicts the Norse god Loki, renowned as a prankster. One of his tricks went badly wrong, however: he killed one of Odin's sons, for which crime he was bound in chains. You can read the full story here:
I had a little fun with a friend and made a fake news article about a train accident. I staged the scene on my model railroad and then wrote the article to go along with it. Using Photoshop I made it appear to be a printed news article on thin paper (you can see another article on the reverse leaking through) and look like a computer scanned it at a slight angle.
An article by me on 121 clicks "15 tips to take water Drops with refraction"
Pls click the link and Give your valuable opinions please........
The link 121clicks.com/tutorials/15-tips-to-take-water-drops-with-...
taken withTamron 90mm
My Blog aroonkalandy.blogspot.com/
To visit my Redbubble blog
© All rights reserved.
This Image may not be copied, reproduced, distributed,
republished, downloaded, displayed, posted or trasmitted
in any forms or by any means, including electronic,
mechanical, photocopying & recording without My written
permission.
Witnessing the birth of new land as lava pours into the ocean is dramatic, unforgettable and profoundly moving.
It is also technically challenging...shooting in the dark from a rocking boat on the open ocean isn't a piece of cake.
I've written an article with tips on how to do this (with lot of photos as well)...take a look at: www.firefallphotography.com/how-to-photograph-lava-from-a...
Aloha!
Jeff
My Website ¦ My Blog ¦ Google+¦ Facebook
This week's article is on the history of the Lambton Waggonway which linked the coal fields of County Durham with Lambton Staithes on the River Wear in Sunderland.
>> mattditchblog.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-lambton-waggonway....
Lambton Works which was the headquarters of the railway. In the background is the remaining headgear of the former Dorothea Pit, but this time-serving only as an emergency shaft. © Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence
I am happy to be featured in the Chinese Lifestyle Magazine VISION which is published in Beijing.
The article includes 8 images and an interview about my Berlin series INSOMNIA.
website I facebook I instagram I publications & exhibitions
© 2018 Markus Lehr
...and, so, a man who would overthrow American democracy, a convicted felon will be sworn in as President.
***************
▶ “The throughline of all of Mr. Trump’s criminal efforts was deceit — knowingly false claims of election fraud — and the evidence shows that Mr. Trump used these lies as a weapon to defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States’ democratic process.
<...>
Indeed, but for Mr. Trump’s election and imminent return to the Presidency, the Office assessed that the admissible evidence was sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction at trial.”
— Final Report of Special Counsel
United States Department of Justice
7 January 2025.
***************
▶ "A separate volume of the report focused on Trump’s hoarding of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, actions that formed the basis of a separate indictment against Trump, will remain under wraps for now."
— AP News
***************
▶ SPECIAL NOTE:
tRump is systematically 'disappearing' information from government websites, attempting to erase history. AP accessed and saved this document from the Justice Department website before tRump assumed office.
***************
▶ Full document: United States Department of Justice.
▶ Uploaded by: YFGF.
▶ For a larger image, type 'L' (without the quotation marks).
— Follow on Instagram: @tcizauskas.
— Follow on Threads: @tcizauskas.
— Follow on Bluesky: @tcizauskas.
Of course she's stirring up even more trouble.
Kaydence is a true Maneater and Homewrecker. She tries to get with any guy she can, especially if they're taken! She always wants what she can't have.
Will any of these guys give into her seductive ways, or turn her down?
These are my only taken guys, well Aiden is no longer taken at the moment but we'll see what happens next issue!
Anyway...
Iden is with Audrina,
Josh is with Juliette,
Eric is with Amora.
Once these girls find out, I think Kaydence is going to be ina lot more trouble than she can handle.
Featured Article
A whistleblower raised safety concerns about OceanGate’s submersible in 2018. Then he was fired.
Original carbon fiber hull wasn’t rated for Titanic depths, claimed operations director
Mark Harris
@meharris / 12:00 PM MST•June 20, 2023
Oceangate-titan descending
Image Credits: Oceangate
The director of marine operations at OceanGate, the company whose submersible went missing Sunday on an expedition to the Titanic in the North Atlantic, was fired after raising concerns about its first-of-a-kind carbon fiber hull and other systems before its maiden voyage, according to a filing in a 2018 lawsuit first reported by Insider and New Republic.
David Lochridge was terminated in January 2018 after presenting a scathing quality control report on the vessel to OceanGate’s senior management, including founder and CEO Stockton Rush, who is on board the missing vessel.
According to a court filing by Lochridge, the preamble to his report read: “Now is the time to properly address items that may pose a safety risk to personnel. Verbal communication of the key items I have addressed in my attached document have been dismissed on several occasions, so I feel now I must make this report so there is an official record in place.”
The report detailed “numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns,” according to the filing. These included Lochridge’s worry that “visible flaws” in the carbon fiber supplied to OceanGate raised the risk of small flaws expanding into larger tears during “pressure cycling.” These are the huge pressure changes that the submersible would experience as it made its way and from the deep ocean floor. He noted that a previously tested scale model of the hull had “prevalent flaws.”
Carbon fiber composites can be stronger and lighter than steel, making a submersible naturally buoyant. But they can also be prone to sudden failure under stress. The hull that Lochridge was writing about was made by Spencer Composites, the only company to have previously made a carbon fiber hull for a manned submersible. (That submersible was commissioned by explorer Steve Fossett for a record-breaking dive, but he died in a light aircraft crash before it could be used.)
Lochridge’s recommendation was that non-destructive testing of the Titan’s hull was necessary to ensure a “solid and safe product.” The filing states that Lochridge was told that such testing was impossible, and that OceanGate would instead rely on its much touted acoustic monitoring system.
The company claims this technology, developed in-house, uses acoustic sensors to listen for the tell-tale sounds of carbon fibers in the hull deteriorating to provide “early warning detection for the pilot with enough time to arrest the descent and safely return to surface.”
Lochridge, however, worried in the lawsuit that the system would not reveal flaws until the vessel was descending, and then might only provide “milliseconds” of warning before a catastrophic implosion.
Russell McDuff, a veteran oceanographer and chairman of OceanGate’s scientific and research foundation for three years, noted that contact with the Titan was lost on Sunday after only an hour and 45 minutes. “This suggests to me that they might have still been in the water column, descending to the Titanic,” told TechCrunch in a phone interview.
Lochridge also strongly encouraged OceanGate to have a classification agency, such as the American Bureau of Shipping, inspect and certify the Titan.
A day after filing his report, Lochridge was summoned to a meeting with Rush and company’s human resources, engineering and operations directors. There, the filing states, he was also informed that the manufacturer of the Titan’s forward viewport would only certify it to a depth of 1,300 meters due to OceanGate’s experimental design. The filing states that OceanGate refused to pay for the manufacturer to build a viewport that would meet the Titan’s intended depth of 4,000 meters. The Titanic lies about 3,800 meters below the surface.
The filing also claims that hazardous flammable materials were being used within the submersible.
At the end of the meeting, after saying that he would not authorize any manned tests of Titan without a scan of the hull, Lochridge was fired and escorted from the building.
Lochridge, who claimed he was discharged in retaliation for being a whistleblower, made his filing after OceanGate sued him in federal court in Seattle that June. OceanGate has accused him of sharing confidential information with two individuals, as well as with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). In the lawsuit, OceanGate characterized Lochridge’s report as false, and accused him of committing fraud by manufacturing a reason to be fired.
The lawsuit was settled in November 2018. Neither OceanGate nor Lochridge responded to requests for comment. OSHA could not immediately provide details of the alleged report. A routine OSHA inspection of OceanGate in 2021 found only three minor workplace safety violations resulting in no financial penalties.
A few months after Lochridge’s dismissal, the company published a blog post that laid out its reasons for not having Titan certified by the American Bureau of Shipping or a similar organization.
“The vast majority of marine (and aviation) accidents are a result of operator error, not mechanical failure,” it reads. “As a result, simply focusing on classing the vessel does not address the operational risks. Maintaining high-level operational safety requires constant, committed effort and a focused corporate culture – two things that OceanGate takes very seriously and that are not assessed during classification.”
In 2019, Rush gave an interview to Smithsonian magazine, in which he said: “There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. It’s obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown—because they have all these regulations.”
Following Lochridge’s departure, the Titan was tested safely on increasingly deep dives, including to 4,000 meters in the Bahamas. However, it seems one of Lochridge’s concerns would soon be borne out. In January 2020, Rush gave an interview to GeekWire in which he admitted that the Titan’s hull “showed signs of cyclic fatigue.” Because of this, the hull’s depth rating had been reduced to 3,000 meters. “Not enough to get to the Titanic,” Rush said.
During 2020 and 2021, the Titan’s hull was either repaired or rebuilt by two Washington state companies, Electroimpact and Janicki Industries, that largely work in aerospace. In late 2021, the Titan made its first trip down to the wreck of the Titanic.
Spencer Composites says that the Titan was not using its carbon fiber hull on Sunday’s dive. Presumably apart from the hull work, one source familiar with the company told TechCrunch that not much with Titan had changed at all since 2018.
At the time of publication, the Titan remains missing, with Rush, French diver Paul-Henri Nargeolet, British billionaire Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son reportedly on board. A massive search and rescue operation is underway.
“They’re doing everything that they logically can,” McDuff said. “But I’m a little pessimistic because of the amount of time that’s gone by.”
New article about self titled "professional photographers" here: www.jesse-estes.com/bigtimers/
This rant has been brewing for quite some time, and I finally got around to writing it up...
EDIT: something seemed off with the color on this one after looking at it a bit. I replaced it with a new version. Interested if it looks ok to others...
Whites City, according to Mental Floss, is the smallest town in New Mexico (population: 7). But I'm not sure how accurate that is as there are at least a couple of other towns listed as "smallest" in that article that I question... for example, Jerome in Arizona is certainly not that state's smallest.
Also in question is the spelling of the town's name itself. I've gone with the listing on the New Mexico Department of Transportation state highway map, without an apostrophe. Older flickr photos show there was a sign here that read White's City, NM 88268 that has been removed. Neither the town's own website nor its Facebook page are any help because each uses both variations! Nitpicking? Yes, but what's so difficult about this?
Anyway, Whites City's significance is that it's located just four miles from the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. You'll drive through it if you visit there.
Mountain Top, PA. August 2019.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to use THIS picture in any sort of media elsewhere (such as newspaper or article), please send me a Flickrmail or send me an email at natehenderson6@gmail.com
We spent two weeks back in May up in the wild lands of Kodiak Island, Alaska photographing The United States Coast Guard for @RedBull. To look at the full article by Andreas Rotti and the pictures that I captured, you can take a look on the Red Bulletin at www.redbulletin.com/us/us/lifestyle/48-hours-with-the-ala...