In the capable hands of driver and Londoner Buses' operating manager Jon Batchelor, former London General RML 887 returns back to its former route 14 stamping ground in this view of the vehicle in Brompton Road outside Harrods in the heart of affluent Knightsbridge prior to RML 887 and RML 2290 both running light from Knightsbridge back to the Londoner Buses base in Wandsworth on the late afternoon of Wednesday 14th June 2023. RML 887 would have been a regular visitor to Brompton Road and Knightsbridge when it ran out of Putney (AF) bus garage on route 14 up until the OPO conversion of route 14 and sister route 22 at the end of July 2005.

The Observatory is equipped with two radio telescopes (RT) – the only research capable RT in New Zealand - with dishes of size 12 m and 30 m in diameter. Both RT are of the Cassegrain system, using the main reflector (dish) and the sub-reflector which can be seeing on photos. Due to the larger structure of the 30 m RT, it is potentially vulnerable to gravity-induced structural deformation which varies as it operates at different elevation angles. Deviation from the ideal shape and misalignments between structural components can potentially result in partial loss of RT sensitivity. To study the surface quality of the main reflector, its alignment with the sub reflector, and the way these characteristics may vary, Recon Ltd was contracted to scan the surface of the telescope (the main and sub reflector) at different elevation angles.

Using a laser scanner for measuring surface quality is relatively new to Radio Astronomy and according to our knowledge has been used on very few occasions. Traditionally, two methods - Radio Frequency Holography and Photogrammetry - are widely used in radio astronomy. Both methods require specialised equipment, they are relatively time consuming, expensive and difficult to perform. The laser scanning method is easy and quick. Importantly, and unlike other methods, it allows scanning the main reflector and sub reflector surfaces jointly, therefore allowing to study the vital part of the RT “optics” as a whole. These advantages make the laser scanning heavily preferred over the other methods.

The FARO laser scanner is easy to carry and setup on the surface of the dish (weight ~5 kg). It has sufficient distance accuracy (± 1mm) and the operating range (from 0.6 m up to 320 m) for this research.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Douglas A4D/A-4 Skyhawk was a single seat subsonic carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta winged, single turbojet engine Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. The Skyhawk saw active combat on several occasions. The US Navy operated the type as its principal light attack aircraft during the Vietnam War, carrying out some of the first air strikes by the US during the conflict.

Following its next transition to the F/A-18 Hornet in October 1996 and becoming VFA-207, the Golden Warriors relocated to NAS Atlanta, Georgia, and it was to be ready to deploy as an activated reserve strike-fighter squadron. However, VFA-207 was deactivated on 30 June 2004 prior to the BRAC-directed closure of NAS Atlanta, and eventually disbanded.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 40 ft 1 in (12,24 m)

Wingspan: 27 ft 6 in (8,40 m)

Height: 15 ft (4,58 m)

Wing area: 259 ft² (24.15 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 0008-1.1-25 at the wing root

NACA 0005-0.825-50 at the tip

Empty weight: 9.860 lb (4.476 kg)

Loaded weight: 18,500 lb (8.400 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 22,500 lb (10.215 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Wright J65-W-20 turbojet, rated at 8400 lb thrust

Performance:

Maximum speed: 637 mph

Cruise speed: 498 mph

Stalling speed: 137 mph

Range: 1,000 miles with 2,025 lbs of stores

1650 miles with two 300-gallon drop tanks

Service ceiling: 40,500 ft.

Rate of climb: 7,950 feet per minute initially

Wing loading: 71.4 lb/ft² (348 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.45

g-limit: +8/-3g

Armament:

2× fixed forward firing 0.79 in (20 mm) Colt Mk. 12 machine cannon with 100 RPG

3× hardpoints for a total of up to 8,200 lbs (3.722 kg) of external stores

The kit and its assembly:

I had for a long time the plan to build/create an A-4L, a rather obscure Skyhawk variant that originated from factory conversions of 100 A-4Cs. This turned out to be a tricky plan because there is no OOB kit for an A-4L in 1:72, even a Charlie is hard to get – and it’s a quite unique variant with a characteristic nose. The only (decent) A-4C kit comes from Fujimi, and it was recently re-boxed under the Hobby 2000 label, with new decals by Cartograph and some paint masks. I was lucky to get my hands on a relatively cheap specimen and also had reserved a surplus dorsal avionics hump from a Hasegawa A-4E/F kit, already with a potential A-4L build in mind.

With these ingredients the modifications to turn the Charlie into a Lima were limited. The A-4C was basically built OOB, just using the inner wing pylons, and the camelback hump was, with some light modifications, PSRed into the spine – resulting in the unique, very compact, and chunky silhouette of the A-4L. The only other addition is a pair of AGM-62 Walleye glide bombs, which the A-4L was capable of deploying, thanks to its improved avionics. These were taken from a Hasegawa air-to-ground weapons set. The ventral drop tank came OOB from the Fujimi kit.

Slats, flaps and air brakes were mounted in open/lowered positions, following the options the Fujimi kit offers (even though the flaps had to be cut out individually and modded slightly to fit into the deployed position). Another potential mod would have been the spoilers, as “counterparts” to the flaps, but I eventually left them down/closed, because I was not certain about their interior.

A final word about the Fujimi A-4 kit: it’s quite nice and well detailed, but also has some weak spots. One is the front-end construction; the mould designers wanted to be clever and allow different cockpit sections (from the A/B and the C versions) to be mated with the hull, but together with the air intake duct and the protruding wing roots this creates a messy area that is really hard to assembly without seams and offset. And why the arrester hook was moulded onto one of the fuselage halves instead of being a separate part, which would have been much easier to mount and paint, is beyond me? If you build one, cut it off and glue it back into place after PSR, makes life a LOT easier…

Painting and markings:

It might be a bit disappointing, but the only serious whiffy aspect of this build became the fictional unit and its markings, because I wanted an authentic look for the Lima (and did not want a later operator like Malaysia or something fictional). AFAIK, VA-207 did not exist, but I wanted an aircraft in the USN’s bright hi-viz livery from the Seventies with its colorful unit markings, before everything turned all-grey. Therefore, the basic paint scheme consists of classic Light Gull Grey (FS 36440) over white, with any rudders’ upper surfaces left in anti-nuclear flash white. For an even finish and saving time with the landing gear, all white areas were painted/primed with white from a rattle can, and the grey (I used Humbrol 40 in this case) was later added by brush. To emphasize the A-4L’s radar I gave the aircraft a nose in radome tan (Humbrol 71) with a dirty black tip, even though real Limas had typically their camouflage extended to the nose tip; however, but some early aircraft also had all-black radomes, making their nose look very similar to the contemporary F4Ds’.

After basic painting the kit received an overall light black ink washing to emphasize panel lines and surface details, as well as a very light post-panel-shading treatment to make the aircraft look a bit more “uneven”, but not really worn.

General markings are USN standard, and the A-4C/L retained the unusual position of the large stars-and-bars fuselage roundel under the cockpit, which enhanced the type’s stout look. Thankfully the Hobby 2000 decal sheet provides an extra roundel which contains a “distorted” area that can be wrapped around the refueling probe. This is easily done, because the carrier film is very thin and flexible.

Even though USN reserve units rather carried simple decorations, I wanted to make them colorful on this fictional one. The yellow unit/fin decoration was inspired by the colors of an F-14 from the early Seventies, from the VF-32 “Swordsmen”, and I adapted that for the small A-4L. To make the fin stand out I painted the whole area with a deep yellow (Revell 310); the tail code “AF” was adapted from the other CVWR-20 reserve attack units, which all shared it, and the letters and the sword icon were adapted from a Matchbox F-14 decal sheet.

The rest became standard: white landing gear and respective well, a medium grey (Dark Gull Grey) cockpit and canopy interior. The TV-guided walleye glide bombs were painted in bright blue like training rounds, with bare aluminum fins and a white sensor head – a nice color contrast to the yellow and red on the aircraft. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final details like position lights were added.

A rather subtle whif, and this one is, concerning the hardware, even a realistic representation of the rather fameless Lima Skyhawk. The bright yellow unit markings add a fresh touch to the standard livery, though, and the bright blue Walleye bombs appear like jewelry under the Scooter’s wings.

Not spectacular, but I can finally erase the A-4L from my project list. 😉

Capable of delivering precision strikes with laser-guided bombs and Hellfire missiles, the MQ-9 Reaper is the evolution of its smaller brother, the MQ-1 Predator. The Reaper is powered by a turbo-prop of 950 hp and can fly for hours above the battlefield at speeds of up to 300 miles per hour.

The huge platforms are capable of taking long excursion trains. Remnants of the many sidings that were used to store coaches still exist, but much of the site has been turned over to Asda for a huge store. My Class 156 is ready to depart for Norwich. My plan was to see what heritage remained and you can see semaphore signals and a signal box in the distance. June 10 2014.

Copyright John Evans. No unauthorised copying or downloads.

2014 Photo Contest Submission - Equestrian

Mile 2340. Just north of Pickhandle Gap. Beautiful horses and ladies gracing a beautiful day.

Photo by: Gary Minetti

Black-backed Kingfisher bathing

This is one of the smallest and fastest king around capable of speed up to 6-8 meters per second. It's a great challenge trying to catch it in action. This guy loves to bathe. He is thrilled with delight every time after he dip into the pool. It plunges into the pool with such high speed that it literally vaporise the water in front of it. The perfectly designed water-proofing plumage prevent it from drowning, it helps to keep the bird stays afloat every time after every dive and never fails. Another interesting thing i noticed was that despite the high intensity dive actions, the pool remained perfectly clear and the sediments was not disturbed at all. From observations he bathe even on rainy weather I'm unsure if this behaviour is confined to this species or otherwise

This yellow bellied version bathe from 1800 - 1815. The pale bellied bath from 1845 - 1900 both emit sharp calls before flying off signalling the end of the bath. Another question is why these birds do not dip themselves in the reservoir but instead choose to bathe in the tiny pools along the forest streams at the edge of the reservoir. One reason it might be the preferred shallow fast flowing cool water.

One complete sequence from ingress to egress from the water surface takes about 2 seconds. In human terms, it's a very compressed timeframe. For the kingfisher, it's a leisurely pace.

All sequence are remotely taken thus totally eliminating any possible stress to the bird

Black-backed Kingfisher starting its dive into the pool below for a bath. This guy is small and extremely fast. Captured by 580EX

see flying colors below

www.flickr.com/photos/lonesomecrow/sets/72157628556202093...

@mcritchie, sg

/ The lamp was designed as an object capable of creating light effects through the use of open / closed pattern that populate a base surface of proliferation.

Once we have defined the geometric relationships of a basic component,

is able to create parametric iterations;

once tested, the component will populate an area of proliferation,Powercopy.

A singular planar pattern having two triangular openings will modulate the light in a scalar way,starting from the base with small openings until the final part at the top with medium-large openings.

So design must perform similarity,at just the right balance between material,geometry and force,Fineness.

For the fabrication we discretized the 3D model in order to have all the components of planar sheets,

ready for the laser cutting machine KNK;

Waiting for a possible production, the material chosen for the two prototypes is: cardboard-color ;

The material we hypothesized for the production is polypropylene 5mm

designed by Thomas Bagnoli & Michela Tonelli

SOL Austin: Net-Zero Capable

www.solaustin.com

Photos by DeLea Becker @ Beck-Reit and Sons, Ltd.

www.beckreit.com

Beck-Reit and Sons Ltd., an Austin General Contractor, has been working on sustainable construction methods since the day we started building houses. Our desire to build a better house led us to develop SOL (Solutions Oriented Living) subdivision in East Austin. We partnered with local architect, KRDB, to design, develop and build a net-zero capable sub-division centered around a community of 40 modern homes. Thru passive design, efficient building envelope and solar power these homes can produce more energy than they consume. The homes have been rated 4-5 star by the Austin Energy Green Building Program. SOL Austin has received national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, Metro-Homes, DIY Network’s "This New House", Builder Magazine, and Green Builder Magazine.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The Douglas A4D/A-4 Skyhawk was a single seat subsonic carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta winged, single turbojet engine Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. The Skyhawk saw active combat on several occasions. The US Navy operated the type as its principal light attack aircraft during the Vietnam War, carrying out some of the first air strikes by the US during the conflict.

Following its next transition to the F/A-18 Hornet in October 1996 and becoming VFA-207, the Golden Warriors relocated to NAS Atlanta, Georgia, and it was to be ready to deploy as an activated reserve strike-fighter squadron. However, VFA-207 was deactivated on 30 June 2004 prior to the BRAC-directed closure of NAS Atlanta, and eventually disbanded.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 40 ft 1 in (12,24 m)

Wingspan: 27 ft 6 in (8,40 m)

Height: 15 ft (4,58 m)

Wing area: 259 ft² (24.15 m²)

Airfoil: NACA 0008-1.1-25 at the wing root

NACA 0005-0.825-50 at the tip

Empty weight: 9.860 lb (4.476 kg)

Loaded weight: 18,500 lb (8.400 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 22,500 lb (10.215 kg)

Powerplant:

1× Wright J65-W-20 turbojet, rated at 8400 lb thrust

Performance:

Maximum speed: 637 mph

Cruise speed: 498 mph

Stalling speed: 137 mph

Range: 1,000 miles with 2,025 lbs of stores

1650 miles with two 300-gallon drop tanks

Service ceiling: 40,500 ft.

Rate of climb: 7,950 feet per minute initially

Wing loading: 71.4 lb/ft² (348 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.45

g-limit: +8/-3g

Armament:

2× fixed forward firing 0.79 in (20 mm) Colt Mk. 12 machine cannon with 100 RPG

3× hardpoints for a total of up to 8,200 lbs (3.722 kg) of external stores

The kit and its assembly:

I had for a long time the plan to build/create an A-4L, a rather obscure Skyhawk variant that originated from factory conversions of 100 A-4Cs. This turned out to be a tricky plan because there is no OOB kit for an A-4L in 1:72, even a Charlie is hard to get – and it’s a quite unique variant with a characteristic nose. The only (decent) A-4C kit comes from Fujimi, and it was recently re-boxed under the Hobby 2000 label, with new decals by Cartograph and some paint masks. I was lucky to get my hands on a relatively cheap specimen and also had reserved a surplus dorsal avionics hump from a Hasegawa A-4E/F kit, already with a potential A-4L build in mind.

With these ingredients the modifications to turn the Charlie into a Lima were limited. The A-4C was basically built OOB, just using the inner wing pylons, and the camelback hump was, with some light modifications, PSRed into the spine – resulting in the unique, very compact, and chunky silhouette of the A-4L. The only other addition is a pair of AGM-62 Walleye glide bombs, which the A-4L was capable of deploying, thanks to its improved avionics. These were taken from a Hasegawa air-to-ground weapons set. The ventral drop tank came OOB from the Fujimi kit.

Slats, flaps and air brakes were mounted in open/lowered positions, following the options the Fujimi kit offers (even though the flaps had to be cut out individually and modded slightly to fit into the deployed position). Another potential mod would have been the spoilers, as “counterparts” to the flaps, but I eventually left them down/closed, because I was not certain about their interior.

A final word about the Fujimi A-4 kit: it’s quite nice and well detailed, but also has some weak spots. One is the front-end construction; the mould designers wanted to be clever and allow different cockpit sections (from the A/B and the C versions) to be mated with the hull, but together with the air intake duct and the protruding wing roots this creates a messy area that is really hard to assembly without seams and offset. And why the arrester hook was moulded onto one of the fuselage halves instead of being a separate part, which would have been much easier to mount and paint, is beyond me? If you build one, cut it off and glue it back into place after PSR, makes life a LOT easier…

Painting and markings:

It might be a bit disappointing, but the only serious whiffy aspect of this build became the fictional unit and its markings, because I wanted an authentic look for the Lima (and did not want a later operator like Malaysia or something fictional). AFAIK, VA-207 did not exist, but I wanted an aircraft in the USN’s bright hi-viz livery from the Seventies with its colorful unit markings, before everything turned all-grey. Therefore, the basic paint scheme consists of classic Light Gull Grey (FS 36440) over white, with any rudders’ upper surfaces left in anti-nuclear flash white. For an even finish and saving time with the landing gear, all white areas were painted/primed with white from a rattle can, and the grey (I used Humbrol 40 in this case) was later added by brush. To emphasize the A-4L’s radar I gave the aircraft a nose in radome tan (Humbrol 71) with a dirty black tip, even though real Limas had typically their camouflage extended to the nose tip; however, but some early aircraft also had all-black radomes, making their nose look very similar to the contemporary F4Ds’.

After basic painting the kit received an overall light black ink washing to emphasize panel lines and surface details, as well as a very light post-panel-shading treatment to make the aircraft look a bit more “uneven”, but not really worn.

General markings are USN standard, and the A-4C/L retained the unusual position of the large stars-and-bars fuselage roundel under the cockpit, which enhanced the type’s stout look. Thankfully the Hobby 2000 decal sheet provides an extra roundel which contains a “distorted” area that can be wrapped around the refueling probe. This is easily done, because the carrier film is very thin and flexible.

Even though USN reserve units rather carried simple decorations, I wanted to make them colorful on this fictional one. The yellow unit/fin decoration was inspired by the colors of an F-14 from the early Seventies, from the VF-32 “Swordsmen”, and I adapted that for the small A-4L. To make the fin stand out I painted the whole area with a deep yellow (Revell 310); the tail code “AF” was adapted from the other CVWR-20 reserve attack units, which all shared it, and the letters and the sword icon were adapted from a Matchbox F-14 decal sheet.

The rest became standard: white landing gear and respective well, a medium grey (Dark Gull Grey) cockpit and canopy interior. The TV-guided walleye glide bombs were painted in bright blue like training rounds, with bare aluminum fins and a white sensor head – a nice color contrast to the yellow and red on the aircraft. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final details like position lights were added.

A rather subtle whif, and this one is, concerning the hardware, even a realistic representation of the rather fameless Lima Skyhawk. The bright yellow unit markings add a fresh touch to the standard livery, though, and the bright blue Walleye bombs appear like jewelry under the Scooter’s wings.

Not spectacular, but I can finally erase the A-4L from my project list. 😉

Capable of letting its body temperature fall to 48 F when entering a state of torpor to conserve energy, the normal body temperatrue is 107 F. Seen at Baylands.

Craig from Idaho.

Mixed media on paper, 16x20"

One out of every 5 couples is not capable to conceive naturally. Infertility affects the both men and women. When a couple is not able to conceive it could be due to a difficulty with either of the partners. Gone are the days when the infertility referred to a problem with the woman. Today male infertility affects almost 30% of the young couples. Infertility is a condition when a couple is not capable to get pregnant after a year of regular unprotected sex. Over the last two decades since 2000, there has been a sudden rise in the infertility. For those who are not directly affected this problem, you are probably wondering how infertility is an issue when we have an overpopulated plant! It is not only a problem affecting the affluent but every class of society is suffering from infertility. If you need to understand more about IVF Treatment in Delhi, Best IVF Centre in Delhi, Best IVF Doctors in Delhi, Best Infertility Treatment in Delhi, Best IVF Doctor in Delhi, Best Infertility Specialist in Delhi, IVF Hospital in Delhi, best tube baby centre in Delhi, Best IVF Centre in Delhi, IVF Clinic in Delhi etc, then you can call us at +9196507 25386, +91 011 22503927 or visit link www.kjivf.com/

This is project Prometheus, a proposed deep-exploration ship capable of exploring "icy moons in search of life-enabling conditions." The nosecone is the nuclear reactor from the previous image. The white panels are metal dissipators to vent the abundant heat from the nuclear reactions - perhaps a first in space travel - too much energy to deal with. I asked about how the nuclear bit would be converted to usable energy: xenon gas would boil away through a nosecone turbine, spinning up an elecromagnet in the usual fashion (dam turbines et al), which would create more than enough electricity to power the controls and sensors at the back end. As always, nothing is for free, so while a nuclear reaction will continue for ages, the system is limited by the amount of xenon gas it can carry. A happy medium of how much to bring must be reached, keeping in mind the extra weight an abundance would create, and the problems launching it into space would be in that case. Steering would be done very slowly by the gold pods sticking out the back, which are of course the highly sexy ion drive systems that Star Trek has been promising us for years. More on ion drives after we get through project Deep Impact. Prometheus has a proposed timeline of about 10 years until we can hope to see it launch, so if you're afraid a disaster at launch could scatter nuclear waste all over you, you have almost 10 years to make your sandwich boards of protest. So... none of that last-minute Sharpie-on-cardboard crap.

In the late 1940s, the newly independent U.S. Air Force faced a plethora of challenges, two of which were paramount: 1. Developing a reliable strategic nuclear bomber and 2. Developing interceptors capable of defending the United States from the Soviet Union’s strategic nuclear bombers. The USAF had a plan in mind—the so-called “1954 Interceptor” that would evolve into the F-102 Delta Dagger and F-106 Delta Dart—but these were still some years away. To bridge this gap, Northrop was developing the F-89 Scorpion, but delays to the Scorpion project meant that the United States was theoretically defenseless until it entered service. The USAF then called for interceptors that could be converted quickly from existing aircraft. This would evolve into two aircraft: the F-94 Starfire and the F-86D Sabre Dog.

The F-86D started life as the F-95A. Unlike the F-94, which was a relatively straightforward conversion of the T-33A Shooting Star trainer into an interceptor, the F-95 was designed to be flown by one man. In previously dedicated interceptors, a two-person crew was deemed optimum, as the second man would operate the complicated radars of the day. A single-seat interceptor was unheard of, but as the 1954 Interceptor was also going to be a single-seat aircraft, the F-95 would provide valuable research into the concept. To achieve this, however, the fire control system would have to have advanced computers assisting the pilot.

Though it was based on the F-86 Sabre day fighter, the F-95 had less than 30% commonality with its parent design: the fuselage was deeper, wider, and longer; the intake had to be redesigned to accommodate the nose radar; the tail was larger; the engine was upgraded with an afterburner for quick takeoffs and climbs; and the canopy was changed to a hinged type rather than the sliding model on the F-86. The latter’s machine gun armament was removed in favor of an under-fuselage tray of 24 Mighty Mouse folding-fin aerial rockets (FFARs).

As the F-95 prototype neared completion, there was some thought that Congress might cancel the aircraft: it was redundant with the F-89 and F-94 also entering service. The F-95 did have the Sabre’s remarkable combat record behind it. In a funding dodge, North American changed the designation from F-95 to F-86D, making it seem like just another Sabre variant rather than the nearly entirely new aircraft that it was. This also earned the aircraft its informal nickname, Sabre Dog, based on the old phonetic alphabet for D.

Some pilots, however, claimed the Dog stood for the way the F-86D flew. While it did not have the same propensity to go into uncontrollable pitchups as the F-86 (which was known as the “Sabre Dance”), it could easily be overcorrected, with much of the same fatal results. It was not as easy to fly as the “standard” F-86, and the fire control computer, as could be expected for an early 1950s aircraft, was not very reliable. An optical sight was provided for the pilot if the computer went down, which was frequently. Moreover, North American, now operating in “emergency” mode, could turn out F-86Ds before Hughes could complete the fire control system. At one point, over 300 F-86Ds sat idle at the North American plant, waiting for computers. Because of the faulty computer and the flying characteristics of the Sabre Dog, it was considered one of the most complicated aircraft to fly in the USAF at the time, requiring a training syllabus matched only by the Boeing B-47 Stratojet.

The United States wasn’t the only nation that needed interceptors, and several NATO nations requested F-86Ds of their own. The fire control system was considered too advanced for export, however, and instead, it was downgraded to a simper version; the rocket tray was removed and replaced with four 20mm cannons, and it was supplied to friendly nations as the F-86K. While still not the easiest aircraft to fly, the pilot had a better chance of scoring a kill with the more accurate cannon, and the F-86K was successful in NATO service. Subsequently, several F-86Ds were returned to North American, undergoing an avionics upgrade, a more straightforward cockpit layout, and extended wingtips. This resulted in the F-86L, which was used by several Air National Guard interceptor units into the mid-1960s. While American Sabre Dogs only carried rockets, foreign aircraft were modified to carry AIM-9 Sidewinders later. Sixteen foreign air forces also flew the Sabre Dogs.

A total of 2,847 F-86Ds and associated variants were built and were the most prolific interceptor aircraft in the West during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Most were replaced by more advanced aircraft beginning in the mid-1960s, but a few Yugoslavian F-86Ks soldiered on into the early 1980s. None of them were ever involved in combat. Today, only a handful of them remain in museums.

This F-86, BuNo 53-0965 was originally built as an F-86D and first entered service with the active duty 47th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Niagara Falls, New York. In 1957, it was converted to a F-86L, and after a short stint with the 53rd Fighter Group at Sioux City, Iowa, it was transferred to the Air National Guard and the 144th FG (California ANG) at Fresno. It was retired in 1966 and donated to the Pima Air and Space Museum in 1974.

Though looking a bit worn, 53-0965 still looks pretty good; interestingly, it is shown in the colors of the 354th FIS out of McGhee-Tyson Airport, Tennessee, a unit this aircraft had never served with. Given that the 354th now flies the A-10s next door at Davis-Monthan AFB, this could also be the reason.

The Indian peafowl (Pavo cristatus), also known as the common peafowl, and blue peafowl, is a peafowl species native to the Indian subcontinent. It has been introduced to many other countries. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female peafowl are referred to as peahens, although both sexes are often referred to colloquially as a "peacock".

Indian peafowl display a marked form of sexual dimorphism. The peacock is brightly coloured, with a predominantly blue fan-like crest of spatula-tipped wire-like feathers and is best known for the long train made up of elongated upper-tail covert feathers which bear colourful eyespots. These stiff feathers are raised into a fan and quivered in a display during courtship. Despite the length and size of these covert feathers, peacocks are still capable of flight. Peahens lack the train, have a white face and iridescent green lower neck, and dull brown plumage. The Indian peafowl lives mainly on the ground in open forest or on land under cultivation where they forage for berries, grains but also prey on snakes, lizards, and small rodents. Their loud calls make them easy to detect, and in forest areas often indicate the presence of a predator such as a tiger. They forage on the ground in small groups and usually try to escape on foot through undergrowth and avoid flying, though they fly into tall trees to roost.

The function of the peacock's elaborate train has been debated for over a century. In the 19th century, Charles Darwin found it a puzzle, hard to explain through ordinary natural selection. His later explanation, sexual selection, is widely but not universally accepted. In the 20th century, Amotz Zahavi argued that the train was a handicap, and that males were honestly signalling their fitness in proportion to the splendour of their trains. Despite extensive study, opinions remain divided on the mechanisms involved.

The bird is celebrated in Hindu and Greek mythology, and is the national bird of India. The Indian peafowl is listed as of Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.

Taxonomy and naming

Carl Linnaeus in his work Systema Naturae in 1758 assigned to the Indian peafowl the technical name of Pavo cristatus (means "crested peafowl" in classical Latin).

The earliest usage of the word in written English is from around 1300 and spelling variants include pecok, pekok, pecokk, peacocke, peacock, pyckock, poucock, pocok, pokok, pokokke, and poocok among others. The current spelling was established in the late 17th century. Chaucer (1343–1400) used the word to refer to a proud and ostentatious person in his simile "proud a pekok" in Troilus and Criseyde (Book I, line 210).

The Sanskrit, later Pali, and modern Hindi term for the animal is maur. It is debated that the nomenclature of the Maurya Empire, whose first emperor Chandragupta Maurya was raised and influenced by peacock farmers was named after the terminology.

The Greek word for peacock was taos and was related to the Persian "tavus" (as in Takht-i-Tâvus for the famed Peacock Throne). The Ancient Hebrew word tuki (plural tukkiyim) has been said to have been derived from the Tamil tokei but sometimes traced to the Egyptian tekh. In modern Hebrew the word for peacock is "tavas". In Sanskrit, the peacock is known as Mayura and is associated with the killing of snakes.

Description

Male neck detail

Peacocks are a larger sized bird with a length from bill to tail of 100 to 115 cm (39 to 45 in) and to the end of a fully grown train as much as 195 to 225 cm (77 to 89 in) and weigh 4–6 kg (8.8–13.2 lb). The females, or peahens, are smaller at around 95 cm (37 in) in length and weigh 2.75–4 kg (6.1–8.8 lb). Indian peafowl are among the largest and heaviest representatives of the Phasianidae. So far as is known, only the wild turkey grows notably heavier. The green peafowl is slightly lighter in body mass despite the male having a longer train on average than the male of the Indian species. Their size, colour and shape of crest make them unmistakable within their native distribution range. The male is metallic blue on the crown, the feathers of the head being short and curled. The fan-shaped crest on the head is made of feathers with bare black shafts and tipped with bluish-green webbing. A white stripe above the eye and a crescent shaped white patch below the eye are formed by bare white skin. The sides of the head have iridescent greenish blue feathers. The back has scaly bronze-green feathers with black and copper markings. The scapular and the wings are buff and barred in black, the primaries are chestnut and the secondaries are black. The tail is dark brown and the "train" is made up of elongated upper tail coverts (more than 200 feathers, the actual tail has only 20 feathers) and nearly all of these feathers end with an elaborate eye-spot. A few of the outer feathers lack the spot and end in a crescent shaped black tip. The underside is dark glossy green shading into blackish under the tail. The thighs are buff coloured. The male has a spur on the leg above the hind toe.

The adult peahen has a rufous-brown head with a crest as in the male but the tips are chestnut edged with green. The upper body is brownish with pale mottling. The primaries, secondaries and tail are dark brown. The lower neck is metallic green and the breast feathers are dark brown glossed with green. The remaining underparts are whitish. Downy young are pale buff with a dark brown mark on the nape that connects with the eyes. Young males look like the females but the wings are chestnut coloured.

The most common calls are a loud pia-ow or may-awe. The frequency of calling increases before the Monsoon season and may be delivered in alarm or when disturbed by loud noises. In forests, their calls often indicate the presence of a predators such as the tiger. They also make many other calls such as a rapid series of ka-aan..ka-aan or a rapid kok-kok. They often emit an explosive low-pitched honk! when agitated.

Mutations and hybrids

This leucistic mutation is commonly mistaken for an albino.

There are several colour mutations of Indian peafowl. These very rarely occur in the wild, but selective breeding has made them common in captivity. The black-shouldered or Japanned mutation was initially considered as a subspecies of the Indian peafowl (P. c. nigripennis) (or even a separate species (P. nigripennis)) and was a topic of some interest during Darwin's time. Others had doubts about its taxonomic status, but the English naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin (1809–1882) presented firm evidence for it being a variety under domestication, which treatment is now well established and accepted. It being a colour variation rather than a wild species was important for Darwin to prove, as otherwise it could undermine his theory of slow modification by natural selection in the wild. It is, however, only a case of genetic variation within the population. In this mutation, the adult male is melanistic with black wings. Young birds with the nigripennis mutation are creamy white with fulvous-tipped wings. The gene produces melanism in the male and in the peahen it produces a dilution of colour with creamy white and brown markings. Other forms include the pied and white mutations, all of which are the result of allelic variation at specific loci.

Crosses between a male green peafowl (Pavo muticus) and a female Indian peafowl (P. cristatus) produce a stable hybrid called a "Spalding", named after Mrs. Keith Spalding, a bird fancier in California. There can be problems if birds of unknown pedigree are released into the wild, as the viability of such hybrids and their offspring is often reduced (see Haldane's rule and outbreeding depression).

Distribution and habitat

The Indian peafowl is a resident breeder across the Indian subcontinent and inhabits the drier lowland areas of Sri Lanka. In the Indian subcontinent, it is found mainly below an elevation of 1,800 m (5,900 ft) and in rare cases seen at about 2,000 m (6,600 ft). It is found in moist and dry-deciduous forests, but can adapt to live in cultivated regions and around human habitations and is usually found where water is available. In many parts of northern India, they are protected by religious practices and will forage around villages and towns for scraps. Some have suggested that the peacock was introduced into Europe by Alexander the Great, while others say the bird had reached Athens by 450 BCE and may have been introduced even earlier. It has since been introduced in many other parts of the world and has become feral in some areas.

The Indian peafowl has been introduced to the United States, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, France, Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guyana, Suriname, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, South Africa, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Italy, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Croatia and the island of Lokrum.

Genome sequencing

The first whole-genome sequencing of Indian peafowl identified a total of 15,970 protein-coding sequences, along with 213 tRNAs, 236 snoRNAs, and 540 miRNAs. The peacock genome was found to have less repetitive DNA (8.62%) than that of the chicken genome (9.45%). PSMC analysis suggested that the peacock suffered at least two bottlenecks (around four million years ago and again 450,000 years ago), which resulted in a severe reduction in its effective population size.

Behaviour and ecology

Peafowl are best known for the male's extravagant display feathers which, despite actually growing from their back, are thought of as a tail. The "train" is in reality made up of the enormously elongated upper tail coverts. The tail itself is brown and short as in the peahen. The colours result not from any green or blue pigments but from the micro-structure of the feathers and the resulting optical phenomena. The long train feathers (and tarsal spurs) of the male develop only after the second year of life. Fully developed trains are found in birds older than four years. In northern India, these begin to develop each February and are moulted at the end of August. The moult of the flight feathers may be spread out across the year.

Peafowl forage on the ground in small groups, known as musters, that usually have a cock and 3 to 5 hens. After the breeding season, the flocks tend to be made up only of females and young. They are found in the open early in the mornings and tend to stay in cover during the heat of the day. They are fond of dust-bathing and at dusk, groups walk in single file to a favourite waterhole to drink. When disturbed, they usually escape by running and rarely take to flight.

Peafowl produce loud calls especially in the breeding season. They may call at night when alarmed and neighbouring birds may call in a relay like series. Nearly seven different call variants have been identified in the peacocks apart from six alarm calls that are commonly produced by both sexes.

Peafowl roost in groups during the night on tall trees but may sometimes make use of rocks, buildings or pylons. In the Gir forest, they chose tall trees in steep river banks. Birds arrive at dusk and call frequently before taking their position on the roost trees. Due to this habit of congregating at the roost, many population studies are made at these sites. The population structure is not well understood. In a study in northern India (Jodhpur), the number of males was 170–210 for 100 females but a study involving evening counts at the roost site in southern India (Injar) suggested a ratio of 47 males for 100 females.

Sexual selection

The colours of the peacock and the contrast with the much duller peahen were a puzzle to early thinkers. Charles Darwin wrote to Asa Gray that the "sight of a feather in a peacock's tail, whenever I gaze at it, makes me sick!" as he failed to see an adaptive advantage for the extravagant tail which seemed only to be an encumbrance. Darwin developed a second principle of sexual selection to resolve the problem, though in the prevailing intellectual trends of Victorian Britain, the theory failed to gain widespread attention.

The American artist Abbott Handerson Thayer tried to show, from his own imagination, the value of the eyespots as disruptive camouflage in a 1907 painting. He used the painting in his 1909 book Concealing-Coloration in the Animal Kingdom, denying the possibility of sexual selection and arguing that essentially all forms of animal colouration had evolved as camouflage. He was roundly criticised in a lengthy paper by Theodore Roosevelt, who wrote that Thayer had only managed to paint the peacock's plumage as camouflage by sleight of hand, "with the blue sky showing through the leaves in just sufficient quantity here and there to warrant the author-artists explaining that the wonderful blue hues of the peacock's neck are obliterative because they make it fade into the sky."

In the 1970s a possible resolution to the apparent contradiction between natural selection and sexual selection was proposed. Amotz Zahavi argued that peacocks honestly signalled the handicap of having a large and costly train. However, the mechanism may be less straightforward than it seems – the cost could arise from depression of the immune system by the hormones that enhance feather development.

Male courting female

The ornate train is believed to be the result of sexual selection by the females. Males use their ornate trains in a courtship display: they raise the feathers into a fan and quiver them. However, recent studies have failed to find a relation between the number of displayed eyespots and mating success. Marion Petrie tested whether or not these displays signaled a male's genetic quality by studying a feral population of peafowl in Whipsnade Wildlife Park in southern England. She showed that the number of eyespots in the train predicted a male's mating success, and this success could be manipulated by cutting the eyespots off some of the male's ornate feathers.

Although the removal of eyespots makes males less successful in mating, eyespot removal substantially changes the appearance of male peafowls. It is likely that females mistake these males for sub-adults, or perceive that the males are physically damaged. Moreover, in a feral peafowl population, there is little variation in the number of eyespots in adult males. It is rare for adult males to lose a significant number of eyespots. Therefore, females' selection might depend on other sexual traits of males' trains. The quality of train is an honest signal of the condition of males; peahens do select males on the basis of their plumage. A recent study on a natural population of Indian peafowls in the Shivalik area of India has proposed a "high maintenance handicap" theory. It states that only the fittest males can afford the time and energy to maintain a long tail. Therefore, the long train is an indicator of good body condition, which results in greater mating success. While train length seems to correlate positively with MHC diversity in males, females do not appear to use train length to choose males. A study in Japan also suggests that peahens do not choose peacocks based on their ornamental plumage, including train length, number of eyespots and train symmetry. Another study in France brings up two possible explanations for the conflicting results that exist. The first explanation is that there might be a genetic variation of the trait of interest under different geographical areas due to a founder effect and/or a genetic drift. The second explanation suggests that "the cost of trait expression may vary with environmental conditions," so that a trait that is indicative of a particular quality may not work in another environment.

Fisher's runaway model proposes positive feedback between female preference for elaborate trains and the elaborate train itself. This model assumes that the male train is a relatively recent evolutionary adaptation. However, a molecular phylogeny study on peacock-pheasants shows the opposite; the most recently evolved species is actually the least ornamented one. This finding suggests a chase-away sexual selection, in which "females evolve resistance to male ploys". A study in Japan goes on to conclude that the "peacocks' train is an obsolete signal for which female preference has already been lost or weakened".

However, some disagreement has arisen in recent years concerning whether or not female peafowl do indeed select males with more ornamented trains. In contrast to Petrie's findings, a seven-year Japanese study of free-ranging peafowl came to the conclusion that female peafowl do not select mates solely on the basis of their trains. Mariko Takahashi found no evidence that peahens expressed any preference for peacocks with more elaborate trains (such as trains having more ocelli), a more symmetrical arrangement, or a greater length. Takahashi determined that the peacock's train was not the universal target of female mate choice, showed little variance across male populations, and, based on physiological data collected from this group of peafowl, do not correlate to male physical conditions. Adeline Loyau and her colleagues responded to Takahashi's study by voicing concern that alternative explanations for these results had been overlooked, and that these might be essential for the understanding of the complexity of mate choice. They concluded that female choice might indeed vary in different ecological conditions.

A 2013 study that tracked the eye movements of peahens responding to male displays found that they looked in the direction of the upper train of feathers only when at long distances and that they looked only at the lower feathers when males displayed close to them. The rattling of the tail and the shaking of the wings helped in keeping the attention of females.

Breeding

Peacocks are polygamous, and the breeding season is spread out but appears to be dependent on the rains. Peafowls usually reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 3 years old. Several males may congregate at a lek site and these males are often closely related. Males at leks appear to maintain small territories next to each other and they allow females to visit them and make no attempt to guard harems. Females do not appear to favour specific males. The males display in courtship by raising the upper-tail coverts into an arched fan. The wings are held half open and drooped and it periodically vibrates the long feathers, producing a ruffling sound. The cock faces the hen initially and struts and prances around and sometimes turns around to display the tail. Males may also freeze over food to invite a female in a form of courtship feeding. Males may display even in the absence of females. When a male is displaying, females do not appear to show any interest and usually continue their foraging.

The peak season in southern India is April to May, January to March in Sri Lanka and June in northern India. The nest is a shallow scrape in the ground lined with leaves, sticks and other debris. Nests are sometimes placed on buildings and, in earlier times, have been recorded using the disused nest platforms of the white-rumped vultures. The clutch consists of 4–8 fawn to buff white eggs which are incubated only by the female. The eggs take about 28 days to hatch. The chicks are nidifugous and follow the mother around after hatching. Downy young may sometimes climb on their mothers' back and the female may carry them in flight to a safe tree branch. An unusual instance of a male incubating a clutch of eggs has been reported.

Feeding

Peafowl are omnivorous and eat seeds, insects (including termites), worms, fruits, small mammals, frogs, and reptiles (such as lizards). They feed on small snakes but keep their distance from larger ones. In the Gir forest of Gujarat, a large percentage of their food is made up of the fallen berries of Zizyphus. They also feed on tree and flower buds, petals, grain, and grass and bamboo shoots. Around cultivated areas, peafowl feed on a wide range of crops such as groundnut, tomato, paddy, chili and even bananas. Around human habitations, they feed on a variety of food scraps and even human excreta. In the countryside, it is particularly partial to crops and garden plants.

Mortality factors

Large animals such as leopards, dholes, golden jackals, and tigers can ambush adult peafowls. However, only leopards regularly prey upon peafowls as adult peafowls are difficult to catch since they can usually escape ground predators by flying into trees. They are also sometimes hunted by large birds of prey such as the changeable hawk-eagle and rock eagle-owl. Chicks are somewhat more prone to predation than adult birds. Adults living near human habitations are sometimes hunted by domestic dogs or by humans in some areas (southern Tamil Nadu) for folk remedies involving the use of "peacock oil".

Foraging in groups provides some safety as there are more eyes to look out for predators. They also roost on high tree tops to avoid terrestrial predators, especially leopards.

In captivity, birds have been known to live for 23 years but it is estimated that they live for only about 15 years in the wild.

Conservation and status

Indian peafowl are widely distributed in the wild across South Asia and protected both culturally in many areas and by law in India. Conservative estimates of the population put them at more than 100,000. Illegal poaching for meat, however, continues and declines have been noted in parts of India. Peafowl breed readily in captivity and as free-ranging ornamental fowl. Zoos, parks, bird-fanciers and dealers across the world maintain breeding populations that do not need to be augmented by the capture of wild birds.

Poaching of peacocks for their meat and feathers and accidental poisoning by feeding on pesticide treated seeds are known threats to wild birds. Methods to identify if feathers have been plucked or have been shed naturally have been developed, as Indian law allows only the collection of feathers that have been shed.

In parts of India, the birds can be a nuisance to agriculture as they damage crops. Its adverse effects on crops, however, seem to be offset by the beneficial role it plays by consuming prodigious quantities of pests such as grasshoppers. They can also be a problem in gardens and homes where they damage plants, attack their reflections (thereby breaking glass and mirrors), perch and scratch cars or leave their droppings. Many cities where they have been introduced and gone feral have peafowl management programmes. These include educating citizens on how to prevent the birds from causing damage while treating the birds humanely.

In culture

Prominent in many cultures, the peacock has been used in numerous iconic representations, including being designated the national bird of India in 1963. The peacock, known as mayura in Sanskrit, has enjoyed a fabled place in India since and is frequently depicted in temple art, mythology, poetry, folk music and traditions. A Sanskrit derivation of mayura is from the root mi for kill and said to mean "killer of snakes". It is also likely that the Sanskrit term is a borrowing from Proto-Dravidian *mayVr (whence the Tamil word for peacock மயில் (mayil)) or a regional Wanderwort. Many Hindu deities are associated with the bird, Krishna is often depicted with a feather in his headband, while worshippers of Shiva associate the bird as the steed of the God of war, Kartikeya (also known as Skanda or Murugan). A story in the Uttara Ramayana describes the head of the Devas, Indra, who unable to defeat Ravana, sheltered under the wing of peacock and later blessed it with a "thousand eyes" and fearlessness from serpents. Another story has Indra who after being cursed with a thousand ulcers was transformed into a peacock with a thousand eyes and this curse was removed by Vishnu.

In Buddhist philosophy, the peacock represents wisdom. Peacock feathers are used in many rituals and ornamentation. Peacock motifs are widespread in Indian temple architecture, old coinage, textiles and continue to be used in many modern items of art and utility. A folk belief found in many parts of India is that the peacock does not copulate with the peahen but that she is impregnated by other means. The stories vary and include the idea that the peacock looks at its ugly feet and cries whereupon the tears are fed on by the peahen causing it to be orally impregnated while other variants incorporate sperm transfer from beak to beak. Similar ideas have also been ascribed to Indian crow species. In Greek mythology the origin of the peacock's plumage is explained in the tale of Hera and Argus. The main figure of the Yazidi religion Yezidism, Melek Taus, is most commonly depicted as a peacock. Peacock motifs are widely used even today such as in the logos of the US NBC and the PTV television networks and the Sri Lankan Airlines.

These birds were often kept in menageries and as ornaments in large gardens and estates. In medieval times, knights in Europe took a "Vow of the Peacock" and decorated their helmets with its plumes. In several Robin Hood stories, the titular archer uses arrows fletched with peacock feathers. Feathers were buried with Viking warriors and the flesh of the bird was said to cure snake venom and many other maladies. Numerous uses in Ayurveda have been documented. Peafowl were said to keep an area free of snakes. In 1526, the legal issue as to whether peacocks were wild or domestic fowl was thought sufficiently important for Cardinal Wolsey to summon all the English judges to give their opinion, which was that they are domestic fowl.

In Anglo-Indian usage of the 1850s, to peacock meant making visits to ladies and gentlemen in the morning. In the 1890s, the term "peacocking" in Australia referred to the practice of buying up the best pieces of land ("picking the eyes") so as to render the surrounding lands valueless. The English word "peacock" has come to be used to describe a man who is very proud or gives a lot of attention to his clothing.

Main article: Di Goldene Pave

A golden peacock (in Yiddish, Di Goldene Pave) is considered by some as a symbol of Ashkenazi Jewish culture, and is the subject of several folktales and songs in Yiddish. Peacocks are frequently used in European heraldry. Heraldic peacocks are most often depicted as facing the viewer and with their tails displayed. In this pose, the peacock is referred to as being "in his pride". Peacock tails, in isolation from the rest of the bird, are rare in British heraldry, but see frequent use in German systems.

The American television network NBC uses a stylized peacock as a legacy of its early introduction of color television, alluding to the brilliant color of a peacock, and continues to promote the bird as a trademark of its broadcasting and streaming services.

Konya ordered 12 trams capable of catenary-free operation from Škoda in May 2014. as a follow-on order for 60 ForCity Classic 28T trams. This brings the total order value for 72 trams to KC3•4bn. Following certification in January, a prototype Catfree tram has been on test at Škoda’s Plzeň factory.Roof-mounted nano-lithium-titanium batteries enable catenary-free operation for up to 3 km, and are recharged through the pantograph.

‘The tram managed to accelerate 30 times to 30 km/h for a total of 8 km without recharging’, explained Milan Šrámek, Škoda Transportation’s Electric Product Manager.

The trams for Konya are to be used on a new line which will have a 1•8 km section without overhead wires. The first 28T from the original order entered passenger service in February 2014.

This Lotus is capable of switching from gasoline to bioethanol to methanol (CH3OH), which can be produced synthetically from CO2 and hydrogen. Ultimately, emerging processes to recover atmospheric CO2 will provide the required carbon that can entirely balance the CO2 emissions at the tailpipe that result from the internal combustion of synthetic methanol.

The van can run on gasoline or biomethane gas - derived from food waste.

Lotus Engineering regards sustainable alcohols as the third step in a process towards carbon neutral driving:

1st Generation: there is a handful of current bio-ethanol models on sale around the world. These cars run on E85 bio-ethanol, which is produced from valuable arable crops (food). This is unsustainable in the short and medium term as global demand for fuel will outstrip the supply available from farmland to the detriment of food production.

2nd Generation: the next generation bio-ethanol fuels will be based on biomass waste, for example crop stubble, waste vegetable-based oils and any biodegradable waste matter. This is thought also to be unsustainable in the medium to long term as the required volume of biomass increases beyond that which can be supplied.

3rd Generation: sustainable alcohols such as synthetic methanol that can be produced from entirely sustainable, readily available inputs, with an environmentally neutral overall impact.

4th Generation: Direct Methanol Fuel Cells: over the longer term, sustainable alcohols in internal combustion will facilitate the soft introduction of direct methanol fuel cells as a long term sustainable future fuel.

The 85 minutes that Roger Federer spent on court on Thursday produced a highlights reel that surely no other player is capable of matching. No one makes tennis look as easy as the Swiss when he is in full flow and his 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 second-round victory over the American Sam Querrey was every bit as dominant as it sounds.

From a sublime half-volley drop shot to one outrageous rally when, after over-running the ball, he lobbed Querrey with a between-the-legs forehand to win the point, Federer cut his opponent’s big game to pieces with a performance which Andy Murray, a potential semi-final opponent, will surely have taken notice of.

“I’m very happy with the way I’m playing,” he said. “I’ve been playing well this season, really since here last year. It’s also a bit of a relief to be playing well at Wimbledon.”

Seeing Federer rip through opponents in the first week of a grand slam is nothing new – he makes a habit of steamrolling opponents in the early rounds – but it remains hugely impressive to see the seven-time Wimbledon champion gliding around a grass court, touching down only to smash a forehand or carve a perfectly crafted slice.

The world No36 Querrey, a former champion at Queen’s Club, was utterly helpless in the face of Federer’s range of attack and the 17-times grand slam champion also did a great job in returning serve, always making life difficult for Querrey. The American held his own until 4-4 but, once he was broken, the first set was over and another break in the opening game of the second crushed his spirit.

A capable but unloved camera from the 90's

Capable of 100 mph and built in 2000 in Zaragoza, Spain, to replace Class 308 units on the Wharfedale and Airedale routes, this Class 333 is seen here arriving into Keighley, from Skipton, and is heading for Leeds, on 26/04/2015. © Peter Steel 2015.

These capable hands have held babies, changed nappies, fixed any thing and everything in the house and cars. Tended and cared and worked. They are dexterous and agile and strong, and it feels good when they hold my hand!

Scavchal13 - Delicate or work-hardened, shoot close up to capture the character of a hand or hands

Built by the Schiffswerks Rieherst company in Hamburg, the Umbria was launched on December 30th 1911 with the name of Bahia Blanca. It was a large freighter by that time, 150 meters long, with a power capable of providing a speed of 14 knots that could carry 9,000 tons of cargo and up to 2,000 passengers. In 1912 it began operating the Hamburg-America line doing different jobs between Europe and Argentina until the outbreak of World War I, when it was based in Buenos Aires. In 1918 the ship was acquired by the Argentinian government and it was not until 1935 when the ship was taken over by the Italian government and renamed again: the Umbria. From that moment its trips were to transport troops and during the following two years carried several thousand soldiers to the Italian colonies in East Africa.

The loss of the Umbria

In May 1940, when Italy was still neutral in World War II, the Umbria was secretly loaded with 360,000 bombs between 15 kg and 100 kg, 60 boxes of detonators, building materials and three Fiat Lunga cars, carrying a total 8,600 tons of weapons towards the East Africa. The explosives had destination Massawa and Assab, Eritrea, that was Italian colony by then, and the rest of the cargo was heading different locations in Asia. Italy's entry into the war was imminent and this shipment was destined to the defense of the colonies against the Allies and to the possible expansion of its African territories.

On 3rd June 1940 the Umbria reached Port Said, northern Egypt, where loaded with 1,000 tons of coal and water in a movement to fool the Allies, trying to look like a harmless freighter. The port, controlled by the Royal Navy, and its authorities allowed the ship enter on the Red Sea three days after arrival. The British delayed the departure of the Umbria knowing that Italy's entry into the war was imminent and that the cargo of Umbria had devastating power that sooner or later would be used against the Allies and why not, to get a great load to fight fascism. But Italy, as a neutral country that it was, had every right to transport weapons much like any other cargo to its colonies.

Having met the deadline to be retained, the Umbria crossed the Suez Canal on June 6th but with the escort of the HMS Grimsby. The importance and destructive capacity of the cargo required it. Three days later the Umbria entered in Sudan waters and the HMS Grimsby ordered the Umbria captain to anchor on Wingate Reef under the pretext of searching for contraband. Moments later the British warship HMS Leander arrived with a group of 20 sailors who boarded the Umbria. After thoroughly searching the ship and finding nothing, the captain ordered the British troops to remain the night aboard the Umbria.

The next morning Lorenzo Muiesan, Umbria captain, was in his cabin listening to the radio when Mussolini announced the entry of Italy into the World War II. Hostilities would begin at midnight of that day. Muiesan, a very patriotic captain with long experience, was the only one in the area who had heard the news and knew immediately that both Umbria and the burden would be used by the Allies against their own country. He had no option to disable both. In a move of extraordinary intelligence, as the hours passed retained by the British who did not yet know that Italy was officially the enemy, the captain ordered his crew conducting a rescue simulation... that was more real than the British thought. This maneuver, which the English soldiers agreed as they believed it would serve to further delay the departure of the Umbria. While the Italians occupied the lifeboats, the chief engineers, following Muiesan´s orders, opened all the valves and drown the ship to the bottom of the reef. With the crew safe, the British only had time to get on their ship and watch the freighter slid slowly.

When the captain of HMS Grimsby asked why he had done that Muiesan confirmed the declaration of war from Italy to Britain. The next day Muiesan and the rest of Umbria crew departed detainees to India, where they spent four years in prison.

CARGO:

The Umbria was carrying 360,000 individual aircraft bombs ranging in size from 15, 50 and 100 kg. The vessel also carried a large quantity of fuses, ammunition and detonators as well as other traditional cargo. The captain knew these bombs would be confiscated and used by the enemy against his country should they ever discover them which was why he made the call to sink the ship.

The Umbria had sailed in June 1940 with 6,000 tons of bombs, 60 boxes detonators, explosives, weapons and three Fiat 1100 Lunga from Genoa via Livorno and Naples in the Suez Canal and on the way via Massaua and Assab to Calcutta.

SOL Austin: Net-Zero Capable

www.solaustin.com

Beck-Reit and Sons Ltd., an Austin General Contractor, has been working on sustainable construction methods since they day we started building houses. Our desire to build a better house led us to the development of the SOL (Solutions Oriented Living) subdivision in East Austin. We partnered with local architect KRDB to design, develop, and build a net-zero capable sub-division centered around a community of 40 modern homes. Thru passive design, efficient building envelope and solar power these homes can produce more energy than they consume. SOL has received national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, Metro-Homes, DIY Network’s: This New House, Builder Magazine, and Green Builder Magazine.

www.beckreit.com

twitter.com/#!/BeckReit

Photos by DeLea Becker @ Beck-Reit and Sons, Ltd.

Warner Robins Museum of Aviation

The C-130 Hercules primarily performs the intratheater portion of the airlift mission. The aircraft is capable of operating from rough, dirt strips and is the prime transport for paradropping troops and equipment into hostile areas. Basic and specialized versions perform a diversity of roles, including airlift support, DEW Line and Arctic ice resupply, aeromedical missions, aerial spray missions, fire-fighting duties for the US Forest Service, and disaster relief missions.

Warner Robins Air Logistics Center provides worldwide support to all C-130s in the USAF fleet and to many foreign nations flying the Hercules as well. The aircraft on display was delivered to the USAF in June 1976. In 1981 it was one of three C-130H aircraft that were specially modified for use in a possible rescue attempt of the Americans held hostage in Iran in 1981. Code named “Credible Sport,” the stock C-130H aircraft had highly modified flight control, flap system and airframe components allowed the installation of various rocket systems for short take off and landing (STOL) capabilities unique to the rescue operation. Although never actually used, one of the aircraft was destroyed during testing, the second was demodified and returned to service, and the third, this one on display, was retired to the Museum in 1987.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Span: 132 feet 7 inches

Length: 97 feet 9 inches

Height: 38 feet 10 inches

Weight: 155,000 lbs max

Armament: None

Engine: Four Allison T-56-A-15 turboprops of 4,591 prop shaft hp ea

Serial Number: 74-1686

PERFORMANCE

Maximum speed: 366 mph

Cruising speed: 335 mph

Range: 1,200 miles with 36,500 lbs payload

Service ceiling: 23,000 feet

noun

a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, esp. one programmable by a computer.

• (esp. in science fiction) a machine resembling a human being and able to replicate certain human movements and functions automatically.

• used to refer to a person who behaves in a mechanical or unemotional manner : terminally bored tour guides chattering like robots.

ORIGIN from Czech, from robota ‘forced labor.’ The term was coined in K. Čapek's play R.U.R. ‘Rossum's Universal Robots’ (1920).

Capable of adapting to a particular situation ~ that's our Katerina!

Blue and yellow in charge of the mail train today as #4038 brings QNYLA up the hill at Edelstein, Illinois, October 13th 1991.

The BMP-2 (Boyevaya Mashina Pekhoty, Russian: Боевая Машина Пехоты, literally "combat machine/vehicle (of the) infantry") is an amphibious infantry fighting vehicle introduced in the 1980s in the Soviet Union, following on from the BMP-1 of the 1960s.

Although the BMP-1 was a revolutionary design, its main armament, the 2A28 Grom and the 9S428 ATGM launcher capable of firing 9M14 Malyutka (NATO: AT-3A Sagger A) and 9M14M Malyutka-M (NATO: AT-3B Sagger B) ATGMs, quickly became obsolete. Therefore, the Soviet Union decided to produce an updated and improved version of the BMP-1. The main emphasis was put on improving the main armament. In 1972, work got under-way to develop an improved version of the BMP-1.

During its combat debut in the Yom Kippur War, Egyptian and Syrian BMPs proved vulnerable to .50 calibre machine-gun fire in the sides and rear, and to 105 mm M40 recoilless rifles. The 2A28 Grom proved inaccurate beyond 500 metres, and the 9M14 Malyutka missile could not be guided effectively from the confines of the turret.

Several Soviet technical teams were sent to Syria in the wake of the war to gather information. These lessons, combined with observations of western AFV developments, resulted in a replacement project for the original BMP in 1974. The result was the BMP-1P upgrade, which was intended as a stopgap to address the most serious problems with the existing design.

Smoke grenade launchers were added to the rear of the turret and the manually guided 9M14 Malyutka missile system was replaced with the semi-automatically guided 9K111 Fagot / 9M113 Konkurs system. The BMP-1P was in production by the late 1970s. Existing BMP-1s were gradually upgraded to the BMP-1P standard during the 1980s.

The BMP-2 is broadly similar to the BMP-1. The most significant changes are:

The commander now sits with the gunner in an enlarged, two-man turret.

Armament changed to the 2A42 30 mm autocannon and the 9P135M ATGM launcher capable of firing SACLOS guided 9M111 "Fagot" (AT-4 Spigot), 9M113 "Konkurs" (AT-5 Spandrel) and 9M113M "Konkurs-M" (AT-5B Spandrel B) anti-tank missiles.

Only seven troops can be carried instead of eight.

Two rear infantry roof hatches instead of four.

Slightly improved armour.

In the centre of the vehicle is the welded steel turret, which seats the commander and gunner, both of whom have hatches. The commander sits to the right and has three day-vision periscopes, a 1PZ-3 day-sight designed for anti-aircraft use with 1.2× and 4× magnification, an OU-3GA2 infra-red searchlight, a TNP-165A designator and a TKN-3B binocular sight with 4.75× day magnification and 4× night-sight magnification.

The gunner sits to the commander's left and has a smaller rectangular hatch with a rearward-facing day periscope. There are three other day periscopes facing forward and left. The gunner has a BPK-1-42 binocular sight with a moon/starlight vision range of 650 metres, or 350 metres using the infra-red searchlight, and a TNPT-1 designator. An FG-126 infra-red searchlight is mounted coaxially to the 30 mm cannon.

The driver sits in the front left of the vehicle, with the engine in a separate compartment to his right. The driver has his own entry hatch above him, with three day-vision periscopes. The centre TNPO-170A periscope can be replaced with either a TNPO-350B extended periscope for amphibious operation or a TVNE-1PA night vision scope. An infantryman sits immediately behind the driver, and has a firing port and vision block. TNPO-170A periscopes are used throughout the vehicle and are electrically heated.

In the BMP-1 and BMP-2, ammunition is stored near or even inside the compartment, which can lead to a catastrophic failure in case of a hull breach.

The BMP-1 and BMP-2 share the same chassis and have almost identical road performance. The BMP-2 is heavier, but also has a more powerful engine to compensate.

The BMP-2 is amphibious with little preparation, using hydrodynamic fairings to convert track momentum into water jets. Peacetime regulations require that any BMPs entering water must have a working radio set, since its bearings are not airtight and it can be carried away by currents in case of loss of engine power (the vehicle lacks an anchor).

The main armament is a turret with a stabilized 30 mm 2A42 autocannon with dual ammunition feeds, which provide a choice of 3UBR6 AP-T and 3UOR6 HE-T / 3UOF8 HE-I ammunition and 9M113 Konkurs ATGM. The gun has a selectable rate of fire, either slow at 200 to 300 rounds per minute or fast at 550 rounds per minute. This gives a continuous fire time of 100–150 seconds (or only 55 seconds, depending on the rate of fire chosen) before running out of ammunition. The original stabilization provides reasonable accuracy up to a speed of about 35 kilometres per hour.

The AP-T ammunition can penetrate 15 millimetres of armour at sixty degrees at 1,500 metres. A new APDS-T tungsten round can penetrate 25 millimetres at the same distance. A typical ammunition load is 160 rounds of AP ammunition and 340 rounds of HE ammunition. The ammunition sits in two trays located on the turret rear floor. The gun can be fired from either the commander's or the gunner's station.

The commander's 1PZ-3 sight is specifically designed for anti-aircraft operation. Combined with the high maximum elevation of 74 degrees, it allows the 30 mm cannon to be used effectively against helicopters and slow flying aircraft. The turret traverse and elevation are powered and it can traverse 360 degrees in 10.28 seconds and elevate through 74 degrees in 12.33 seconds.

Reloading the BMP-2's 30 mm cannon can be somewhat problematic and can take up to two hours, even if the ammunition is prepared. The cannon is normally only used on the slow rate of fire, otherwise, fumes from the weapon would build up in the turret faster than the extractor fan can remove them.[citation needed]

The effective range of the 30 mm cannon is up to 1,500 metres against armour, 4,000 metres against ground targets, and 2,500 metres against air targets.

A coaxial 7.62 mm PKT machine gun is mounted to the left of the 30 mm cannon. 2,000 rounds of ammunition are carried for it. On the roof of the turret is an ATGM launcher. On Russian vehicles this fires 9M113 Konkurs missiles. On export models it normally fires 9K111 Fagot missiles. A ground-mount for the missile is carried, allowing it to be used away from the vehicle. The missiles are a substantial improvement on the 9M14 Malyutka missiles used on the BMP-1, in both range and accuracy.

Behind the turret is the troop compartment that holds six troops. A seventh sits just behind the driver. The troops sit back to back, along the center of the vehicle. Down each side of the compartment are three firing ports with periscopes. Access to the compartment is by the two rear doors, which hold fuel tanks. Both doors have integral periscopes. The left door has a firing port.

In addition to the main weapons, it can carry a man-portable surface-to-air missile launcher and two missiles, and an RPG launcher and five rounds. The vehicle is fitted with a PAZ overpressure NBC system and fire suppression system, and carries a GPK-59 gyrocompass.

The original BMP-1 had a vulnerability in its mine protection scheme, which only became obvious during the war in Afghanistan. The one-man-turret fighting vehicle seated its driver and commander in tandem layout, in the front-left side of the hull alongside the diesel engine. When a BMP-1 hit a tilt-rod anti-tank land mine its steeply sloped lower front glacis armour plate allowed the mine's arming rod to tilt with little resistance until the maximum deflection was reached, at which time the mine was already well under the chassis.

When it subsequently detonated, the blast usually killed both the driver and the vehicle commander. This shortcoming was addressed in the BMP-2 design, where the tank commander shares the well-armoured two-man turret with the gunner. The driver's station has been enlarged and he is provided with an armored driver's seat, in addition to extra belly armor in the lower front.

The IFV lacks the ability to install add-on protection packages like slat armor cages or explosive reactive armor (ERA). The BMP-2's armor is very similar to the original BMP-1, resistant to 23 mm armor-piercing rounds on its frontal arc from 500 meters (and immune to 12.7 mm armor-piercing from the same angle) and to 7.62x39 mm armor-piercing rounds to its sides. Its armor is slightly thinner than the BMP-1's but the higher-quality steel used in its construction grants it the same effective protection.

The basic hull armor on the BMP-2 can be easily penetrated by any shaped-charge missile, from the 66 mm LAW on up. One important modification carried out as the result of operational experience in Afghanistan was the fitting of a second layer of stand-off armor, usually a high resistant ballistic rubber-like material, to act as spaced armour around the top of the hull sides and around the turret.

According to Russian sources, the vehicles repaired as of November 2023 are equipped with attachments to install additional protection kits.

Trailer 🎬 👉 youtu.be/sgtpBrDLSIQ

🔸Capable ( Kaabil 2017 ) India ⭐7.3/10 - 76% Liked.

🔸Director: .................... Sanjay Gupta

🔸Cast: .......................... Hrithik Roshan, Yami Gautam, Ronit Roy

🔸Runtime: ................... 2h 19min

🔸Genre: ....................... Action | Drama | Romance | Thriller

🔸Rated: ........................ NR

🔸Country: .................... India

🔸Language: ................. Hindi

🔸Studio: ....................... Film Kraft

🔸Budget: ..................... $14 million

🔸Synopsis: A blind man goes out for revenge for the murder of his wife by two evil brothers.

As time progressed, smartphones became more and more capable on the photographic side. And actual top models can really surprise delivering better results and capabilities than small sensor compact cameras. The P10 uses the most capable twin camera with Leica optics and two sensors combining data into one image. The pixels are still very small and the focal length sometimes a bit limiting, but the focusing is very fast, dynamic range is surprisingly good, and the level of details impressive especially in DNG. Finally a smartphone, which produces images usable for more than showing on the screen, when the need is there.

SOL Austin: Net-Zero Capable

www.solaustin.com

Photos by DeLea Becker @ Beck-Reit and Sons, Ltd.

Beck-Reit and Sons Ltd., an Austin General Contractor, has been working on sustainable construction methods since they day we started building houses. Our desire to build a better house, led us to develop the SOL (Solutions Oriented Living) subdivision in East Austin. We partnered with local architect, KRDB, to design, develop and build a net-zero capable sub-division centered around a community of 40 modern homes. Thru passive design, efficient building envelope and solar power these homes can produce more energy than they consume. The homes have been rated 4-5 star by the Austin Energy Green Building Program. SOL Austin has received national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, Metro-Homes and DIY Network’s, This New House.

This 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom home has 1538 square feet. The Master Suite features a second story balcony, and the open living, dining, kitchen floor plan is ideal for entertaining.

Hmm..... Well my brain works a little differently to most.. It's childlike!

My knowledge is small..but my imagination is MASSIVE!!

I spend time worrying about this..And about getting left behind!

Sometimes I wonder if I have enough skills. But I guess it all comes down to whether or not I am capable! And YES! I may be a little eccentric to some..But I'm a Mum (a fun one at that or so he always tells me!) I run my own little business and also do a small job on the side.. I look after my little family and furry friends and I try my best to spread sunshine wherever I go!

As for being left behind..Most of the time the world in my head is more fun anyway..

Feel free to come along!

Oh yeah but the picture... Is inspired by my Mum telling me as a child that she needed

to be an octopus to get EVERYTHING done..And my Mum is the most capable lady I know!

She says that the downside to being capable is that you will work HARD..

The more incapable you act the more people will do for you.

But I know full well that if she got to do it all again she wouldn't change a thing!

P.S.. I know it's a squid... My Jacob LOVES squids!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope it kinda makes sense!!??

SOL Austin: Net-Zero Capable

www.solaustin.com

Photos by DeLea Becker @ Beck-Reit and Sons, Ltd.

www.beckreit.com

Beck-Reit and Sons Ltd., an Austin General Contractor, has been working on sustainable construction methods since the day we started building houses. Our desire to build a better house led us to develop SOL (Solutions Oriented Living) subdivision in East Austin. We partnered with local architect, KRDB, to design, develop and build a net-zero capable sub-division centered around a community of 40 modern homes. Thru passive design, efficient building envelope and solar power these homes can produce more energy than they consume. The homes have been rated 4-5 star by the Austin Energy Green Building Program. SOL Austin has received national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, Metro-Homes, DIY Network’s "This New House", Builder Magazine, and Green Builder Magazine.

These electric multiple units using Fiat Ferroviaria's tilting train Pendolino technology and built by Alstom are based at Longsight TMD. Capable of 140mph, they have a service speed of 125mph. Fifty-three units were originally built between 2001 and 2004 for operation on the West Coast Main Line with the 8-car units all later lengthened to 9 cars, then an additional four trains and also a further 62 cars were built between 2009 and 2012. The trains of the original batch were the last to be assembled at Alstom's Washwood Heath plant, before its closure in 2005. The remaining trains in the fleet were built in Italy. This one is seen here at speed through Oxenholme - The Lake District, when working 1M12(VT) 11:40 Glasgow Central - London Euston, only a minute down, at 13:26, on 30/05/2014. Next stop would be Lancaster at 13:37. Out of the decent summer we've had, even by Northern standards, this was one of the dull days, which I find quite difficult for photography. Operating details taken from www.realtimetrains.co.uk. © Peter Steel 2014.

CA SEA OTTERS: MONTEREY BAY

The southern, or California, sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis) has been listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act since 1977. It belongs to the order Carnivora and the family Mustelidae. Two other otter subspecies are also recognized – E. lutris kenyoni, which is found from Oregon to Alaska, and E. lutris lutris, which inhabits parts of Russia and northern Japan. Sea otters are highly specialized marine mammals capable of living their entire lives without ever having to leave the ocean, have the densest fur of any mammal and are one of the few marine species to use tools. Sea otters are an apex predator of the near shore ecosystem. The species is considered a keystone species because of their critical importance to the health and stability of the near shore marine ecosystem. They are also considered a sentinel species because their health reflects that of California’s coastal oceans. The southern sea otter population has exhibited high levels of mortality in recent years. Scientists attribute up to 40 percent of southern sea otter mortality to infectious diseases alone, many of which are known to have anthropogenic causes and land-sea linkages. The single greatest threat to the sea otter is an oil spill. One large oil spill in central California could be catastrophic, with the potential of driving the entire southern sea otter population into extinction.

Description

The sea otter is one of the smallest marine mammals, but one of the largest members of the family Mustelidae, a group that includes skunks and weasels among others. Adult males reach an average length of 4.5 feet (1.4 m) with a typical weight between 50 and 100 lbs. (23 to 45 kg), while adult females reach an average length of 4 feet (1.2 m) and typically weigh 45 lbs. (20 kg). It has a highly buoyant, elongated body, blunt snout and small, wide head. Sea otters have an acute sense of smell and taste and have good vision both above and below the water surface. They also rely heavily on their sense of touch.

Sea otters exhibit numerous adaptations, which help them survive in their challenging marine environment. Long whiskers help them to detect vibrations in murky waters and sensitive forepaws, with retractable claws, help them to groom, locate and capture prey underwater, and use tools. When underwater, they can close their nostrils and small ears. The sea otter’s hind feet are webbed and flipper-like, and are used in conjunction with its lower body to propel the animal through the water. It has a long, flattened tail, which they use as a rudder and for added propulsion. Hearing is one sense that is not yet fully understood, although studies suggest they are particularly sensitive to high-frequency sounds. Their teeth are unique for a mammal in that they are blunt and designed for crushing, rather than being sharp for tearing like most marine mammals are equipped with.

With the exception of its nose and pads of its paws, the sea otter’s body is covered in dense fur. The fur consists of two layers. The short, brown under fur can be as dense as 1 million hairs per square inch, making its fur the densest of any mammal. By comparison, we only have about 100,000 hairs in total on our heads. A top layer of long, waterproof guard hairs helps to keep the under fur layer dry by keeping cold water away from the skin. The pelage is typically deep brown in color with silver-gray highlights, with the coloration of the head and neck being lighter than the body. Unlike other marine mammals, such as seals and sea lions, sea otters do not have any blubber, so they depend on this exceptionally thick, water-resistant fur to stay warm in the cold, coastal Pacific.

Range & Habitat

Historically, southern sea otters were present in coastal marine habitats from northern California to Baja California in Mexico. This range decreased significantly during the fur trade during the 18th and 19th centuries, with excessive hunting nearly driving the species into extinction by the early 1900s. The current range extends along the California coast from Half Moon Bay in the north to Santa Barbara in the south, though individuals are occasionally seen outside these limits. A small population of sea otters lives at San Nicolas Island as a result of translocation efforts initiated in 1987.

Sea otters are found in a variety of coastal marine habitats, including rocky shores and sea-bottoms, sandy sea-bottoms, as well as coastal wetlands. Sea otters naturally inhabit offshore areas with an abundance of food and kelp canopy. They tend to live in ocean depths shallower than 130 feet (40 m) with water temperatures ranging between 35°F and 60°F.

Behavior

Most of a sea otter’s life is spent at sea, though they do occasionally haul out on land, where they appear clumsy and walk with a rather awkward gait. They eat, sleep, mate and give birth in the water. Sea otters spend most of their time floating on their backs at the surface grooming, eating, resting, and diving for food on the seafloor. Sea otters are relatively slow swimmers, generally traveling at 3-5 mph (5-8 km/h). They typically swim belly-up on their backs, propelling themselves through the water using their webbed hind feet. If a faster speed is required, for instance when a male is patrolling it’s territory for competing males or when in hot pursuit of a sexually receptive female, it turns over onto its stomach and in addition to using its webbed hind feet, it undulates its entire body for greater propulsion and acceleration.

Sea otters groom themselves almost continuously while at the surface, a practice critical for maintaining the insulating and water repellant properties of their fur. Its pliable skeleton and loosely fitted skin allow the animal the flexibility to reach any part of its body. During a grooming bout, which generally occurs directly after a foraging bout (a period of time in which diving and eating takes place) or resting bout, the animal can be seen somersaulting, twisting and turning, and meticulously rubbing its fur at the water surface. This behavior not only cleans the fur, but also traps air bubbles against the skin within the millions of hairs of its pelage. This layer of entrapped air creates an insulating barrier (similar to that of a double-paned window), which prevents water from reaching the skin. Constant grooming is absolutely critical for their survival. If cold ocean water reaches their skin, it will immediately begin to draw heat out of the animal, which disrupts the animal’s ability to thermo regulate and will ultimately lead to hypothermia and death.

Sea otters often rest together in single-sex groups called rafts. They are known to wrap themselves up in kelp to keep from drifting out to sea. While resting at the surface, a sea otter will often times hold its forepaws above the water surface and fold its hind feet up onto to its torso to help conserve heat.

With the exception of territorial males, who have the privilege of living among females, males and females tend to live in separate groups. The center of the sea otter range is predominately occupied by females (of all ages) and territorial males, as well as some dependent pups and recently weaned juvenile males. The northern and southern edges of the range are largely male dominated areas; consisting of juvenile, sub adult and adult males. Numbers in these male areas tend to increase in winter and spring because there are fewer mating opportunities with sexually receptive females during this time of the year.

Females generally have small home territories while many adult males hold larger aquatic territories consisting of several adult females. Bachelor males (animals who are either to young or too old to defend their own territories) reside in the large male-only groups at either end of the range. Males travel much greater distances throughout the range than females, typically making seasonal treks of up to 200 miles between the months of June and November when the highest proportion of females are in estrous. On any given day though, males tend to remain in the same general location, moving only a mile or two along the coastline. Females, on the other hand, are sedentary by nature, generally staying within 10 – 20 miles of their home ranges. Their home ranges are smaller because they have higher metabolic costs while pregnant and raising their pup.

Sea otters are equally active both night and day. A foraging bout occurs for several hours in the morning, typically starting just before sunrise. A second foraging bout begins in the afternoon, usually lasting for several hours until sunset. A grooming bout occurs before and after each foraging bout and resting bout follows at midday, followed again by another grooming and resting bout. A third foraging bout may also occur around midnight.

Although difficult to hear from shore, sea otters exhibit a variety of vocal behaviors. Pups are the most vocal. A pup can be heard squealing when its mother leaves it to dive for food and often times when a male approaches. Their cry is similar to that of a gull. Other vocalizations include: coos and grunts, which occur when an animal is eating or when content, as in the case of a pair-bonded couple during courtship; whines occur when an animal is frustrated, as in the case of an older pup wanting to suckle or an adult male attempting to mate with an uninterested female; growls, snarls, whistles and hisses can be heard when an animal is frightened or distressed, as in the case of a captured otter.

Food & Foraging

An otter must consume approximately 25% of its bodyweight in prey each day just to stay alive! A 75-pound otter can eat up to 1,500 sea urchins a day, or about 25 pounds of seafood (for a 75 pound kid, that would amount to eating 75 quarter pound hamburgers every day!). To meet its high energetic and thermoregulation demands, a sea otter’s metabolic rate is 2 to 3 times that of comparatively sized mammals. Sea otters consume a wide variety of benthic invertebrates. Prey items include sea urchins, abalone, crabs, mussels, clams, marine snails, marine worms, sea stars, and squid. In total, otters eat at least 50 species of benthic (bottom-dwelling) invertebrates, although individuals tend to specialize on only a few main prey types. Prey specialization and feeding preferences are passed on from mother to pup.

The strong forelegs paws are used to locate and capture prey. Pockets of loose skin under each foreleg are used to store prey it has gathered on the seafloor for the ascent to the surface. Rocks are often used as tools to dislodge prey on the sea floor and to break open the hard outer shells of some prey items upon returning to the surface. Floating belly-up in the water, they place rocks on their chests and repeatedly pound hard-shelled prey against them to gain access the meat inside. While eating, an otter will roll repeatedly in the water to wash away food scraps from its chest. Unlike most other marine mammals, sea otters commonly drink seawater. Although most of the animal’s water needs are met through the consumption of prey, its large kidneys allow it to extract fresh water from seawater.

Sea otters generally forage close to shore in depths shallower than 60 feet (18 m) but are capable of diving to depths of 300 feet (90 m) or more. With a relatively large lung capacity for it’s size, an otter can hold its breath for 5 minutes, but most dives are two minutes or less in duration. Source: www.seaotters.com

via Instagram bit.ly/2WpFWK2

The Focusun 10T sea water flake ice machine is capable of producing almost 10.000 KG of ice in just 24 hrs. The Chinese company produces high quality plants using only the best quality parts from world renowned companies. Focusun produces all its machines in Mainland China. Also in Focusun's long list of product catalog with different capacities include: Block Ice Machine, Tube Ice Plant, Cold Storage, Artificial Ice/Snow Maker, Cube Ice Machine, Plate Ice Plant, Ice Crushers, Ice Compactors, Water Cooling Systems, Ice Bagging Machines, Air Cooling Systems, Diesel Generators and more...

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The Al-Fateh Mosque (also known as Al-Fateh Islamic Center & Al Fateh Grand Mosque) is one of the largest mosques in the world, capable of accommodating over 7,000 worshippers at a time. The mosque is the largest place of worship in Bahrain. The huge dome built on top of the Al-Fatih Mosque is made of pure fiberglass. the dome is currently the worlds largest fibreglass dome. The mosque was built by the late Sheikh Isa ibn Salman Al Khalifa in 1987. It is named after Ahmed Al Fateh, the conqueror of Bahrain. Besides being a place of Islamic worship, the mosque is one of the prime tourist attractions in

Bahrain; attracting tourists from all over the world of all communities.

SOL Austin: Net-Zero Capable

www.solaustin.com

Photos by DeLea Becker @ Beck-Reit and Sons, Ltd.

www.beckreit.com

Beck-Reit and Sons Ltd., an Austin General Contractor, has been working on sustainable construction methods since the day we started building houses. Our desire to build a better house led us to develop SOL (Solutions Oriented Living) subdivision in East Austin. We partnered with local architect, KRDB, to design, develop and build a net-zero capable sub-division centered around a community of 40 modern homes. Thru passive design, efficient building envelope and solar power these homes can produce more energy than they consume. The homes have been rated 4-5 star by the Austin Energy Green Building Program. SOL Austin has received national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, Metro-Homes, DIY Network’s "This New House", Builder Magazine, and Green Builder Magazine.

Capable of In-Flight Aerial Refueling.

I was attached to Attack Squadron 35, "The Black Panthers" ie-VA-35 based out of NAS Oceana, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Deployed onboard USS Theodore Roosevelt-CVN-71,

USS Saratoga-CV-60

a view from slightly above ...

Cusyomized VW Beetle ' Baja ' style -

Dune Buggy .. Off road capable ..

Guildford - Surrey -UK

Better writing and coverage than I am capable of here:

ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2012/03/pet-rocks/holmes-text

When we stopped so I could shoot this a pretty good sized critter went loping across the field. I immediately thought it was a coyote, and had I not been able to zoom in I'd have lived happily with that conclusion. However, I was able to zoom in a good bit and to my surprise I was looking at a monstrous Jackrabbit. Monstrous. I couldn't even believe it. The photo of the rock turned out better.

Capable of 100 mph and built in 2000 in Zaragoza, Spain to replace Class 308 units on the Wharfedale and Airedale routes. Seen departing from Keighley heading for Leeds on 29/10/2017. It's starting station was Skipton. © Peter Steel 2017.

During World War II, both Great Britain and Germany had experimented with very large glider designs (the Hamlicar and Gigant, respectively) capable of carrying tanks. Though glider assaults had varied results during the war, the US Air Force briefly considered resurrecting the idea in 1948, and commissioned Chase Aircraft to build a large glider, the XCG-20 Avitruc. The XCG-20 was of all-metal construction, with a fully-equipped flight deck and a rear-mounted loading ramp for vehicles to be driven directly into the fuselage. The USAF abandoned the idea of glider assaults soon after the first XCG-20 was completed, but Chase had anticipated this: through the simple installation of two propeller-driven engines, the XCG-20 became the XC-123. This itself was considered only an interim design, as the XC-123A had four turbojet engines, becoming the first all-jet transport aircraft.

The USAF rejected the XC-123A, as it was found to have poor performance and short range, owing to the thirsty jets of the early 1950s. However, the piston-engined XC-123 showed promise, and the USAF ordered it into production in 1953. Production was delayed due to Chase Aircraft being acquired by Kaiser, who in turn sold the design to Fairchild Aircraft, who would produce it as the C-123B Provider.

The C-123 was considered a supplemental aircraft to the C-119 Flying Boxcar already in service and the soon-to-be-deployed C-130 Hercules. It had better single-engine performance than the C-119, and acquired a reputation for reliability, rugged design, simple maintenance, and the ability to land almost anywhere. A small number were converted to C-123J standard, with ski landing gear for operations in Antarctica and Greenland, and experiments were even made to convert it to an amphibian. Nevertheless, the number of C-123s in service were small compared to other types, and the C-130 began replacing it beginning in 1958.

As the United States involved itself more in the Vietnam War, one major advantage of its Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army adversaries was the very jungle of Vietnam itself, which provided ready-made cover and camouflage from American air units. In an attempt to deprive the VC/NVA of jungle cover in known concentration areas, the USAF converted a number of C-123s to UC-123 standard, with spraying equipment for the pesticide Agent Orange. Under Operation Ranch Hand, UC-123s were among the first USAF aircraft deployed to Vietnam, and the first USAF aircraft lost in combat was a UC-123B. Spraying Agent Orange was very dangerous work, as it involved flying low and slow over hostile territory; it would not be until after the Vietnam War was over that it was learned that Agent Orange, used in the concentrated quantity employed in Vietnam, was also a deadly carcinogenic.

Besides their controversial employment as defoilant sprayers, standard C-123s were used as transports and Candlestick flareships, as the C-130 demand was exceeding supply, and the US Army’s CV-2 (later C-8) Caribous were proving the worth of a short-takeoff and landing transport. To improve the Provider’s performance in the “hot and high” conditions of Vietnam, two J85 turbojets were added beneath the wings of the C-123K variant, which became the final Provider variant and the main type used in Vietnam. CIA-flown Providers were used by Air America to clandestinely supply friendly Hmong tribes in Laos and in Cambodia. 54 C-123s were lost in Vietnam, second only to the C-130.

Following the end of American involvement in Vietnam, the C-123Ks were either handed over to South Vietnam or relegated to USAF Reserve and Air National Guard units, from which they were finally withdrawn around 1980. A few UC-123Ks were used to spray insecticides in Alaska and Guam as late as 1982. 11 other air forces used Providers, and the last C-123s were retired from the South Korean Air Force in 2001. 27 are preserved as museum pieces and a few remain in revenue service as “bush” aircraft in Alaska and elsewhere; remaining aircraft in storage were scrapped due to Agent Orange contamination.

Occasionally researching aircraft histories is an exercise in frustration, and this C-123K, 54-0659, is one of them. It was originally built as a C-123B and later upgraded to a C-123K--it may have flown in Vietnam, though strictly as a transport rather than a UC-123K sprayer, which is why it hasn't been scrapped. It was retired in 1981 (making it one of the final C-123s to leave service) and flown to MASDC in Arizona for storage. In 1989, 54-0659 was reactivated and flew with the US State Department as a general transport aircraft until 1991, when it was donated to Peru; there, it flew with the Peruvian National Police.

As the Providers were getting very old by the 1990s, 54-0659 was retired in 1994 and returned to Arizona. Two years later, it was reserved for the Pima Air and Space Museum for display, but as Pima already had a C-123, the aircraft was dropped in 2001. It was towed over to Aircraft Restoration and Marketing for scrap, but in 2003 54-0659 got another extension on life: it was picked up by a private owner and became N123KJ. However, it has not left ARM, and as of June 2024, remains there. In theory, the aircraft is still flyable, but would need some work to become airworthy again.

This was the first aircraft I photographed on the Boneyard Safari tour in June 2024; even though it was still fairly early in the morning, it was very hot (notice everyone else standing in the shade). I quickly found out that I'm not acclimated to an Arizona summer...

I'm glad we brought Kari's vehicle. It's been very comfortable and capable.

derek.broox.com/photos/colorado-cabin-quarantine/38851/

a funny piece. very capable tho. ciderrrrrrr!!!!!

The RF-86F filled an important gap until more capable reconnaissance aircraft became available. The Sabre, originally built as a day fighter, was first modified for reconnaissance during the Korean War. USAF personnel custom-fitted cameras to about a dozen F-86 fighters (known as "Honeybuckets" or "Ashtrays") to replace the slower RF-80 for missions in northwestern North Korea -- "MiG Alley" -- and into Manchuria.

After the Korean War, a handful of F-86Fs received more capable cameras under Project Haymaker. In order to fit the film magazines for the vertically mounted cameras, the aircraft acquired a distinctive bulge on both sides of the forward fuselage. The armament was removed to allow for the cameras, and the RF-86F "Haymakers" had painted-on gun ports to appear as if they were armed.

In March 1954 the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron deployed to Komaki Air Base, Japan, receiving eight newly-modified "Haymakers." With these aircraft, they secretly overflew Soviet, North Korean and communist Chinese territory in the mid-1950s.

The RF-86F "Haymaker" on display (S/N 52-4492) participated in these critical overflight missions. It was transferred to the South Korean air force (ROKAF) in 1958, which flew it into the 1980s. Arriving at the museum in 1998 for restoration, it was placed on display in 2005. It is marked as it appeared while assigned to the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron.

TECHNICAL NOTES:

Engine: 5,910-lbs. thrust J47-GE-27 jet engine

Maximum speed: Approx. 650 mph

Range: Approx. 1,900 miles

Ceiling: 54,000 ft.

Serial number: 52-4492