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Balu, a German short-haired pointer, and his handler, Justin Ross, members of the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Police Department, hone their explosive-ordnance detection skills at Coast Guard Island in Alameda, Calif., Feb. 2, 2017. Several local law enforcement K-9 units train with Maritime Safety and Security Team San Francisco on a regular basis. U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Cory J. Mendenhall.
Scientists and technicians insert one of the optical components of the iTOP detector into the Belle II detector in February 2016.
Terms of Use: Our images are freely and publicly available for use with the credit line, "Courtesy of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory." Please use provided caption information for use in appropriate context.
The straight jacket, which was enhanced with extra straps, was being attached to the canvas trousers. Two straps in the front and two more in the back.
Very important to be noted; Many escape artist do not interlace their arms fully, which helps them escape. I am not only interlaced correctly, but I am fully engaged as you may see and that my arms are in-fact through the strap and that my hands are in-fact through the straps attached to the side. The officer insisted that he see this to be done correctly due to the many other magicians, escape artists, etc.. through his experience tried to pull a fancy by gaining slack this way. This was not the case in this event nor in any of my escapes. This was the real deal and the only one in existance to this date done in this fashion.
The MVTX, a pixel-based vertex detector, is one of three components that will work together to measure the position to determine the momentum of all charged particles emerging from RHIC’s collisions.sPHENIX is a radical makeover of the PHENIX experiment, one of the original detectors designed to collect data at Brookhaven Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. It includes many new components that significantly enhance scientists’ ability to learn about quark-gluon plasma (QGP), an exotic form of nuclear matter created in RHIC’s energetic particle smashups.
The Intermediate Silicon Strip Tracker (INTT), part of the sPHENIX inner tracking system. sPHENIX is a radical makeover of the PHENIX experiment, one of the original detectors designed to collect data at Brookhaven Lab’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. It includes many new components that significantly enhance scientists’ ability to learn about quark-gluon plasma (QGP), an exotic form of nuclear matter created in RHIC’s energetic particle smashups.
The James Webb Space Telescope uses infrared detector hybrids. The pixelated absorber layer (HgCdTe or Si:As) absorbs the light and converts it into voltages in individual pixels. The indium interconnects join pixels in the absorber layer to the ROIC. The ROIC contains electronic circuits that carry the signals from over 1 million pixels to only a few readouts for further processing.
Credit: Teledyne Imaging Sensors
This small planetary rover can scan the surface for traces of rare minerals. Inspired by the classic 1980 Mineral Detector set.
Cross section of glandular ducts collecting catalyses inside the reaction chamber of a Bombardier Beetle (Coleoptera, Brachininae).
Sample embedded in epoxy resin, sliced by using FIB and imaged by using BSE with TLD detector.
Courtesy of Prof. Andrea Di Giulio
Image Details
Instrument used: Helios NanoLab
Magnification: 13 000x
Horizontal Field Width: 23 μm
Vacuum: 3 mbar
Voltage: 2 kV
Spot: -
Working Distance: 2
Detector: BSE
The old smoke detector had seen better days. I don't think you are supposed to submerge then in mud.
Demon Detector
Seeing as we're a family on the hunt for the Supernatural... more specifically my 'husband' who was bitten by a Vampire this little device will come in handy.
It's old Majik and not always reliable but better than nothing. We will continue the search for my husband and one day we will kill him and any other unnatural forces that get in our way.
Made:
Clock from the $ store ($2) I removed the glass (2 knobs hold it on) and all the clock working bits (Yeah! more gears!!!). Then I printed off a Clip-Art 'demon chart' on actual yellow parchment paper (grumpy printer didn't like that! lol) and pasted it over the clock face. Coated it in 2 layers of 3D Crystal Lacquer (leaving to dry a full day in between coats). Also filled the crevices with copper 3D Crystal Lacquer. Dry brushed some copper paint on the raised design and painted the knobs copper, the brushed gold finish was original to the clock. Then assembled the new 'hand' from a few of the clock bits (2 gears and the magnet ring around the hand) it spins quite well on it's own.
Put the glass and knobs back on and Voila!
Bocca della verita or the Mouth of Truth is at least 2200 years old and 12-1300 kilo heavy round Pavonazzetto marble disk in the shape of a head, where the eyes, nostrils and mouth are carved all the way through the 19 cm thick stone. It probably represents the god Océanus , from him whom all rivers are and the entire sea and all springs and all deep wells have their waters according to Homer (Iliad 21. 194 ff). This is why most scholars presume it to be the original drain cover of the ancient temple of Jupiter Jurarius or the temple of Hercules Invictus. The temple was built using a similar circular domed rotunda or vault roof construction as the Pantheon with an oculus, round open space, in the middle.
After the demolition of the temple the Bocca della Verità was placed in the narthex or portico of the Santa Maria in Cosmedin church around 1650 where it stayed ever since and became known as a place to take the test of truth.
Does it work ?!?
Not really.
According to another legend the mouth of truth lost its credibility, when an adulterous Roman noble man’s wife was put to the test by her husband. The woman was forced to put her hand in the mouth, when all of a sudden a man came forward and kissed her. He was actually her lover, although she pretended not to know him and accused him of being a madman and the crowd chased him away. When she put her hand into the mouth of truth, the woman declared that she had never kissed any other man apart from her husband and the crazy man who had just kissed her. Her honor and that of her husband were saved, but from that moment on no more hands were bitten off. The Bocca della Verità apparently did not like the trickery and stopped working.
Un pasciuto cercatore di oggetti di metallo smarriti, armato di metal detector, sta setacciando la spiaggia da cima a fondo nella speranza di trovare qualche oggetto prezioso
One of our Belfry bat detectors stopped working, so we took it apart and reassembled it using a bread board.
A bat detector is a surprisingly simple circuit:
* Ultrasonic Microphone - Picks up bat vocalizations.
* Amplifier Chips - Makes signal louder.
* Frequency Divider - Lowers frequency to human audible range.
* Speaker - Outputs signal, for all to enjoy.
There are also some capacitors to power the chips and the speaker, an LED that flashes with the bat pulses, and a 9V battery.
Not as weather proof as it used to be, but it works again.
This small planetary rover can scan the surface for traces of rare minerals. Inspired by the classic 1980 Mineral Detector set.
The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) is a detector which specializes in tracking the thousands of particles produced by each ion collision at RHIC. Weighing 1,200 tons and as large as a house, STAR is a massive detector. It is used to search for signatures of the form of matter that RHIC was designed to create: the quark-gluon plasma. It is also used to investigate the behavior of matter at high energy densities by making measurements over a large area.
The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) is a detector that specializes in tracking the thousands of particles produced by each ion collision at RHIC. Weighing 1,200 tons and as large as a house, STAR is a massive detector. It is used to search for signatures of the form of matter that RHIC was designed to create and study: the quark-gluon plasma. It is also used to investigate the behavior of matter at high densities by making measurements over a wide range of beam energies.
This frog has his agenda to avoid the rain covered from the cove of the tree--while heavily the rain pouring hard outside.
***Thank you for your visits and comments :)
HAPPY WEEKEND MY FRIENDS!!!
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!
The Westland Whirlwind (Whirly or Whirlibomber in RAF slang) was a British twin-engined heavy fighter developed by Westland Aircraft. It was the Royal Air Force's first single-seat, twin-engined, cannon-armed fighter, and a contemporary of the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane. It was one of the fastest aircraft in service when it flew in the late 1930s, and was much more heavily armed than any other.
However, protracted development problems with its Rolls-Royce Peregrine engines delayed the entire project and only a relatively small number were ever built. During the Second World War only two RAF squadrons were equipped with the Whirlwind, and despite successful use as a fighter-bomber it was withdrawn from service in 1943.
After retirement in December 1943, the surviving Whirlwinds were sent to 18 Maintenance Unit at Dumfries, Scotland, where they were to be scrapped - but this was halted in early 1944 when the remaining airframes were modified for a completely new role: as radar-equipped pathfinders with the new, American H2X radar.
The H2X radar ("Mickey set", AN/APS-15) was an American development of the British H2S radar, the first ground mapping radar to be used in combat. It was used by the USAAF during World War II as a navigation system for daylight overcast and nighttime operations. It used a shorter 3 cm wavelength (10 GHz frequency) than the H2S, giving a sharper picture (H2S subsequently adopted 3 cm in the Mark III version entering operational service on November 18, 1943, for “Battle of Berlin”) and not known to have ever been spotted by the German Naxos radar detector, due to that receiving device's specific purpose being to spot the original British H2S equipment's lower frequency, 3 GHz emissions.
The hemispherical radome for the H2X's rotating dish antenna replaced the much bigger ball turret of the H2S, which was e. g. installed under Avro Lancaster bombers. The first H2X-equipped aircraft, B-17s, arrived in England in early February 1944, and were first used in combat later that month, and the first use of the "Mickey" was against Ploesti on April 5, 1944.
Availability of the new radar systems was scarse, so the idea of special aircraft guiding groups of bombers was born. Furthermore, due to the absence of radar maps as guidance, respective reconnaissance and radar mapping missions had to be conducted.
Consequently six PR Mk.XVI de Havilland Mosquito aircraft in the 482nd Bomb Group were equipped with H2X equipment in April 1944. The idea was to produce photographs of the radar screen during flights over Germany allowing easy interpretation of these radar images in later bombing runs. Three aircraft were subsequently lost in training, and the project was discontinued, but the idea was kept up.
Twenty Westland Whirlwind airframes as well as further twelve PR Mk.XVI de Havilland Mosquito aircraft were fitted with H2X. The Whirlwinds saw major modification: first of all, the complete nose section was redesigned. The cannon armament was replaced by a more spacious, deeper compartment that carried the H2X in the nose section behind an opaque perspex cover, as well as the technical equipment for the radar and a work station for a radar operator right in front of the cockpit.
The Whirlwind's original Peregrine engines were replaced by bigger, more powerful Merlin 76, which were optimized for high altitude operation. The engines also featured cabin pressure blowers that supported a pressurized crew compartment . Wet hardpoints under the wings were added, so that drop tanks extended the range. Theoretically, two 1.000 lb (454 kg) bombs could be carried, but the Whirlwind PR.3, how the aircraft was officially designated, normally flew unarmed.
The new machines were allocated to RAF No. 627 Squadron. This squadron had been formed on 12 November 1943 at RAF Oakington from part of 139 Squadron, and it was originally equipped with the de Havilland Mosquito. It flew operations as part of No. 8 Group's light bomber force. Beyond normal bombing missions it also carried out Pathfinder duties and was involved in attacks on Berlin in early 1944. In April 1944 it was transferred to No. 5 Group as a specialised target marking squadron, although it also carried out amend reconnaissance and normal bombing duties.
Beginning in May 1944 the Whirlwinds were, together with some radar-equipped Mosquitos, integrated into American Bomber Groups and joined by American aircraft, e .g. modified P-38Ls. Nicknamed "Pelican" by the crews, the retrofitted Whirlwinds flew bomber guidance and radar mapping night missions until February 1945. The sets tended to overload the aircraft's electrical system and occasionally exploded, and Mickey aircraft had the highest loss, abort and mission failure rates, so that service was severely curtailed after February 19, 1945, but the machines were kept in service and flew photo and weather reconnaissance missions until the end of the hostilities.
General characteristics:
Crew: One pilot
Length: 35 ft 4 1/2 in (10.80 m)
Wingspan: 45 ft 0 in (13.72 m)
Height: 11 ft 0 in (3.35 m)
Wing area: 250 ft² (23.2 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 23017-08
Empty weight: 8.800 lb (3.,995 kg)
Loaded weight: 11.467 lb (5.206 kg)
Max. take-off weight: 12.665 lb (5,750 kg)
Powerplant:
2× Rolls-Royce Merlin 76 liquid-cooled V-12 and fitted with a two-speed, two-stage supercharger and a Bendix Stromberg anti-g carburettor, rated at 1.233 hp (919 kW) at 35,000 ft (10,668 m) and driving de Havilland constant speed propellers with a diameter of 9 ft 10 in (3.00 m)
Performance:
Maximum speed: 415 mph (361 kn, 668 km/h)) at 28,000 ft (8,500 m)
Stall speed: 95 mph (83 knots, 153 km/h) (flaps down)
Range: 900 mi (782 nmi, 1.400 km))
Service ceiling: 37.000 ft (11.000 m)
Armament:
None. Two underwing hardpoints, normally occupied with a pair of 62 imp. gal (450l) slipper tanks. Alternatively a pair of bombs of up to 1.000 lb (454 kg) caliber could be carried, or racks with target indicator bombs, inclusing various candles and No. 1 Mk 1 TI Bombs, No. 7 Mk 1 Multi-flash Bombs or No. 8 Mk 1 Spotfire Bomb
The kit and its assembly:
This is another (kind of) tribute build, inspired by one of many Westland Whirlwind profiles created by fellow user Franclab at flickr.com.
Among the many great and creative ideas was a Pathfinder Whirlwind with a glass nose (reminiscent of the D.H, Mosquito bombers and also similar to the P-38L pathfinders with an optical bomb sight), finished in classic PRU Blue livery with USAAF insignia.
I liked this two seater idea, so I decided to make a contemporary hardware aircraft, loosely based on Franclab's creative input.
The kit is the venerable Airfix kit, and it saw some modifications. After my earlier Whirlwind FB.2 with implanted Mosquito engine nacelles resulted in a slightly overpowered ('Popeye style') bird, I tried something different this time: just an engine swap.
In this case I implanted resin Merlins from Pavla, which are replacements for the Tamiya kit and depict high altitude 72/73 versions. What sound simple was just as tedious as changing the complete nacelles: the Merllins are bigger than the Peregrines, in any dimension, so mounting them and blending them with the nacelles took some serious sculpting and putty work.
Another issue were the propellers: the Mosquito spinner is considerably larger than the Whilrwind's (including the propeller itself!), and in order to mount the OOB propellers I added a spacer, carved from spare wheels from the scrap box, so that a fluid, overall line was kept. Lots of work!
The new nose was taken wholesale from the Dragon P-38L Pathfinder kit, the one with the solid H2X nose. The alternative 'Droop Snoop' version with the glass nose is also available, but I found the radar-equipped version more interesting, and it is more voluminous so that the second crew member (a bomb aimer from an Airfix B-17) could rather sit than lay prone in the Whirlwind's nose.
As a drawback, the deeper new front had to be blended with the slender rest of the aircraft. I bridged this section with the half of a vintage Matchbox EA-6B drop tank, resulting in a kangaroo-like shape which could be justified through a ventral camera compartment, since the nose is occupied with the H2X equipment. Looks odd, as intended, but interesting, and the nose arrangement could also work for a night fighter - even though I have no idea where potential guns should be mounted?
Cockpit and landing gear were taken OOB, I just added the bulbous slipper tanks which were scratched from a Hawker Sea Fury's (PM Models) drop tanks, and also a lot of putty to blend them under the wings.
Painting and markings:
Simple and classic, with USAAF Mosquitos (ex RAF photo reconnaissance aircraft) as benchmark. All over PRU Blue sounds a bit boring, but the typical red tail for the pathfinder aircraft makes a massive contrast, and I decided to take the blue livery further: towards late 1944 the Invasion Stripes were about to disappear on Allied aircraft, painted over and in many cases the fuselage bands (or just the ventral section) were visible.
That's what I wanted to recreate: an almost all blue aircraft, but with the stripes dimly shining through. This was achieved in the same fashion as it would have been done in real life: the stripes were roughly painted with acrylics on wings and fuselage. Then the normal PRU Blue (Modelmaster) was added all around, and as final step the same PRU Blue was thinned and washed with a big, soft brush over the stripes, controlling the pigments' thickness and adding some slight streaks from front to back.
While not perfect, I am happy with the result - you can tell that there is "something" on and below the wings, as well as on the spine, but it is not clear at all.
Some dry-brushing with shades of blue-gray (e .g. revell 57 and Humbrol 230 and 147) completed the basic paint work.
The tail was painted in Humbrol 60 and shaded with 174 - the tone turns out to be orangic, a perfect match, as far as I can tell.
The radome was first primed with Humbrol 168 (Hemp) and then dry-brushed with 71 an 166 (Beige and RAF Light Aircraft Grey).
The markings were a bit tricky, and I used a real life, ex-RAF PR Spitfire in US service as benchmark: it received Stars and Bars, but retained its former RAF aircraft code, as well as its former RAF squadron code - but the latter were placed on the fin. I copied this concept, and since the high stabilizer blocks good view, the individual aircraft code letter (on Mosquitos it was frequently placed on the fin) was moved on a black contrast circle onto the flanks, while the RAF No. 627 Squadron. code "AZ" was painted in yellow digits above the three last digits of the RAF aircraft number. Totally odd, but plausible, and in the end more colorful than expected!
A small nose art completed the job, before the exhausts received some soot stains and the kit a coat with matt acrylic varnish.
A pretty aircraft/conversion - it looks a bit odd on the ground, due to the longer nose and engines, but the overall lines look very good, especially on the flight pics.
So, with best regards to Canada, thanks a lot for the inspiration. ^^
This small planetary rover can scan the surface for traces of rare minerals. Inspired by the classic 1980 Mineral Detector set.
From the late 1950s, the British Broadcasting Corporation deployed 'TV Detector Vans' to track down nefarious screen-watchers who had not bought a TV license.
Naturally, in the future, the technology has improved considerably. Now they can even detect aliens on other planets who are illegitimately receiving BBC signals!
(Incidentally, this is an alternate build for set 31066)
A predecessor to the current NOvA experiment, MINOS is similarly constructed, with dozens of large metal plates comprising its near detector.
The Solenoidal Tracker at RHIC (STAR) is a detector which specializes in tracking the thousands of particles produced by each ion collision at RHIC. Weighing 1,200 tons and as large as a house, STAR is a massive detector. It is used to search for signatures of the form of matter that RHIC was designed to create: the quark-gluon plasma. It is also used to investigate the behavior of matter at high energy densities by making measurements over a large area.
Volevo dire ai visitatori che questo non sono io..grazie !
I wanted to tell people that this is not me .. thanks!
A fine device . many good finds with it. Purchased 11/20/89
$318.45
1786 Connecticut ,cent
1700 Brit.
175? Brit.
1734 Brit large cent
1733 Spanish 1 reale
1751 Mexican 1 reale
1722 Rosa Americana 1/2 p.
1833 lg cnt
1837 Montreal Agriculture token .
1841 lg cnt .
1856 French cnt
1898s Barber dime.
1880 Indian cnt
1877cc seated dime
1817 large cnt
1864 2 cnt
1865 2 cnt
1903 Barber dime
1919d,1935d, 3,1939 , 1941, 2 , 1942, 4, 1943 , 3, 1945 ,3,1944 Merc dimes
1942 5cnt
1945 5cnt
1916/17 d ,Standing 1928, 1927, 1930.
1917 Walker.
Few pre 1850's coin spoons
but the most interesting was a small salt spoon made by
Thomas Grant of Marblehead Ma 1750,
which had a beautiful scallop shell design and initials ?L
This actual detector pictured above was given to Tony Pepper
( if that name sounds familiar, yes the same man from WBZTV )
so he could find his wife's earring she had lost in the snow.
was happy he returned it and found his wife's earring.
He and his wife was very nice as a neighbor .
Sadly this detector did not help the next victim of lost property,
my brother while cleaning off snow off his car lost his wedding ring in the parking lot in heavy snow at night.
I found the ring with a Frankenstein'd bounty hunter coil and radio shack receiving board and switches and control box from U do it electronics .
I am holding meteorites from a strewn field located in Maine.
sadly even with my general knowledge of electronics i could not
fix what ever ailed my Whites which was a shame as i was very good with this machine.
2016 i plan on doing some long over due detecting with my new Minelab detector.
You will need not be an energetic smoker to experience the dangerous ramifications of smoke from cigar the cigarette or conduit. Sucking in additional active smokers' smoke is sufficient to trigger you severe injury.Study the facts to the challenges and damages caused to your eyes from smoking.
Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) egg.
Courtesy of Dr. Riccardo Antonelli , Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Pisa University
Image Details
Instrument used: Quanta SEM
Magnification: 1,600x
Horizontal Field Width: 186 μm
Vacuum: High Vacuum
Voltage: 10 kV
Spot: 4.0
Working Distance: 7.6
Detector: ETD
Lie Detectors taldearen kontzertu argazkiak, Gazteszenako Ttan-ttakun festan...
Fotos de concierto del grupo Lie Detectors, en la fiesta Ttan-ttakun de Gazteszena...
Still tracking UFO activity whilst receiving an upgrade and maintenance.
Small plastic model by Konami.
This scene inspired by the Gerry Anderson TV series UFO.
Here's a new Structure Synth / Sunflow creation I made. This one reminds me of a neutrino detector. I had fun watching youtube lectures on neutrinos while it rendered :)
This render uses the "Ward" shader for the blocks and floor, and a red mirror shader for the spheres.
This small planetary rover can scan the surface for traces of rare minerals. Inspired by the classic 1980 Mineral Detector set.
A small take this week, with much less value than usual. The drum got ruined at Wickerman 2015. The monitor eventually became Carolyn's primary monitor--so that was probably the only thing that made the week totally worth it.
Dr. Seuss board game, I Can Do That board game, Kosherland board game, The Cat In The Hat board game, Viewsonic VS10866 monitor, Wii controller, Wiimote, bin, bongo, bongo drum, chemistry set, drum, hat, jester hat.
upstairs, Clint and Carolyn's house, Alexandria, Virginia.
May 23, 2015.
... Read my blog at ClintJCL at wordpress.com
... Read Carolyn's blog at CarolynCASL at wordpress.com
... Read my yard sale-related blogposts at clintjcl dot wordpress dot com/category/yard-sales/
BACKSTORY: Got up around 8:20AM, made it out driving by 8:53 and went out until 12:12 PM for a total of 3 hours, 19 minutes. Spent $38.75 plus ~$5.53 gas for 37.7 miles of driving (18.7 mpg @ $2.74/G), for a total cost of $44.28.
We drove to only 13 yard sales, stopping at only 4 (31%) of them. We made 9 purchases (9 items) for a total estimated value of $147.38, leading to a profit/savings of $103.10. So in essence, we multiplied our $47.38 investment by 3.33X.
(Also, if you think about it, the profit counts for even more when you consider that we have to earn $~117 on the job, pre-tax, in order to take home the $103.10 in cash that we saved. How long does $117 of disposable income take to earn, vs the 3.3 hrs we spent here?)
Anyway, this works out to a *post-tax* "wage" of $31.08/hr as a couple or $15.54/hr per person. This is kind of low for a yardsale± outing.
±THE TAKE:±
$10.00: wiimote, nunchuk, including motion plus detector, teal color (EV:$±10.99±). ($8.50 + $2.49 shipping).
$10.00: wiimote, nunchuk, including motion plus detector, white color (EV:$±10.99±). (8.50 + $2.49 shipping)
$7.00: monitor, flat screen, Viewsonic, VA1912WB, model # VS10866 (EV:$±29.56±). $9.99 + 19.57 shipping
$5.00: drum, bongo, 14" diameter, 2" high (EV:$±18.91±)
$3.00: office inbox storage bin, 3 bins, metal, 10.25x12.5x13.5" (EV:$12.95). ($12.95 + $10.15 shipping, not counting shipping value because this can probably be picked up at a local store)
$2.00: game, Dr. Seuss, The Cat In The Hat, I Can Do That (EV:$13.99)
$1.00: game, Kosherland, Jet, Item# 601 (EV:$9.99 Marshalls price tag)
$0.50: game, Mad Professor Kitchen Chemistry, Be Amazing Toys (EV:$10.95)
$0.25: hat, jester, red, fluffy, 9 points (5 balls, 4 bells) (EV:$5.95)
I've been thinking about introversion a lot recently. If that isn't a self fulfilling prophecy I don't know what is. In fact despite being an internal ponderer for all of my life it is only now I am starting to come to realise what being introverted actually means.
In a world so seemingly full of extroverts which is of course another self fulfilling prophecy, introversion is seen as a handicap. Where the outward looking make the rules and seem to run the place we are labelled with terms like too shy, too quiet and the best thing for us is to be brought out of ourselves by being dragged round as many social occasions as possible. Oh my, roll my eyes down the slope into the muddy ditch at the bottom. The obvious cure for standing in a corner like a frightened rabbit is to be dragged into the middle of the road staring into the lights of a thundering juggernaut.
Now it might be a symptom of my introversion but it does seem that we intronauts have a bit of a handle on what different people are like, what the world is like for extroverts (although we probably don't understand this as much as we think we do) and what the world is like for our fellow introverts. But it really does feel like the extroverts have absolutely no idea introverts even exist let alone what it is like to be one.
One time I visited my favourite local beach, one with a myriad of fantastically coloured stones straight out of the purple and mauve pages of the Dulux colour chart. In one direction all I could see was sand, seaweed and sea and to my flanks and behind crisp, crystals of compressed sandstone in purple, red and orange. And off to the left was a nuclear power station but hey nowhere is perfect.
I sat down in a quiet corner and turned my introspection engine outwards to all around me and it started to quell the internal dialogue to let my insides level out, engage cruise control so my muscles could unwind. Relaxation central. I had the whole beach to myself in that moment and could switch off my predator/prey detector constantly scanning for threats.
The jutting cliffs contained dozens and dozens of sheltered miniature coves and enclaves of silence amongst the weathered fingers of sandstone pointing out to the sea. For all I knew there were more beach hermits in each one, scanning the horizon for its emptiness. A coach load of them on a busman's holiday from the city could arrive and they could each have their own nook to ponder within. But right now I had it all to myself.
I don't know if I hold the world record for being sensitive to extraneous noise but at the very least I'd get selected for the Olympic team in being driven mad by someone eating popcorn over 3 miles away. It's not just that such noise disturbs me, no, it smashes the door down with a sledge hammer and takes my brain and all its attached senses hostage. I enjoy going to the cinema as long as no-one else is there which isn't really a perk of the ticket price. I am simply unable to focus my attention on the film if someone is munching on popcorn within range. It sucks up all of my attention as though I am standing in a phone box full of popped kernels. I have no choice, it's a trap not a situation I want to happen. It may sound like I am being flippant but it really is the truth. When there is extraneous noise I cannot control it is like my whole head has been hijacked to the point of debilitation.
I expect most of you reading this by the very fact that you have got this far will be a self-selecting group of pondering intro-persons. So this is very much a case of screeching to the perverted but anyway imagine if you will that still moment amongst the cliffs with solitude on both sides for as far as I could see. As soon as you try to measure a moment in time it is gone, the harder you squeeze the faster the sand escapes through the cracks in your fingers.
The first of them was the dad and he was carrying a fold-up chair, a cool-box and a plastic bag full of stuff. Then came his spouse and the rest of his offspring complete with football, plastic bats and a barbecue.
The scene had changed like the curtain of the world had been sliced in two by the falling blade of a guillotine. In the space of a few short minutes my idyll had changed from one of reverie to another of smoking burnt sausages, a loud radio and an 8 year old bouncing a football off the back of my head (okay, not that last bit but you get the idea). All of this within a few feet of where I was sitting.
We do seem to (want to) live in different worlds. I wouldn't in a million years want to camp myself next to the poor soul looking for peace and quiet on the beach and if I did my conscience would eat me alive as I felt and suffered the impact on their solitude as though it was me. But in their world I expect they have absolutely no idea that people like me even exist let alone the slightest inkling what it is to be like that. There are no alarm bells or even dim blue led flashing lights that go off in their heads to tell them there may be a problem in having your family barbecue right on top of where someone is sitting.
Well what of this rant you ask? You are not exactly telling us something we didn't know already. All right, blimey, go tip a big box of popcorn over your head.
When I started this ramble I said I had been learning more about myself and my introversion recently and I guess I've been trying to explain it in no uncertain terms. What interests me is my internal/external energy balance and it has become clear that internal builds me back up and external runs the batteries down. Well yes I kinda knew this but hey.
Throughout my life I have needed significant time alone, it comes in waves and every three or four days I desperately need to recharge. I go out for a bike ride or simply a walk, visit the woods to make something or just spend a few minutes in the garden or just spend all day hiding under the duvet. For most of my life I've beaten myself up about it, told myself that I need to man up, crack on and get on with it. But despite that ever repeating mantra I've never got any better at taking life on the chin.
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, er, yeah right. That doesn't work for everyone.
That's the thing with introversion, when I'm fully recharged, I am full of it, I can be loud and exuberant and risk taking but when depleted very much the opposite of that. Both of those things are the real me and yet it is only now that I am starting to realise it and not think that exuberant me is the correct one and the withdrawn is the wrong. They are two sides of the same coin.
So what of my art in all this?
I am often asked questions about the symbolism and meaning behind my sculptures which somewhat misses the point I think. I accidentally found myself making art, it is not something I set out to do.
One student commented that I never write about the concepts behind my art whereas I think I always write about the concepts.
I was talking to a guy called Adam at the weekend and sound-scapes are his art-form. He explores his relationship with the sound making equipment and expresses his learning and interacting processes through the sound-scapes he creates. But what really resonated with me was when he said that when he worked as a sound engineer he found that it was the documentation he wrote at the end that became the true expression of his art. That might seem totally obtuse to the uninitiated but I totally got where he was coming from.
Ultimately art is an expression of an artist communing with what is inside them and the medium that they choose to work with. I work with natural materials and the environment and by spending time with them I still my mind and through following the process of making something I can tap into parts of my unconscious, my feelings and experience and channel them towards a better understanding of myself, my place in the world and the nuances in nature. The process continues as I write these words as the whole creation continuum from beginning to end opens me up until these words pour out of me as though I am listening to them rather than writing them.
My art is all of this. From beginning a walk in a natural place as my mind begins to quieten all the way through to the tumbling out of these words onto the page like a torrent of brief understanding. I could keep the photos to myself and all the experience would still be there. That final photo is just a moment and its existence or non-existence has no impact on the totality of the art. Of course the route in for you to see this stuff is the image but I want to take you on that journey to see beyond.
So when I am asked what is the meaning behind a particular sculpture I think the question is somewhat missing the point. It is only the visible end result of a journey that opened me up to my unconscious and my sum total of experiences and all those many moments I have spent in nature. To say that a sculpture depicts transience in nature, or the turning of the season seems trite only a sound bite summary of the ice above the surface.
When I answer these questions I have two choices of reply. All the stuff I have written above or the much better alternative.
Go and make something yourself, commune with your insides and your chosen medium and see what it is you see.