the boys start school the day after tomorrow

no more summer vacation

new, different rhythm

trying to make these two days last as long as possible

trying to encapsulate summer

Lockheed Martin’s sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-6) protected communications satellite is encapsulated in its protective fairings ahead of its expected March 26 launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. AEHF-6 is part of the AEHF system -- a resilient satellite constellation with global coverage and a sophisticated ground control system -- that provides global, survivable, protected communications capabilities for national leaders and tactical warfighters operating across ground, sea and air platforms. The anti-jam system also serves international allies to include Canada, the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Australia. For more information, visit: www.lockheedmartin.com/aehf

(Photo credit: United Launch Alliance)

The second Lockheed Martin-built GPS III space vehicle (GPS III SV02) was recently encapsulated within its protective fairings in preparation for launch.

Oh the possibilities, sadly missed through poor design and negligence! You cannot deny then that it's a British Leyland product, taking a car with a fantastic premise, but through sloppy workmanship make it something of nightmares! No car seems to encapsulate the problems with the nationalised company more than the humble Triumph Stag.

To compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz SL, British Leyland started work on a luxury Grand Tourer, styled by the world renowned Giovanni Michelotti, who had previously designed the Triumph 2000, the Triumph Herald and the Triumph TR6, and would later go on to design the ambiguous Austin Apache and the Leyland National bus. But either way his styling was sensational, but at the same time the car had substance too. In the late 1960's America was on the verge of banning convertible cars to increase safety. So the engineers at Triumph designed what was a very clever T-Bar rollcage over the passenger cabin, meaning the car was not only safe, but also allowed the owners to enjoy what was craved most in a Grand Tourer, drop-top open-air fun! This was complimented by a selection of cars with removable Hard-Tops, although not as popular due to being slightly more complicated. The name was great too, sounding very manly with a hint of beast-like qualities, which for the most part helps to form the image, a strong and noble creature of the wild stood proud amongst its peers...

...only without the antlers!

In 1970 the car was launched to the motoring press with some very favourable initial reviews, admiring the styling, the firm suspension that resulted in a smooth ride and the well-balanced handling. The car was immediately an image setter for the new-money, like the Mercedes it was competing with it had the image of being something for those who had made their money through more underhanded methods, a cads car if you will. But we've all got to make our money somehow I guess!

However, lest we forget that this was a British Leyland product, so of course trouble was brewing. Very quickly the car gained a reputation for unreliability, which can be traced back to that all important piece of machinery known simply as the engine. In 1969 whilst the Triumph Stag was in development, Rover began using their new license built V8 engine derived from an American Buick 215 3L powerplant. Originally this was installed into the Rover P5, but a 3.5L version was installed as standard to the Rover P6 and the later SD1, as well as becoming the motive power behind the almighty Range Rover. The Rover V8 was an incredibly reliable and endlessly tunable engine, making it one of the most popular and successful powerplants in automotive history. It made its way into the TVR Chimera, the Morgan Plus 8, the TVR 350i, the Land Rover Defender, the Land Rover Discovery, the Sisu Nasu All-Terrain Military Transport, the MG RV8, the MGB GT, the TVR Griffith, the TVR S-Series, the Leyland P76, the Triumph TR8 and so on! It was eventually removed from production in 2006, being replaced in the Range Rover it had served so well by a BMW powerplant.

But back to the Stag, and seeing as Triumph and Rover belonged to the same parent company, you'd think that their first instinct would be to place this heavenly engine into the Stag. Apparently that was too much to ask for, and so Triumph, still thinking they were Triumph, decided to develop their own engine because apparently the Rover V8 wouldn't fit in the engine bay of the Stag. Rather than doing the simple task of redesigning the engine bay to accommodate the new engine, Triumph developed their own ragtag V8 by welding together two of the Straight-4 engines you'd find in a Triumph Dolomite. Chucked together at the last minute, the new Twin Dolomite V8 was not a stellar piece of engineering like the Rover variant, its main downfall being the failure to install a proper cooling system. This illogical oversight of something so obvious meant that the engine would heat up easily, and result in the cylinder heads warping, rendering the engine totally useless. The engine was also prone to corrosion and roller link chains that would fail before 25,000 miles causing expensive damage.

As a result of the bad press of the engine, mixed with the terrible build quality that we'd all come to expect from British Leyland, the Stag was removed from the American market in 1973, and finished off here in 1977 by its spiritual replacement, the Triumph TR7, an equally as flawed concept that chose not to learn its lesson and use exactly the same flawed engine, dashing that car's hopes of success too whilst adding a less than stellar body design to its troubles. Eventually the Stag slipped quietly away after 25,000 examples were built, although one did feature in the James Bond film 'Diamonds are Forever', being driven to Amsterdam by Bond after half-inching it from Diamond Smuggler Peter Franks.

This particular story maddens me because I consider the Triumph Stag my favourite of the British Leyland range as it really is a beautiful car and performs very well. Like I said, it's very smooth to ride in and very easy to drive, but the sheer lack of communication and cooperation between two parts of the same company resulted in it being one of the biggest flops in motoring history, and has often been cited as one of the worst cars ever.

Today however there is still quite a sizeable fanbase for this car, with 9,000 Stags still registered as roadworthy, making it one of the most numerous British Leyland products to remain in ongoing use, especially when you compare it to the Austin Allegro's 291 survivors, Morris Marina's 674, and the Rover SD1's 310. The surviving Stags are mostly made up of cars that have had their original Triumph engines replaced by the Rover V8 to improve the performance and reliability. With a Rover V8 under the hood, this car is simply one of the best classic cars ever in my mind, a mixture of style, speed, performance and that wonderful rumble from under the bonnet. For the remainder still with the Twin Dolomite V8, most have been fixed by installing a proper cooling system and solving the corrosion issues. Today the Stags enjoy the popular life that British Leyland had envisaged for their luxury machines way back in 1970, 45 years late mind you but I suppose you can't have everything first time round!

Encapsulated inside its payload fairing, the Cygnus spacecraft for the upcoming Orbital ATK Commercial Resupply Services-6 is mated atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in the Vertical Integration Facility at Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Cygnus is scheduled to lift off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on March 22 to deliver hardware and supplies to the International Space Station.

Photo credit: NASA/Dimitrios Gerondidakis

NASA image use policy.

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Encapsulated in its payload fairing, NASA's Parker Solar Probe is prepared to be lifted for mating to a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 37 on Tuesday, July 31, 2018. The Parker Solar Probe is being prepared for a mission to perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.

Photo credit: NASA/Leif Heimbold

NASA image use policy.

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Technicians move NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T (GOES-T) inside the Astrotech Space Operations facility in Titusville, Florida, on Jan. 28, 2022. The spacecraft is being prepared for encapsulation inside its protective payload fairings.

GOES-T is scheduled to launch on March 1, 2022, atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 541 rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

GOES-T, the third satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series, is scheduled to launch on March 1, 2022. The GOES-R Series is the Western Hemisphere’s most advanced weather-observing and environmental monitoring system, helping to protect the one billion people who live and work in the Americas. GOES-T will provide high-definition imagery and atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and monitoring of space weather.

NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will launch GOES-T for NOAA.

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Oh the possibilities, sadly missed through poor design and negligence! You cannot deny then that it's a British Leyland product, taking a car with a fantastic premise, but through sloppy workmanship make it something of nightmares! No car seems to encapsulate the problems with the nationalised company more than the humble Triumph Stag.

To compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz SL, British Leyland started work on a luxury Grand Tourer, styled by the world renowned Giovanni Michelotti, who had previously designed the Triumph 2000, the Triumph Herald and the Triumph TR6, and would later go on to design the ambiguous Austin Apache and the Leyland National bus. But either way his styling was sensational, but at the same time the car had substance too. In the late 1960's America was on the verge of banning convertible cars to increase safety. So the engineers at Triumph designed what was a very clever T-Bar rollcage over the passenger cabin, meaning the car was not only safe, but also allowed the owners to enjoy what was craved most in a Grand Tourer, drop-top open-air fun! This was complimented by a selection of cars with removable Hard-Tops, although not as popular due to being slightly more complicated. The name was great too, sounding very manly with a hint of beast-like qualities, which for the most part helps to form the image, a strong and noble creature of the wild stood proud amongst its peers...

...only without the antlers!

In 1970 the car was launched to the motoring press with some very favourable initial reviews, admiring the styling, the firm suspension that resulted in a smooth ride and the well-balanced handling. The car was immediately an image setter for the new-money, like the Mercedes it was competing with it had the image of being something for those who had made their money through more underhanded methods, a cads car if you will. But we've all got to make our money somehow I guess!

However, lest we forget that this was a British Leyland product, so of course trouble was brewing. Very quickly the car gained a reputation for unreliability, which can be traced back to that all important piece of machinery known simply as the engine. In 1969 whilst the Triumph Stag was in development, Rover began using their new license built V8 engine derived from an American Buick 215 3L powerplant. Originally this was installed into the Rover P5, but a 3.5L version was installed as standard to the Rover P6 and the later SD1, as well as becoming the motive power behind the almighty Range Rover. The Rover V8 was an incredibly reliable and endlessly tunable engine, making it one of the most popular and successful powerplants in automotive history. It made its way into the TVR Chimera, the Morgan Plus 8, the TVR 350i, the Land Rover Defender, the Land Rover Discovery, the Sisu Nasu All-Terrain Military Transport, the MG RV8, the MGB GT, the TVR Griffith, the TVR S-Series, the Leyland P76, the Triumph TR8 and so on! It was eventually removed from production in 2006, being replaced in the Range Rover it had served so well by a BMW powerplant.

But back to the Stag, and seeing as Triumph and Rover belonged to the same parent company, you'd think that their first instinct would be to place this heavenly engine into the Stag. Apparently that was too much to ask for, and so Triumph, still thinking they were Triumph, decided to develop their own engine because apparently the Rover V8 wouldn't fit in the engine bay of the Stag. Rather than doing the simple task of redesigning the engine bay to accommodate the new engine, Triumph developed their own ragtag V8 by welding together two of the Straight-4 engines you'd find in a Triumph Dolomite. Chucked together at the last minute, the new Twin Dolomite V8 was not a stellar piece of engineering like the Rover variant, its main downfall being the failure to install a proper cooling system. This illogical oversight of something so obvious meant that the engine would heat up easily, and result in the cylinder heads warping, rendering the engine totally useless. The engine was also prone to corrosion and roller link chains that would fail before 25,000 miles causing expensive damage.

As a result of the bad press of the engine, mixed with the terrible build quality that we'd all come to expect from British Leyland, the Stag was removed from the American market in 1973, and finished off here in 1977 by its spiritual replacement, the Triumph TR7, an equally as flawed concept that chose not to learn its lesson and use exactly the same flawed engine, dashing that car's hopes of success too whilst adding a less than stellar body design to its troubles. Eventually the Stag slipped quietly away after 25,000 examples were built, although one did feature in the James Bond film 'Diamonds are Forever', being driven to Amsterdam by Bond after half-inching it from Diamond Smuggler Peter Franks.

This particular story maddens me because I consider the Triumph Stag my favourite of the British Leyland range as it really is a beautiful car and performs very well. Like I said, it's very smooth to ride in and very easy to drive, but the sheer lack of communication and cooperation between two parts of the same company resulted in it being one of the biggest flops in motoring history, and has often been cited as one of the worst cars ever.

Today however there is still quite a sizeable fanbase for this car, with 9,000 Stags still registered as roadworthy, making it one of the most numerous British Leyland products to remain in ongoing use, especially when you compare it to the Austin Allegro's 291 survivors, Morris Marina's 674, and the Rover SD1's 310. The surviving Stags are mostly made up of cars that have had their original Triumph engines replaced by the Rover V8 to improve the performance and reliability. With a Rover V8 under the hood, this car is simply one of the best classic cars ever in my mind, a mixture of style, speed, performance and that wonderful rumble from under the bonnet. For the remainder still with the Twin Dolomite V8, most have been fixed by installing a proper cooling system and solving the corrosion issues. Today the Stags enjoy the popular life that British Leyland had envisaged for their luxury machines way back in 1970, 45 years late mind you but I suppose you can't have everything first time round!

Oh the possibilities, sadly missed through poor design and negligence! You cannot deny then that it's a British Leyland product, taking a car with a fantastic premise, but through sloppy workmanship make it something of nightmares! No car seems to encapsulate the problems with the nationalised company more than the humble Triumph Stag.

To compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz SL, British Leyland started work on a luxury Grand Tourer, styled by the world renowned Giovanni Michelotti, who had previously designed the Triumph 2000, the Triumph Herald and the Triumph TR6, and would later go on to design the ambiguous Austin Apache and the Leyland National bus. But either way his styling was sensational, but at the same time the car had substance too. In the late 1960's America was on the verge of banning convertible cars to increase safety. So the engineers at Triumph designed what was a very clever T-Bar rollcage over the passenger cabin, meaning the car was not only safe, but also allowed the owners to enjoy what was craved most in a Grand Tourer, drop-top open-air fun! This was complimented by a selection of cars with removable Hard-Tops, although not as popular due to being slightly more complicated. The name was great too, sounding very manly with a hint of beast-like qualities, which for the most part helps to form the image, a strong and noble creature of the wild stood proud amongst its peers...

...only without the antlers!

In 1970 the car was launched to the motoring press with some very favourable initial reviews, admiring the styling, the firm suspension that resulted in a smooth ride and the well-balanced handling. The car was immediately an image setter for the new-money, like the Mercedes it was competing with it had the image of being something for those who had made their money through more underhanded methods, a cads car if you will. But we've all got to make our money somehow I guess!

However, lest we forget that this was a British Leyland product, so of course trouble was brewing. Very quickly the car gained a reputation for unreliability, which can be traced back to that all important piece of machinery known simply as the engine. In 1969 whilst the Triumph Stag was in development, Rover began using their new license built V8 engine derived from an American Buick 215 3L powerplant. Originally this was installed into the Rover P5, but a 3.5L version was installed as standard to the Rover P6 and the later SD1, as well as becoming the motive power behind the almighty Range Rover. The Rover V8 was an incredibly reliable and endlessly tunable engine, making it one of the most popular and successful powerplants in automotive history. It made its way into the TVR Chimera, the Morgan Plus 8, the TVR 350i, the Land Rover Defender, the Land Rover Discovery, the Sisu Nasu All-Terrain Military Transport, the MG RV8, the MGB GT, the TVR Griffith, the TVR S-Series, the Leyland P76, the Triumph TR8 and so on! It was eventually removed from production in 2006, being replaced in the Range Rover it had served so well by a BMW powerplant.

But back to the Stag, and seeing as Triumph and Rover belonged to the same parent company, you'd think that their first instinct would be to place this heavenly engine into the Stag. Apparently that was too much to ask for, and so Triumph, still thinking they were Triumph, decided to develop their own engine because apparently the Rover V8 wouldn't fit in the engine bay of the Stag. Rather than doing the simple task of redesigning the engine bay to accommodate the new engine, Triumph developed their own ragtag V8 by welding together two of the Straight-4 engines you'd find in a Triumph Dolomite. Chucked together at the last minute, the new Twin Dolomite V8 was not a stellar piece of engineering like the Rover variant, its main downfall being the failure to install a proper cooling system. This illogical oversight of something so obvious meant that the engine would heat up easily, and result in the cylinder heads warping, rendering the engine totally useless. The engine was also prone to corrosion and roller link chains that would fail before 25,000 miles causing expensive damage.

As a result of the bad press of the engine, mixed with the terrible build quality that we'd all come to expect from British Leyland, the Stag was removed from the American market in 1973, and finished off here in 1977 by its spiritual replacement, the Triumph TR7, an equally as flawed concept that chose not to learn its lesson and use exactly the same flawed engine, dashing that car's hopes of success too whilst adding a less than stellar body design to its troubles. Eventually the Stag slipped quietly away after 25,000 examples were built, although one did feature in the James Bond film 'Diamonds are Forever', being driven to Amsterdam by Bond after half-inching it from Diamond Smuggler Peter Franks.

This particular story maddens me because I consider the Triumph Stag my favourite of the British Leyland range as it really is a beautiful car and performs very well. Like I said, it's very smooth to ride in and very easy to drive, but the sheer lack of communication and cooperation between two parts of the same company resulted in it being one of the biggest flops in motoring history, and has often been cited as one of the worst cars ever.

Today however there is still quite a sizeable fanbase for this car, with 9,000 Stags still registered as roadworthy, making it one of the most numerous British Leyland products to remain in ongoing use, especially when you compare it to the Austin Allegro's 291 survivors, Morris Marina's 674, and the Rover SD1's 310. The surviving Stags are mostly made up of cars that have had their original Triumph engines replaced by the Rover V8 to improve the performance and reliability. With a Rover V8 under the hood, this car is simply one of the best classic cars ever in my mind, a mixture of style, speed, performance and that wonderful rumble from under the bonnet. For the remainder still with the Twin Dolomite V8, most have been fixed by installing a proper cooling system and solving the corrosion issues. Today the Stags enjoy the popular life that British Leyland had envisaged for their luxury machines way back in 1970, 45 years late mind you but I suppose you can't have everything first time round!

Oh ho! Now this is a car! Something space age from the early 70's that truly took the idea of futuristic car design from 60's TV shows and made them real. This was all encapsulated in the beauty and raw innovation that is the Citroen SM!

The Citroen SM's story begins back in 1961, where the company began work on a project called 'Project S', a sports variant of the revolutionary Citroen DS. Throughout the decade the car went through a myriad of running prototypes, ironing out faults and pushing the innovative nature of the car to the highest possible level. In 1968 the company purchased Maserati, and took on their knowledge of high-performance cars and engine technology to produce a true Gran Turismo car, combining the sophisticated Citroën suspension with a Maserati V6.

This marriage of raw power and sublime innovation and style was unleashed upon the public in March 1970 at the Geneva Motor Show, going on sale in September of the same year. Dubbed the 'SM', a portmanteaux of Project 'S' and the 'M' in Maserati, the car quickly became the company's flagship, looking like nothing on earth and being able to take on the Jaguar's, Lotus', Ferrari's, Aston Martin's, Alfa Romeo's and Porsche's of the day, the first time France had developed a sports production vehicle of this calibre since the end of World War II.

Power was derived from a 170hp 2.7L V6 engine, with a 0-60 of 8.9 seconds, which made it somewhat mediocre when compared to the likes of the Jensen Interceptor and its 288hp powerplant, and a 0-60 of 6.4 seconds.

Nevertheless, the car's biggest party piece was its mixture of raunchy power and incredible style and comfort, the likes of which had never been experienced before. The car is dripping with French panache and style, with the design being the brainchild of Citroen Chief Designer Robert Opron, who intended to keep the stlye similar to that of the DS but gave it some 70's flair for the new, more angular age. It was also fitted with the same hydro-pneumatic suspension found on the earlier DS, as well as the self-leveling lights that swiveled with the steering.

Sadly though, unlike its sporty competitors the SM, like many promising, outside-the-box, French products such as the Renault Avantime, didn't sell in the way the company wanted it to, largely being due to its image and design, looking less like a sports coupé and more a luxury saloon car, sort of along the lines of the Aston Martin Lagonda. At the same time and with much better performance, Maserati was selling the Merak, which looked much more like a sports car and felt just the same. In a similar way to the later Avantime, the SM fell into a gap between two markets, one market being sports coupé's, and the other being large luxury cars, of which it appealed more to one but not the other.

The SM did though make it big in the world of sports, winning its first competitive outing, the gruelling 1971 Rallye du Maroc, and a Twin Turbo V6 SM snatched the world record as the fastest production car on the Bonneville Salt Flats, achieving a top speed of 202mph.

Sadly though, the Citroen company fell into financial decline during the early 1970's, and officially declared bankruptcy in 1974, being rescued by Peugeot. Attempting to cut the costs wherever possible, the company axed the Citroen SM in May 1975 and sold off the Maserati division of the company to DeTomaso, with only 115 SM's produced in 1975 before production ended.

This setback and sad demise however doesn't mean the SM was an unpopular egg. During its 5 years of production, 12,200 SM's were built, and also managed to garner a selection of awards, including the 1972 Motor Trend Car of the Year award, as well as coming 3rd in the 1971 European Car of the Year, a competition won by another Citroen product, the GS.

Today these cars are very hard to find and incredibly exotic. In France you'll probably find a fair few and the United States and Canada also imported a good number. In the UK however they're something of a rarity, but so rewarding when you actually capture one!

Encapsulated inside its payload fairing, the Cygnus spacecraft for the upcoming Orbital ATK Commercial Resupply Services-6 is mated atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket in the Vertical Integration Facility at Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Cygnus is scheduled to lift off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on March 22 to deliver hardware and supplies to the International Space Station.

Photo credit: NASA/Dimitrios Gerondidakis

NASA image use policy.

Fantastic antique Art Deco stained glass door set encapsulated within new double glazed units .

Holme Valley Stained Glass is based in Holmfirth , near Huddersfield , West Yorkshire .

The U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-11 is encapsulated inside a 4-meter diameter payload fairing in preparation for launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

Engineers encapsulate the Orbital ATK enhanced Cygnus spacecraft in a protective payload fairing inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The fairing will provide an aerodynamic cover for the spacecraft as it rides atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket into orbit on a mission to carry supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

NASA image use policy.

In the Astrotech facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, NASA's Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport, or InSight, Mars lander is encapsulated in its payload fairing. InSight will be the first mission to look deep beneath the Martian surface. It will study the planet's interior by measuring its heat output and listen for marsquakes. The spacecraft will use the seismic waves generated by marsquakes to develop a map of the planet’s deep interior. The resulting insight into Mars’ formation will provide a better understanding of how other rocky planets, including Earth, were created. InSight is scheduled for liftoff May 5, 2018.

Photo credit: USAF 30th Space Wing

NASA image use policy.

Doodle diary

nhq201609150024 (09/15/2016) --- The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft is seen after being encapsulated in its fairing on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 49 flight engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA, flight engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, and Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)

The Educational Launch of Nanosatellites 19 (ELaNa 19) payload is encapsulated inside the Rocket Lab Electron rocket payload fairing on Dec. 1, 2018, at the company’s facility in New Zealand. The ELaNa 19 payload comprises 10 CubeSats selected through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The liftoff marks the debut of the agency’s innovative Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) effort. Managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, VCLS was developed to offer small payloads dedicated rides to space.

NASA image use policy.

Ever since I learned these falls existed, I've tumbled down every winter, looking to see how they froze. It's a private sanctuary in January, easy to keep to myself. I rarely spot a footprint that's not mine, markings sifted in with snow from high over the clifftop. The wildest weather seems far from reach, not a breath of wind from a storm spilling over. Now that the frozen spray is fully contained, fresh powder creates friction for climbing the perimeter. I can make it all the way to the ice cave out back, hidden behind an encapsulated echo. It's a strange sound, trickling water beneath a barrier of ice, waiting for warmth to break out. Despite the cold this season, I hope you'll do the same.

January 16, 2019

St. Croix Cove, Nova Scotia

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In the Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility-2 (SAEF-2), workers maneuver the Mars Polar Lander onto a spin table for testing. The lander, which will be launched on Jan. 3, 1999, is a solar-powered spacecraft designed to touch down on the Martian surface near the northern-most boundary of the south pole in order to study the water cycle there. The lander also will help scientists learn more about climate change and current resources on Mars, studying such things as frost, dust, water vapor and condensates in the Martian atmosphere. It is the second spacecraft to be launched in a pair of Mars '98 missions. The first is the Mars Climate Orbiter, which is due to be launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17A on Dec. 11, 1998. Image from NASA, originally appeared on this site: science.ksc.nasa.gov/gallery/photos/ Reposted by San Diego Air and Space Museum

I encapsulated a forest of hidden jewelry to parallel the theme curiosity box.

17/10/2017

click to view on white or on black

The OA-6 spacecraft for Orbital ATK and NASA is encapsulated inside a 4-meter-diameter payload fairing in preparation for launch atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

Burke and Wills Menindee Camp Pamamaroo Creek 26/10/1860 to 26/01/1861.

The story of Burke and Wills has become an integral part of the Australian consciousness. Burke and Wills and their fate seem to encapsulate and justify the fear that many urban Australians have of the vast, lonely, dry wilderness which occupies over two-thirds of the continent. Of course the truth about the ignominious demise of Burke and wills is more pedestrian. What went wrong with their expedition can best be summed up by those well-known human failings - incompetence, arrogance, inflexibility and racial bigotry. The expedition was ill-conceived from the outset. It is now generally agreed that the raison d'etre of the whole undertaking was overwhelming pride. This pride was a result of the newly found wealth of Melbourne (a direct result of the gold rushes) and the newly created colonial independence of Victoria. Public enthusiasm for the expedition was high. Public subscriptions exceeded £3000 and the government contributed £6000. Under ordinary circumstances this would have been adequate funding but over half of the funds were spent on purchasing and importing twenty-four camels from Afghanistan. The committee then advertised for a man to lead the expedition. They had thirteen applicants out of whom they chose Irish-born police inspector Robert O'Hara Burke. Burke had no experience and no apparent knowledge of the Australian bush. Why he was chosen to lead an expedition which was going to travel across thousands of miles of rugged and unknown terrain remains a mystery. It was not so much an expedition as a public display. The camels and packhorses were carrying twenty-one tons of equipment including 120 mirrors as presents for Aborigines, sixty gallons of rum, four gallons of brandy, supplies of rockets, arms and vast qualities of dried food.

On 6 September when the expedition reached Swan Hill Burke sold off a large quantity of stores and hired two new men. In Balranald the foreman, Ferguson, quit; Burke dismissed Creber, Cowen, Fletcher, the cook Drakeford, and Langan; and some stores including the expedition's entire supply of lime juice were sold. At the Darling River camp at Pamamaroo Creek Burke insisted that all items weighing over thirty pounds be abandoned. This decision meant that neither Dr Beckler nor the naturalist Ludwig Becker could carry their instruments. Becker left the expedition at Menindee. Prior to Becker's departure the second-in-command, Landells, realised that he would never be able to work with Burke and resigned. At Menindee news arrived from Melbourne that another continental crossing was about to commence. All pretence about the desire to 'enquire into the report upon the exploration of the Australian interior' was abandoned. Burke could not tolerate the thought that he might be beaten. On 19 October Burke, Wills, Brabe, King, Gray, McDonough, Patton and an Afgan cameleer Dost Mohammed left Menindee. Wright was left behind with instructions to bring stores and provisions and to follow the main party in a week to Cooper’s Creek. The main party reached Cooper Creek on 11 November and on 27 November the famous Camp 65 was established under a coolibah tree on the banks of the river. On 16 December 1860 with six camels, one pony, and Wills, Gray and King, Burke began the final push north to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Disaster now followed disaster on the trip north and back to Cooper Creek. On 17 April on the way back Charley Gray died. Four days later Burke, Wills and King reached the Cooper Creek depot. They were exhausted and in desperate need of fresh supplies. To their horror the depot had been abandoned only hours earlier. On a tree William Brahe, the depot foreman, had carved DIG. Confronted with an empty depot, a small cache of supplies and the prospect of starvation, Burke had to decide whether he was going to go back to Menindee or attempt a 320 kilometre walk across the desert to a cattle station at Mount Hopeless. Once again Burke made the wrong decision. He decided to head for Mount Hopeless. It is perhaps the most telling comment about the character of Burke he ignored his only chance saving himself, Wills and King. It is almost certain that the local Aborigines could have saved the trio. But Burke saw himself as the conqueror, as a member of a superior civilisation. The idea that he could be saved from death by a group of 'savages' was unthinkable. The base camp in Menindee was thus occupied by part of the group from 19 Oct 1860 to 26 Jan 1861 before they headed back to Melbourne. Only John King made it back alive from Cooper Creek because he had accepted the hospitality of the Aboriginal people there. Dost Mahomet returned and lived in Menindee and worked for Ah Chung the Chinese baker. He died in 1880 and was buried just outside the town. The base camp at Pamamaroo Creek near Menindee was occupied from 19 October 1860 to 26 January 1861. Before setting off north Burke stayed in the hotel in Menindee and not with his men at Pamamaroo Creek depot. The main weir on the River Darling diverts water into Lake Pamamaroo which becomes the water supply of Broken Hill and the source of irrigation water for the fruit and vines around Menindee.

Oh the possibilities, sadly missed through poor design and negligence! You cannot deny then that it's a British Leyland product, taking a car with a fantastic premise, but through sloppy workmanship make it something of nightmares! No car seems to encapsulate the problems with the nationalised company more than the humble Triumph Stag.

To compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz SL, British Leyland started work on a luxury Grand Tourer, styled by the world renowned Giovanni Michelotti, who had previously designed the Triumph 2000, the Triumph Herald and the Triumph TR6, and would later go on to design the ambiguous Austin Apache and the Leyland National bus. But either way his styling was sensational, but at the same time the car had substance too. In the late 1960's America was on the verge of banning convertible cars to increase safety. So the engineers at Triumph designed what was a very clever T-Bar rollcage over the passenger cabin, meaning the car was not only safe, but also allowed the owners to enjoy what was craved most in a Grand Tourer, drop-top open-air fun! This was complimented by a selection of cars with removable Hard-Tops, although not as popular due to being slightly more complicated. The name was great too, sounding very manly with a hint of beast-like qualities, which for the most part helps to form the image, a strong and noble creature of the wild stood proud amongst its peers...

...only without the antlers!

In 1970 the car was launched to the motoring press with some very favourable initial reviews, admiring the styling, the firm suspension that resulted in a smooth ride and the well-balanced handling. The car was immediately an image setter for the new-money, like the Mercedes it was competing with it had the image of being something for those who had made their money through more underhanded methods, a cads car if you will. But we've all got to make our money somehow I guess!

However, lest we forget that this was a British Leyland product, so of course trouble was brewing. Very quickly the car gained a reputation for unreliability, which can be traced back to that all important piece of machinery known simply as the engine. In 1969 whilst the Triumph Stag was in development, Rover began using their new license built V8 engine derived from an American Buick 215 3L powerplant. Originally this was installed into the Rover P5, but a 3.5L version was installed as standard to the Rover P6 and the later SD1, as well as becoming the motive power behind the almighty Range Rover. The Rover V8 was an incredibly reliable and endlessly tunable engine, making it one of the most popular and successful powerplants in automotive history. It made its way into the TVR Chimera, the Morgan Plus 8, the TVR 350i, the Land Rover Defender, the Land Rover Discovery, the Sisu Nasu All-Terrain Military Transport, the MG RV8, the MGB GT, the TVR Griffith, the TVR S-Series, the Leyland P76, the Triumph TR8 and so on! It was eventually removed from production in 2006, being replaced in the Range Rover it had served so well by a BMW powerplant.

But back to the Stag, and seeing as Triumph and Rover belonged to the same parent company, you'd think that their first instinct would be to place this heavenly engine into the Stag. Apparently that was too much to ask for, and so Triumph, still thinking they were Triumph, decided to develop their own engine because apparently the Rover V8 wouldn't fit in the engine bay of the Stag. Rather than doing the simple task of redesigning the engine bay to accommodate the new engine, Triumph developed their own ragtag V8 by welding together two of the Straight-4 engines you'd find in a Triumph Dolomite. Chucked together at the last minute, the new Twin Dolomite V8 was not a stellar piece of engineering like the Rover variant, its main downfall being the failure to install a proper cooling system. This illogical oversight of something so obvious meant that the engine would heat up easily, and result in the cylinder heads warping, rendering the engine totally useless. The engine was also prone to corrosion and roller link chains that would fail before 25,000 miles causing expensive damage.

As a result of the bad press of the engine, mixed with the terrible build quality that we'd all come to expect from British Leyland, the Stag was removed from the American market in 1973, and finished off here in 1977 by its spiritual replacement, the Triumph TR7, an equally as flawed concept that chose not to learn its lesson and use exactly the same flawed engine, dashing that car's hopes of success too whilst adding a less than stellar body design to its troubles. Eventually the Stag slipped quietly away after 25,000 examples were built, although one did feature in the James Bond film 'Diamonds are Forever', being driven to Amsterdam by Bond after half-inching it from Diamond Smuggler Peter Franks.

This particular story maddens me because I consider the Triumph Stag my favourite of the British Leyland range as it really is a beautiful car and performs very well. Like I said, it's very smooth to ride in and very easy to drive, but the sheer lack of communication and cooperation between two parts of the same company resulted in it being one of the biggest flops in motoring history, and has often been cited as one of the worst cars ever.

Today however there is still quite a sizeable fanbase for this car, with 9,000 Stags still registered as roadworthy, making it one of the most numerous British Leyland products to remain in ongoing use, especially when you compare it to the Austin Allegro's 291 survivors, Morris Marina's 674, and the Rover SD1's 310. The surviving Stags are mostly made up of cars that have had their original Triumph engines replaced by the Rover V8 to improve the performance and reliability. With a Rover V8 under the hood, this car is simply one of the best classic cars ever in my mind, a mixture of style, speed, performance and that wonderful rumble from under the bonnet. For the remainder still with the Twin Dolomite V8, most have been fixed by installing a proper cooling system and solving the corrosion issues. Today the Stags enjoy the popular life that British Leyland had envisaged for their luxury machines way back in 1970, 45 years late mind you but I suppose you can't have everything first time round!

The architectural sculpture encapsulated the history of Engine Co. No. 2 that was established in 1858 as a volunteer hook-and-ladder organization. The Engine Co. No. 2 was accepted into the St. Paul Fire Department after several large fires in the summer of 1857. At that time, most of St. Paul's firefighters were in volunteer units. Engine Co. No. 2 moved into a new engine house in 1874. In 1877, the Fire Department was reorganized and firefighters became full time, paid members of the department. In 1922, another new station was built to house Engine Co. No. 2. (Source: Various, including the report "The Saint Paul Fire Department Engine Houses – 1869 To 1930 Historic Context," produced by 106Group, February 2017.)

This antique stained glass window was made ready for and encapsulated within a new double glazed unit .

Holme Valley Stained Glass is based in Holmfirth , near Huddersfield , West Yorkshire .

Chassis n° 1693

Motor n° 555

'Bugattis encapsulate concepts of engineering which, once seen, change your ideas radically and definitively. Drive them, and you realise that each car is form and engineering in equilibrium, and a work of art.' – William Stobbs, Les Grandes Routières.

By the early 1930s Ettore Bugatti had established an unrivalled reputation for building cars with outstanding performance on road or track; the world's greatest racing drivers enjoying countless successes aboard the Molsheim factory's products and often choosing them for their everyday transport.

The original Type 13 'Brescia' was developed from the first Bugatti to be built at Molsheim - the short-wheelbase Type 13 of 1910. Longer wheelbase Type 22 and Type 23 models were made, both of which used the single-overhead-camshaft, 16-valve, long-stroke engine that Ettore Bugatti had designed in 1914, and were built alongside 8-valve 'Petit Pur Sang' versions. First seen in 1919, the 16-valve car won at Le Mans in 1920 and took the name 'Brescia' following the factory's first four places at the 1921 Italian Grand Prix for Voiturettes, held at the eponymous racetrack in Lombardy. Some 2,000 Brescias were built between 1914 and 1926 with engine capacities of 1,368, 1,453 and 1,496cc.

The Bugatti Brescia was one of the outstanding small sports cars of its day, being able to cruise comfortably at around 100-110km/h while delivering surprisingly good fuel economy; indeed, a quarter-century later there were few 1½-litre cars capable of matching its performance.

The Bugatti Type 27 Brescia, as seen here, was essentially the same as the preceding Type 22/23, but with a more powerful 16-valve, 1,496cc engine producing 50bhp, some 10 horsepower more than before. This particular car was delivered to Le Claux in France on 15th May 1923 with the registration '3624 M3'. On June 13th 1924, Joseph Barrel of La Seyne sur Mer bought the Bugatti, which one week later was registered to one M Cordesse of 363 Rue Paradis in Marseille.

Between January 1925 and October 1926, the Brescia had a further five owners: Raoul Peralai of 98 Boulevard de la Madeleine in Marseille; Raymond Leon, Boulevard Roi Rene, Aix en Provence; Alphonse Pogalatti, 6 Cours Gambetta, Aix en Provence; Robert Mallet, Martigues; and Olivier Fernand, 6 Boulevard de la Republique in Salon de Provence.

Towards the end of the 1920s, the car was - reputedly - used for a hold-up in Le Bois de Boulogne, Paris. Apparently, the owner, together with an accomplice, would cruise Le Bois de Boulogne looking for potential lady victims. When a target was spotted, the accomplice would jump out of the car, grab the unfortunate woman's handbag, and jump in the back. Swift and nimble, the Brescia would have been the ideal getaway car for negotiating the dense Parisian traffic. From 13th June 1930, the registration was '8106 RB 9'.

In 1934, the Brescia was purchased by Louis François Arfeuille, maitre d'hôtel at Fouquets restaurant on the Champs Élysées, whose name is recorded on a plate fixed to the car. For the next 25 years, the Bugatti remained off the road in barn storage at Saint-Martial-le-Vieux in central France, concealed beneath layers of straw and earth. Reregistered as '457 00 AA 23', it was purchased in 1959 by Rene Moeuf and brought back to working condition that same year (see letter on file). Bugatti collectors, the Schlumpf brothers, went to see Moeuf and offered to buy the car for their Mulhouse collection for 800,000 French francs. The Schlumpfs' letter is available, and we are advised that there are three photographs of this car in the Bugatti Trust archive at Prescott.

Rene Moeuf must have declined their offer, for the car's next owner was Bruno Dalmas, who bought it in 1969 and kept it until 1977. On 12th March '77, Bruno Dalmas sold the car for 25,000 French francs to J P Oosterbaan of The Hague, Netherlands. The registration at this time was '457 AA 23', changing to 'AM-04-76' in the Netherlands. Mr Oosterbaan had restored two Morettis, and to pay the bill for the coachwork, he gave the Brescia to the coachbuilder, who sold it to Hugo Modderman at the beginning of 2006. Mr Modderman then had the Bugatti mechanically restored at Ventoux Moteurs Ingénierie (Laurent Rondoni) in Carpentras. This most fastidious restoration involved completely rebuilding engine, gearbox, brakes, coachwork, etc. Related invoices are on file and the car also comes with a Monegasque Carte Grise. While in the vendor's possession, the Brescia has successfully participated in numerous events run by the Dutch Bugatti Club (BCN), and in 2014 won the Preservation Class at the Schloss Bensberg Concours d'Élégance. A wonderful opportunity to acquire a well and original documented Brescia.

Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais

Bonhams

Sold for € 506.000

Estimated : € 380.000 - 540.000

Parijs - Paris

Frankrijk - France

February 2017

The Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft is lowered from a vertical position prior to being encapsulated in its fairing on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2016 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Expedition 49 flight engineer Shane Kimbrough of NASA, flight engineer Andrey Borisenko of Roscosmos, and Soyuz commander Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos are scheduled to launch to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-02 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 24 Kazakh time. Photo Credit: (NASA/Victor Zelentsov)

The second Mobile User Objective System satellite is prepared for launch at Cape Canavaral Air Force Station, Fla., in June 2013. It is the last time the satellite can be visible before encapsulated in its fairing.

More: www.lockheedmartin.com/muos

The Rocket Lab Electron rocket payload fairing is prepared for the encapsulation of the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites 19 (ELaNa 19) payload on Dec. 1, 2018, at the company’s facility in New Zealand. The ELaNa 19 payload comprises 10 CubeSats selected through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The liftoff marks the debut of the agency’s innovative Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) effort. Managed by NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, VCLS was developed to offer small payloads dedicated rides to space.

NASA image use policy.

The U.S. Air Force’s 10th Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-10) satellite is encapsulated inside a 5-meter-diameter payload fairing in preparation for launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

Sentinel-2B encapsulated in the Vega rocket fairing. The fairing will not open again until the mission is launched.

Credits: ESA–Manuel Pedoussaut, 2017

Fonte Official Skindred web page :

The music world may be in a permanent state of panic and flux, but one basic principle of rock’n’roll remains true: the key to longevity is to always deliver the goods. No band has better encapsulated this ethos of integrity and determination over the last decade than Skindred.

Widely acknowledged as one of the most devastating and enthralling live bands on the planet, the Newport destroyers have been a perennial force for musical invention and remorseless positivity since emerging from the ashes of frontman Benji Webbe’s former band Dub War back in 1998. Over the course of four universally praised studio albums – Babylon (2002), Roots Rock Riot (2007), Shark Bites And Dog Fights (2009) and Union Black (2011) – Skindred’s reputation for producing the ultimate spark-spraying state-of-the-art soundclash, combining all manner of seemingly disparate musical elements into an irresistibly exhilarating explosion of energy and cross-pollinated cultural fervour has rightly earned them a reputation as a band capable of uniting people from all corners of the globe and making every last one of them tear up the dancefloor with a giant shit-eating grin plastered across their faces.

With the toughest and most infectious metal riffs colliding with the biggest, phattest hip hop and reggae grooves, cutting edge electronics and a razor-sharp pop sensibility guaranteed to encourage even the most curmudgeonly music fans bellow along with rabid enthusiasm, Skindred are both the ultimate thinking man’s party band. And now, with the release of their fifth studio album Kill The Power, Benji Webbe and his loyal henchmen – bassist Dan Pugsley, guitarist Mikey Demus and drummer Arya Goggins – are poised to spread their gospel of good times and badass tunes to an even bigger global audience.

“We know that everyone recognises us as one of the best live bands around,” says Arya. “We’re really proud of all of the albums we’ve made, but we all felt that we needed to make an album that would be as powerful and effective as the live show. That’s what Kill The Power is all about. This time, we want everyone to sit up and listen and join in the party.”

“I started DJ-ing a little while ago and it’s taught me a lot,” adds Benji. “Now I feel like I wanted to make an album where every intro to every song makes kids think ‘Fucking hell, they’re playing that song!’ Every middle eight on this album is a banger. Every chorus is massive. On this album, the lyrics are deep and the songs are just bigger than ever.”

In keeping with their tradition of making people move while singing about universal issues and spreading a message of positive action and social unity, Kill The Power is an album bulging with fury at the state of the modern world. Never afraid to tackle important topics head on, while never forgetting his band’s mission to entertain and leave the world in a sweaty, sated heap, Benji’s notoriously insane energy levels seem to be creeping up with every album and Kill The Power showcases his most furious and impactful performances to date.

“The world’s getting worse so how can I get more mellow?” he laughs. “Of course I’m getting angrier! People normally stay in a bag when it comes to lyrics. Stephen King stays with horror and he’s brilliant at it, you know? With Skindred, it’s always about encouraging an uplift. It’s about a sense of unity. Lyrics can change people’s lives, you know? You can be going down one road and hear a song and have a Road To Damascus experience and become someone else.”

On an album that has no shortage of invigorating highlights, Kill The Power takes Skindred to new extremes at both ends of the lyrical spectrum, reaching a new level of fiery intensity on the lethal cautionary tale of “Playin’ With The Devil” and the euphoric end-of-the-working-week celebration of “Saturday”: both songs proving that this band’s ability to touch the heart and fire the blood remains as incisive and potent as ever. As if to enhance their songwriting chops more than ever, Kill The Power also features several songs written in collaboration with legendary songwriting guru Russ Ballard, the man behind such immortal rock staples as Since You’ve Been Gone and God Gave Rock & Roll To You, and this seemingly perverse team-up has led to Skindred’s finest set of lyrics and melodies to date.

“Basically, I try to write songs that people can interpret however they like,” says Benji. “When I wrote ‘Playin’ With The Devil’, I originally wrote some words down on a piece of paper thinking about friends I’ve had who smoke crack and live on the pipe, you know? I wrote the song about that kind of thing, but then a couple of days later the riots happened in London and so it became about that as well. When you shit on your own doorstep, your house is going to smell of shit. You’ve got to clean that up! With ‘Saturday’, it’s not a typical Skindred song; it’s a big celebration. We got Russ Ballard involved on that one and he helped me structure the lyrics in the right way so when the chorus hits, it hits like a hammer. It’s an upbeat song but when you listen to the lyrics it goes on about how people all have different reasons to be out and partying. Some people are celebrating, some people are drowning their sorrows, and we all come together on a Saturday. When this record comes out and people go to a club on a Saturday, that’s when it’s gonna go off! The chorus is huge!”

While Skindred’s previous album Union Black was dominated by the bleeps, booms and squelches of British electronic dance music, albeit balanced out by Mikey Demus’ trademark riffs, the new album sees the band return to a more organic sound that amounts to the most accurate representation of the Skindred live experience yet committed to tape. From the huge beats and stuttering samples of the opening title track and the laudably demented Ninja through to the insistent melodies and rampaging choruses of “The Kids Are Right Now” and “Saturday” and on to the thunderous, metallic throwdowns of “Proceed With Caution” and “Ruling Force” and the cool acoustic breeze of the closing More Fire, Kill The Power is Skindred cranked up to full throttle and revelling in their own febrile creativity like never before.

“It’s all about making an album that moves people in the same way that our live shows do,” says Arya. “We love what we achieved on Union Black and we still used a lot of those basic ideas on Kill The Power, but this time it’s a more organic sound. All the drum loops you hear were originally played by me before we started chopping them up, and there are a lot more guitars on this record too. We love combining all the music that we love in Skindred but we all love heavy music and we’re a rock band at heart and that really comes across this time.”

“We’ve delivered an album that’s gonna make people rock for the next few years,” states Benji. “You know what? I can’t do anything about record sales, but if people come to a Skindred show they’re gonna know they’ve been there, you know? Ha ha! The music we make is not about Christians or Muslims, straight people or gay people, black or white or any of that shit. When people are in that room together it’s just Skindred, one unity and one strength!”

Having conquered numerous countries around the world, Skindred could easily be taking a breather and resting on their laurels at this point. Instead, this most dedicated and hard-working of modern bands are preparing to launch their most exuberant assault on the world ever when Kill The Power hits the streets. Anyone that has ever seen the band live before will confirm that it is impossible not to get fired up and drawn into the joyous abandon of a Skindred show and with their greatest album to date primed and ready to explode, the best live band on the planet simply cannot fail to conquer the entire world this time round. Wherever and whoever you are, Skindred are coming. Open your ears and get your dancing feet ready…

“There’s nothing better than being on stage with these guys,” says Arya. “Skindred is my favourite band and I’m so lucky to be part of this thing we’ve created. We’ve been all over the world but there are always new places to visit and new crowds to play for. We just want to keep getting bigger and better.”

“We’re a global band. We’ve played in Colombia and India and everywhere and it’s the same energy,” Benji concludes. “I get letters from people in Hawaii and people in Turkey. It’s all the same. We resonate globally and it’s the greatest thing ever. It seems funny to us sometimes because we’re always kicking each other’s heads in and saying ‘You’re a wanker!’ to each other before we go on stage, but as soon as it’s time to play the show the oneness this band creates together and the unity we bring is unique. I’ve never experienced anything like it and we can’t wait to get back on the road and do it all again.”

Fonte Official Skindred web page :

The music world may be in a permanent state of panic and flux, but one basic principle of rock’n’roll remains true: the key to longevity is to always deliver the goods. No band has better encapsulated this ethos of integrity and determination over the last decade than Skindred.

Widely acknowledged as one of the most devastating and enthralling live bands on the planet, the Newport destroyers have been a perennial force for musical invention and remorseless positivity since emerging from the ashes of frontman Benji Webbe’s former band Dub War back in 1998. Over the course of four universally praised studio albums – Babylon (2002), Roots Rock Riot (2007), Shark Bites And Dog Fights (2009) and Union Black (2011) – Skindred’s reputation for producing the ultimate spark-spraying state-of-the-art soundclash, combining all manner of seemingly disparate musical elements into an irresistibly exhilarating explosion of energy and cross-pollinated cultural fervour has rightly earned them a reputation as a band capable of uniting people from all corners of the globe and making every last one of them tear up the dancefloor with a giant shit-eating grin plastered across their faces.

With the toughest and most infectious metal riffs colliding with the biggest, phattest hip hop and reggae grooves, cutting edge electronics and a razor-sharp pop sensibility guaranteed to encourage even the most curmudgeonly music fans bellow along with rabid enthusiasm, Skindred are both the ultimate thinking man’s party band. And now, with the release of their fifth studio album Kill The Power, Benji Webbe and his loyal henchmen – bassist Dan Pugsley, guitarist Mikey Demus and drummer Arya Goggins – are poised to spread their gospel of good times and badass tunes to an even bigger global audience.

“We know that everyone recognises us as one of the best live bands around,” says Arya. “We’re really proud of all of the albums we’ve made, but we all felt that we needed to make an album that would be as powerful and effective as the live show. That’s what Kill The Power is all about. This time, we want everyone to sit up and listen and join in the party.”

“I started DJ-ing a little while ago and it’s taught me a lot,” adds Benji. “Now I feel like I wanted to make an album where every intro to every song makes kids think ‘Fucking hell, they’re playing that song!’ Every middle eight on this album is a banger. Every chorus is massive. On this album, the lyrics are deep and the songs are just bigger than ever.”

In keeping with their tradition of making people move while singing about universal issues and spreading a message of positive action and social unity, Kill The Power is an album bulging with fury at the state of the modern world. Never afraid to tackle important topics head on, while never forgetting his band’s mission to entertain and leave the world in a sweaty, sated heap, Benji’s notoriously insane energy levels seem to be creeping up with every album and Kill The Power showcases his most furious and impactful performances to date.

“The world’s getting worse so how can I get more mellow?” he laughs. “Of course I’m getting angrier! People normally stay in a bag when it comes to lyrics. Stephen King stays with horror and he’s brilliant at it, you know? With Skindred, it’s always about encouraging an uplift. It’s about a sense of unity. Lyrics can change people’s lives, you know? You can be going down one road and hear a song and have a Road To Damascus experience and become someone else.”

On an album that has no shortage of invigorating highlights, Kill The Power takes Skindred to new extremes at both ends of the lyrical spectrum, reaching a new level of fiery intensity on the lethal cautionary tale of “Playin’ With The Devil” and the euphoric end-of-the-working-week celebration of “Saturday”: both songs proving that this band’s ability to touch the heart and fire the blood remains as incisive and potent as ever. As if to enhance their songwriting chops more than ever, Kill The Power also features several songs written in collaboration with legendary songwriting guru Russ Ballard, the man behind such immortal rock staples as Since You’ve Been Gone and God Gave Rock & Roll To You, and this seemingly perverse team-up has led to Skindred’s finest set of lyrics and melodies to date.

“Basically, I try to write songs that people can interpret however they like,” says Benji. “When I wrote ‘Playin’ With The Devil’, I originally wrote some words down on a piece of paper thinking about friends I’ve had who smoke crack and live on the pipe, you know? I wrote the song about that kind of thing, but then a couple of days later the riots happened in London and so it became about that as well. When you shit on your own doorstep, your house is going to smell of shit. You’ve got to clean that up! With ‘Saturday’, it’s not a typical Skindred song; it’s a big celebration. We got Russ Ballard involved on that one and he helped me structure the lyrics in the right way so when the chorus hits, it hits like a hammer. It’s an upbeat song but when you listen to the lyrics it goes on about how people all have different reasons to be out and partying. Some people are celebrating, some people are drowning their sorrows, and we all come together on a Saturday. When this record comes out and people go to a club on a Saturday, that’s when it’s gonna go off! The chorus is huge!”

While Skindred’s previous album Union Black was dominated by the bleeps, booms and squelches of British electronic dance music, albeit balanced out by Mikey Demus’ trademark riffs, the new album sees the band return to a more organic sound that amounts to the most accurate representation of the Skindred live experience yet committed to tape. From the huge beats and stuttering samples of the opening title track and the laudably demented Ninja through to the insistent melodies and rampaging choruses of “The Kids Are Right Now” and “Saturday” and on to the thunderous, metallic throwdowns of “Proceed With Caution” and “Ruling Force” and the cool acoustic breeze of the closing More Fire, Kill The Power is Skindred cranked up to full throttle and revelling in their own febrile creativity like never before.

“It’s all about making an album that moves people in the same way that our live shows do,” says Arya. “We love what we achieved on Union Black and we still used a lot of those basic ideas on Kill The Power, but this time it’s a more organic sound. All the drum loops you hear were originally played by me before we started chopping them up, and there are a lot more guitars on this record too. We love combining all the music that we love in Skindred but we all love heavy music and we’re a rock band at heart and that really comes across this time.”

“We’ve delivered an album that’s gonna make people rock for the next few years,” states Benji. “You know what? I can’t do anything about record sales, but if people come to a Skindred show they’re gonna know they’ve been there, you know? Ha ha! The music we make is not about Christians or Muslims, straight people or gay people, black or white or any of that shit. When people are in that room together it’s just Skindred, one unity and one strength!”

Having conquered numerous countries around the world, Skindred could easily be taking a breather and resting on their laurels at this point. Instead, this most dedicated and hard-working of modern bands are preparing to launch their most exuberant assault on the world ever when Kill The Power hits the streets. Anyone that has ever seen the band live before will confirm that it is impossible not to get fired up and drawn into the joyous abandon of a Skindred show and with their greatest album to date primed and ready to explode, the best live band on the planet simply cannot fail to conquer the entire world this time round. Wherever and whoever you are, Skindred are coming. Open your ears and get your dancing feet ready…

“There’s nothing better than being on stage with these guys,” says Arya. “Skindred is my favourite band and I’m so lucky to be part of this thing we’ve created. We’ve been all over the world but there are always new places to visit and new crowds to play for. We just want to keep getting bigger and better.”

“We’re a global band. We’ve played in Colombia and India and everywhere and it’s the same energy,” Benji concludes. “I get letters from people in Hawaii and people in Turkey. It’s all the same. We resonate globally and it’s the greatest thing ever. It seems funny to us sometimes because we’re always kicking each other’s heads in and saying ‘You’re a wanker!’ to each other before we go on stage, but as soon as it’s time to play the show the oneness this band creates together and the unity we bring is unique. I’ve never experienced anything like it and we can’t wait to get back on the road and do it all again.”

Lovely encapsulation of the area - beneath the MOD Radar station, the opposing cliffs cast a shadow on the red rocks.

Flower pods of the Paulownia Tree, encapsulated in ice after a winter storm and illuminated by the rising sun.

The Sentinel-5P satellite during the encapsulation within the launcher fairing.

Read more about Sentinel-5P: www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Copernicus...

Credit: ESA–Stephane Corvaja, 2017

Looking up the Susquehanna River from HdG....hard to tell but this is 3 bridges...2 different train bridges and one for cars. I'm including other shots to show how isolated the water felt this morning. Sometimes fog rolls down the river into a more clear bay, but this morning, the river was more clear, and the Bay was pretty socked in

JSC2013-E-088067 (19 Sept. 2013) --- In the Integration Facility at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft hovers behind the third stage of a Soyuz rocket Sept. 19 prior to its encapsulation into the booster. Standing in the midst of other Soyuz rocket components being prepared for future flights, the Soyuz spacecraft will be moved to its launch pad Sept. 23 for final preparations for launch Sept. 26, Kazakh time, to carry Expedition 37/38 Flight Engineer Michael Hopkins of NASA, Soyuz Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy, both with Russia's Federal Space Agency, into orbit for the start of a five and a half month mission on the International Space Station. Photo credit: NASA/Victor Zelentsov

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Burke and Wills Menindee Camp Pamamaroo Creek 26/10/1860 to 26/01/1861.

The story of Burke and Wills has become an integral part of the Australian consciousness. Burke and Wills and their fate seem to encapsulate and justify the fear that many urban Australians have of the vast, lonely, dry wilderness which occupies over two-thirds of the continent. Of course the truth about the ignominious demise of Burke and wills is more pedestrian. What went wrong with their expedition can best be summed up by those well-known human failings - incompetence, arrogance, inflexibility and racial bigotry. The expedition was ill-conceived from the outset. It is now generally agreed that the raison d'etre of the whole undertaking was overwhelming pride. This pride was a result of the newly found wealth of Melbourne (a direct result of the gold rushes) and the newly created colonial independence of Victoria. Public enthusiasm for the expedition was high. Public subscriptions exceeded £3000 and the government contributed £6000. Under ordinary circumstances this would have been adequate funding but over half of the funds were spent on purchasing and importing twenty-four camels from Afghanistan. The committee then advertised for a man to lead the expedition. They had thirteen applicants out of whom they chose Irish-born police inspector Robert O'Hara Burke. Burke had no experience and no apparent knowledge of the Australian bush. Why he was chosen to lead an expedition which was going to travel across thousands of miles of rugged and unknown terrain remains a mystery. It was not so much an expedition as a public display. The camels and packhorses were carrying twenty-one tons of equipment including 120 mirrors as presents for Aborigines, sixty gallons of rum, four gallons of brandy, supplies of rockets, arms and vast qualities of dried food.

On 6 September when the expedition reached Swan Hill Burke sold off a large quantity of stores and hired two new men. In Balranald the foreman, Ferguson, quit; Burke dismissed Creber, Cowen, Fletcher, the cook Drakeford, and Langan; and some stores including the expedition's entire supply of lime juice were sold. At the Darling River camp at Pamamaroo Creek Burke insisted that all items weighing over thirty pounds be abandoned. This decision meant that neither Dr Beckler nor the naturalist Ludwig Becker could carry their instruments. Becker left the expedition at Menindee. Prior to Becker's departure the second-in-command, Landells, realised that he would never be able to work with Burke and resigned. At Menindee news arrived from Melbourne that another continental crossing was about to commence. All pretence about the desire to 'enquire into the report upon the exploration of the Australian interior' was abandoned. Burke could not tolerate the thought that he might be beaten. On 19 October Burke, Wills, Brabe, King, Gray, McDonough, Patton and an Afgan cameleer Dost Mohammed left Menindee. Wright was left behind with instructions to bring stores and provisions and to follow the main party in a week to Cooper’s Creek. The main party reached Cooper Creek on 11 November and on 27 November the famous Camp 65 was established under a coolibah tree on the banks of the river. On 16 December 1860 with six camels, one pony, and Wills, Gray and King, Burke began the final push north to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Disaster now followed disaster on the trip north and back to Cooper Creek. On 17 April on the way back Charley Gray died. Four days later Burke, Wills and King reached the Cooper Creek depot. They were exhausted and in desperate need of fresh supplies. To their horror the depot had been abandoned only hours earlier. On a tree William Brahe, the depot foreman, had carved DIG. Confronted with an empty depot, a small cache of supplies and the prospect of starvation, Burke had to decide whether he was going to go back to Menindee or attempt a 320 kilometre walk across the desert to a cattle station at Mount Hopeless. Once again Burke made the wrong decision. He decided to head for Mount Hopeless. It is perhaps the most telling comment about the character of Burke he ignored his only chance saving himself, Wills and King. It is almost certain that the local Aborigines could have saved the trio. But Burke saw himself as the conqueror, as a member of a superior civilisation. The idea that he could be saved from death by a group of 'savages' was unthinkable. The base camp in Menindee was thus occupied by part of the group from 19 Oct 1860 to 26 Jan 1861 before they headed back to Melbourne. Only John King made it back alive from Cooper Creek because he had accepted the hospitality of the Aboriginal people there. Dost Mahomet returned and lived in Menindee and worked for Ah Chung the Chinese baker. He died in 1880 and was buried just outside the town. The base camp at Pamamaroo Creek near Menindee was occupied from 19 October 1860 to 26 January 1861. Before setting off north Burke stayed in the hotel in Menindee and not with his men at Pamamaroo Creek depot. The main weir on the River Darling diverts water into Lake Pamamaroo which becomes the water supply of Broken Hill and the source of irrigation water for the fruit and vines around Menindee.

This station platform sign (one of about twenty at Betchworth, Surrey alone) sums up for me what has gone wrong with UK railway information since the disastrous rail privatisation mistake.

Instead of the simple and well-known 'No Smoking' instruction, we now have this ludicrously wordy, cumbersome and woolly notice, which has even had to be re-labelled to GWR from FGW (along with thousands of others), presumably by paying someone to go out to every station and stick labels over the old tiny FGW branding, because it was felt to be so important to brand such a tiny sign in the first place!

Of course, the all-important red circle printing around the cigarette has faded to nothing, which is arguably the most important part of the sign!

Aargh!

Encapsulated in its payload fairing, NASA's Parker Solar Probe is transported past the Vehicle Assembly Building at the agency's Kennedy Space Center, on Monday, July 30, 2018. The spacecraft is on its way to Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station where it will be mated atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket. The mission will perform the closest-ever observations of a star when it travels through the Sun's atmosphere, called the corona. The probe will rely on measurements and imaging to revolutionize our understanding of the corona and the Sun-Earth connection.

Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

NASA image use policy.

"The car’s name encapsulates the true significance of all that has been achieved in terms of performance. The reference to the 90th anniversary of the foundation of Scuderia Ferrari underscores the strong link that has always existed between Ferrari’s track and road cars. A brilliant encapsulation of the most advanced technologies developed in Maranello, the SF90 Stradale is also the perfect demonstration of how Ferrari immediately transitions the knowledge and skills it acquires in competition to its production cars..."

Source: Ferrari

Photographed at NI Supercar Sunday

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The U.S. Air Force’s Global Positioning System (GPS) IIF-7 is encapsulated inside a 4-meter-diameter payload fairing in preparation for launch on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. Photo credit: United Launch Alliance

"The car’s name encapsulates the true significance of all that has been achieved in terms of performance. The reference to the 90th anniversary of the foundation of Scuderia Ferrari underscores the strong link that has always existed between Ferrari’s track and road cars. A brilliant encapsulation of the most advanced technologies developed in Maranello, the SF90 Stradale is also the perfect demonstration of how Ferrari immediately transitions the knowledge and skills it acquires in competition to its production cars..."

Source: Ferrari

Photographed at Blenheim Palace at Salon Privé Classic & Supercar - the event where you can get up close and personal with the world’s greatest and most extreme models in the Great Court of Blenheim Palace. From flamboyant supercars, to eccentric hypercars and some of the most rare and stunning classics in existence, there is nothing quite like this supercar extravaganza.

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