Complexities in Color No1

by Rosemary Pierce-Lackey

original sculptural painting

Incredible dimension and detail.

Please visit my website at www.RosemaryPierce-Lackey.com for more photos and other available artwork.

Thanks so much!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

The A-14 program originally started in 2005 as a private venture, initiated by Northrop-Grumman together with the Elbit Group as a joint venture through Elbit’s Texas-based aircraft division M7 Aerosystems, an approved supplier to major aerospace clients. The aircraft was intended to replace the USAF’s A-10 attack aircraft as well as early F-16s in the strike role from 2010 onwards. The time slot for the project turned out to be advantageous, because at that time the USAF was contemplating to replace the simple and sturdy A-10 with the much more complex F-35, eventually even with its VTOL variant, and the highly specialized F-117 was retired, too.

The A-14 revived conceptual elements of Grumman’s stillborn A-12 stealth program for the US Navy, which had also been part of the USAF’s plans to replace the supersonic F-111 tactical bomber, but on a less ambitious and expensive level concerning technology, aiming for a more effective compromise between complexity, survivability and costs. The basic idea was an updated LTV A-7D (the A-10’s predecessor from the Vietnam War era), which had far more sophisticated sensor and navigation equipment than the rather simple but sturdy A-10, but with pragmatic stealth features and a high level of survivability in a modern frontline theatre or operations.

Since the A-14’s technology was considered to be too critical to be marketed to export customers (Israel showed early interest in the aircraft, as well as South Korea), the program was cancelled in 2016.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (pilot, WSO)

Length: 54 ft 11 1/2 in (16.78 m)

Wingspan: 62 ft 11 1/2 in (19.22 m)

Height: 11 ft 3 3/4 in (3.45 m)

Wing area: 374.9 ft² (117.5 m²)

Empty weight: 24,959 lb (11,321 kg)

Loaded weight: 30,384 lb (13,782 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 50,000 lb (22,700 kg)

Internal fuel capacity: 11,000 lb (4,990 kg)

Powerplant:

2× General Electric Whitney F412-GE-114 non-afterburning turbofans

with 12,000 lbf (53 kN) thrust each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 630 mph (1,010 km/h, 550 kn) at 40,000 ft altitude /

Mach 0.95 at sea level

Cruise speed: 560 mph (900 km/h, 487 kn) at 40,000 ft altitude

Range: 1,089 nmi (1,253 mi, 2,017 km)

Ferry range: 1,800 nmi (2,100 mi, 3,300 km)

Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,200 m)

Rate of climb: 50,000 ft/min (250 m/s)

Wing loading: 133 lb/ft² (193 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.48 (full internal fuel, no stores)

Take-off run: 1,200 m (3,930 ft) at 42,000 lb (19,000 kg) over a 15 m (30 ft) obstacle

Armament:

1× General Dynamics GAU-12/U Equalizer 25 mm (0.984 in) 5-barreled rotary cannon

with 1,200 rounds (max. capacity 1,350 rounds)

4x internal weapon bays plus 4x external optional hardpoints with a total capacity of

15,000 lb (6,800 kg) and provisions to carry/deploy a wide range of ordnance

The kit and its assembly:

A major kitbashing project which I had on my idea list for a long time and its main ingredients/body donors already stashed away – but, as with many rather intimidating builds, it takes some external motivation to finally tackle the idea and bring it into hardware form. This came in August 2020 with the “Prototypes” group build at whatifmodellers.com, even though is still took some time to find the courage and mojo to start.

The original inspiration was the idea of a stealthy successor for the A-10, or a kind of more modern A-7 as an alternative to the omnipresent (and rather boring, IMHO) F-35. An early “ingredient” became the fuselage of a Zvezda Ka-58 stealth helicopter kit – I liked the edgy shape, the crocodile-like silhouette and the spacious side-by-side cockpit. Adding wings, however, was more challenging, and I remembered a 1:200 B-2A which I had turned into a light Swedish 1:72 attack stealth aircraft. Why not use another B-2 for the wings and the engines, but this time a bigger 1:144 model that would better match the quite bulbous Ka-58 fuselage? This donor became an Italeri kit.

Work started with the fuselage: the Ka-58’s engine and gearbox hump had to go first and a generous, new dorsal section had to be scratched with 1mm styrene sheet and some PSR. The cockpit and its glazing could be retained and were taken OOB. Under the nose, the Ka-58’s gun turret was omitted and a scratched front landing gear well was implanted instead.

The wings consist of the B-2 model; the lower “fuselage half” had its front end cut away, then the upper fuselage half of the Ka-58 was used as benchmark to cut the B-2’s upper wing/body part in two outer wing panels. Once these elements had been glued together, the Ka-58’s lower nose and tail section were tailored to match the B-2 parts. The B-2 engine bays were taken OOB and mounted next, so that the A-14’s basic hull was complete and the first major PSR session could start. Blending the parts into each other turned out to be a tedious process, since some 2-3 mm wide gaps had to be filled.

Once the basic BWP pack had been finished, I added the fins. These were taken from an 1:72 F-117 kit (IIRC from Italeri), which I had bought in a lot many moons ago. The fins were just adapted at their base to match the tail sting slope, and they were mounted in a 45° angle. This looks very F-117ish but was IMHO the most plausible solution.

Now that the overall length of the aircraft was defined, I could work on the final major assembly part: the wing tips. The 1:144 B-2 came with separate wing tip sections, but they proved to be much too long for the Squatina. After some trials I reduced their length by more than half, so that the B-2’s jagged wing trailing edge was kept. The result looks quite natural, even though blending the cut wing tips to the BWB turned out to be a PSR nightmare because their thickness reduces gently towards the tip – since I took out a good part of the inner section, the resulting step had to be sanded away and hidden with more PSR.

Detail work started next, including the cockpit glazing, the bomb bay (the B-2 kit comes with one of its bays open, and I kept this detail and modified the interior) and the landing gear, the latter was taken from the F-117 donor bank and fitted surprisingly well.

Some sensors were added, too, including a flat glass panel on the nose tip and a triangular IRST fairing under the nose, next to the landing gear well.

Painting and markings:

For a stealth aircraft and a prototype I wanted something subdued or murky, but not an all-black or -grey livery. I eventually settled for the rather dark paint scheme that the USAF applied to its late B-52Gs and the B-1Bs, which consists of two tones from above, FS 36081 (Dark Grey, a.k.a. Dark Gunship Grey) and 34086 (Green Drab), and underneath (FS 36081 and 36118 (Gunship Grey). The irregular pattern was adapted (in a rather liberal fashion) from the USAF’s early B-1Bs, using Humbrol 32, 108 and 125 as basic colors. The 108 turned out to be too bright, so I toned it down with an additional coat of thinned Humbrol 66. While this considerably reduced the contrast between the green and the grey, the combination looks much better and B-1B-esque.

The wings’ leading edges were painted for more contrast with a greyish black (Tar Black, Revell 09), while the landing gear, the interior of the air intakes and the open bomb bay became glossy white. The cockpit was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140) and the clear parts received a thinned inner coating with a mix of transparent yellow and brown, simulating an anti-radar coating – even though the effect turned out to be minimal, now it looks as of the plastic parts had just yellowed from age…

After the initial livery had been finished the model received a black ink washing and some post-panel shading with slightly brightened variations of the basic tones (using Humbrol 79, 144 and 224). Decals were added next, an individual mix from various sources. The “Stars-and-Bars” come from a PrintScale A-7 sheet, most stencils come from an F-16 sheet.

After some more detail painting and a treatment with graphite on the metal areas (exhausts, gun port), the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

Batman’s next Batwing? Maybe, there’s certainly something fictional about this creation. But the “Squatina” turned out much more conclusive (and even pretty!) than I expected, even though it became a bigger aircraft than intended. And I am positively surprised how good the bodywork became – after all, lots of putty had to be used to fill all the gaps between parts that no one ever expected to be grafted together.

Ballpoint pen ink on playing cards

ATC No. 20 and 21

"Simple complexity! & "Complex Simplicity"

Peace and Noise!

MushroomBrain the organic art-machine

Photo captured via Minolta MD Rokkor-X 85mm F/1.7 lens. Spokane Indian Reservation. Selkirk Mountains Range. Okanogan-Colville Xeric Valleys and Foothills section within the Northern Rockies Region. Inland Northwest. Stevens County, Washington. Early October 2020.

Exposure Time: 1/6 sec. * ISO Speed: ISO-100 * Aperture: F/11 * Bracketing: None * Color Temperature: 4700 K * Film Plug-In: Fuji Provia 100F * Filter: Hoya HMC CIR-PL (⌀55mm) * Elevation: 2,520 feet above sea-level

My photographs are my private property and are copyright © by me, John Russell (aka “Zoom Lens”) and all my rights are reserved. Any use without permission is forbidden.

.

The photographs in my set, "Weed Flower Micros," may appear to be close-ups of regular-sized flowers – they are not!

These are micro (macro) photos of tiny little flowers which bloom on ordinary weeds found in my lawn.

How tiny? The largest weed flower in the set is only, when measured across its widest part from petal tip to petal tip, 3/4" in diameter (19mm)!

Some of these miniscule flowers are so small that the entire blossom you are looking at is 1/4" in diameter (6mm)…or smaller! Again, that’s measuring from petal tip to petal tip across the widest part of the bloom!

The smallest part of a weed flower that I have managed to successfully shoot and achieve good detail in is a photo I made of a bud that measured LESS than 1/32" in diameter (0.7mm) across its widest part!

For size references I have included a photo of certain flowers and buds next to the head of an ordinary paper match, which dwarfs the blooms and buds.

It’s delightful to discover the beauty, complexity, and variety in something so small that it’s easily ignored, taken for granted, dismissed as a pest, or just downright difficult to see with the naked eye.

And it’s an even greater delight to realize that this incredible beauty has been growing wild in my lawn, year after year, right under my un-seeing eyes as I’ve repeatedly mown them down with my lawn mower, never realizing the unseen beauty that I was trampling under my feet.

I hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I do. I have a lot of fun making them for us to look at!

.

See more of these incredible, tiny jewels in my set, "Weed Flower Micros:"

www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157626023965740/

(Medical Xpress)—The human brain's exquisite complexity and power make it a unique evolutionary marvel. One of the brain's more interesting abilities is known as the placebo effect, in which no more than the expectation of relief can lead to analgesia – the relief of pain, anxiety, depression, nausea, and many other aversive states. However, scientists at University of Gothenburg and University of Oslo recently showed that the placebo effect may not be limited to pain reduction, but may also enhance pleasure, or hyperhedonia. The researchers used the placebo effect to improve both painful and pleasant touch sensations in healthy humans – and by comparing brain processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), found that, depending on whether the starting point was painful or pleasant, neurocircuitry associated with emotion and reward underpinned improvement of both pain and pleasant touch by dampening pain but increasing touch pleasantness.

In an interview with Medical Xpress, PhD candidate Dan-Mikael Ellingsen discussed the paper he and his colleagues published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "In recent years, functional brain imaging studies have shown that expecting a treatment to relieve negative symptoms – like pain, anxiety or unpleasant taste – leads to not only subjective reports of relief, but also suppressed brain activity in sensory circuitry during aversive stimuli, such as noxious heat or touch, threatening images, and unpleasant taste," Ellingsen tells Medical Xpress. "However, both aversive and appetitive experiences – for example, tasty food or a pleasant touch – are affected by context and expectation." Therefore, Ellingsen explains, in forming their hypothesis for this study, the researchers asked whether improvement of good experiences is encoded entirely in higher-level valuation processing, or whether it would mirror the modulation of early stages of sensory processing that is seen for aversive stimuli. "If so, we'd expect such positive sensory signals to be up-regulated, in contrast to the down-regulation of sensory signals we see during placebo-induced reduction of aversive experiences."

In the placebo manipulation procedure, participants were shown a short video documentary convincing them that a nasal spray containing the neuropeptide oxytocin would reduce pain and enhance the pleasantness of pleasant touch. Following this video, they self-administered 10 puffs of a placebo nasal that they were told could contain oxytocin. The pleasant touch stimuli consisted of caress-like light strokes with a soft brush, or a hot/cold pack (resembling a warm hand, applied to the subject's forearm. The pain stimulus was a thermode (~47 degrees Celsius) on the hand.

Ellingsen notes that by comparing brain activation during painful or pleasant touch stimuli after placebo treatment versus no-placebo, the scientists were able to assess differences in activation that was specifically related to having received placebo treatment. "Importantly, the subjective reports showed that, after receiving placebo relative to no-placebo, touch pleasantness was increased while pain unpleasantness was decreased," he adds. "When contrasting placebo and no-placebo on brain activation, we found that sensory activation was increased during pleasant touch stimuli and decreased during painful touch stimuli. In other words, the placebo-induced change in sensory processing reflected the placebo-induced change in subjective reports."

The team also hypothesized that placebo improvement of pleasant touch would recruit the same emotion appraisal neurocircuitry that underpins placebo analgesia. "Neural systems mediating pain and pleasure interact extensively, with pain and pleasure often being mutually inhibitory," Ellingsen says. "For instance," he illustrates, "pleasant stimuli such as music, food, odors, and touch can have analgesic effects – and pain can inhibit pleasure and positive feelings. Further, opioids can induce both potent analgesia and feelings of pleasure." (An opioid is any psychoactive chemical that resembles morphine or other opiate in its pharmacological effects.) Ellingsen points out that previous findings show that relief from pain induces pleasant feelings1,2, and when a normally painful stimulus represents the best possible outcome – that is, when the alternative is even more intense pain3 – it can even become pleasant.

Ellingsen explains that a central element in all placebo effects is that there is an expectation or desire for an improvement, for example, a relief of pain or unpleasantness – and placebo effects have been theorized to arise from a generalized mechanism of reward prediction. This reasoning, he notes, is supported by evidence that placebo responses across modalities – analgesia6, anxiety relief7, and so on – rely on activation of similar neural systems involved in reward and emotion. "In line with this strong link between pleasure and the relief from negative feelings, we hypothesized that improving the pleasantness of an appetitive stimulus would rely on modulatory mechanisms similar to those involved in the improvement of aversive feelings."

A key aspect of the team's research was devising and applying an fMRI crossover study to compare neural processing of placebo hyperhedonia and analgesia. "In order to compare the brain mechanisms of placebo hyperhedonia and analgesia, we assessed the effect of placebo treatment on subjective experiences within the same sensory modality – namely, touch, both pleasant and painful."

A key aspect of the study's analytic design was based on the researchers' knowledge that all dermal information is processed in the same neural pathways – specifically, the sensory thalamus, primary and secondary somatosensory areas, and the posterior insula. "As a result," Ellingsen points out, "we were able to perform two important measurements: we directly compared how expectation of improvement affected the processing of positive and negative somatosensory signals in these pathways, and investigated the effect of higher-level modulatory circuitry on sensory processing of pleasant or painful touch."

Proposed mechanism of placebo analgesia and hyperhedonia. During expectation of hyperhedonia and analgesia, a shared modulatory network up-regulates pleasant touch processing and down-regulates painful touch processing in somatosensory areas, …more

Another factor the scientists had to consider was that the use of subjective rating scales varies widely between individuals (as opposed to a single individual's typical consistency). As a result, these scales are significantly better at detecting changes between placebo and no-placebo within individuals rather than between one group who received placebo and another that received no placebo. "Consequently," Ellingsen explains, "such a design has superior statistical power – that is, a greater ability to detect a true effect."

Further, the potential benefit of a crossover design can be found when the order of treatment – specifically, placebo or no-placebo first – is considered, since it may potentially affect responses. "To control for this potential confounder," notes Ellingsen, "we used a crossover design, that is, half of the subjects got placebo in the first session, and the other half got placebo in the last session." However, he adds, in the analyses they performed, they found that the treatment order had no effect on either subjective placebo improvement or brain activation.

"To our knowledge," Ellingsen continues, "our study is the first to investigate placebo improvement of pleasurable feelings. By directly comparing this effect with the more well-known placebo analgesia effect, we were able to identify both the differences and a potential shared mechanism of these two types of improvement: People with stronger placebo-induced increases in functional coupling between ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and subcortical structures (PAG) reported greater placebo hyperhedonia and analgesia, and had greater analgesic decreases and hyperhedonic increases in somatosensory processing."

Ellingsen says that this finding suggests that endogenous improvement of positive and negative feelings are tightly coupled. "Interestingly, we saw that people with the greatest placebo hyperhedonia responses also had the greatest placebo analgesia responses. Overall, the results provide a piece of the puzzle of how positive expectations affect both positive and negative feelings."

Expanding on the team's findings, Ellingsen describes how the researchers first observed that placebo hyperhedonia was associated with increased activation of a number of cortical and subcortical areas important for placebo analgesia – namely, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, accumbens, amygdala, and the midbrain structures periaqueductal grey and the ventral tegmental area. Not only was there increased activation in these areas after placebo administration compared to no-placebo, Ellingsen adds, but the amount of increase was positively correlated to the magnitude of the reported improvement: Those with largest placebo-induced hyperhedonia and analgesia had the highest placebo-induced activation in these areas. Moreover, those with largest placebo hyperhedonia and analgesia also had the strongest placebo-induced increase in functional connectivity within this circuitry, a measure of how much these areas communicate with each other. "Although our findings show similar patterns of activation between placebo hyperhedonia and analgesia, it's important to point out that they weren't identical. There are likely to be fine-grained differences between these processes within this circuitry that were not identified by this study."

Ellingsen stresses that an important mechanism in placebo analgesia – one that has been replicated several times – is the engagement of the opioid descending modulatory system, which consists of vmPFC, amygdala, and PAG. "When treated with a placebo that is expected to have analgesic effects," Ellingsen explains, "activation of this system suppresses nociceptive" (the neural processes of encoding and processing noxious or painful stimuli) "signaling both in the brain and – since the PAG has descending connections through the rostroventral medulla, RVM, to the spinal dorsal horn, where it can modulate incoming nociceptive signals – at the spinal cord level." Importantly, he notes, placebo analgesia and the activation of this system are reversed when the individual is given the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone, indicating that this mechanism is dependent on opioid signaling.

To ask whether this system is involved also in placebo improvement of pleasantness, we assessed the relationship between 1) the placebo-induced change in functional connectivity between the vmPFC and PAG, and 2) placebo-induced change in sensory processing. Strikingly, we found that the co-activation of vmPFC and PAG was related to opposite effects during placebo hyperhedonia and analgesia: During pain, those with strongest increases in functional coupling had the largest decreases in sensory processing, while during pleasant touch, those with strongest functional coupling had the largest sensory increases. We are now planning to investigate whether placebo hyperhedonia, like (most) placebo analgesia, depends on opioid signaling.

Moving forward, Ellingsen says, their study opens up several important questions for future studies:

Does placebo hyperhedonia, similar to analgesia, rely on opioid or dopamine signaling?

Could expectation of hyperhedonia alone have analgesic effects – and vice versa?

Could including information about potential hyperhedonic effects actually boost treatment effects of analgesic drugs?

What is the exact mechanism of the up-regulation of sensory processing in placebo hyperhedonia? Is it entirely central in its action, or could it involve descending facilitation of touch processing at the spinal cord level, which is a component in placebo analgesia4 and nocebo hyperalgesia5?

(A nocebo – the opposite of a placebo – is a harmless substance that creates detrimental effects in a patient who takes it. Likewise, the nocebo effect is the negative expectation-based reaction experienced by a patient who receives a nocebo.)

Regarding other areas of research that might benefit from their study, Ellingsen cites a growing recognition that health care systems need to be remodeled to target placebo mechanisms – and to do so by altering expectations, motivation, treatment context, and the therapist-patient relationship. "In most medical settings, however, the focus is to ease negative symptoms – to relieve pain, nausea, or discomfort – but to attain positive feelings, people have to seek elsewhere, despite our knowledge that positive experiences, like captivating music, pleasant odors, beautiful pictures, pleasant touch, and support from people we care about, can have potent analgesic effects."

If the tightly-coupling expectations of improvement in pleasurable and painful feelings suggested by their results interact in the clinical setting, Ellingsen believes it to be very likely that increasing the focus on positive appetitive effects of medical care (increased life quality, regained ability to enjoy pleasures, and the like) may have potent effects on the relief of negative symptoms. "In general," he concludes, "our findings shed some light on the complex relationship between positive feelings, negative feelings and expectation in the context of medical treatment. We believe our findings are relevant to the field of medical research in general, and promote widening the scope of medical research to improvement of positive experiences and pleasure."

Explore further: Intranasal application of hormone appears to enhance placebo response

More information: Placebo improves pleasure and pain through opposite modulation of sensory processing, PNAS Published online before print October 14, 2013, doi:10.1073/pnas.1305050110

Related:

1Relief as a Reward: Hedonic and Neural Responses to Safety from Pain, PLoS ONE 6(4): e17870. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017870

2Opponent appetitive-aversive neural processes underlie predictive learning of pain relief, Nature Neuroscience 8, 1234-1240 (2005),

doi:10.1038/nn1527

3The importance of context: When relative relief renders pain

Pleasant, Pain 2013 Mar;154(3):402-10, doi:10.1016/j.pain.2012.11.018

4Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia, Science 16 October 2009: Vol. 326 no. 5951 p. 404, doi:10.1126/science.1180142

5Facilitation of Pain in the Human Spinal Cord by Nocebo Treatment, The Journal of Neuroscience, 21 August 2013, 33(34): 13784-13790; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2191-13.2013

6Placebo-induced changes in FMRI in the anticipation and experience of pain, Science, 303(5661): 1162-1167 (2004), doi:10.1126/science.1093065

7Placebo in emotional processing—induced expectations of anxiety relief activate a generalized modulatory network, Neuron, 46(6), 957-969 (2005), doi:10.1016/j.neuron.2005.05.023

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences PLoS ONE Nature Neuroscience Pain Science Journal of Neuroscience Neuron

view popular

Toujours ces roseaux.

© Tatiana Plakhova 2010 all rights reserved.

Buy print: www.bza.co/product.php?artwork_id=41005

www.behance.net/TatianaPlakhova

www.colouratelier.ru

Daughter and I went for a trip over sea; all the way to the Isle of Wight. Cowes to be precise. The great weather and the fact the Cowes week Yachties had gone home, made for a very pleasant sojourn.

The Earl of Pembroke, a wooden barque/tall ship was in port, which of course provided ample photographic material. The crew were busy making sure she was shipshape and Bristol fashion!

I may use this shot for the CC competition on the 'complexity.'

A few more 'Cowes' photos will appear HERE.

Ironically, I'm finding it far from simple to explain this picture. In short, I find it fascinating that the simple sound "om" or "aum" (which is the symbol in this picture) has such a complex meaning; not only in general, but also for me personally. To me this photo illustrates that juxtaposition of complexity and simplicity in a way which I can't figure out how to explain properly

(Before anyone comments on this, I am aware that the symbol is missing a dot. I somehow forgot it when I was drawing it and didn't realize it was missing until the photo had already been edited)

Theme 1/31: Simplicity

Just another piece of the puzzle ;)

I am just bowled over by the complexity of a blossom when you get up close and personal. This bloom is a Yellow Salsify and is a rather pesky weed - especially if it gets in your lawn where you rarely see the blossoms. I found this one on a mountain side. The blossom is about two to three inches in diameter. (Best viewed large to see the detail.)

On the road from Londrina to Americana. Someplace in Paraná (the red-purplish soil gives that away, eh, Eric?) Iso 80, F2.8, 1/500, 28mm (eq), G15.

Model: Aubri

Location: St.Albert

********************

HIT THE 'L' KEY FOR A BETTER VIEW! Thanks for the favs and comments. Much Appreciated.

*********************

All of my photographs are under copyright ©. None of these photographs may be reproduced and/or used in any way without my permission. Just ask!

© VanveenJF Photography

My photographs are my private property and are copyright © by me, John Russell (aka “Zoom Lens”) and all my rights are reserved. Any use without permission is forbidden.

.

The photographs in my set, "Weed Flower Micros," may appear to be close-ups of regular-sized flowers – they are not!

These are micro (macro) photos of tiny little flowers which bloom on ordinary weeds found in my lawn.

How tiny? The largest weed flower in the set is only, when measured across its widest part from petal tip to petal tip, 3/4" in diameter (19mm)!

Some of these miniscule flowers are so small that the entire blossom you are looking at is 1/4" in diameter (6mm)…or smaller! Again, that’s measuring from petal tip to petal tip across the widest part of the bloom!

The smallest part of a weed flower that I have managed to successfully shoot and achieve good detail in is a photo I made of a bud that measured LESS than 1/32" in diameter (0.7mm) across its widest part!

For size references I have included a photo of certain flowers and buds next to the head of an ordinary paper match, which dwarfs the blooms and buds.

It’s delightful to discover the beauty, complexity, and variety in something so small that it’s easily ignored, taken for granted, dismissed as a pest, or just downright difficult to see with the naked eye.

And it’s an even greater delight to realize that this incredible beauty has been growing wild in my lawn, year after year, right under my un-seeing eyes as I’ve repeatedly mown them down with my lawn mower, never realizing the unseen beauty that I was trampling under my feet.

I hope you enjoy viewing these as much as I do. I have a lot of fun making them for us to look at!

.

See more of these incredible, tiny jewels in my set, "Weed Flower Micros:"

www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157626023965740/

And in my new set, “Weed Flower Micros – II:”

www.flickr.com/photos/motorpsiclist/sets/72157627844487270/

Laboratorios UMH_Orihuela

Architects: Subarquitectura+JMTorres Nadal

This is the roof of an small museum in Cartagena, Colombia. I envisioned from the start in BW, but the original orange light was quite pleasing too.

The Complexities of Self: Red Can Be White

Abstract Fine Art Photograph

Photographed, composed, and embodied by Sajid U.

📅 05 November 2025

Aspect Ratio 2:3

Where identity fractures and coalesces — a spectrum of contradictions painted in crimson and alabaster.

The self is fluid: what appears bold may conceal vulnerability, and what seems gentle may harbor strength. In this interplay, perception and reality weave an intricate dance.

I will always admire people who with few things can create beauty. In this case it's with concrete, steel and glass, creating this shopping mall, 'Vasco de Gama'.

Siempre admiraré esa gente que con pocas cosas consiguen crear belleza. En este caso es con hormigón, acero y vidrio, creando este centro comercial 'Vasco de Gama'.

Steam locomotive 734 is a decent sized engine with a lot of complex moving parts. She's now down for it's 1472 day inspection and the WMSR is working to get their C&O 2-6-6-2 engine up and running. I'm hopeful that 2019 will be the year that this actually happens as it's been promised for years now. Time will tell.

Frills and lace architecture

Lets learn to embrace the complexity of life

Complexity.

I realize this totally looks like the definition of overkill, but really it's not that heavily processed.. :) A little dark maybe?

Should be viewed large, on black.

Transfert de l'Airbus A380-841 F-WXXL Msn:002 au tarmac Nord du Musée Aéroscopia.

The complexities of China (as seen at Ningyuan in Tianjin).

People often ask me what I feel about China and I usually respond with some cookie cutter sort of answer like, “It’s fascinating, complex, confusing…” How can it not be? On the one hand, you have a nation with a rapidly expanding economy, moving forward (with construction, among other things) at a pace and scale never before seen in human history. China today seems to be like America at the turn of the 20th century: building the tallest buildings, (among the) fastest trains, biggest dams, etc. At times – well, almost always – it feels like a case of the blind leading the blind.

On one hand, while China is modernizing and trying to blaze new trails, we are reminded (almost daily, I’m afraid) by people like this who show how drastically far China still has to go. While the Chinese government is striving to be a global leader, the majority of Chinese still have a very local perspective and act as they have throughout the centuries.

The result? China interacts with the world and vice versa and sometimes people get caught with their pants down – literally, in this case – and there is a mental and psychological disconnect that will eventually need to be addressed.

When I saw this poor fellow a few days ago, my initial feeling was utter shock. (When I mention this to other people – Chinese included – they, too, seem aghast. These are Chinese who obviously deal with foreigners, though.) This is at a public park – with posted rules, including rule number seven which addresses not “relieving yourself, spitting,” etc. – in the heart of one of the largest cities in China.

I was just setting up to take a picture of a small cascade (manmade fall on a manmade hill) when I caught a streak of red against the green and brown background about 25 meters to the side of the fall on the trail where I had just walked no more than 5 minutes previously. I stopped in my tracks when I noticed he was wearing neither pants nor underwear. Not quite the sight I wanted to see.

I only photographed it to initiate a discussion (and also because a lot of folks would find it hard to believe otherwise). I’m glad the picture doesn’t have perfect clarity, yet is clear enough to make it obvious what he’s doing. I’m gladder yet that it’s not terribly vulgar, or else I wouldn’t post it. It’s enough that I had to endure seeing his privates; I doubt the world wants or needs to.

The shame of this is: there is one bathroom about 100 meters away from where this man copped a squat and a second one within a five minute leisurely walk. This happens quite often in my experience, but usually with parents and their children. (I often see mothers, fathers, grandparents holding a youngster over a wastebasket or letting them urinate on sidewalks – in front of placed like Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants that have public bathrooms.) Maybe I’ll understand one day (perhaps people here have ideas?), though if I never do understand it…it will probably reinforce my values.

So, let me know what you think…

The courtyard view of the walls shows the many different levels and styles of the structure. www.burg-eltz.de/

If you read the tag list, you might be wondering why I love this boy? Because despite all those negatives, he'll still do his damndest to fix you if you're broken, to make you smile if you are sad, and to sit next to you for as long as you need.

A solitary leaf caught my eye with its simplicity....and its complexity.

Better if viewed at the larger or original size.

Minamimagome Tokyo

Soon the buds will be breaking on the trees but there's still time to revel in the complexities of those bare branches which are actually anything but bare when you see all the colours and textures on them.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

The A-14 program originally started in 2005 as a private venture, initiated by Northrop-Grumman together with the Elbit Group as a joint venture through Elbit’s Texas-based aircraft division M7 Aerosystems, an approved supplier to major aerospace clients. The aircraft was intended to replace the USAF’s A-10 attack aircraft as well as early F-16s in the strike role from 2010 onwards. The time slot for the project turned out to be advantageous, because at that time the USAF was contemplating to replace the simple and sturdy A-10 with the much more complex F-35, eventually even with its VTOL variant, and the highly specialized F-117 was retired, too.

The A-14 revived conceptual elements of Grumman’s stillborn A-12 stealth program for the US Navy, which had also been part of the USAF’s plans to replace the supersonic F-111 tactical bomber, but on a less ambitious and expensive level concerning technology, aiming for a more effective compromise between complexity, survivability and costs. The basic idea was an updated LTV A-7D (the A-10’s predecessor from the Vietnam War era), which had far more sophisticated sensor and navigation equipment than the rather simple but sturdy A-10, but with pragmatic stealth features and a high level of survivability in a modern frontline theatre or operations.

Since the A-14’s technology was considered to be too critical to be marketed to export customers (Israel showed early interest in the aircraft, as well as South Korea), the program was cancelled in 2016.

General characteristics:

Crew: 2 (pilot, WSO)

Length: 54 ft 11 1/2 in (16.78 m)

Wingspan: 62 ft 11 1/2 in (19.22 m)

Height: 11 ft 3 3/4 in (3.45 m)

Wing area: 374.9 ft² (117.5 m²)

Empty weight: 24,959 lb (11,321 kg)

Loaded weight: 30,384 lb (13,782 kg)

Max. takeoff weight: 50,000 lb (22,700 kg)

Internal fuel capacity: 11,000 lb (4,990 kg)

Powerplant:

2× General Electric Whitney F412-GE-114 non-afterburning turbofans

with 12,000 lbf (53 kN) thrust each

Performance:

Maximum speed: 630 mph (1,010 km/h, 550 kn) at 40,000 ft altitude /

Mach 0.95 at sea level

Cruise speed: 560 mph (900 km/h, 487 kn) at 40,000 ft altitude

Range: 1,089 nmi (1,253 mi, 2,017 km)

Ferry range: 1,800 nmi (2,100 mi, 3,300 km)

Service ceiling: 50,000 ft (15,200 m)

Rate of climb: 50,000 ft/min (250 m/s)

Wing loading: 133 lb/ft² (193 kg/m²)

Thrust/weight: 0.48 (full internal fuel, no stores)

Take-off run: 1,200 m (3,930 ft) at 42,000 lb (19,000 kg) over a 15 m (30 ft) obstacle

Armament:

1× General Dynamics GAU-12/U Equalizer 25 mm (0.984 in) 5-barreled rotary cannon

with 1,200 rounds (max. capacity 1,350 rounds)

4x internal weapon bays plus 4x external optional hardpoints with a total capacity of

15,000 lb (6,800 kg) and provisions to carry/deploy a wide range of ordnance

The kit and its assembly:

A major kitbashing project which I had on my idea list for a long time and its main ingredients/body donors already stashed away – but, as with many rather intimidating builds, it takes some external motivation to finally tackle the idea and bring it into hardware form. This came in August 2020 with the “Prototypes” group build at whatifmodellers.com, even though is still took some time to find the courage and mojo to start.

The original inspiration was the idea of a stealthy successor for the A-10, or a kind of more modern A-7 as an alternative to the omnipresent (and rather boring, IMHO) F-35. An early “ingredient” became the fuselage of a Zvezda Ka-58 stealth helicopter kit – I liked the edgy shape, the crocodile-like silhouette and the spacious side-by-side cockpit. Adding wings, however, was more challenging, and I remembered a 1:200 B-2A which I had turned into a light Swedish 1:72 attack stealth aircraft. Why not use another B-2 for the wings and the engines, but this time a bigger 1:144 model that would better match the quite bulbous Ka-58 fuselage? This donor became an Italeri kit.

Work started with the fuselage: the Ka-58’s engine and gearbox hump had to go first and a generous, new dorsal section had to be scratched with 1mm styrene sheet and some PSR. The cockpit and its glazing could be retained and were taken OOB. Under the nose, the Ka-58’s gun turret was omitted and a scratched front landing gear well was implanted instead.

The wings consist of the B-2 model; the lower “fuselage half” had its front end cut away, then the upper fuselage half of the Ka-58 was used as benchmark to cut the B-2’s upper wing/body part in two outer wing panels. Once these elements had been glued together, the Ka-58’s lower nose and tail section were tailored to match the B-2 parts. The B-2 engine bays were taken OOB and mounted next, so that the A-14’s basic hull was complete and the first major PSR session could start. Blending the parts into each other turned out to be a tedious process, since some 2-3 mm wide gaps had to be filled.

Once the basic BWP pack had been finished, I added the fins. These were taken from an 1:72 F-117 kit (IIRC from Italeri), which I had bought in a lot many moons ago. The fins were just adapted at their base to match the tail sting slope, and they were mounted in a 45° angle. This looks very F-117ish but was IMHO the most plausible solution.

Now that the overall length of the aircraft was defined, I could work on the final major assembly part: the wing tips. The 1:144 B-2 came with separate wing tip sections, but they proved to be much too long for the Squatina. After some trials I reduced their length by more than half, so that the B-2’s jagged wing trailing edge was kept. The result looks quite natural, even though blending the cut wing tips to the BWB turned out to be a PSR nightmare because their thickness reduces gently towards the tip – since I took out a good part of the inner section, the resulting step had to be sanded away and hidden with more PSR.

Detail work started next, including the cockpit glazing, the bomb bay (the B-2 kit comes with one of its bays open, and I kept this detail and modified the interior) and the landing gear, the latter was taken from the F-117 donor bank and fitted surprisingly well.

Some sensors were added, too, including a flat glass panel on the nose tip and a triangular IRST fairing under the nose, next to the landing gear well.

Painting and markings:

For a stealth aircraft and a prototype I wanted something subdued or murky, but not an all-black or -grey livery. I eventually settled for the rather dark paint scheme that the USAF applied to its late B-52Gs and the B-1Bs, which consists of two tones from above, FS 36081 (Dark Grey, a.k.a. Dark Gunship Grey) and 34086 (Green Drab), and underneath (FS 36081 and 36118 (Gunship Grey). The irregular pattern was adapted (in a rather liberal fashion) from the USAF’s early B-1Bs, using Humbrol 32, 108 and 125 as basic colors. The 108 turned out to be too bright, so I toned it down with an additional coat of thinned Humbrol 66. While this considerably reduced the contrast between the green and the grey, the combination looks much better and B-1B-esque.

The wings’ leading edges were painted for more contrast with a greyish black (Tar Black, Revell 09), while the landing gear, the interior of the air intakes and the open bomb bay became glossy white. The cockpit was painted in medium grey (Humbrol 140) and the clear parts received a thinned inner coating with a mix of transparent yellow and brown, simulating an anti-radar coating – even though the effect turned out to be minimal, now it looks as of the plastic parts had just yellowed from age…

After the initial livery had been finished the model received a black ink washing and some post-panel shading with slightly brightened variations of the basic tones (using Humbrol 79, 144 and 224). Decals were added next, an individual mix from various sources. The “Stars-and-Bars” come from a PrintScale A-7 sheet, most stencils come from an F-16 sheet.

After some more detail painting and a treatment with graphite on the metal areas (exhausts, gun port), the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

Wayne Industry’s next Batwing? Maybe, there’s certainly something fictional about this creation. But the “Squatina” turned out much more conclusive (and even pretty!) than I expected, even though it became a bigger aircraft than intended. And I am positively surprised how good the bodywork became – after all, lots of putty had to be used to fill all the gaps between parts that no one ever expected to be grafted together.

The Periflex 3 was a terminal branch of one of the weirder offshoots of 35mm camera evolution, and functioning fossils of the species today are rare.

The Periflex was unique; the only non-reflex camera ever with TTL focussing, the latter achieved using a retracting periscope. In the late 1950's, Corfield improved the functionality (and complexity) of the original Periflex - www.flickr.com/photos/14463685@N07/10289318163 - to bring the speed of operation closer to that of a conventional 35mm camera, making it - inevitably - more contemporary in design.

To do this, the trademark periscope was enclosed totally within the body and given an eye level eyepiece alongside the viewfinder, and the periscope was lowered automatically when film was advanced and raised when the shutter was released. The focal-plane shutter, also, was now tensioned automatically. Also, clip-on viewfinders for non-standard lenses were no longer needed; the built-in viewfinder now took screw-in “objectives” matching the focal length of the lens in use.

The periscope focusing screen in the Periflex 3a had an SLR-type split image rangefinder, functioning at f5.6 and larger apertures, but the user manual advised opening the lens to full aperture for focusing (rather inconvenient with a moving subject!) but claimed more precise focus than was possible with a mechanical rangefinder like a Leica's. The view through the eye-level periscope, a little confusingly, was reversed.

The 3a had more modern-looking knobs and trimmings than the earlier Periflex 3, and also gained a primitive lever-wind. It was the top-of-the range model, similar to the cheaper and more common Periflex Gold Star but with fast shutter speeds. The Periflex 3b, different from the 3a only in being all-black, was the ultimate sub-species of the marque before it sunk into final extinction..

[Taken with Panasonic LX100 using clip-on flash attachment]

.

.

.

.

.

> Humor, joy, diversity, love, sexuality (and a bit of bizarre), were

represented by 2,5 millions of people who went to the 10th annual Gay,

Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans-gender Pride Parade.

Visit Clam, for interesting information (english/spanish/português)

Copyright © 2006 Tatiana Cardeal. All rights reserved.

Street neon and camera toss. Taken at this location: photo1

Keep up with camera tossing here: cameratoss.blogspot.com