View allAll Photos Tagged brainwaves
Sole's sleeping out in the open now but when I came home, earlier in the day, he was nowhere to be found. Our home is less than 1100 sq ft and I looked for him in every single square foot. The only conclusion I could come to was that he slipped outside one of the times I left the house. But then I got the brainwave to call him ... not by calling SOLE but BABY KITTY. He comes to BABY KITTY. I still don't know where he was hiding but he showed up licked y split. Phew!
The message from a Flickr Friend late last week read, “A nesting Banded Dotterel family have been sighted. I’m going to look for them tomorrow if you’re interested!”
I was interested, but couldn’t really justify the price of Petrol (which has been as much as $0.25 a litre higher than normal for several weeks), and anyway (as it happened): Saturday dawned very wet, very windy and very cool; it was not a good day to go searching for a family of birds…!
However, Sunday evening, I had a brainwave (It happens sometimes!): Public Transport wouldn’t cost me anything now that I was a Senior Citizen with a Government-issued Gold Card! So guess who was at the at the local railway station at 9am with his Gold Card at the ready, and a back-pack loaded with camera gear???
Upon arriving at the Site, I found the Family – or at least one of the adults – very quickly, and so very quietly approached the lone bird – very careful to keep a very respectful distance between it and me. Sitting down, I noticed a chick searching for snacks who was a bit closer than expected – or at least it was until its parent gave a shrill cry, and in a flash it was gone. And that, I thought, was that…
However, to my surprise, and after only a few minutes, the adult moved much closer, and after about half an hour, gave another shrill cry and the chick appeared again! (I'd obviously passed some sort of test!).
Two hours after first arriving, yet another shrill cry split the air, the chick disappeared again, and this time the adult flew off... The Photo Shoot was over and it was time to go home, but it had been a unique experience… and as a bonus, I had something like 150 photos in the camera!
In closing, thanks to my Flickr friend Paul who visited the family in the midst of Saturday’s storm and who alerted me to the Dotterel family… and I’m sorry Paul but I definitely got the better weather: clear blue skies, warm sunshine, and just a pleasant breeze!
Thanks so much for visiting my Site, and thanks especially for taking the time and trouble to leave a Comment; it's always nice to hear from you...!
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Project 365 - Image 98/365
Orange Ice-Bat had mysteriously gone missing over the last few days, so before leaving for work this morning I decided to try and find him (I was getting worried that he wouldn't be able to find food for himself and could end up starving while I'm working long days).
I searched high and low (with the help of several other Uglies) and we couldn't find him anywehere, so Babo had the brainwave (as always) to have everyone stand perfectly still and silent.
Feint sounds of "nom, nom, nom" could be heard from the kitchen, so we silently crept upstairs and found Orange Ice-Bat inside a tub of peach sweeties. When he began to feel like a goldfish inside it's bowl due to us all staring at him, he popped the lid open and said "wassssssup" to which Babo replied, "Alls is ok's with you?". "Yup, just nom'ing on some nom nom's".
At least we managed to find the little guy and make sure he was ok.
From the Uglydoll blog at adventuresinuglyworld.blogspot.com/
Ah. It's finally there! The last pieces!
I have to say that I saved the best for last, but not really on purpose. When I look back the chair/table-combination is one of my favorites, the storagerack is one of the most realistic looking pieces and I love the showcase for it's simplicity. I hope you guys feel the same!
I can hear you say: is it over? Is.. Is it? (add dramatic music). Yes! Nomnomnomnooom. Well, maybe if I get a little more time than I got the last weeks, there might be a chance that you'll get a little Grand Finale. But only a little one!
Thanks for watching and keep bricking!
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I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
I dont usually take my macro kit on holiday with me, its bulky and gets in the way also i'm completely addicted to it and can get a bit carried away which isn't fair on everyone else. However for our recent trip to Corfu our destination looked so stunning that i decided to take a dslr instead of a little pocket camera for our holiday snaps. Then i had a brainwave and bought a cheap set of close up filters off of amazon my thinking being that they would take up no room at all and when we were out and about if i saw any nice bugs i could quickly screw one on to my 18-55 kit lens take a piccy or two then whip it off into my pocket and carry on with whatever we were doing no harm done everybodies happy, the only thing was i didn't expect brilliant results but they would at least be better than our little ageing Canon sureshot. After a little go or two though i started getting some quite passable shots better than expected for sure and i didn't really get chance to try out all the magnification permutations that they offered sticking to just the one X4 filter. Am i glad i made the effort ! Corfu has some amazing insects i had a great time chasing them and i wasn't even leaving the road all the pics of creatures i got were taken in vegetation by the side of the road, imagine what a proper expedition into the countryside with a serious macro set up would turn up...oh well one of these days......
Paleokastritsa, Corfu
Character Creation
The Atom is a name shared by five superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics.
The original Golden Age Atom, Al Pratt, was created by writer Bill O'Connor and artist Ben Flinton and first appeared in All-American Publications' All-American Comics #19 (October 1940).
The second Atom was the Silver Age Atom, Ray Palmer, who first appeared in 1961. The third Atom, Adam Cray, was a minor character present in Suicide Squad stories. The fourth Atom, Ryan Choi, debuted in a new Atom series in August 2006. Another Atom from the 853rd Century first appeared as part of Justice Legion Alpha in August 1999.
The Atom has been the star of multiple solo series, and four of the five have appeared as members of various superhero teams, such as the Justice Society of America, the Justice League, the Suicide Squad, and the Justice Legion Alpha.
Publication history
The Atom introduced during the Silver Age of comic books in Showcase #34 (1961) is physicist and university professor Raymond Palmer, Ph.D.
After stumbling onto a mass of white dwarf star matter that had fallen to Earth, he fashioned a lens which allowed him to shrink down to subatomic size.
Originally, his size and molecular density abilities derived from the white dwarf star material of his costume, controlled by mechanisms in his belt, and later by controls in the palms of his gloves. Much later, he gained the innate equivalent powers within his own body.
After the events of Identity Crisis, Ray shrank himself to microscopic size and disappeared. Finding him became a major theme of the Countdown year-long series and crossover event.
Fictional Character History
Silver Age
Raymond Carson "Ray" Palmer, is a physicist and professor at Ivy University in the fictional city of Ivy Town, somewhere in New England, specializing in matter compression as a means to fight overpopulation, famine and other world problems. Using a mass of white dwarf star matter he finds after it lands on Earth, Palmer fashions a lens that enables him to shrink any object to any degree he wishes. Compression destabilizes an object's molecular structure, however, causing it to explode.
During a spelunking expedition, Palmer and his students, along with his girlfriend, lawyer Jean Loring, find themselves trapped in a cave. In desperation, Palmer secretly uses the lens he has carried with him to shrink himself to be able to climb through a small opening in the fallen rocks sealing the cave, knowing he will likely explode. Using a diamond engagement ring, Palmer enlarges the hole sufficiently and descends to the floor to try to alert the others of the escape route before dying. However, upon entering the lens' beam, he finds himself returned to normal size and without danger of exploding. As the lens is covered with cave moisture, Palmer believes this has altered the beam to allow this strange effect.
When subsequent experiments still result in objects exploding, Palmer concludes some unknown force in his own body allows him to safely size-shift. He decides to use this effect to become a superhero. A retcon in Brightest Day: The Atom Special (July 2010) removes the influence of his exotic physical makeup, tying his survival instead to the discovery of a compression matrix, a fabric able to spread the effects of the ray on the entire body, stabilizing it. The prototype matrix later became his costume.
Palmer creates a belt tool to control his miniaturization to subatomic size with an emergency backup mechanism in his gloves, and develops a costume that he can wear at most times that only becomes visible when he shrinks significantly. In addition, he develops equipment that allows him to decrease his weight in addition to his size, allowing him to glide on air currents on a low setting, while a high setting allows him to handle or strike objects with the equivalent strength of his normal size and build. A favorite travel method is to call some location on the telephone and when the phone is answered, Palmer can shrink enough to travel through the phone lines in seconds to emerge out the answering phone.
He carries out the bulk of his early superheroic adventures in Ivy Town, where he often helps his girlfriend, Jean Loring, win her cases. Much later, he gains the innate equivalent powers within his own body.
Palmer has fought against several alien and supernatural threats, as well as having his own rogues gallery, including Chronos, the Bug-Eyed Bandit, the Floronic Man, and the Bat-Knights of Elvaran. He also had several time travel adventures by means of Professor Alpheus V. Hyatt's Time Pool. The Atom is a member of several incarnations of the Justice League, and the team is gracious enough to supply a special chair scaled to his default size which can elevate to whatever height needed so he can easily partake in team meetings without having to go out of costume.
There, he meets Hawkman (Katar Hol pre-Hawkworld, Carter Hall post-Hawkworld), one of his closest friends in the superhero community. Neither character achieved major popularity, and even in their heyday were mostly supporting characters, often with Palmer as a specialist in size alteration who was needed to access extremely confined areas only he could access. Hawkman would manufacture prosthetic wings for a myna Ray saved, taking on the name Major Mynah and became the Atom's partner and steed.
Sword of the Atom, Power of the Atom, and Teen Titans
The Atom had one short-lived miniseries and three subsequent specials, all titled Sword of the Atom, in which Palmer abandons civilization after divorcing his wife Jean, who had an affair with fellow lawyer Paul Hoben, and becomes the hero of a tribe of six-inch (152 mm) -tall yellow-skinned humanoid aliens called Morlaidhans in the jungles of South America. He also becomes consort to their princess, Laethwyn. Palmer bequeathes his size-changing belt and role as Ivy Town's protector to Jean's new husband, Hoben. During this time, Palmer's friend Norman Brawler pens the book The Atom's Farewell, in which he reveals Palmer's identity as the Atom.
Eventually the colony is destroyed, despite Palmer's attempt to save it, by a group associated with the US Government acting as loggers. Palmer is forced to escape via the telephone to North America. In the attempt, he fails to anticipate that the connection will involve satellite relay and the unexpectedly arduous trip causes him to remain at approximately three feet high and without his costume's size changing equipment.
With the help of a friend, Ray creates a new costume from the material of the white dwarf star. This time, instead of a belt, Palmer uses an encephalotronic grid in the costume's headpiece to control the costume. The grid is keyed to his unique brainwaves. This enables him to transfer his mass into an unknown dimension which allows him to alter his size and weight just by thinking about it. He can even make the new costume appear or disappear with a thought by shifting most of its atoms to or from the other dimension. This allows him to be in costume while at full height or to shrink without having to have his costume appear.
He can even increase his weight while remaining six inches (152 mm) tall or reduce his weight while remaining at full size. Ray often does this and is then light enough to ride wind currents, where he actually appears to be flying to a limited degree. Palmer also develops a mental link with the white dwarf matter to which he has been regularly exposed. Most of the mass lies within another dimension. Ray can draw upon that mass and hit with a super-concussive force. He has been shown to punch through concrete walls, crush an exam table and break the axle of a car that is moving at high speed.
Palmer would learn of those behind the genocide of the Morlaidhans, namely five CIA operatives, part of a group called the Cabal. In a mission called Operation: Fireball, the tiny aliens were murdered in hopes Ray would return as the Atom and become a tool for the Cabal (as Ray worked for the CIA in his earlier years). Instead, Palmer shrank the five agents to six-inch height and the CIA would employ them as a group called Micro/Squad.
The Atom would take on new enemies during this period, such as Humbug, a sentient robot in control of an army of duplicates of itself, and Strobe, a technological armor-clad crook. Micro/Squad would also return, attempting to murder Palmer for what he did to them. Instead, teammate Ginsburg dies in the explosion they set and Ray approaches Adam Cray about becoming the new Atom to bring the remaining Micro/Squad into the open. Cray agrees, steals Paul Hoben's size-changing belt, and joins the Suicide Squad.
The plan works as the villains emerge and Palmer takes the place of operative Sting; but their leader, Blacksnake, kills Cray and takes the belt for himself, returning to normal height. Blacksnake murders the remaining members of his crew as Ray arrives, revealing himself, posing as Sting, and battles him. After Blacksnake is defeated, the Cabal employs Task Force X II to murder him to protect their secrets.
Later, during the events of Zero Hour, Palmer is rejuvenated to a teenage state and develops the ability to grow in height in addition to his previous abilities, all of which he was capable of controlling innately without using his white dwarf star-based equipment. He becomes field leader of a new group of Teen Titans, composed of hybrids of human beings and the H'San Natall, after a chance meeting with Isaiah Crockett on his first day attending Ivy University.
As a former member of the Justice League, Palmer viewed his affiliation with the Teen Titans as a step backward. The group primarily battled the Veil, an anti-alien organization that employed Deathstroke and Dark Nemesis, but it's revealed that their leader Pylon was actually a H'San Natall. They would also face Jugular (hired by the H'San Natall) and Loren Jupiter's son Jarrod, aka Haze.
The Atom's new growth powers were instrumental in the battle against Sekhmet of the Millennium Giants. Ray subsequently regains his original age and memories and loses his new powers after he begins to rapidly age and Waverider has to use DNA taken prior to his rejuvenation to restore him to his original state. Palmer returns to his teaching job at Ivy University, but also becomes an associate and alternate member of the JLA. With his exit from the Teen Titans, the group disbands. One notable student under Palmer was Ronnie Raymond, who, without the assistance of Martin Stein, found difficulty in fully employing his abilities as Firestorm.
Identity Crisis and Countdown
In the 2004-05 limited series Identity Crisis, Jean Loring kills Sue Dibny, the wife of the Elongated Man. After stealing some of the Atom's shrinking technology and his costume, she kills Sue in a misguided attempt to win Palmer back. She also arranges a hit on Tim Drake's father Jack Drake, which is carried out by Captain Boomerang (Digger Harkness). The intent is for Jack to kill some random attacker, but both manage to kill each other. After committing her to Arkham Asylum, Palmer shrinks himself to microscopic size and disappears.
Palmer eventually meets up with his old friend Carter Hall after microscopically traveling through phone lines. He warns Hall of the consequences of mindwiping Batman and of harassing criminals over a crime that is perpetrated by Jean, one of their own. Palmer explains he needs time away, and shrinks himself again after Hall agrees to keep the meeting secret.
His legacy lived on, however. Ryan Choi, a student of physics in Hong Kong who corresponded with Ray Palmer via mail in the past, found a copy of his costume and shrinking device to become the current Atom. Around this same time, an unnamed teenager with powers similar to Palmer joins the Teen Titans under the name Molecule. After a brief tenure with the team, he is later killed during a confrontation with the Terror Titans.
During the missing year, Palmer's technology is employed by Supernova to shrink and grow in size to enter and exit the bottle city of Kandor.
DC Comics would not reveal Palmer's whereabouts since his disappearance at the end of Identity Crisis. However, Palmer returned to play a very important role in the Countdown limited series. A Monitor asks the Source Wall what is the solution to "the great disaster," it answers "Ray Palmer". Subsequently, Kyle Rayner, Donna Troy and Jason Todd scour the Multiverse for the former Atom, who just might hold the key to saving reality from a crisis of unparalleled proportions.
In their travels, the quartet has found people marked with the Atom's familiar symbol. The group tracks Palmer to Earth-51, where he assumes the life of its native Palmer after his life is cut short during his studies of the Multiverse and discovery of the looming Crisis. Meeting the Jean of Earth-51 and the Justice League again for the first time, Palmer is found on a world where the heroes have been able to eradicate supercrime and create a utopian Earth (later revealed to have been the result of this reality's Batman murdering all of this world's super-criminals after the Joker killed Jason Todd).
However, once Kyle, Donna, Jason and Bob the Monitor are able to track him down, Bob attempts to kill Palmer; with the Challengers' help, Palmer escapes and reveals to the Challengers that it was the Ray Palmer of Earth-51 who was meant to stop the Great Disaster and that he had been trying to carry on his work, to no avail.
When the Challengers return to their own Earth, Jimmy Olsen is kidnapped by Mary Marvel, who has been corrupted by Darkseid. Palmer hitches a ride from within Jimmy. When Darkseid takes control of Jimmy's powers, Palmer locates and shuts down the control sphere inside Jimmy's brain, but is then swarmed by Apokoliptian antibodies. While escaping this onslaught, Palmer discovers the "battery" containing the New God spirit energies. Palmer removes it from Jimmy's head and shatters it, releasing the energy.
Palmer later (after much cajoling) joins Donna, Kyle, and Forager in their new mission as border guards to the Multiverse, realizing that there is nothing left for him on Earth. However, Palmer returns home to New Earth one more time, upon realizing that his old nemesis Chronos had taken his identity to mislead a young pretender to his identity, Ryan Choi. After helping his successor to once again save Ivy Town, he returns to the Multiverse with a new sense of fulfillment, leaving his town in the hands of a new, capable hero.
During the Final Crisis, Palmer returns to New Earth and works with Choi again to aid in the efforts to evacuate the last free humans.
In the Justice League: Cry for Justice mini-series, Palmer joins Hal Jordan's Justice League.
Blackest Night
On the night of the superhero's memorial day, Palmer asks Hawkman to visit Jean's grave to be honored as a fallen member of the community, but Hawkman refuses because of what she did in Identity Crisis. Palmer is later shown speaking to Hawkman again, over the phone (unaware that his friend has been killed and reanimated as a Black Lantern). Atom is then invited to visit undead Hawkman to discuss his heartache over his wife.
Palmer is later revealed to have shrunk into Hawkman's ring, escaping certain death. Joining the battle between Hal Jordan, Barry Allen, and the Black Lanterns, Palmer is set upon by Black Lanterns Ralph and Sue Dibny, who use his guilt over Jean's actions to try to feed on his compassion-filled heart. Palmer is saved from death by the Indigo Tribe, who combine their light with Hal's to destroy the Dibnys and their rings. During the crisis, Palmer was able to deduce with the heroes that the black rings are simulations taking the identities of the deceased and needing to feed. The Indigo Tribe take the heroes to the Hall of Justice, unceremoniously taking Hal Jordan and abandoning the rest when the Black Lanterns renew their attack.
Palmer helps the heroes escape via a phone line, and then brings them to the JSA, who were also being attacked by Black Lanterns. During the crisis, Palmer meets Damage, son of Al Pratt, the first Atom. The two heroes briefly acquainted during the battle, and begin to develop a friendship. Palmer stopped the Black Lantern Pratt from killing Damage, but was unable to keep the reanimated Jean from finishing the job.
Palmer made a futile attempt to stop one of the black rings from turning Damage's corpse into an undead before Jean used his own technology to shrink him, Mera, and herself into Damage's ring. As Palmer and Mera battle Jean inside the black ring, Jean reveals Nekron's plan along showing what is happening at Coast City, as deceased residents and revived heroes arise as Black Lanterns under the demon lord's commands. Deadman witnesses their battle and plans to rescue Palmer and Mera from Jean.
Deadman saves Palmer and Mera by briefly possessing Jean, allowing them to escape and join the heroes against Nekron and his army. During the battle, Palmer is chosen as a deputy officer of the Indigo Tribe to be more effective against Nekron's forces. Although the Indigo Tribe eschews formal uniforms for tribal patterns over simple garments, Ray Palmer's costume is turned into a close approximation of the tattered Sword of the Atom clothing he had used in the past.
Palmer's past is rehashed, showing that he never quite got over Jean, even during the days of Sword of the Atom. Indigo-1 claims that she can teleport the armies of each Lantern Corps onto Earth, if given time to meditate. The responsibility falls to Palmer to protect her while she does so. Before she enters her trance, she reveals to Palmer that the indigo staff and his overwhelming compassion allows him to mimic the other powers of the Lantern Corps; she demonstrates this by temporarily becoming a Red Lantern and vomiting corrosive blood all over an attacking company of Black Lanterns. She then enters her trance, while Palmer fights off Black Lanterns Hawkman and Hawkgirl by temporarily becoming an Orange Lantern, loudly proclaiming "I want my friends back!"
He then summons energy duplicates of Khufu and Chay-Ara to help him fight off his and Indigo-1's attackers. He is briefly successful. But then Jean shows up to torment him, and she leaps into Indigo-1's ring. Palmer follows her. He ends up reliving Sue Dibny's death, and is then attacked by various Black Lantern Morlaidhans, the minuscule race he befriended during Sword of the Atom. He fights them off and, summoning the powers of a Green Lantern, destroys Jean. Indigo-1 manages to summon the various armies and thanks Palmer for his help. He tells her to keep his involvement in the deployment of the troops a secret, and asks that she help him find a way to legitimately resurrect Hawkman and Hawkgirl. In the final battle, Palmer gets his wish when Hawkman and Hawkgirl are resurrected by the Life Entity.
Brightest Day and Adventure Comics co-feature
In July 2010 Ray Palmer had a Brightest Day one-shot that led to a co-feature in Adventure Comics. Written by Jeff Lemire with art by Mahmud Asrar, the co-feature focused on Ray Palmer's early life. For a brief three-issue tenure, Palmer was part of writer James Robinson's new Justice League line-up, but resigned to help his friend Martin Stein with some sort of project. At the start of the Brightest Day event, Ray and Stein are seen at the funeral of Gehenna. When Jason Rusch gets into a confrontation with Ronnie Raymond over Gehenna's death, Ray steps in and tries to stop it. Ray manages to separate Jason and Ronnie from Black Lantern constructs.
Afterward, Ray discovered his father was attacked and the suspect was his own uncle David. With Ray's father in the hospital, Ray discovers his father had a stroke and his investigation of technology had been stolen. He seeks out Oracle to find the Calculator, Oracle manages to trace a data line, and Ray enters through the internet where he then encounters the Calculator and interrogates him to find out the dealers are. However, Calculator creates a room with no oxygen to make Atom's heartrate slower and he attempts to kill the Atom.
Ray manages to grab Calculator and shrinks to return to Oracle's base. While Ray is in remission, he threatens Calculator who tells him that something called the Colony has manipulated Ray. Later, Prof. Hyatt was attacked by the Colony while looking for white dwarf matter. When Ray arrives, he goes to rescue Prof. Hyatt. During the fight, the Colony dies by incineration from the white dwarf matter. Ray calls Oracle to trace the phone line, and while he arrives at the Colony's base he is confronted by the Colony squad.
After failing to avoid detection, he is confronted by Uncle David and with his help, pulls him away from the Colony heading towards the teleporter. Once safe, David tells Ray about the Colony. David also tells Ray that he could not leave and could not work on the projects on his own, he shows Ray how to travel using the astrology orb called the ant farm to see a mini-planet of microscopic nature. But, the Colony followed them to David's hideout and travels to the ant farm Ray then engages them in an epic battle.
After the battle the Colony died from incineration as it did before but, Ray managed to save him using his stable white dwarf matter. Ray demanded to know what they desired and the Colony tells him the same thing, and they transport the ant farm to the Colony's base. He destroys Ray's belt buckle's white dwarf matter and kills himself. Since they cannot return, Ray follows David with a backup plan when suddenly Ray is approached by robotic insects.
David explains that the robotic insects are caretakers. They manage to fix the belt buckle and he returns to normal size when in Colony's base. Failing to escape, Ray is forced by the scientist to bring the white dwarf matter. He shows the monitor renderings where Colony is standing in front of the hospital where is father his and he is going to kill him.
When Ray refused, Hawkman prevents Colony from attacking Ray's father. Ray receives a call from Oracle to trace the monitor renderings, but Hawkman is being attacked by the Colony squad that miniaturize into Hawkman's body. Ray chooses to save Hawkman to leave the Colony's base while the other Colony escapes and kidnaps Ray's father. Ray rescues Hawkman by leaping into a body of the Colony attackers. When Hawkman is recovering, the Colony leaves their message to bring the white dwarf meteor and warned him no tricks, and to bring the meteor to save his family.
While Ray traded the meteor to Colony before the Colony leaves, they exchange it for Ray's family that is in the ant farm. Ray travels into the ant farm and discovers that they planted a nuclear bomb on a vest strapped to David. Ray then manages to save his father and David and shrinks the bomb before it had a chance to detonate. While Ray's father is recovering, Ray reveals to David that he planted the white dwarf meteor into a nano-liquid to make the Colony's headquarters shrink. Ray, David, and Hawkman arrive at the location of the Colony's headquarters to attack their base. After the Colony was defeated however, David tells him there are more Colonies in the area. Later, Ray returns his father home. Ray forgives his father and apologizes for giving him a rough life before he overhears a firefighter rescue service, as he is a capable hero once more.
During this same period, Ray begins an investigation into the disappearance of Ryan, whom unbeknownst to the superhero community, had been murdered by Deathstroke. Ray comforts Ryan's girlfriend Amanda, and muses Ryan may be hiding out like Ray did after the events of Identity Crisis. While he shrinks himself to investigate he discovers microbiology blood. He arrives at the Hall of Justice to tell the League members that Ryan is missing. The League starts to help Ray's investigation to find Ryan's whereabouts. He discovers Ryan's DNA cell is not a match. The DNA cell came to someone else.
Later, Ray discovers evidence that Dwarfstar had a hand in Ryan's death, and vows to find him and make him pay. Ray eventually finds Dwarfstar in a hospital, where he is recovering from the severe injuries he sustained from his torture at the hands of Giganta (Ryan's ex-girlfriend). Believing it may lead to a lighter sentence, Dwarfstar confesses to hiring Deathstroke to kill Ryan. Armed with this knowledge, Ray leaves to inform the Justice League.
Later, he asked Batman (Dick Grayson) to get revenge on Deathstroke for murdering Ryan. Ray and the Justice League arrive to attempt to arrest Deathstroke and the Titans. The Justice League battle against the Titans in Khandaq, where Ray seriously injures Deathstroke for killing his friend. The battle is stopped by Isis, who forces the Justice League to flee to avoid restarting World War III. After failing, Ray begins writing the eulogy for Ryan's funeral, and is comforted by Superman.[54] In the final issue, Ray meets Ryan's friends and family, and gives the speech at his protégé's funeral.
Powers & Abilities
Size Manipulation
Can alter size at will and can alter body mass to deliver sizable blows at a diminutive size. Since he retains his full strength, by rapidly mass-shifting he can leap like a flea. He can also become weightless to glide on breezes. By shrinking to the size of a subatomic particle he can travel through conductive landline wires at the speed of electricity. As previously stated above, he can travel across dimensional barriers.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
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A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: Ray Palmer
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Showcase #34 (Oct. 1961)
www.flickr.com/photos/paprihaven/48111267857
Created by: Julius Schwartz (editor and co-plotter)
Gardner Fox (writer)
Gil Kane (artist)
Image for a child's imagination in a kaleidoscope. The magic will occur when all this will come into motion.
A new addition to my Songlines series, I've been feeling that I'm starting to understand the 'language' of this place now, but was frustrated in not being able to process the images as I wanted (negatives are notoriously difficult and prone to failure). So I had a brainwave in the night, it's always in the night!
I don't bother to record dates these days: I haven't years enough left for the matter to become interesting to me. I merely record the date of processing. I am always eager for results and usually develop a film as soon as I get indoors after taking the final shot. If it's late in the day I may leave it until the next morning ...first thing after breakfast. This is from a film developed on 11th March 2017 and it was the last frame, so was probably exposed on that or the previous day.
It reminds me of all those Spot the Ball competitions that broke out in the newspapers back in the '70s, before they came up with Prize Bingo. I imagine some staff photographer on an unknown rag must have noticed that, in photographs, as here, players are seldom looking directly at the ball, but are instead weighing up its likely trajectory and the positioning of the other players. It was a clever idea for a competition. He mentioned the idea to his editor and it took off. He must have regretted there was no way of patenting his brainwave. I think my father occasionally entered the Bristol Evening Post's version; at least I remember him in his armchair, with his reading specs on, frowning over the week's poser, with his cluster of Xs in blue biro on the photo. You were allowed multiple tries, which gave the illusion of an increased chance of winning.
I've been wanting to get a photo of one of these machines in action for a while and finally managed to the other day. I guess she is getting a perm but it looks like she undergoing some type of brainwave testing if you ask me.
again messing around tonight, had a brainwave or not, i dunno, one of those things that doesnt happen often to me, im too blonde natured lol
Digital Drugs or Binaural beats or Binaural Tones are auditory processing artifacts, or apparent sounds, the perception of which arises in the brain independent of physical stimuli. This effect was discovered in 1839 by Heinrich Wilhelm Dove.
Life Ink, developed by the Ars Electronica Futurelab, in a performance by pianist Maki Namekawa at the Futurelab Day, part of the Ars Electronica Festival 2022.
Life Ink revolves around the question: Can mind and body generate ink? It captures brainwaves and body signals in real time to create a new form of ink: This Life Ink is used to express our creative moments in a completely new form.
Life Ink was developed by the Ars Electronica Futurelab in collaboration with Wacom. Learn more:
ars.electronica.art/futurelab/en/projects-life-ink/
Photo: Jochen Manz / Wacom Co., Ltd.
for this weeks Me Again Monday
So yep I am sat in the fireplace ..with my heart balloon that I got a few days ago with lots of ideas in my head {inspired by one of my favourite dance tunes}
but of course yesterday and then today the California weather decided to turn into feckin Irish weather making it impossible for me to get what I wanted outdoors. So I was lost for ideas and couldnt think of how to interpret the theme and then suddenly *brainwave* I thought why not get in the fireplace and so I did and this is what we get.
So happy me again Monday and Valentines day seeing as it is nearly here!
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Images may not be copied or used in any way without my written permission.
i was in a shop the other day, not mentioning any names and i saw a t-shirt with a red fabric heart sewn on i wanted it but it was too many £££'s...
anyway, i could not get it out of my head and then woke up in the night with a kind of brainwave and a day later here he is, complete with a hand made silver pin, so he's not just stuck on one thing.
i am thinking of doing a limited run in time for valentines day - flickr mail me if your interested!.....
Day 1 of the December Diary 2014 Project This years Theme...
'Bear Essentials - Essential Bears'...
Hi guys... Ted here... Remember me...?
I know I've been away for EVER, it seems...
Cindy's had a rough time over the past year...
(I won't bore you with the details)...
I've been trying SO HARD to get her back on Flickr...
I know she misses you all SO MUCH too...
I think she's been hiding in the shadows...
(Maybe looking for her shadow...? And her Mojo!)
I know that 'she' hasn't made an appearance for SO LONG either!
So anyway.... I've taken charge of the situation...
Told Cindy she has to get her A into G...
Because it's DECEMBER DIARY TIME!!! %-)
She almost bailed out of it...
But you KNOW it means a lot to her...
After all, this is the 23rd consecutive year of it!
Hard to believe really!
So as I say... I've taken charge... after a brainwave the other day...
This years theme is 'Bear Essentials' - 'Essential Bears'
Inspired by my new little friend 'Rosetta' above.
Who joined the family last month...
(Cindy will tell you more about her later)
Oh... and our love of 'Beer' too....Bears and Beers!
I think we are going to quite enjoy this month!
i'll be back to visit from periodically over the month...
In the meantime Rosetta is going to introduce you to her new friends...
At LEAST another 30 of them..
I've told her she has to take it easy on the 'Beers' though...
She's only little and it will go STRAIGHT to her head!!!
I'm sorry that we haven't organised a group for it this year...
(It was a last minute effort to get Cindy back here)...
There's still time though if anyone's keen...?
Please feel fee to join us on our journey if you like though!
We would LOVE to see your Bears and Beers too! %-)
This scene took a while to photograph. The pouffe is the only piece of furniture that actually looks like a piece of furniture in my house! In my bathroom, I have a pouffe just like that. It's not red though. And probably not as comfy. Oh, and it contains all my laundry. Don't worry, this one doesn't.
Oh, and I've given most of the names some sort of background. So here's a little contest: find the reason for naming the toiletbrush Schopp and the pouffe Crabbe!
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I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
This is all in camera, I barely had to do any editing, which was nice.
And Boy oh boy, did I have a time getting this photo. This was the very last photo that I shot. If you go through all the photos, you can see the moment where she just laid down and turned her back to me cause she was over it. I gave her tons of treats and we took breaks, however, she would jump off of her box to lick the camera numerous times, the flash wouldn’t cooperate, she would get distracted by a cardboard box that I was using; then finally, after a good pep talk, our brainwaves sank up and I got this shot.
Also, the box that she’s sitting on is a box that we keep lawn care stuff in. She claimed it as her throne when the was 7 months, and it’s been hers ever since. Diva.
Nom de la peça: One minute dreamstate (1.40 AM)
Autor: James Clar
Fotos peça i model: Kaobanga
Es va fer servir un sensor d’ones cerebrals per registrar l’activitat del cervell de l’artista una nit mentre dormia. A la 1.40 va arribar a la fase REM (Rapid Eye Movement), la seva activitat cerebral va augmentar i va entrar en l’estat de somni. S’ha seleccionat i traslladat a un gràfic, mitjançant filtres de llum, un minut de dades de les ones cerebrals corresponents al moment de transició al somni. Els llums s’han disposat en un gran cercle que representa un rellotge; les línies vermelles representen el temps.
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Se utilizó un sensor de ondas cerebrales para registrar la actividad cerebral del artista mientras estaba durmiendo. A la 1.40 llegó a la fase REM (Rapid Eye Movement), su actividad cerebral aumentó y entró en el estado de sueño. Se ha seleccionado y trasladado a un gráfico, mediante filtros de luz, un minuto de datos de las ondas cerebrales correspondientes a la transición a la fase de sueño. Las luces se han dispuesto en un gran círculo que representa un reloj; las líneas rojas representan el tiempo.
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A brainwave sensor was used to record the artist’s brain activity during one night of sleep. At 1:40am REM occured, his brainwave activity increased, and he entered dreamstate. One minute of brainwave data from the transition into dream sleep is selected and mapped onto light filters. These lights are then arranged into a large circle which represents the face of a clock, with the red lines representing the time.
Character Creation
Maxima is a character appearing in comics published by DC Comics. In her original incarnation, she was a morally ambiguous queen from the planet Almerac who is known for searching for mates among Earth's superhuman male population to be wedded as her king, and became obsessed with Superman for a time. She has also worked as a superheroine member of the Justice League.
Outside of comics, Maxima has appeared in the live-action series Smallville and Supergirl, respectively portrayed by Charlotte Sullivan and Eve Torres Gracie.
Publication history
Maxima first appeared in Action Comics #645 (September 1989) and was created by writer Roger Stern and artist George Pérez.
Maxima was created by writer Roger Stern and artist George Pérez as a powerful female antagonist for Superman, but one who would also harbor a strong romantic interest in him. The character was conceived during the period of the late eighties and early nineties, when comic book specialty stores were dominated by X-Men related titles. Aside from the conspicuous visual similarities to Marvel's Jean Grey, Maxima's creators also borrowed elements from other popular X-book characters such as Magneto, Nightcrawler and Professor X. Her first appearance was in Action Comics #645, published by DC Comics in September 1989.
Jerry Ordway on Maxima's transition from 'Panic In The Sky' to the Justice League
Buoyed by their success against Brainiac, Superman would be predisposed to leading another super-team – namely the Justice League, which my buddy Dan Jurgens was planning to take over. There was one problem though – Dan wanted to use Maxima as a member of the new League, and I’d kind of planned to have her take over the helm of the now leaderless Warworld. Who else could I use, in order to free up Maxie for Dan? A quick call to the-New Gods editor Jonathan Peterson and we were given the okay to install Orion of the New Gods as ruler of Warworld! See how the cross-continuity works? You think coordinating is easy?
Dan Jurgens on whether it was always planned for Maxima to join the Justice League when she did her face turn in 'Panic In The Sky'
It was more of an afterthought in that when she was first introduced, I thought she was a really interesting - potentially interesting sort of character. So, as we were doing the story I wanted to put her on the other side of things with the idea that I'd use her again at some point, but I don't think I had really thought so far as, you know, putting her in the Justice League. But again...she had attitude, and in the DCU, there weren't a lot of characters with attitude at that time. I just found her interesting. I think a lot of what we were doing is slowly building up a cadre of characters in the superman books that were worthwhile to use and worth having around.
Charlotte Sullivan on playing Maxima in Smallville
My opening line as Maxima makes me laugh and go red - it was, ‘I came when I saw your KRYPTONIAN beacon.’ I just thought I had to play it out funny. Of course, I was bashful. There was a certain element of shyness that crept up inside of me with having to say those things, wearing that costume, and knowing that it would be seen by millions of people.
Origin
Maxima once ruled a vast intergalactic empire centered on her homeworld of Almerac. For thousands of years, her ancestors had intermarried with races from other worlds, breeding for strength, for speed, and for power. Representing the apex of Almeracian eugenics, Maxima resolved to continue in the same tradition of her people. To that end, she became obsessed with expanding her galactic reach and, most importantly, securing a suitable mate to father an heir to her glorious realm.
When Sazu, her personal handmaiden, intercepted a subspace transmission detailing the astonishing feats of Superman in the gladiatorial games of Mongul's Warworld, Maxima was sure she had found her man. Without further delay, she set out to make the Man of Steel her husband. But despite Maxima's beauty and power, Superman consistently eluded her for various reasons. As a result, Maxima's admiration turned to rage, and she became his enemy.
The day of the Krypton Man
Initially, Maxima sent her royal advisor, Sazu, along with a near perfect duplicate of herself to seduce Superman on his adopted home planet of Earth. Despite Sazu's attempts to extinguish the warrior queen's growing fascination with Krypton's last son, Maxima soon traveled to Earth herself. After first engaging Superman in battle to test his mettle, the Almeracian aristocrat managed to obtain some privacy for the two of them by luring her prospective mate beneath the waves at the bottom of Metropolis Harbor.
There, Maxima revealed that she could bring new life to Krypton's lost race by giving to Superman what no earth woman could -- children. While the Man of Steel expressed among other things that he had no desire to father despots, it was soon revealed that an ancient artifact called the Eradicator was interfering. Earth's champion had been reformatted in favor of the sentient program's own cold, cerebral, and unemotional matrix.
Not knowing where this attitude of dismissal was coming from, Maxima ceased making advances at Superman during this initial encounter, stating: "Sazu was right, you are unworthy of the bloodline, but not because you are overly merciful. Far from it. You have become heartless, passionless. Whatever fire that once lurked within has been eradicated, replaced with a presence of horrible sterility. I'll not find a mate in so cold a knave!" Ultimately, these rocky beginnings set a precedent for the type of rapport that Maxima and Superman would have in future confrontations.
Panic in the Sky
As time passed, Maxima's fury towards Superman abated when Brainiac gained control over Warworld, and used the engine of destruction to wreak havoc on her home planet of Almerac. To save her people from complete annihilation, the Warrior Queen pretended to ally herself with the powerful telepath, and acted as his chief officer. As the cosmically powered Brainiac proceeded towards Earth to engage Superman and a host of other heroes in battle, Maxima took advantage of the chaos and flipped over to the side of the heroes. As soon as Brainiac's direct connection in the heart of Warworld was severed, Maxima lobotomized him.
Justice League
Although the Earth was saved at the conclusion of the Panic in the Sky crisis, Almerac was left in ruins. As a result, Maxima made it an even higher priority to find a suitable mate to help her restore her empire. To that end, she decided to remain on Earth. At the time, the Justice League's ranks were suffering the sudden loss of the Silver Sorceress, the mysterious departure of J'onn J'onzz, and the terminated membership of L-Ron. Soon, Maxima found herself helping the remaining League defeat the Weapons Master.
Meanwhile, Maxwell Lord was working furiously behind the scenes to secure the team's funding by dealing with the UN. Immediately following their success in the field, the shrewd businessman took advantage of the small moral victory he sensed within the group and recruited Maxima. Much to Superman's dismay, Maxima's agreement to be with the League was first and foremost a means to keep an eye on her top prospect. She was formally made a member of the team in Justice League of America vol. 2 #63.
Maxima and Amazing Man
Eventually, Ultraa, Maxima's betrothed from childhood, followed her to Earth after hearing that Maxima was seeking to mate with one called 'Superman'. As a clear sign that she still had feelings for the Man of Steel, she rejected the Almeracian warlord on the grounds that since coming to Earth, she had become familiar with mercy and unselfishness.
Maxima came to an understanding over Superman's dismissal of her, but she was still determined to find a worthy mate to father her children. She entered a romance with Captain Atom and followed him into battle as part of the Extreme Justice team (Extreme Justice #0). While on the team her relationship with Captain Atom deteriorated, so she became romantically involved with another teammate, Amazing Man. Neither of these relationships, nor her subsequent pursuit of Aquaman, ever worked out for various reasons.
Superman Revenge Squad
Unfortunately, the series of failed relationships and Maxima's own superiority complex caused lingering resentment over her rejection by the man she had always wanted most, Superman, to flare up with a vengeance. She returned to villainy and entered a partnership with the so-called Superman Revenge Squad, a group of super-villains who all harbored extreme grudges against the Man of Steel and were determined destroy him. Ultimately the Revenge Squad was unsuccessful, and Maxima's involvement with it became a black mark on her career, which had otherwise been on an impressive path to redemption.
Our Worlds at War
Fickle though she was, Maxima never once backed down from a fight, even at the very end. During the Our Worlds at War story arc in 2001, the seemingly unstoppable world-destroying being known as Imperiex attacked and leveled Almerac. Maxima apparently gave her own life in Man of Steel #117 so that Earth, her adopted home, would not suffer the same terrible fate. Her remains were never found, but she has not been seen since.
Powers and Abilities
As an Almeracian of Royal descent, Maxima's immense powers stem from having been the product of gene therapy and generations of selective breeding.
Super Strength
Maxima possesses a level of superhuman strength that puts her in Wonder Woman's and Superman's class; she routinely exhibits the ability to lift/press thousands of tons with minimal effort. In addition, her psionic abilities allow her to further augment her physical prowess beyond those in her tier. During Doomsday's first battle with the Justice League, other than Superman, Maxima was the only other League member able to trade blows with the creature.
Enhanced Stamina
Based on her first account to Superman, Maxima comes from a hearty star-spanning people who wage war tirelessly. Her own family spent thousands of years conquering, and assimilating only the strongest survivors from carefully selected worlds with rich genetic stock. Accordingly, Maxima continued the same progression of striving without exhaustion through sheer force of will and psychic discipline. Her stamina has been credited specifically as being the attribute that allowed her to gain victory over Hank King in a telepathic duel.
Super Speed
Maxima's first appearances demonstrated a degree of speed in combat that went well into the hypersonic. In Action Comics No. 651, Superman observed Maxima using her telekinesis to pilot Sazu back to her orbiting spaceship at escape velocity while rocketing there herself. Superman flew in to intercept, but instead of getting Maxima to break from her straight escape trajectory, the fiery monarch engaged Earth's Mightiest Hero head on in a game of chicken. As the two were about to pass one another, she reached out, grabbed his arm, and performed a judo throw on the Man of Steel. On another occasion, while observing Jay Garrick fight at super speed in Justice League America No. 78, Maxima remarked that he was fighting at a level of skill and intensity that would make a warrior of Almerac proud. Finally, Maxima and Superman traded blows for the last time out in space during the Our Worlds At War event. The lead-up to this last encounter is noteworthy since earlier, Superman and Kyle Rayner were doing a quick circuit of the solar system. Before their warm-up was interrupted by Maxima, Superman made mention of the sun being unblocked by Earth's atmosphere while doing loop-de-loops around the young Green Lantern.
Teleportation
Maxima has been seemingly conservative with the use of this powerful skill in combat. By contrast, the Warrior Queen has shown no qualms teleporting those she has deemed beneath her. That being said, she has demonstrated the capacity to forego her bloodlust, and use her teleportation strategically when more is on the line. When she first appeared on Earth in the flesh, she employed this ability in more of a theatrical way as a means to instill fear in her servant, Sazu.
In Action Comics No. 645, when Maxima could not find Earth's Champion at the Daily Planet, she quickly teleported herself, Sazu, and Malcolm to Metropolis City Hall, and held Mayor Berkowitz hostage with the goal of coaxing Superman out of hiding. During the "Panic In the Sky!" story arc, while governing her passions closely by maintaining the ruse of an Alliance with Brainiac, she used this ability to retreat when Matrix Supergirl, and Draaga ceased being mind-slaves in the middle of a heated battle.
She has shown the ability to teleport herself or others in and out of a battle over interstellar distances. In Justice League America No. 66, while she was attempting to win Superman's heart as a Justice League member, Maxima complied with Earth's judicial process by teleporting Sazu back to Metropolis. Maxima mentioned that Sazu was teleported to Earth from a prison on a distant planet. This feat is especially noteworthy since in earlier appearances, both Maxima and Sazu have stated that Earth is a backwater world far from established star routes. Moreover, in Superman Man of Steel No. 115, Adam Strange used his Zeta-Beam technology to teleport Superman and himself from Earth's solar system to Almeracian space. The Savior of Rann mentioned a distance traveled of 100 trillion light years.
Forcefield Projection
Maxima can generate defensive force-field bubbles to shield herself, and or others. This skill allows her to travel unaffected by the intense pressures of the ocean's depths, or the vacuum of outer space. She can also use this skill for offense by trapping an opponent and constricting the space inside the shield, crushing them, or letting the air run out.
In Aquaman No. 41, Power Girl attempted an underwater ambush on Maxima's shield as the King of Atlantis was being psionically assaulted inside. Maxima's shield didn't drop, but Kara's surprise attack winded the Almeracian warrior briefly. Although Aquaman took the opportunity to mention that Maxima's force bubble wouldn't be able to hold up to the pounding of Power Girl's punches, Maxima's shield was more solid for Kara's second punch.
In Superman No. 159, Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner and Superman were investigating the disappearance of Pluto when Maxima showed up with what appeared to be an army of Almeracians. Contrary to what Superman thought was an invasion of his solar system, Maxima was in fact leading a mass exodus away from her devastated home world. By creating a psionic highway, the Empress of Almerac provided intergalactic transport for the remnants of her people to rendezvous with Grayven.
Ferrokinesis
Maxima has exhibited immense telekinetic control over metals at the molecular level. She can cause metal to melt with a thought, or rearrange the molecules of scraps into anything she chooses, such as weapons or armor. In Justice League America No. 63, Maxima used her psionic power over metal to breach the hull of a wrecked interstellar craft that was submerged at the bottom of Manhattan's East River.
Three more examples of her ferrokinesis are in the following three books. Extreme Justice No. 6, Maxima used this ability to isolate herself atop a massive metal tower. When Captain Atom ascended the tower to try and reason with her, Maxima restrained him with metal tendrils that she animated in a liquid-like fashion out of the structure around her. In Justice League America No. 73, Dr. Destiny was responsible for making several Justice League members act very much out of character. The rogue heroes were capturing, torturing, and maiming super-villains. When one of the prison ships that they were using to capture super-villains attacked Maxima, she focused her ferrokinesis into a beam, and disassembled the ship into its separate components without incinerating the men inside. Later, in the same story-arc told in Justice League America No. 75, Maxima directed this ability on the Red Tornado, easily pulling him apart.
Matter Manipulation
In addition to metals, Maxima has demonstrated the ability to alter other inorganic matter with a thought. The full extent of Maxima's skill in this area is unknown. In Action Comics #645, Maxima's entourage coordinated a rendezvous with a fashion designer. Ultimately, none of Maxima's attendants expected to pay for anything, so the designer and her company of models were rudely escorted out of the meeting room. Soon afterward, while barefoot, and wearing a small bathrobe, she transmuted what little she had on into one of the ensembles she had just seen: a power suit jacket, blouse, black skirt, high heels, and a gold chain choker. She also did this in Justice League America No. 66, when at the request of Superman to be more conservatively dressed, Maxima transmuted the typical light armor that she usually wore into a green suit jacket and skirt.
Optical Force Beams
When firing her molecular telekinesis out of her eyes, Maxima has shown the ability to control the level of physical damage she causes to an attacker. She can focus her optic beams to deliver immense concussive force, or emulate searing heat vision. Among others, Maxima has shown that she can stagger Captain Marvel, Power Girl, and even Superman on several occasions with her eye-beams. At times, her eye-beams have been dubbed 'Psi-bolts' by her opponents despite the evidence of receiving physical damage only.
Mind Bolts
The powerful Almeracian Mind Bolt, Psi-bolt, or Psychic Blast is a favorite of those in the Royal House. This skill is typically depicted as emanating from an Almeracian's forehead. Unlike the optical force beams, the Mind Bolt targets an opponent's mind directly by delivering pain, unconsciousness, brain damage, or even death. Regardless of all his physical strength and Mother Box enhanced defenses, Orion was quickly rendered paralyzed when Maxima turned this deadly power on him during the 'Panic In The Sky' event in Superman No. 65. At the conclusion of the same story arc in Superman No. 66, Maxima was in the process of killing Brainiac using this ability, but Superman intervened just before it was too late. Brainiac was left in a lobotomized state.
Telepathy
Maxima can communicate with other intelligent beings telepathically. She has used this skill as a probe to 'hear' a target's thoughts, and pinpoint their location. On several occasions, she has used this ability to find Superman in Metropolis; nearly exposing his secret identity in one case. In Superman Man of Tomorrow No. 10, Maxima discovered that Superman had been split into two beings. To verify that what she was seeing wasn't a trick, Maxima employed a mental probe. She uncovered that both Superman Red, and Superman Blue had virtually identical minds and the same surface memories.
In Justice League No. 68, an ancient alien called Chaq encountered the JLA and revealed that he had purchased Earth and its entire solar system several hundred thousand years ago. According to Maxima, picking a fight with Chaq over the property deed would awaken powerful intergalactic governing bodies capable of subjugating Earth. Knowing who they were up against, Maxima enticed Chaq by offering to pay 800 trillion sentees (the well known currency of over 200 worlds) for the rights to the deed. While she was negotiating with the ancient alien, Maxima communicated instructions telepathically to Guy Gardner. Completely unaware that Guy's yellow power ring was being used to help pull off a scam, Chaq left Earth and gave up the deed after finding what looked like a deposit of 800 trillion sentees in his cargo hold.
Enhanced Empathy
For those times when Maxima may encounter an undisciplined mind that lacks coherent thought, she has demonstrated the ability to overcome this obstacle by using particularly strong telepathic skill in the area of 'hearing' emotions. During the 'Death of Superman' story arc, she was able to track Doomsday without the benefit of a previous encounter. Maxima described Doomsday's mind as harboring nothing more than hate, death and bloodlust personified.
Aside from its uses in tracking opponents, this ability has also allowed her to better understand the hidden motives of those around her. Having been bred as a warrior, Maxima's ability to sense emotions has helped her to more fully assess when to use tact and when to use force. In Justice League America No. 102, Maxima sensed a greater darkness behind Obsidian's pessimistic mood. Two issues later, Obsidian tried to commit suicide.
Mind Control
Maxima has the ability to subject others to her mind control abilities. In several appearances, she has shown the capacity to bend masses of people to her will. In Action Comics No. 730, while a member of the Superman Revenge Squad, Maxima was battling the Man of Steel in a scrapyard. She threw a car at a loaded ferry crossing Metropolis Harbor, causing the ship to sink. After Superman rescued the ship's full compliment of passengers, their eyes went blank. The crowd began attacking the Man of Steel by way of Maxima's mind control. In Justice League Quarterly No. 17, she altered a crack dealing pimp's mind by removing his capacity for violence, and erasing his ability to lie. In Justice League America Annual No. 6, the magical being Eclipso was about to initiate a plan that would allow him to possess all of the members of the JLA by first capturing J'onn J'onzz. However, the opportunity to first possess Maxima presented itself as Starman, who was eclipsed at the time, sensed the Warrior Queen's rage and approached her with a cursed gem. As soon as Maxima was possessed, Eclipso exclaimed,
"I feared the martian's absence would stall my plans...but the powers of this body are incredible! The powers of this mind...intoxicating!"
Sure enough, the Almeracian's mind control powers proved powerful enough to enslave Wonder Woman.
Hypnotic Gaze
The Empress of Almerac has the ability to paralyze an opponent with her gaze. Against enemies with greater willpower, this skill has shown to be particularly effective as a lead in to another attack. In Action Comics No. 645, her duplicate used this skill on Lois Lane, and the staff at the Daily Planet, leaving them all standing around like zombies. Later that morning, Clark arrived and got Lois to snap out of her trance by shaking her and shouting. During Maxima's first face to face encounter with Superman, she used this skill to freeze the Man of Steel, leaving him more susceptible to her illusion casting. Despite her rather unfocused and irrational behavior in Aquaman No. 41, during a melee with Doctor Polaris, she lured him into her stare. Dolphin took advantage, and delivered an uppercut to his jaw while he was still disoriented.
Illusion Casting
Maxima has shown the ability to project powerful illusions into the minds of others. In Action Comics No. 651, Maxima cast the illusion into Superman's mind that he was a warlord on the Almeracian Queen's home world. The overriding presence of the Eradicator in Superman's mind at the time exposed the false reality for what it was. In Superman Man of Tomorrow No. 10, Maxima used her illusions against Dana Dearden, an obsessed Superman fan called Obsession. In the illusion, Superman had separated into four differently colored supermen. As the Empress of Almerac wanted Superman for herself, she showed each of the supermen disintegrating into powder. The ruse helped implant the suggestion into Obsession's mind that her love would bring Superman to an early end, and so she fled.
Suspended Animation
Maxima's constitution combined with her mental control is such that she can suspend her own vital functions temporarily. Despite being in a state of suspended animation, she has demonstrated the ability to be completely aware of potential danger around her. Near the end of her first encounter with the Man of Steel in Action Comics No. 651, Maxima halted her breathing and heartbeat to appear dead. Superman could not detect a pulse with his super-senses. When Maxima sensed that he was close enough, she woke up quickly and paralyzed him.
Astral Combat
In Extreme Justice No. 18, Maxima took the point by assembling her finest psychic disciples to engage Brainwave II in combat on the astral plane. While the Queen of Almerac was employing a coordinated assault with her forces, Henry King Jr. relied more on raw power and intimidation by raising twisted manifestations of himself called 'Ego Warriors'. This feat is especially notable since in the real world, although Maxima's and Brainwave's physical bodies were in Florida, the physical bodies of Maxima's psychic warriors were nowhere to be seen. Moreover, while still living out her sentence of exile from Almerac, Maxima had none of her entourage with her on Earth for this occasion.
As the battle progressed, the tide was turning against Maxima's forces, and in the end, the Warrior Queen was the last Almeracian standing. Brainwave appeared to be feeding off of a supernatural power source; a familiar whose face was that of the original deceased Brainwave. Eventually, Maxima deduced that the familiar was in fact a manifestation of Henry's strong feelings of guilt associated with receiving his father's mentalist powers added to his own; powers that had once been used for evil. In order to have more witnesses to the truth that she had discovered, Maxima brought Zan, Jayna and Blue Beetle into the astral plane. Finally, Maxima confronted Brainwave with the truth of the source of his madness, and the overriding presence of Henry's father vanished.
Invulnerability
Thanks to her Almeracian physiology, Maxima is nearly impervious to injury. Bullets bounce off her, missiles or lasers won't leave a scratch, and nuclear bombs are unable to harm her. Her level of resistance to physical harm approaches that of a Kryptonian. In addition, as Maxima is able to boost her constitution and physical strength attributes by channeling her psionic powers internally, her resistance to physical harm also increases. During the Death of Superman story arc, besides the Man of Steel himself, Maxima was the only Justice League member durable enough to fight Doomsday evenly. In Superman No. 159, the Man of Steel used his X-Ray vision on Maxima to find weaknesses he could exploit with pressure point attacks. Although he connected with a two finger jab to her midsection, the Warrior Queen quickly shook off the attack and kept fighting.
Self Duplication
Whether inside her vast intergalactic empire, or abroad, Maxima's high profile status can be both a blessing and a curse. As such, the Empress of Almerac has shown a preference for using simulacra that are virtually identical to her. Each simulacrum possesses powers similar to her, and are able to act in situations when she cannot be present. However, these proxies appear to be less invulnerable, and according to Superman, more restrained than the original Maxima. At the end of Action Comics No. 645, it is revealed that the Maxima on Earth at the time was indeed a simulacrum. This duplicate was atomized by Sazu's optical force beams. In Extreme Justice No. 10, Maxima was a approached by Captain Atom to organize a wedding shower for his then fiancee, Plastique. At the party, Maxima heard Carol Ferris scream in an adjacent room, so she burst through the door. No sooner had she entered the room than she was ambushed by Star Sapphire. In the next issue, Extreme Justice No. 11, Maxima appeared cut in two pieces on the floor. Her torso and lower body were left smouldering where Star Sapphire had sliced her with a sword. During a break in the fight that ensued, Plastique was able to examine the dead body. The corpse was already starting to lose cohesion. Soon, the real Maxima appeared on the scene to the surprise of everyone at the bridal shower. What appeared to be a lifeless flesh and blood Almeracian on the floor was in fact a mere vessel for Maxima's psychic consciousness.
Flight
By applying her telekinesis as a means for propulsion, Maxima is able to "fly". She has shown the ability to maneuver herself, other beings, or objects through the air at escape velocity. Having served on several incarnations of the Justice League, she was often counted on to provide flight for those teammates who were not gifted with the ability to fly. During the 'Our Worlds at War' event, Maxima also demonstrated that she was able to fly through space as her psionic highway carried the remnants of her people over interstellar distances below her.
Telekinesis
In Justice League America No. 65, despite having been drained from a previous encounter with Starbreaker, Maxima closed numerous fissures on her home world by re-shifting continental plates together telekinetically.
Mental Defense
When Brainiac had seized control of Warworld, and used the planet to boost his telepathic abilities to cosmic levels, Maxima was still able to plot behind his back and resist becoming one of his mind-slaves.
Possession
Maxima has displayed the ability to place her own psychic consciousness into her simulacrums. The full extent of her skill in this area is unknown.
⚡ Happy 🎯 Heroclix 💫 Friday! 👽
_____________________________
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
Secret Identity: N/A
Publisher: DC
First appearance: Action Comics #645 (September 1989)
Created by: Roger Stern (writer)
George Pérez (artist)
First appearance:
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This is the room I had the most fun with during the build. I think it worked out quite well: it has a few details you won't notice at first. I like that.
I first thought that the painting might look a bit to much, but it works out nice, I think. I love that picture.
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I made a JALKOW collection, last year, in sort of homage to John's photostream and his JOHN Collection: the concurrent of the JOHN Collection. 'Not expensive, yet not cheap!'
So, big credits go to John and his trust.
This year, I had another brainwave, with lots of chairs and tables, so here it is: the JALKOW collection 2.
After ordering all the parts required to create my initial design, I had a brainwave.
What if the battery box could fit in the cab?
To my delight the battery box has a width of 4 studs and height of 5 studs, the exact cavity space in the Cab!
So this led to a complete redesign which allowed me to put the motor in the body and have brick built sides, rather than tiles covering the battery box.
The Tiles with clips on the top will have a 3mm tube bent around the sides of the roof to represent the ridges on the prototype.
Longtime viewers may remember the tragic story of Rosko, still the best toy camera results I've ever gotten.
Somewhere or other I picked up a lens-shutter assembly for an Argus FA. (Did someone get it from the Argus repair parts at Huron Camera?) I had the brainwave it might be interesting to attach it to the lensless Rosko body, where the image diagonal would be about 40% greater than what that lens is "supposed to" cover. Here's a first test shot.
These are put together in a very quick hacky way just to test the concept. At the moment it will only focus at (almost) infinity; or with closeup attachment lenses at 1–3 feet. I'm pondering a more permanent solution.