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The skeg box is 29 3/4 inches from the rear bulkhead, and -- due to the hull V -- I can just get the pivot pin into its compression fitting. As recommended by Etienne, I used a cut and creased belt sander belt, laid into the V, to get the final shaping of the skeg box -- by sliding it back and forth in short strokes over the abrasive. For cutting the slot from the outside, the Dremel EZ Lock mandrel and wood cutting disc were really slick!
Fillets and reinforcement glass will be added around the base. I forgot to take a photo of the rolling bevels on the skeg box, which would have been instructive.
I was so moved by the visit and profound words and actions of Pope Benedict XVI's recent trip to the United States. His visit, and addresses at the many events he attended were profound, and instructive.
Since daffodils always look to me like a trumpet, proclaiming some good news, I will take this opportunity to share one of Pope Benedict's comments about unity and organizations within the universal church (which includes all our protestant brothers and sisters...)
"The Church's unity has no other basis than the Word of God, made flesh in Christ Jesus our Lord. All external signs of identity, all structures, associations and programs, valuable or even essential as they may be, ultimately exist only to support and foster the deeper unity which, in Christ, is God's indefectible gift to his Church."
In many of his words, Pope Benedict was trying to bring healing and unity among people who have sometimes been at odds with each other. His words and message were so needed, and I welcomed hearing them.
Daffodil.
Easter.
March 23, 2008.
A simple test of bokeh for the Olympus 50mm/1.8 miJ ("made in Japan") lens, the last version of this lens made by Olympus.
Some say they don't like the bokeh (blur in out of focus areas) of this lens as much as the 50/1.4, some say the bokeh of this lens is "ugly". ;)
I have no opinion one way or the other just yet, and certainly this isn't a definitive test as this is test represents only one set of parameters, and doesn't include any specular highlights in the background, which is an area where blur characteristics can dramatically different between lenses.
In addition, this was on expired Fuji 400 film, with a cheap drugstore scan and hence is just for fun. But it may be instructive.
Camera class at Craig Gum Studio with Craig Gum and Jeremy Barton. Model Emily Barford. Working on knowing camera and changing aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I like some of these images but need to work toward better focus and less grain. Other feedback, instructive/constructive criticism welcome.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:?
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library Systems sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:?
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library Systems sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
Neither didactic nor instructive, Why Dance Matters seems to take in the experience of watching or taking part in dance in one breath, moving with great ease—even virtuosity—between subjects as wide-ranging as tight-rope walking, woodblock printing in the Edo period, Anna Pavlova, Fred Astaire, John Travolta’s walk in Saturday Night Fever, and Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange.
Learn more: yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300204520/why-dance-matters/
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:?
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library Systems sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
Waging Peace by David Hartsough
A more recent book, written by my Quaker neighbor and now hitting bookstores, is a memoir and instructive history book, a mix of satyagraha and other strategies for the current age.
St Swithun, Retford, Nottinghamshire.
The Parish Church of East Retford.
Grade ll* listed.
The church was founded in 1258, but the current building is almost completely the work of restorers of 1658, 1854-5 and 1905.
St Swithun’s is a cruciform stone building consisting of chancel, with vestry, nave aisles, transepts, north chantry chapel, south porch and a 90' central embattled tower with 8 pinnacles, containing a clock and 10 bells. The oldest, virtually untouched, part is the north transept, although it has now been transformed into a chapel as a war memorial.
The tower and chancel collapsed in 1651 and were rebuilt in 1658. The tower is supported by four massive arches and the nave and aisles are separated by arcades of five bays.
There is a stone pulpit, an eagle lectern in oak, and a large organ erected in 1841. The south porch built in 1852.
In 1884-5 G G Place re-built the north aisle (with capitals imitating the 13th century ones), then north porch, north chancel aisle, clerestory, battlements and the east window of 13th century stonework. (All of these were renovated in 1905.) Galleries were removed and new seats and roof installed.
G F Bodley re-built the chantry chapel in 1873 and refurbished the chancel.
New choir stalls were erected in 1889 and in 1910 and 1914 the corporation presented new stalls for its own use.
In the north transept is an incised slab to Henry Smyth (d1496) and Sir Whatton Amcotts (d1807) by William Kinnard, architect.
The Victorian stained glass is instructive with work by Clayton & Bell, Kempe & Co, O’Connor, Hardman, Wailes and one by a local, George Shaw.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
Guide
Although there are records of a church on this site in the 13th century, the church today is a typical large town church, built on a cruciform plan with a central tower. The oldest part as it now stands is the North Transept which today is called the Lady Chapel and used for weekday or other small services. The central pillar and its two arches belong to the 14th century and still display their original painted decoration. Anciently there were two chantry chapels here known as Our Lady's Chantry and St Trinity Chantry. Their altars were against the East wall which may have been further to the East than it is now. The purpose of a chantry was to provide regular Masses for the souls of departed benefactors. A document of 1535 says that St Swithun's had four chantries and there may have been two more in the South Transept or elsewhere in the church. The neighbouring Chapelgate probably takes its name from the existence of the chantry chapels. The North Transept chapel is also a war memorial and it houses the banner of the Borough of East Retford.
The rest of the church is basically of the 15th century and is in the style often called perpendicular. The central tower collapsed in a storm in 1651, destroying much of the Chancel and South transept. It was rebuilt in 1658 and from outside it clearly has a 17th century look to it. Inside, massive piers were built to carry its weight and these low, heavy crossing arches are a feature of the church today. Looking eastward from the nave, the columns of the earlier arches can be seen, much more slender and with a much higher springing. Under the tower, on the South side high above the vicar's stall, although not easily seen with the naked eye, is a stone bearing the inscription Ano Mundi 5226 Ano Christie 1582. It was moved to there from the chantry in 1873.
There are many memorials in the church. The oldest one is a floor slab in the North-East corner of the North Transept chapel. It dates from 1496 and is in memory of Henry Smyth, but most of the memorials are of the 18th and 19th centuries.
southwellchurches.nottingham.ac.uk/retford-st-swithun/hin...
www.visitoruk.com/Retford/st-swithuns-church-C567-AT5017....
TD 176.7 P63 2008
Offering instructive guidance while avoiding a typical classroom feel, Writing the Critical Essay: An Opposing Viewpoints Guide directly supports student achievement. This exciting new series is specifically designed to help students write effective five-paragraph essays. Writing the Critical Essay: An Opposing Viewpoints Guide has all a student needs to complete an essay on a chosen controversial topic.
St Andrew, Halstead, Essex
The painting of the Sanctuary Roof and the decoration of the Walls were carried out in 1893 by Percy Bacon & Bros at a cost of £160 - with the Walls of the Chancel and East Wall of the Nave being decorated by the same firm in 1898. Usually medieval wall paintings were didactic in style (i.e. instructive), and most nineteenth century ones were copies. These, however, are not modelled on 14th century patterns and do not rank very highly as works of art. However, they do represent an important era in Church decoration, and for this reason are worth preservation.
My first Model Photo. Thanks to Michael Lykke Fog (www.lykkefog.dk/) for a very instructive and inspiring model photography course....and thanks to Melanie Beckendorff-Leavens for your patience as a model :-)
Shot and cropped with respect to Rules of Thirds:-)
What number of us want to possess property – regardless of whether private or business – in a rich area with high-grade framework, available by transport arrange, and essentially the beat of the suburb. All things considered, here's your opportunity to change your craving into reality with Sunteck City's fifth AVENUE Oshiwara District Center (ODC).
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Not at all like the blocked hurling territories of crowded Mumbai, this region gloats of swanky streets which are 90ft wide to empower consistent development of traffic. The private arrangement can oblige 20,000 families and business plan has been stipulated for 3000 business and retail outlets. It would shock no one if the inside observes the concurrent combining emission of recreational offices – outdoors stops, amusement spots, shopping centers, gaming and sports fields, social foundation of human services focuses and instructive organizations.
The contemporary arrangement with a modern view has at its center, part of development and advancement. As finishing of the proposition would mean age of 2.5 lakh openings for work in 2019. It would along these lines even satisfy the vision of business aggregates, MNCs, money related establishments, IT and media center points.
Becoming the overwhelming focus in ODC is Sunteck City which involves practically 15% of the ODC land region. Sunteck City contains 7 sections of land of Avenue 1 and 2, in amalgamation with inexact 16 sections of land of future blended use improvements of Avenue 3, 4, 5 and 6. The fifth AVENUE Sunteck City has a global way of life direction.
The perky occupant here will flourish in hey road living, humming retail, premium work spaces alongside the blasting current working and living presence pair. 'Shop. Work. Play' as Luxury will be at its prime in this area.
As referenced, the venture is in nearness to local and worldwide air terminals. The region is intended to back condition kind disposition as it will advance 'stroll to work' culture since buildings, for example, NESCO, Nirlon are for the most part at a walkable separation.
So look no further and entertain yourself with this way of life development which will enrapture your detects and give you the vibe of worldwide solaces, way of life goal will fulfill your fantasy as well as make for an alleviating reality.
www.sunteckindia.com/blog/shop-work-play-life-at-5th-aven...
A interaction of patients with Prof Nilanjan Sengupta over an instructive breakfast spread at Kolkata on occasion of WORLD DIABETES DAY 2014
The romantic Snežnik Castle in Notranjska boasts authentic interiors from the second half of the 19th century
A stroll through the four castle floors evokes the atmosphere of 150 years ago because rooms boast genuine furniture and other household objects from the latter half of the 19th century. The parlours and bedrooms of Princes Herman and Ulrich, of Princess Ana and the guest rooms are pleasant and comfortable fitted out with a number of originally upholstered historical seating suites and ornamental stoves. The walls are decorated with family portraits, old photos, and prints. One distinct feature is the Egyptian room from the early 20th century. To make the ambience of the holiday residence cosier, the family had a piano, the billiard table, and the theatre corner. Gradually, the owners gathered many hunting trophies, including the stuffed bear that has been at the castle for over a century. The stonefaced bailey area is intended for temporary exhibitions, and there is a wedding room on the ground floor.
The ancient castle in its beautiful natural surroundings is providing a whole day of pleasant and instructive entertainment.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:?
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library Systems sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
MAHAVATAR BABAJI CAVE
Mahāvatār Bābājī (literally; Great Avatar Dear Father) is the name given to an Indian saint and yogi by Lahiri Mahasaya and several of his disciples,[2] who reported meeting him between 1861 and 1935. Some of these meetings were described by Paramahansa Yogananda in his book Autobiography of a Yogi, including a first-hand report of Yogananda's own meeting with the yogi.[3]Another first hand account was given by Yukteswar Giri in his book The Holy Science.[4] According to Sri M's autobiography (Apprenticed to a Himalayan Master) Babaji, was Shiva. In the second last chapter of his book, he mentions Babaji changing his form to that of Shiva. All of these accounts, along with additional reported meetings, are described in various biographies.[5][6][7]According to Yogananda's autobiography, Babaji has resided for at least hundreds of years in the remote Himalayan regions of India, seen in person by only a small number of disciples and others.[3][8] The death less Master is more than 2000 years old. He belongs to a very powerful lineage of Siddha Boganthar and Rishi Agastya as his Gurus. He acquired this deathless, non perishable body through tough yogik kriyas.
Again, according to his autobiography, shortly before Yogananda left for America in 1920, Babaji came to his home in Calcutta, where the young monk sat deeply praying for divine assurance regarding the mission he was about to undertake. Babaji said to him: "Follow the behest of your guru and go to America. Fear not; you shall be protected. You are the one I have chosen to spread the message of Kriya Yoga in the West
There are very few accounts of Babaji's childhood. One source of information is the book Babaji and the 18 Siddha Kriya Yoga tradition by Marshal Govindan.[9]According to Govindan, Babaji was named Nagarajan (king of serpents) by his parents. [8] V.T. Neelakantan and S.A.A. Ramaiah founded on 17 October 1952, (they claim – at the request of Babaji) a new organization, "Kriya Babaji Sangah," dedicated to the teaching of Babaji's Kriya Yoga. They claim that in 1953 Mahavatar Babaji told them that he was born on 30 November 203 CE in a small coastal village now known as Parangipettai, Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu, India.[10] Babaji's Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas Trust (Kriya Babaji Sangah) and their branch organizations claim his place and date of birth.[10] He was a disciple of Bogar and his birth name is Nagarajan.[9][10]
In Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, many references are made to Mahavatar Babaji, including from Lahirī and Sri Yukteshwar.[3] In his book The Second Coming of Christ, Yogananda states that Jesus Christ went to India and conferred with Mahavatar Babaji.[8] This would make Babaji at least 2000 years old.[11] According to Govindan's book, Babaji Nagaraj's father was the priest of the village's temple. Babaji revealed only those details which he believed to be formative as well as potentially instructive to his disciples. Govindan mentioned one incident like this: "One time Nagaraj's mother had got one rare jackfruit for a family feast and put it aside. Babaji was only 4 years old at that time. He found the jackfruit when his mother was not around and ate it all. When his mother came to know about it, she flew in blind rage and stuffed a cloth inside Babaji's mouth, nearly suffocating him, but he survived. Later on he thanked God for showing him that she was to be loved without attachment or illusion. His Love for his mother became unconditional and detached."[9]
When Nagaraj was about 5 years old, someone kidnapped him and sold him as a slave in Calcutta (now Kolkata). His new owner however was a kind man and he freed Nagaraj shortly thereafter. Nagaraj then joined a small group of wandering sannyāsin due to their radiant faces and love for God. During the next few years, he wandered from place to place, studying holy scriptures like the Vedas, Upanishad, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Bhagavad Gita.
According to Marshall Govindan's book, at the age of eleven, he made a difficult journey on foot and by boat with a group of ascetics to Kataragama, Sri Lanka. Nagaraj met Siddha Bhogarnathar and became his disciple. Nagaraj performed intensive yogic sadhana for a long time with him. Bhogarnathar inspired Nagaraj to seek his initiation into Kriya Kundalini Pranayam from Siddha Agastya. Babaji became a disciple of Siddha Agastya. Nagaraj was initiated into the secrets of Kriya Kundalini Pranayama or "Vasi Yogam". Babaji made a long pilgrimage to Badrinath and spent eighteen months practising yogic kriyataught to him by Siddha Agastya and Bhogarnathar. Babaji attained self-realization shortly thereafter.[9]
It is claimed that these revelations were made by Babaji himself to S.A.A. Ramaiah, a young graduate student in geology at the University of Madras and V.T. Neelakantan, a famous journalist, and close student of Annie Besant, President of the Theosophical Society and mentor of Krishnamurti. Babaji was said to have appeared to each of them independently and then brought them together to work for his Mission in 1942
By Kailash Mansarovar Foundation Swami Bikash Giri www.sumeruparvat.com , www.naturalitem.com
Camera class at Craig Gum Studio with Craig Gum and Jeremy Barton. Model Emily Barford. Working on knowing camera and changing aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I like some of these images but need to work toward better focus and less grain. Other feedback, instructive/constructive criticism welcome.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 – The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 – The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 – The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library System’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
Masaccio.(Tommaso di Giovanni Cassai) 1401-1428. Florence. The Virgin and Child. Vierge à l'Enfant. 1426. Londres National Gallery.
13è-15è SIECLES : DU GOTHIQUE A L'HUMANISME
La section 13è15è de la National Gallery présente toute une suite instructive de tableaux de différentes écoles européennes depuis le milieu du 14 è siècle jusqu'au milieu du 15è siècle. Cette suite montre l'évolution très progressive de la peinture européenne depuis un style linéaire proche de Byzance et du Paléo-chrétien jusqu'au style totalement réaliste qui s'imposera au milieu du 15è et au 16è siècle. En passant par le roman et le gothique. Selon les écoles l'évolution est plus ou moins rapide. Florence est plus active que Sienne dans cette voie vers plus de naturalisme. L'évolution au nord des Alpes vers plus de réalisme est semblable, malgré les différences de style. Elle se fait à l'intérieur du style gothique exclusivement et s'achève par une imitation pur et simple des leçons italiennes.
La comparaison entre Masolino et Masaccio est intéressante. Les deux peintres ont travaillé dans le même atelier. Masolino est généralement présenté comme un des derniers peintres du gothique tardif. Masaccio comme le premier peintre de la " Renaissance". On aperçoit effectivement, chez ce dernier, une tendance "plus massive". Ses personnages ont plus de "rondeurs", plus de volumes. L'accent est moins mis sur la ligne, que chez Masolino. Masaccio privilégie la profondeur. Les fonds d'or sont toujours présents chez les deux. Une comparaison peut aussi être faite à la chapelle Brancacci (Album Eglise Florence Santa Maria del Carmine). Les autres peintres présentés aujourd'hui (Uccello, Lippi, Bergogne..)appartiennent pleinement, selon les historiens de l'art, à la période qui est appelée,selon moi tout à fait à tort, "la Renaissance", mais qui serait sans aucun doute mieux nommée "Humanisme".
13è - 15è SIECLES : FROM THE GOTHIC TO THE HUMANISM
The 13è15è section of the National Gallery presents a informative series of paintings of different European schools since the mid-14 th century to the mid 15th century This series of pictures shows the very gradual evolution of European painting from a linear style close to Byzantium and the Paleo-Christian until completely realistic style that will prevail in the middle of the 15th and the 16th century. Passing through the Romanesque and Gothic styles. According the schools, evolution is more or less rapid. Florence is more active than Siena on this path towards greater naturalism. The development north of the Alps towards more realism is similar, despite differences in style. She gets inside the Gothic exclusively and ends with an outright imitation of Italian lessons.
The comparison between Masolino and Masaccio is interesting. The two painters worked in the same workshop. Masolino is generally presented as one of the last painters of the late Gothic. Masaccio as the first painter of the "Renaissance". You can see, in Masaccio, a trend "more massive". His characters have more "rounded", more volumes. The emphasis is less on the line than Masolino. Masaccio favors the deepth. Gold funds are still present in both.
A comparison can also be effected to the Brancacci Chapel (Album Florence Church of Santa Maria del Carmine). The others painters (Uccello, Lippi, Bergogne ..) fully are belong according to the history of art, to the period which is called, I think quite wrongly, "Renaissance", but that would, without any doubt, better named "Humanism".
Nicolau Antunes
-----------------------
I would like to write my impressions during the period the workshop lasted... Hellas, the idea was good, tide and wind wait for nobody, I managed to write a direct impression in the second day about how the first day went... And yet that description is a poor one: it lacks a bit of soul, it misses the most important, my inner reactions and feelings. That description is very factual... I am promising myself to try to write something, anything, on the impressions and ways I lived during the period this impro workshop lasted. That writing will happen in another today. Today and now, here it is, the factual writing on the 1st day:
Yesterday I had my first class with Nicolau. It was fun. It was great. Unexpected. We are 8 people in the class. Yesterday the basis for the following sessions were laid down and we had several exercises that everyone accomplished. The introduction, where everyone presented himself, was done in quite an unorthodox way! Each and everyone spoke for someone else! Inventing! That was hilarious! De constructing the self-image, showing that no matter what, the others will always think something else we don’t think of! So why take the energy to defend, build or maintain what others think we are? Be the you in you! But maybe the best exercise was the Geberish exercise. In the Geberish exercise one has to talk for one full minute about a topic someone else tells you to. You don't know upfront what the topic is! You develop your speech on that topic, in Portuguese, improvising. At any moment that Nicolau says Geberish, you go on with the explanation BUT using this Geberish language no one understands, made of blherg and buah, shulk or whatever sounds your mind tells you to say! When Nicolau says Portuguese you commute to Portuguese again, and this switching between Geberish and Portuguese goes on at Nicolau’s control and the idea is to switch between the two languages without changing your speech pace, fluidity, content explanation, rhythm and so on! It is very very funny and instructive! You can not imagine how one goes on perceiving the speaker’s speech even when the Geberish language is being used! It is fabulous, I tell you!
Pedro, Tuesday, 19 June, 2007, 16:04:07
CUNY Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez (r) visited the CUNY School of Professional Studies to speak with faculty and staff about a new initiative, CUNY Online. In photo he is being shown new instructive virtual reality technology by SPS Interim Dean Jorge Silva-Puras.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 – The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 – The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 – The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library System’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
Camera class at Craig Gum Studio with Craig Gum and Jeremy Barton. Model Emily Barford. Working on knowing camera and changing aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I like some of these images but need to work toward better focus and less grain. Other feedback, instructive/constructive criticism welcome.
A simple test of bokeh for the Olympus 50mm/1.8 miJ ("made in Japan") lens, the last version of this lens made by Olympus.
Some say they don't like the bokeh (blur in out of focus areas) of this lens as much as the 50/1.4, some say the bokeh of this lens is "ugly". ;)
I have no opinion one way or the other just yet, and certainly this isn't a definitive test as this is test represents only one set of parameters, and doesn't include any specular highlights in the background, which is an area where blur characteristics can dramatically different between lenses.
In addition, this was on expired Fuji 400 film, with a cheap drugstore scan and hence is just for fun. But it may be instructive.
The 38th parallel, Korean Peninsula, Panmunjeom, in the Joint Security Area of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea.
Osmia niveata Fabricius, 1804
English name:
Jersey Mason Bee
Funddatum /Collection Date:
06.05.2022
Fundort /Location/temperature:
Italia, Tuscany, Castello di Potentino, Taxon Expeditions.
42°55'23.3''N 11°32'33.8''E
Sammlungsnummer / collection code:
Lkn171
Geschlecht / Sex: ♂
male
Größe des Exemplars / Size of specimen
8mm; fore wing length 6mm
Merkmale / Morphologic features:
Tergit 6 median ausgeschnitten. Tergit 7 mit zwei spitzen Zähnen.
Bemerkungen / Notices:
I thank Gerd Reder and Paul Westrich for instructive help and discussion on the taxonomy of this specimen.
Bestimmungsreferenz / Reference of determination:
1. Scheuchl, E. 2006. Illustrierte Bestimmungstabellen der Wildbienen Deutschlands und Osterreichs: Band II Megachilidae - Melittidae. Eigenverlag.
2. Amiet, F., M. Herrmann, A. Müller, and R. Neumeyer. 2004. Fauna Helvetica 9. Apidae 4: Anthidium, Chelostoma, Coelioxys, Dioxys, Heriades, Lithurgus, Megachile, Osmia, Stelis. Centre Suisse de Cartographie de la Faune (CSCF).
Fotoinformation / Photo-Information:
(Photo Dirk-H. Lankenau)
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Kamera: Olympus OMD E-M1 MarkII
Objektiv: Olympus Zuiko 60mm Macro, Raynox M250
Foto: Yannick Bammert [CC BY 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
Text:
"So wie die Arbeit im Kapitalismus unaufhörlich wird, so wird jeder Augenblick im Leben, jede Stufe im Lebenslauf, jeder Euro auf dem Konto lediglich zur Vorstufe jedes nächsten Abschnitts, jedes weiteren Euro."
("Just as work in capitalism becomes incessant, so every moment in life, every step in the life course, every euro in the account becomes merely the precursor to the next stage, every additional euro.")
Harald Welzer: "Selbst denken. Eine Anleitung zum Widerstand" (2013)
Exponat der Ausstellung IMAGOSOPHIE - zukunftsaspekte.wordpress.com/imagosophie/
Summary
The sustainability of our society is being questioned across the board. Philosophers, sociologists, climate researchers, natural scientists - everyone has long agreed: things cannot go on like this. You listen to them and – carry on.
What does a lost driver do? He stops and looks for the right way. But society steps on the gas pedal and hopes to somehow reach its goal. The first question when looking for a way would be: What should our future actually look like?
The IMAGOSOPHIE project wants to use the power of the image to translate philosophical ideas. It wants to bring ideas from all eras into our time.
Art should not teach, it should open. But when philosophy becomes the subject of art, the instructive cannot be excluded. One must therefore enter this exhibition with the willingness to be taught; do you have to be familiar with the world of philosophy?
They don't differ that much after all, philosophy and art. Like the painter with colors, the musician with sounds, so the philosopher creates with words. And just as the sonata and the painting do not simply reflect reality, the philosophical idea also reflects the artist's current state of being and feeling. The work of art does not claim truth, but authenticity. Nor do we need to be art connoisseurs to let a picture work on us, we do not need to be philosophers to make a knowledge our own.
When it comes to questions of knowledge or the meaning of life, of education or art, philosophy can at best ask questions; Answers will always be attempts. But when it comes to concrete situations - starving children, polluted seas, perfidious dictatorships - then the philosopher should not provide a range of interpretations, then answers are needed, a critical theory that reveals the core of the abuses. This may be perceived as instruction, perhaps it also crosses the threshold out of art. At this point, however, in the face of frightening images and visions, this is no longer a really relevant obstacle. Here one could at best doubt whether the philosophical does justice to the scope of the topic. Like art, however, philosophy also has to walk a tightrope: it should satisfy the artist's demands on himself, but not ignore the people, the viewers. In view of the contemporary reference that this exhibition wants to create, it is important to address all viewers.
Auf breiter Front wird die Zukunftsfähigkeit unserer Gesellschaft in Frage gestellt. Philosophen, Soziologen, Klimaforscher, Naturwissenschaftler – alle sind sich seit langem einig: so kann es nicht weitergehen. Man hört ihnen zu und – macht weiter.
Was tut ein Autofahrer, der sich verfahren hat? Er hält an und sucht nach dem richtigen Weg. Doch die Gesellschaft tritt aufs Gaspedal und hofft, doch noch irgendwie ans Ziel zu gelangen. Die erste Frage auf der Suche nach dem Weg wäre doch: Wie soll eigentlich unsere Zukunft aussehen?
Das Projekt IMAGOSOPHIE will die Wirkkraft des Bildes nutzen, um philosophisches Ideengut zu übersetzen. Es möchte Ideen aller Epochen in unsere Zeit holen.
Kunst soll nicht belehren, sie soll öffnen. Wenn nun aber Philosophie zum Gegenstand der Kunst wird, lässt sich das Belehrende nicht ausklammern. Muss man deshalb diese Ausstellung mit der Bereitschaft zum Sich-Belehren-Lassen betreten; muss man sich gar auskennen in der Welt der Philosophie?
So sehr unterscheiden sie sich doch gar nicht, die Philosophie und die Kunst. Wie der Maler mit Farben, der Musiker mit Tönen, so gestaltet der Philosoph mit Worten. Und ebenso wie die Sonate und das Gemälde nicht einfach nur die Realität widerspiegeln, so reflektiert auch die philosophische Idee den jeweiligen Seins- und Gefühlszustand des Künstlers. Das Kunstwerk erhebt keinen Anspruch auf Wahrheit, sondern auf Authentizität. Ebenso wenig brauchen wir Kunstkenner zu sein, um ein Bild auf uns wirken zu lassen, keine Philosophen, um uns eine Erkenntnis zu eigen zu machen.
Wenn es um Fragen von Erkenntnis oder Lebenssinn, von Bildung oder Kunst geht, kann Philosophie bestenfalls Fragen stellen; Antworten werden stets nur Versuche sein. Geht es aber um konkrete Situationen – um hungernde Kinder, vermüllte Meere, perfide Diktaturen – dann soll der Philosoph kein Interpretationsspektrum liefern, dann braucht es sehr wohl Antworten, eine kritische Theorie, die den Kern der Missstände offenbart. Das mag als Belehrung empfunden werden, vielleicht überschreitet man damit auch die Schwelle aus der Kunst heraus. An dieser Stelle, im Angesicht erschreckender Bilder und Visionen, ist das jedoch kein wirklich relevantes Hindernis mehr. Hier könnte man bestenfalls anzweifeln, ob das Philosophische der Tragweite des Themas gerecht wird. Wie die Kunst hat aber auch die Philosophie eine Gratwanderung zu vollziehen: sie soll den Ansprüchen des Künstlers an sich selbst Genüge tun, aber an den Menschen, den Betrachtern nicht vorbei gehen. Gerade bei dem zeitgenössischen Bezug, den diese Ausstellung schaffen will, ist es wichtig, alle Betrachter anzusprechen.
Photographed at Neenoshe Reservoir. The differences and similarities between the imm DCCO and the NECOs is instructive. The DCCO is absolutely larger and bulkier, but also appear proportionately bulkier, especially in head and bill. However, the pointed gular pouch, rather limited color in lores, and pale edging to gular pouch of immature DCCO could make one think it is a NECO, except when sitting next to them
always loved the Laocoon.. his story is quite instructive: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laoco%C3%B6n
Vatican Museums
The weather remains a little unsettled, so we made an early start. We saw a lot of wildlife, Pikas, Ground Squirrels, Marmots, a bear, elk, and even a Spruce Grouse. But the star of the this hike in the early spring is always the Glacier Lilies.
Camera class at Craig Gum Studio with Craig Gum and Jeremy Barton. Model Emily Barford. Working on knowing camera and changing aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I like some of these images but need to work toward better focus and less grain. Other feedback, instructive/constructive criticism welcome.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 – The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 – The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 – The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library System’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
Henk, the nature guide of Hotel Alpina in Tschiertschen knows much about plants, insects, birds, animals. Because of his enthusiasm and sense of humour a walk with him is not only instructive.
See my photo's Large
Salem United Church, Salem, Ontario, Canada.
Masonic Square and Compasses:
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest.”
The secrets of Freemasonry are concerned with its traditional modes of recognition. It is not a secret society, since all members are free to acknowledge their membership and will do so in response to enquiries for respectable reasons. Its constitutions and rules are available to the public. There is no secret about any of its aims and principles. Like many other societies, it regards some of its internal affairs as private matters for its members. In history there have been times and places where promoting equality, freedom of thought or liberty of conscience was dangerous. Most importantly though is a question of perspective. Each aspect of the craft has a meaning. Freemasonry has been described as a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Such characteristics as virtue, honour and mercy, such virtues as temperance, fortitude, prudence and justice are empty clichés and hollow words unless presented within an ordered and closed framework. The lessons are not secret but the presentation is kept private to promote a clearer understanding in good time. It is also possible to view Masonic secrecy not as secrecy in and of itself, but rather as a symbol of privacy and discretion. By not revealing Masonic secrets, or acknowledging the many published exposures, freemasons demonstrate that they are men of discretion, worthy of confidences, and that they place a high value on their word and bond.
Masonic Square and Compasses.
The Square and Compasses (or, more correctly, a square and a set of compasses joined together) is the single most identifiable symbol of Freemasonry. Both the square and compasses are architect's tools and are used in Masonic ritual as emblems to teach symbolic lessons. Some Lodges and rituals explain these symbols as lessons in conduct: for example, Duncan's Masonic Monitor of 1866 explains them as: "The square, to square our actions; The compasses, to circumscribe and keep us within bounds with all mankind".
However, as Freemasonry is non-dogmatic, there is no general interpretation for these symbols (or any Masonic symbol) that is used by Freemasonry as a whole.
Square and Compasses:
Source: Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry
These two symbols have been so long and so universally combined — to teach us, as says an early instruction, "to square our actions and to keep them within due bounds," they are so seldom seen apart, but are so kept together, either as two Great Lights, or as a jewel worn once by the Master of the Lodge, now by the Past Master—that they have come at last to be recognized as the proper badge of a Master Mason, just as the Triple Tau is of a Royal Arch Mason or the Passion Cross of a Knight Templar.
So universally has this symbol been recognized, even by the profane world, as the peculiar characteristic of Freemasonry, that it has recently been made in the United States the subject of a legal decision. A manufacturer of flour having made, in 1873, an application to the Patent Office for permission to adopt the Square and Compasses as a trade-mark, the Commissioner of Patents, .J. M. Thatcher, refused the permission as the mark was a Masonic symbol.
If this emblem were something other than precisely what it is—either less known", less significant, or fully and universally understood—all this might readily be admitted. But, Considering its peculiar character and relation to the public, an anomalous question is presented. There can be no doubt that this device, so commonly worn and employed by Masons, has an established mystic significance, universally recognized as existing; whether comprehended by all or not, is not material to this issue. In view of the magnitude and extent of the Masonic organization, it is impossible to divest its symbols, or at least this particular symbol—perhaps the best known of all—of its ordinary signification, wherever displaced, either as an arbitrary character or otherwise.
It will be universally understood, or misunderstood, as having a Masonic significance; and, therefore, as a trade-mark, must constantly work deception. Nothing could be more mischievous than to create as a monopoly, and uphold by the poser of lacy anything so calculated. as applied to purposes of trade. to be misinterpreted, to mislead all classes, and to constantly foster suggestions of mystery in affairs of business (see Infringing upon Freemasonry, also Imitative Societies, and Clandestine).
In a religious work by John Davies, entitled Summa Totalis, or All in All and the Same Forever, printed in 1607, we find an allusion to the Square and Compasses by a profane in a really Masonic sense. The author, who proposes to describe mystically the form of the Deity, says in his dedication:
Yet I this forme of formelesse Deity,
Drewe by the Squire and Compasse of our Creed.
In Masonic symbolism the Square and Compasses refer to the Freemason's duty to the Craft and to himself; hence it is properly a symbol of brotherhood, and there significantly adopted as the badge or token of the Fraternity.
Berage, in his work on the higher Degrees, Les plus secrets Mystéres des Hauts Grades, or The Most Secret Mysteries of the High Grades, gives a new interpretation to the symbol. He says: "The Square and the Compasses represent the union of the Old and New Testaments. None of the high Degrees recognize this interpretation, although their symbolism of the two implements differs somewhat from that of Symbolic Freemasonry.
The Square is with them peculiarly appropriated to the lower Degrees, as founded on the Operative Art; while the Compasses, as an implement of higher character and uses, is attributed to the Decrees, which claim to have a more elevated and philosophical foundation. Thus they speak of the initiate, when he passes from the Blue Lodge to the Lodge of Perfection, as 'passing from the Square to the Compasses,' to indicate a progressive elevation in his studies. Yet even in the high Degrees, the square and compasses combined retain their primitive signification as a symbol of brotherhood and as a badge of the Order."
Square and Compass:
Source: The Builder October 1916
By Bro. B. C. Ward, Iowa
Worshipful Master and Brethren: Let us behold the glorious beauty that lies hidden beneath the symbolism of the Square and Compass; and first as to the Square. Geometry, the first and noblest of the sciences, is the basis on which the superstructure of Masonry has been erected. As you know, the word "Geometry" is derived from two Greek words which mean "to measure the earth," so that Geometry originated in measurement; and in those early days, when land first began to be measured, the Square, being a right angle, was the instrument used, so that in time the Square began to symbolize the Earth. And later it began to symbolize, Masonically, the earthly-in man, that is man's lower nature, and still later it began to symbolize man's duty in his earthly relations, or his moral obligations to his Fellowmen. The symbolism of the Square is as ancient as the Pyramids. The Egyptians used it in building the Pyramids. The base of every pyramid is a perfect square, and to the Egyptians the Square was their highest and most sacred emblem. Even the Chinese many, many centuries ago used the Square to represent Good, and Confucius in his writings speaks of the Square to represent a Just man.
As Masons we have adopted the 47th Problem of Euclid as the rule by which to determine or prove a perfect Square. Many of us remember with what interest we solved that problem in our school days. The Square has become our most significant Emblem. It rests upon the open Bible on this altar; it is one of the three great Lights; and it is the chief ornament of the Worshipful Master. There is a good reason why this distinction has been conferred upon the Square. There can be nothing truer than a perfect Square--a right angle. Hence the Square has become an emblem of Perfection.
Now a few words as to the Compass: Astronomy was the second great science promulgated among men. In the process of Man's evolution there came a time when he began to look up to the stars and wonder at the vaulted Heavens above him. When he began to study the stars, he found that the Square was not adapted to the measurement of the Heavens. He must have circular measure; he needed to draw a circle from a central point, and so the Compass was employed. By the use of the Compass man began to study the starry Heavens, and as the Square primarily symbolized the Earth, the Compass began to symbolize the Heavens, the celestial canopy, the study of which has led men to think of God, and adore Him as the Supreme Architect of the Universe. In later times the Compass began to symbolize the spiritual or higher nature of man, and it is a significant fact that the circumference of a circle, which is a line without end, has become an emblem of Eternity and symbolizes Divinity; so the Compass, and the circle drawn by the Compass, both point men Heavenward and Godward.
The Masonic teaching concerning the two points of the Compass is very interesting and instructive. The novitiate in Masonry, as he kneels at this altar, and asks for Light sees the Square, which symbolizes his lower nature, he may well note the position of the Compass. As he takes another step, and asks for more Light, the position of the Compass is changed somewhat, symbolizing that his spiritual nature can, in some measure, overcome his evil tendencies. As he takes another step in Masonry, and asks for further Light, and hears the significant words, "and God said let there be Light, and there was Light," he sees the Compass in new light; and for the first time he sees the meaning, thus unmistakably alluding to the sacred and eternal truth that as the Heavens are higher than the Earth, so the spiritual is higher than the material, and the spiritual in man must have its proper place, and should be above his lower nature, and dominate all his thoughts and actions. That eminent Philosopher, Edmund Burke, once said, "It is ordained that men of intemperate passions cannot be free. Their passions forge the chains which bind them, and make them slaves." Burke was right. Masonry, through the beautiful symbolism of the Compass, tells us how we can be free men, by permitting the spiritual within us to overcome our evil tendencies, and dominate all our thoughts and actions. Brethren, sometimes in the silent quiet hour, as we think of this conflict between our lower and higher natures, we sometimes say in the words of another, "Show me the way and let me bravely climb to where all conflicts with the flesh shall cease. Show me that way. Show me the way up to a higher plane where my body shall be servant of my Soul. Show me that way."
Brethren, if that prayer expresses desire of our hearts, let us take heed to the beautiful teachings of the Compass, which silently and persistently tells each one of us,
"You should not in the valley stay
While the great horizons stretch away
The very cliffs that wall you round
Are ladders up to higher ground.
And Heaven draws near as you ascend,
The Breeze invites, the Stars befriend.
All things are beckoning to the Best,
Then climb toward God and find sweet Rest."
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 – The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 – The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 – The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library System’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
We bumped into to Evan Ide who was tending to this car. Had a nice chat but I did not ask for a photo. Evan Ide works with Bonhams, has been featured on Wayne Carini's "Chasing Classic Cars" several times, owns a classic car workshop in Massachusetts, and is an advisor to several major museum collections around the world.
Previewed at Scottsdale
Reconstructed 1904 Gordon Bennett Napier L48 "Samson" Racing Car
Sold at Amelia Island
Sold for US$742,000 inc. premium
Estimate: US$900,000 - US$1,100,000
Engine no. 1320A
15-Liter Inline 6-Cylinder F-Head Engine
Single 2 7/16" Carburetor
240bhp at 2,300rpm
2-Speed Manual Transmission
Beam Front Axle, Live Rear Axle
Rear-Wheel Mechanical Brakes
*Historic "tool room" recreation utilizing the original L48 engine which debuted in 1904
*The Napier L48 was the world's first successful six-cylinder racing car
*Napier's L48 famously broke the 100mph barrier with a Flying One Mile Record of 104.65mph, Ormond-Daytona Beach Meeting, 1905
*Driven by Dorothy Levitt to the Women's World Speed Record, October 1906
*Automobile Quarterly's 'Most Historically Significant Car' Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, 1999
*Goodwood Festival of Speed invitation, 1994 and 2000
THE NAPIER L48 "SAMSON" 15-LITER
"There is nothing in all of motoring quite like the massive displacement early racing cars. Driving this Napier you experience everything that makes this era so exciting. When setting off you are struck by just how tall the gearing is - first is like high in anything else. When you get the machine rolling and apply any throttle the machine hurls forward snapping your back in your seat. You are launched to over 50 mph before you can grasp what has happened and you are still in first gear! You need a bit more speed still to drop it in the only other gear and then it starts all over with the engine dropping to just a few hundred revs. When you open the throttle, it feels like it could go forever well past 100 mph. While thundering around in this beast one cannot help but be captivated by the fact that you are controlling the engine that set such a milestone world record." -Evan Ide, for Bonhams|Cars
This 'Edwardian Giant,' offered from the collection of its fifth owner in one hundred and twenty years, Australian businessman Peter Briggs. This "adventure capitalist" would surely have recognized himself in a car that shattered records and assumptions, and whose ownership and racing pedigree bring together for a most impressive roll call several of the most pioneering figures in the history of the automobile. The discovery of this engine in the 1950s to a complete body in the 1980s heralded the definitive rebirth into the motoring world of the L48 and its singular legacy any new owner must keep bright and burning the flame of transformation and perseverance this motor has ignited in all its custodians.
The Napier marque was begun by Montague Napier's father more than 100 years before the birth of the L48. Some years after Montague took over the large business it suffered a decline, and by 1900 was quite a small engineering shop producing products of a nonetheless superior precision, such as coin-weighing machines for the Royal Mint. Montague and his Australian-born collaborator Selwyn Francis Edge, a marketing wizard who cut his teeth in the hyper-competitive bicycle business, were eager to reposition Napier as an innovator in both business strategy and engineering. It was through endurance speed-cycling that the pair met the young engineer Arthur J Rowledge, a future assistant to Henry Royce, who would complete the team. Amongst the Bath Road Cycling Club members was S.F. Edge's wife, Eleanor Edge, who was also a pioneer motorist in her own right and a founding member of the world's first motoring club for women or "chauffeuses."
Around this time the British motor industry had struggled for recognition amongst the elite nations of motor manufacturing, namely France and Germany. Racing competitions were introducing weight limits so that extra weight could not be added to give greater grip to the very thin tires of racing cars of the time, which would slip against the road and wear out each time a cylinder fired. Every tire change cost time, and in one city-to-city race, Edge had to change 30 times. The French engineer and journalist who later founded the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, Charles Faroux, suggested to Edge that building a six-cylinder engine would address the problem, providing a smoother power delivery to the rear wheels and improving tire life. As part of his ambitious strategy of building powerful engines for the fastest cars and sending them to win high-profile international races¬, a kind of 'publicity stunt' that would become a favourite ploy of manufacturers, Edge announced in October 1903 that Napier would compete in the 1904 racing season, which would become the world's first successful six-cylinder car.
The purpose of the 'L48', the works racing car, conceived as an improvement of the market-leading Panhard Levassor and of Napier's own K5, was to break the Land Speed Record. The victory of the K5 at the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup and its failure to secure the title the following year, had both proven instructive. For 1902 Edge had persuaded Napier to build a car weighing significantly below the 1000 kg limit even if this meant a lower powered car; although the K5 with its pressed-steel chassis could not approach the speeds attained by its competitors, these faster cars broke down and did not finish. Napier's loss the following year was in part an effect of rushed production, but the engine was still somewhat outdated. Napier retained from the K5 the chassis, suspension, steering, clutch, and rear axle. On the other hand, the automatic intake valves were connected to mechanical operation, bringing the maximum power from 80bhp to 100bhp at 1524rpm. The three-speed gearbox could not be retained as space and weight problems with the longer six-cylinder engine necessitated the use of as short two-speed and reverse gear. Galvanized by the publicity of the 1902 Gordon Bennett win in France, which had translated directly into a surge in orders and the massive growth of the business, the new goal for the Napier team was not simply to return to old glories but to exceed itself as well as the competition.
It is unlikely that Rowledge was alone responsible for the design. The basic concept of the six-cylinder engine was brilliant with its overlapping firing periods providing a smother power deliver, but it is unthinkable that a designer of his caliber could have been responsible for such defective details as the cylinders with crewed-on cast iron valve chest or the multi-seated faced intake values with minimal lift. History does not record the other hands that were part of this leap in mechanical engineering. Napier did not build the first six-cylinder car – Spyker built one in 1902 but it was not a success and is today part of the collection of the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands. When the Napier was finalized on 10th April 1903, no six-cylinder car of any make had been sold anywhere in the world, so Napier and Edge showed amazing confidence in building such a racing engine. Later, the first recorded sale of a six-cylinder car was a Napier touring model, having been first demonstrated in June that same year.
With the works car ready to be deployed onto the battlefield of industrial rivalries, S.F. Edge set himself with assembling a team for the Gordon Bennett Cup in Germany; he could not cross the Atlantic, so turned to the team of amateur and professional drivers at his disposal. Previously, the manager of the Dunlop Cycle Racing Team, he applied his experience to create what was the first great British motor racing team. Following the 1904 failure, the front of the new race car was extensively revised to include a streamlined nose and an exterior radiator. A spectacle with its 242ft ¼" copper pipe used for the unique 80-tube radiator, holding 20 gallons, operating at atmospheric pressure, the lines of copper tubing were as much about making the Napier L48 distinctive as about cooling. The combination of good looks and ambitious engineering was not sufficient to guarantee success: talented pilots with a grip to match the shoulder-width steering wheel, and with the feet of a dancer for peddling the throttle and brake of this 151-inch machine – the ultimate mount for the elite drivers.
The L48 was first raced in September 1904 at the Portmarnock Sands Speed Trials in Ireland, where it put up fastest time. That same month saw the Napier return to the Continent at the Gaillon Hill Climb in France, where the twenty-two-year-old British driver, Arthur MacDonald, completed the Flying Kilometer in 29.4 seconds, setting a record that would be beaten in a subsequent run by the Gobron-Brillié and then later by Darracq. The L48 finished third.
The car's greatest victory was won on the 25th of January 1905 on a stretch of sand between Florida's Ormond and Daytona Beaches where cars could realize their full potential on flat land unencumbered by speed limits. With Englishman Arthur MacDonald at the wheel, the Napier broke the Flying One Mile World Record of 104.65mph (or, 106.64mph). It was the first car to record 100 mph on American Soil and the first British car to crack the 100-mph barrier. Other achievements at the Velocity Weekend included the Flying Kilometer (American Record) 97.26 mph; the World's Competitive Kilometer Record (Standing Start) 81.6 mph; the World's Competitive Mile 96.25 mph; the World's Five Mile Record 91.37 mph; the World's Ten Miles Record 96.00 mph (winning the Miller Trophy); and the World's Twenty Miles Record 89.21 mph (winning the Thomas Trophy).
Six months later, on a glorious day, near Auvergne, France, at the Gordon Bennett Cup, British entrant Napier was the fastest over the kilometer with the L48 but finished the race in ninth place due to poor preparation. The car returned to the Daytona Beach Speed Trials in 1906, piloted by Walter Thomas Clifford Earp, dubbed 'England's Leading Gentleman Driver' by the Washington Post. The Los Angeles Times concurred that, 'England has certainly sent her best, both in a man and machine, to battle for the world's supremacy in automobile speed.' The other five racers were: Vincenzo Lancia driving a Fiat (he would later manufacture Lancia cars in Italy), Louis Chevrolet driving a Christie, Emanuel Cedrino from in Italy in a Fiat, William H Hilliard from Boston in an ex-Gordon Bennett racing car Napier, and J.R. Harding from Boston in a Daimler. At the 32-mile mark, disaster struck. The Napier's right rear tyre exploded, throwing fragments of rubber all over the beach to the horror of spectators. In the previous year, the car had wooden spoked wheels, but this time it had the first Rudge Whitworth wire wheels, he was confident could withstand the side strain on cornering. At fifty-eight miles, Cedrino was a handy seven minutes ahead of Clifford-Earp, but he too encountered trouble with his tires and began to slow down. In a moment of sheer brilliance, he stopped his car next to Vincenzo Lancia's car and proceeded to remove two tubes from the stranded car to put on his own wheels. He would not be denied. It was now a race of two, with Earp on three wheels about three minutes ahead, with Cedrino chasing behind with fresh tires and tubes. Clifford-Earp's winning margin was only 50 seconds after 100 miles. Despite racing 63 miles on only three tires, he had set a world record time of 1:15:40-2/5sec or 79.288 mph, beating the previous time by three minutes. Amongst the spectators, "pandemonium broke loose" was reported. The win was instantly legendary, later inspiring racing historian Dick Punett to title his book on the Ormond and Daytona Beach tournaments "Racing on the Rim" in tribute to this remarkable feat.
Clifford Earp and Arthur MacDonald were not the only drivers to find success behind the wheel of the L48 in this period of 'Edwardian Giants'. October 1906 saw Dorothy Levitt establish the Women's World Speed Record over the Flying Kilometer with a speed of 90.88 mph at the Blackpool Motor Race Meeting. Between 1906 and 1908, the Napier continued to be raced, gaining an even larger 20-litre engine along the way. The car was nicknamed 'Samson', a nod to the resemblance of the engine's copper cooling tubes to the flowing locks of the biblical strongman.
Fifteen miles away from their new factory in Acton, London, Brooklands, the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit was the place for high-speed testing. At a time where blanket speed limits were 20 mph. In November 1908, on the "Byfleet" banking, 'Samson' achieved a top speed of 130 mph. A record lap which stood for six years. In the months leading up to this achievement, L48 had set many more records including: first in the Thirty Mile Race (Montague Cup); 90 hp Ten Lap record raised to 102.21 mph and Half-Mile record raised to 114.98 mph; 90 hp Class short record pushed up to 119.34 mph.
The car was eventually sold for scrap by Napier. Fatigued by such an eventful career, it had become too dangerous for fast driving. In 1909 the second engine was taken out of the chassis and installed in a speedboat. This had been the fate of the first engine with the larger bore of 6¼", which was bought from S.F. Edge by speedboat racers Percy and Fred Cornwell of Cornwell Pottery, Melbourne, for the speedboat 'Nautilus II'. Napier had become the only manufacturer in the world to hold both the world land and the world water speed records. In 1905, Mr. Tucker and his Jarrow-Napier motorboat had achieved 30 knots; Albert I, Prince of Monaco, bestowed upon S.F. Edge the Order of St Charles in recognition of his achievement.
The story of the engine's survival after its racing career begins with Alan 'Bob' Hawker Chamberlain, manufacturer of the celebrated Australian-made Chamberlain Tractors. The Hawker name resonates: Bob's uncle was Harry Hawker, best known as the aviator and engineer associated with the Sopwith Camel and the Hawker aviation firm. Faced with the choice to either to polish this relic of the racing's golden age and put it on a stand in a museum, or to recreate the original car around the engine, the engineer's decision was of course in favor of the more ambitious line of action. Had the car been of a more conventional design, Chamberlain may not have bothered to re-construct the car.
At the Cornwell pottery factory where the engine was rediscovered, only the intake valve rocker arms and domes were visible, poking through the dust. England's Motor Sport magazine printed a photograph of Chamberlain's engine block with a notice asking for information, to which Anthony Heal responded by sharing the research he had conducted into Napier over several years. Fortunately, unlike other manufacturers, Napier did not destroy their records. The archiving efforts of enthusiasts such as Heal and Derek Grosmark enabled Bob Chamberlain to rebuild the Napier with characteristic thoroughness. When enlarged, excellent photographs of the engine taken in June 1904 even showed details of the casting imperfections. During the original construction of the car in the early 20th century, hundreds of wooden casting patterns had to be made as every component of the engine was a new design, so much was the engine at the cutting edge of engineering. Chamberlain did the same, reproducing from photographs and plans hundreds of wooden casting patterns to form the car presently offered at this sale. Chamberlain's friend found an article in an English motor journal which included original assembly drawings of the L48 engine, and it was learned that these were printed from the original and well-preserved ink on linen drawings held by a London Museum. These left no doubt that the engine found in Australia was the first and original one used in the Napier racing car L48.
The rebuilt engine was started for the first time in sixty-seven years on the 8th of July 1982, and it is said to have started on its first turn. It was tested on a dynamometer and showed almost 180 bhp at 161km/h. Journalist, author and stalwart Editor of the famed Motor Sport magazine, Bill Boddy, who had been a critic of poorly executed replicas, said in Motor Sport magazine in 1988, 'Whether or not you approve of the modern reconstruction of old cars, you must concede that this is the recreation of the decade'.
In May 1982 the car was shipped to the United Kingdom and campaigned twice, appearing in the June 1983 Brooklands Reunion and the July 1983 Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb. Australian F1 driver Tony Gaze drove it at the Colerne Sprints in 1983 and recorded a standing start kilometer in 30.67 seconds with a terminal speed of 111.73 mph. A record which stands in perpetuity, despite the best efforts of many potent Edwardian racing cars whilst this course was in use. In May 1983 the L48 was again shipped to the United Kingdom, getting its first high speed run at Donnington (Tom Wheatcroft had visited Australia to see the reconstruction underway).
To an independent Melbourne evening auction of the 23rd of April 1993, the Chamberlain family consigned the Napier and two other important cars: 1910 Craig "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car, and the Erle/Syme "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car. That night saw ownership transfer to Peter Briggs and his wife Robin. Mr. Briggs housed the car in his York Motor Museum, Western Australia, but the couple took it out on many an excursion.
John Keenan undertook primary research on the car when it went into the York Motor Museum, building on that already collated by Chamberlain. This attention to detail and careful mining of archival material further enhanced L48 earning Briggs invitations to show and compete the car at world's foremost events, including the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1999. Previously, at the 49th edition of this prestigious event, Automobile Quarterly awarded the car the most historically significant car. In 2000, the Napier was once again invited, by the then Lord March, to the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb where Peter Briggs took it to a class win. Graeme Cocks had the opportunity to exploit the power with a 160km/h run at the historic claypan of Lake Perkolilli in the Goldfields of Western Australia in 2007.
Something of the same spirit behind the engineering and commercial excellence of Napier, Edge and Rowledge, fired Bob Chamberlain's desire to feel what it was like to drive and race one of Britain's and the world's greatest race cars. Peter Briggs as a custodian enjoyed showing and rallying the car with his beloved Robin, recognizing in it the same perseverance and capacity for transformation that earned him pre-eminence in Australian business. To be the next custodian of the greatest British car from the "heroic age" of motor sport is to provide yourself with a passport to the world's best competitive events on the lawn and tarmac, including the S.F. Edge Trophy at the Goodwood Member's Meeting. Be part of the story of two cars separated by three-quarters of a century which share one heart and soul: its extraordinary engine.
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It's a cool rainy pre-auction day at Bonhams. We've come for the cars, as we do, and another pre-auction tour by Andy Reid who is considered an expert in European sports and luxury cars and is a respected concours judge.
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It's Scottsdale Car Week! I flew here and Fred drove with Harriet for some warmer weather, friend visits, and cars!
The photo session at the Penn Station was quite instructive from many points of view. One of them is related to which is the proper place we should place ourself in this space we suppose to capture? This picture depicts one of them. :-)
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 – The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 – The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 – The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library System’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.
A interaction of patients with Prof Nilanjan Sengupta over an instructive breakfast spread at Kolkata on occasion of WORLD DIABETES DAY 2014
We bumped into to Evan Ide who was tending to this car. Had a nice chat but I did not ask for a photo. Evan Ide works with Bonhams, has been featured on Wayne Carini's "Chasing Classic Cars" several times, owns a classic car workshop in Massachusetts, and is an advisor to several major museum collections around the world.
Previewed at Scottsdale
Reconstructed 1904 Gordon Bennett Napier L48 "Samson" Racing Car
Sold at Amelia Island
Sold for US$742,000 inc. premium
Estimate: US$900,000 - US$1,100,000
Engine no. 1320A
15-Liter Inline 6-Cylinder F-Head Engine
Single 2 7/16" Carburetor
240bhp at 2,300rpm
2-Speed Manual Transmission
Beam Front Axle, Live Rear Axle
Rear-Wheel Mechanical Brakes
*Historic "tool room" recreation utilizing the original L48 engine which debuted in 1904
*The Napier L48 was the world's first successful six-cylinder racing car
*Napier's L48 famously broke the 100mph barrier with a Flying One Mile Record of 104.65mph, Ormond-Daytona Beach Meeting, 1905
*Driven by Dorothy Levitt to the Women's World Speed Record, October 1906
*Automobile Quarterly's 'Most Historically Significant Car' Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, 1999
*Goodwood Festival of Speed invitation, 1994 and 2000
THE NAPIER L48 "SAMSON" 15-LITER
"There is nothing in all of motoring quite like the massive displacement early racing cars. Driving this Napier you experience everything that makes this era so exciting. When setting off you are struck by just how tall the gearing is - first is like high in anything else. When you get the machine rolling and apply any throttle the machine hurls forward snapping your back in your seat. You are launched to over 50 mph before you can grasp what has happened and you are still in first gear! You need a bit more speed still to drop it in the only other gear and then it starts all over with the engine dropping to just a few hundred revs. When you open the throttle, it feels like it could go forever well past 100 mph. While thundering around in this beast one cannot help but be captivated by the fact that you are controlling the engine that set such a milestone world record." -Evan Ide, for Bonhams|Cars
This 'Edwardian Giant,' offered from the collection of its fifth owner in one hundred and twenty years, Australian businessman Peter Briggs. This "adventure capitalist" would surely have recognized himself in a car that shattered records and assumptions, and whose ownership and racing pedigree bring together for a most impressive roll call several of the most pioneering figures in the history of the automobile. The discovery of this engine in the 1950s to a complete body in the 1980s heralded the definitive rebirth into the motoring world of the L48 and its singular legacy any new owner must keep bright and burning the flame of transformation and perseverance this motor has ignited in all its custodians.
The Napier marque was begun by Montague Napier's father more than 100 years before the birth of the L48. Some years after Montague took over the large business it suffered a decline, and by 1900 was quite a small engineering shop producing products of a nonetheless superior precision, such as coin-weighing machines for the Royal Mint. Montague and his Australian-born collaborator Selwyn Francis Edge, a marketing wizard who cut his teeth in the hyper-competitive bicycle business, were eager to reposition Napier as an innovator in both business strategy and engineering. It was through endurance speed-cycling that the pair met the young engineer Arthur J Rowledge, a future assistant to Henry Royce, who would complete the team. Amongst the Bath Road Cycling Club members was S.F. Edge's wife, Eleanor Edge, who was also a pioneer motorist in her own right and a founding member of the world's first motoring club for women or "chauffeuses."
Around this time the British motor industry had struggled for recognition amongst the elite nations of motor manufacturing, namely France and Germany. Racing competitions were introducing weight limits so that extra weight could not be added to give greater grip to the very thin tires of racing cars of the time, which would slip against the road and wear out each time a cylinder fired. Every tire change cost time, and in one city-to-city race, Edge had to change 30 times. The French engineer and journalist who later founded the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, Charles Faroux, suggested to Edge that building a six-cylinder engine would address the problem, providing a smoother power delivery to the rear wheels and improving tire life. As part of his ambitious strategy of building powerful engines for the fastest cars and sending them to win high-profile international races¬, a kind of 'publicity stunt' that would become a favourite ploy of manufacturers, Edge announced in October 1903 that Napier would compete in the 1904 racing season, which would become the world's first successful six-cylinder car.
The purpose of the 'L48', the works racing car, conceived as an improvement of the market-leading Panhard Levassor and of Napier's own K5, was to break the Land Speed Record. The victory of the K5 at the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup and its failure to secure the title the following year, had both proven instructive. For 1902 Edge had persuaded Napier to build a car weighing significantly below the 1000 kg limit even if this meant a lower powered car; although the K5 with its pressed-steel chassis could not approach the speeds attained by its competitors, these faster cars broke down and did not finish. Napier's loss the following year was in part an effect of rushed production, but the engine was still somewhat outdated. Napier retained from the K5 the chassis, suspension, steering, clutch, and rear axle. On the other hand, the automatic intake valves were connected to mechanical operation, bringing the maximum power from 80bhp to 100bhp at 1524rpm. The three-speed gearbox could not be retained as space and weight problems with the longer six-cylinder engine necessitated the use of as short two-speed and reverse gear. Galvanized by the publicity of the 1902 Gordon Bennett win in France, which had translated directly into a surge in orders and the massive growth of the business, the new goal for the Napier team was not simply to return to old glories but to exceed itself as well as the competition.
It is unlikely that Rowledge was alone responsible for the design. The basic concept of the six-cylinder engine was brilliant with its overlapping firing periods providing a smother power deliver, but it is unthinkable that a designer of his caliber could have been responsible for such defective details as the cylinders with crewed-on cast iron valve chest or the multi-seated faced intake values with minimal lift. History does not record the other hands that were part of this leap in mechanical engineering. Napier did not build the first six-cylinder car – Spyker built one in 1902 but it was not a success and is today part of the collection of the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands. When the Napier was finalized on 10th April 1903, no six-cylinder car of any make had been sold anywhere in the world, so Napier and Edge showed amazing confidence in building such a racing engine. Later, the first recorded sale of a six-cylinder car was a Napier touring model, having been first demonstrated in June that same year.
With the works car ready to be deployed onto the battlefield of industrial rivalries, S.F. Edge set himself with assembling a team for the Gordon Bennett Cup in Germany; he could not cross the Atlantic, so turned to the team of amateur and professional drivers at his disposal. Previously, the manager of the Dunlop Cycle Racing Team, he applied his experience to create what was the first great British motor racing team. Following the 1904 failure, the front of the new race car was extensively revised to include a streamlined nose and an exterior radiator. A spectacle with its 242ft ¼" copper pipe used for the unique 80-tube radiator, holding 20 gallons, operating at atmospheric pressure, the lines of copper tubing were as much about making the Napier L48 distinctive as about cooling. The combination of good looks and ambitious engineering was not sufficient to guarantee success: talented pilots with a grip to match the shoulder-width steering wheel, and with the feet of a dancer for peddling the throttle and brake of this 151-inch machine – the ultimate mount for the elite drivers.
The L48 was first raced in September 1904 at the Portmarnock Sands Speed Trials in Ireland, where it put up fastest time. That same month saw the Napier return to the Continent at the Gaillon Hill Climb in France, where the twenty-two-year-old British driver, Arthur MacDonald, completed the Flying Kilometer in 29.4 seconds, setting a record that would be beaten in a subsequent run by the Gobron-Brillié and then later by Darracq. The L48 finished third.
The car's greatest victory was won on the 25th of January 1905 on a stretch of sand between Florida's Ormond and Daytona Beaches where cars could realize their full potential on flat land unencumbered by speed limits. With Englishman Arthur MacDonald at the wheel, the Napier broke the Flying One Mile World Record of 104.65mph (or, 106.64mph). It was the first car to record 100 mph on American Soil and the first British car to crack the 100-mph barrier. Other achievements at the Velocity Weekend included the Flying Kilometer (American Record) 97.26 mph; the World's Competitive Kilometer Record (Standing Start) 81.6 mph; the World's Competitive Mile 96.25 mph; the World's Five Mile Record 91.37 mph; the World's Ten Miles Record 96.00 mph (winning the Miller Trophy); and the World's Twenty Miles Record 89.21 mph (winning the Thomas Trophy).
Six months later, on a glorious day, near Auvergne, France, at the Gordon Bennett Cup, British entrant Napier was the fastest over the kilometer with the L48 but finished the race in ninth place due to poor preparation. The car returned to the Daytona Beach Speed Trials in 1906, piloted by Walter Thomas Clifford Earp, dubbed 'England's Leading Gentleman Driver' by the Washington Post. The Los Angeles Times concurred that, 'England has certainly sent her best, both in a man and machine, to battle for the world's supremacy in automobile speed.' The other five racers were: Vincenzo Lancia driving a Fiat (he would later manufacture Lancia cars in Italy), Louis Chevrolet driving a Christie, Emanuel Cedrino from in Italy in a Fiat, William H Hilliard from Boston in an ex-Gordon Bennett racing car Napier, and J.R. Harding from Boston in a Daimler. At the 32-mile mark, disaster struck. The Napier's right rear tyre exploded, throwing fragments of rubber all over the beach to the horror of spectators. In the previous year, the car had wooden spoked wheels, but this time it had the first Rudge Whitworth wire wheels, he was confident could withstand the side strain on cornering. At fifty-eight miles, Cedrino was a handy seven minutes ahead of Clifford-Earp, but he too encountered trouble with his tires and began to slow down. In a moment of sheer brilliance, he stopped his car next to Vincenzo Lancia's car and proceeded to remove two tubes from the stranded car to put on his own wheels. He would not be denied. It was now a race of two, with Earp on three wheels about three minutes ahead, with Cedrino chasing behind with fresh tires and tubes. Clifford-Earp's winning margin was only 50 seconds after 100 miles. Despite racing 63 miles on only three tires, he had set a world record time of 1:15:40-2/5sec or 79.288 mph, beating the previous time by three minutes. Amongst the spectators, "pandemonium broke loose" was reported. The win was instantly legendary, later inspiring racing historian Dick Punett to title his book on the Ormond and Daytona Beach tournaments "Racing on the Rim" in tribute to this remarkable feat.
Clifford Earp and Arthur MacDonald were not the only drivers to find success behind the wheel of the L48 in this period of 'Edwardian Giants'. October 1906 saw Dorothy Levitt establish the Women's World Speed Record over the Flying Kilometer with a speed of 90.88 mph at the Blackpool Motor Race Meeting. Between 1906 and 1908, the Napier continued to be raced, gaining an even larger 20-litre engine along the way. The car was nicknamed 'Samson', a nod to the resemblance of the engine's copper cooling tubes to the flowing locks of the biblical strongman.
Fifteen miles away from their new factory in Acton, London, Brooklands, the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit was the place for high-speed testing. At a time where blanket speed limits were 20 mph. In November 1908, on the "Byfleet" banking, 'Samson' achieved a top speed of 130 mph. A record lap which stood for six years. In the months leading up to this achievement, L48 had set many more records including: first in the Thirty Mile Race (Montague Cup); 90 hp Ten Lap record raised to 102.21 mph and Half-Mile record raised to 114.98 mph; 90 hp Class short record pushed up to 119.34 mph.
The car was eventually sold for scrap by Napier. Fatigued by such an eventful career, it had become too dangerous for fast driving. In 1909 the second engine was taken out of the chassis and installed in a speedboat. This had been the fate of the first engine with the larger bore of 6¼", which was bought from S.F. Edge by speedboat racers Percy and Fred Cornwell of Cornwell Pottery, Melbourne, for the speedboat 'Nautilus II'. Napier had become the only manufacturer in the world to hold both the world land and the world water speed records. In 1905, Mr. Tucker and his Jarrow-Napier motorboat had achieved 30 knots; Albert I, Prince of Monaco, bestowed upon S.F. Edge the Order of St Charles in recognition of his achievement.
The story of the engine's survival after its racing career begins with Alan 'Bob' Hawker Chamberlain, manufacturer of the celebrated Australian-made Chamberlain Tractors. The Hawker name resonates: Bob's uncle was Harry Hawker, best known as the aviator and engineer associated with the Sopwith Camel and the Hawker aviation firm. Faced with the choice to either to polish this relic of the racing's golden age and put it on a stand in a museum, or to recreate the original car around the engine, the engineer's decision was of course in favor of the more ambitious line of action. Had the car been of a more conventional design, Chamberlain may not have bothered to re-construct the car.
At the Cornwell pottery factory where the engine was rediscovered, only the intake valve rocker arms and domes were visible, poking through the dust. England's Motor Sport magazine printed a photograph of Chamberlain's engine block with a notice asking for information, to which Anthony Heal responded by sharing the research he had conducted into Napier over several years. Fortunately, unlike other manufacturers, Napier did not destroy their records. The archiving efforts of enthusiasts such as Heal and Derek Grosmark enabled Bob Chamberlain to rebuild the Napier with characteristic thoroughness. When enlarged, excellent photographs of the engine taken in June 1904 even showed details of the casting imperfections. During the original construction of the car in the early 20th century, hundreds of wooden casting patterns had to be made as every component of the engine was a new design, so much was the engine at the cutting edge of engineering. Chamberlain did the same, reproducing from photographs and plans hundreds of wooden casting patterns to form the car presently offered at this sale. Chamberlain's friend found an article in an English motor journal which included original assembly drawings of the L48 engine, and it was learned that these were printed from the original and well-preserved ink on linen drawings held by a London Museum. These left no doubt that the engine found in Australia was the first and original one used in the Napier racing car L48.
The rebuilt engine was started for the first time in sixty-seven years on the 8th of July 1982, and it is said to have started on its first turn. It was tested on a dynamometer and showed almost 180 bhp at 161km/h. Journalist, author and stalwart Editor of the famed Motor Sport magazine, Bill Boddy, who had been a critic of poorly executed replicas, said in Motor Sport magazine in 1988, 'Whether or not you approve of the modern reconstruction of old cars, you must concede that this is the recreation of the decade'.
In May 1982 the car was shipped to the United Kingdom and campaigned twice, appearing in the June 1983 Brooklands Reunion and the July 1983 Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb. Australian F1 driver Tony Gaze drove it at the Colerne Sprints in 1983 and recorded a standing start kilometer in 30.67 seconds with a terminal speed of 111.73 mph. A record which stands in perpetuity, despite the best efforts of many potent Edwardian racing cars whilst this course was in use. In May 1983 the L48 was again shipped to the United Kingdom, getting its first high speed run at Donnington (Tom Wheatcroft had visited Australia to see the reconstruction underway).
To an independent Melbourne evening auction of the 23rd of April 1993, the Chamberlain family consigned the Napier and two other important cars: 1910 Craig "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car, and the Erle/Syme "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car. That night saw ownership transfer to Peter Briggs and his wife Robin. Mr. Briggs housed the car in his York Motor Museum, Western Australia, but the couple took it out on many an excursion.
John Keenan undertook primary research on the car when it went into the York Motor Museum, building on that already collated by Chamberlain. This attention to detail and careful mining of archival material further enhanced L48 earning Briggs invitations to show and compete the car at world's foremost events, including the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1999. Previously, at the 49th edition of this prestigious event, Automobile Quarterly awarded the car the most historically significant car. In 2000, the Napier was once again invited, by the then Lord March, to the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb where Peter Briggs took it to a class win. Graeme Cocks had the opportunity to exploit the power with a 160km/h run at the historic claypan of Lake Perkolilli in the Goldfields of Western Australia in 2007.
Something of the same spirit behind the engineering and commercial excellence of Napier, Edge and Rowledge, fired Bob Chamberlain's desire to feel what it was like to drive and race one of Britain's and the world's greatest race cars. Peter Briggs as a custodian enjoyed showing and rallying the car with his beloved Robin, recognizing in it the same perseverance and capacity for transformation that earned him pre-eminence in Australian business. To be the next custodian of the greatest British car from the "heroic age" of motor sport is to provide yourself with a passport to the world's best competitive events on the lawn and tarmac, including the S.F. Edge Trophy at the Goodwood Member's Meeting. Be part of the story of two cars separated by three-quarters of a century which share one heart and soul: its extraordinary engine.
- - -
It's a cool rainy pre-auction day at Bonhams. We've come for the cars, as we do, and another pre-auction tour by Andy Reid who is considered an expert in European sports and luxury cars and is a respected concours judge.
- - -
It's Scottsdale Car Week! I flew here and Fred drove with Harriet for some warmer weather, friend visits, and cars!
We bumped into to Evan Ide who was tending to this car. Had a nice chat but I did not ask for a photo. Evan Ide works with Bonhams, has been featured on Wayne Carini's "Chasing Classic Cars" several times, owns a classic car workshop in Massachusetts, and is an advisor to several major museum collections around the world.
Previewed at Scottsdale
Reconstructed 1904 Gordon Bennett Napier L48 "Samson" Racing Car
Sold at Amelia Island
Sold for US$742,000 inc. premium
Estimate: US$900,000 - US$1,100,000
Engine no. 1320A
15-Liter Inline 6-Cylinder F-Head Engine
Single 2 7/16" Carburetor
240bhp at 2,300rpm
2-Speed Manual Transmission
Beam Front Axle, Live Rear Axle
Rear-Wheel Mechanical Brakes
*Historic "tool room" recreation utilizing the original L48 engine which debuted in 1904
*The Napier L48 was the world's first successful six-cylinder racing car
*Napier's L48 famously broke the 100mph barrier with a Flying One Mile Record of 104.65mph, Ormond-Daytona Beach Meeting, 1905
*Driven by Dorothy Levitt to the Women's World Speed Record, October 1906
*Automobile Quarterly's 'Most Historically Significant Car' Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, 1999
*Goodwood Festival of Speed invitation, 1994 and 2000
THE NAPIER L48 "SAMSON" 15-LITER
"There is nothing in all of motoring quite like the massive displacement early racing cars. Driving this Napier you experience everything that makes this era so exciting. When setting off you are struck by just how tall the gearing is - first is like high in anything else. When you get the machine rolling and apply any throttle the machine hurls forward snapping your back in your seat. You are launched to over 50 mph before you can grasp what has happened and you are still in first gear! You need a bit more speed still to drop it in the only other gear and then it starts all over with the engine dropping to just a few hundred revs. When you open the throttle, it feels like it could go forever well past 100 mph. While thundering around in this beast one cannot help but be captivated by the fact that you are controlling the engine that set such a milestone world record." -Evan Ide, for Bonhams|Cars
This 'Edwardian Giant,' offered from the collection of its fifth owner in one hundred and twenty years, Australian businessman Peter Briggs. This "adventure capitalist" would surely have recognized himself in a car that shattered records and assumptions, and whose ownership and racing pedigree bring together for a most impressive roll call several of the most pioneering figures in the history of the automobile. The discovery of this engine in the 1950s to a complete body in the 1980s heralded the definitive rebirth into the motoring world of the L48 and its singular legacy any new owner must keep bright and burning the flame of transformation and perseverance this motor has ignited in all its custodians.
The Napier marque was begun by Montague Napier's father more than 100 years before the birth of the L48. Some years after Montague took over the large business it suffered a decline, and by 1900 was quite a small engineering shop producing products of a nonetheless superior precision, such as coin-weighing machines for the Royal Mint. Montague and his Australian-born collaborator Selwyn Francis Edge, a marketing wizard who cut his teeth in the hyper-competitive bicycle business, were eager to reposition Napier as an innovator in both business strategy and engineering. It was through endurance speed-cycling that the pair met the young engineer Arthur J Rowledge, a future assistant to Henry Royce, who would complete the team. Amongst the Bath Road Cycling Club members was S.F. Edge's wife, Eleanor Edge, who was also a pioneer motorist in her own right and a founding member of the world's first motoring club for women or "chauffeuses."
Around this time the British motor industry had struggled for recognition amongst the elite nations of motor manufacturing, namely France and Germany. Racing competitions were introducing weight limits so that extra weight could not be added to give greater grip to the very thin tires of racing cars of the time, which would slip against the road and wear out each time a cylinder fired. Every tire change cost time, and in one city-to-city race, Edge had to change 30 times. The French engineer and journalist who later founded the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, Charles Faroux, suggested to Edge that building a six-cylinder engine would address the problem, providing a smoother power delivery to the rear wheels and improving tire life. As part of his ambitious strategy of building powerful engines for the fastest cars and sending them to win high-profile international races¬, a kind of 'publicity stunt' that would become a favourite ploy of manufacturers, Edge announced in October 1903 that Napier would compete in the 1904 racing season, which would become the world's first successful six-cylinder car.
The purpose of the 'L48', the works racing car, conceived as an improvement of the market-leading Panhard Levassor and of Napier's own K5, was to break the Land Speed Record. The victory of the K5 at the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup and its failure to secure the title the following year, had both proven instructive. For 1902 Edge had persuaded Napier to build a car weighing significantly below the 1000 kg limit even if this meant a lower powered car; although the K5 with its pressed-steel chassis could not approach the speeds attained by its competitors, these faster cars broke down and did not finish. Napier's loss the following year was in part an effect of rushed production, but the engine was still somewhat outdated. Napier retained from the K5 the chassis, suspension, steering, clutch, and rear axle. On the other hand, the automatic intake valves were connected to mechanical operation, bringing the maximum power from 80bhp to 100bhp at 1524rpm. The three-speed gearbox could not be retained as space and weight problems with the longer six-cylinder engine necessitated the use of as short two-speed and reverse gear. Galvanized by the publicity of the 1902 Gordon Bennett win in France, which had translated directly into a surge in orders and the massive growth of the business, the new goal for the Napier team was not simply to return to old glories but to exceed itself as well as the competition.
It is unlikely that Rowledge was alone responsible for the design. The basic concept of the six-cylinder engine was brilliant with its overlapping firing periods providing a smother power deliver, but it is unthinkable that a designer of his caliber could have been responsible for such defective details as the cylinders with crewed-on cast iron valve chest or the multi-seated faced intake values with minimal lift. History does not record the other hands that were part of this leap in mechanical engineering. Napier did not build the first six-cylinder car – Spyker built one in 1902 but it was not a success and is today part of the collection of the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands. When the Napier was finalized on 10th April 1903, no six-cylinder car of any make had been sold anywhere in the world, so Napier and Edge showed amazing confidence in building such a racing engine. Later, the first recorded sale of a six-cylinder car was a Napier touring model, having been first demonstrated in June that same year.
With the works car ready to be deployed onto the battlefield of industrial rivalries, S.F. Edge set himself with assembling a team for the Gordon Bennett Cup in Germany; he could not cross the Atlantic, so turned to the team of amateur and professional drivers at his disposal. Previously, the manager of the Dunlop Cycle Racing Team, he applied his experience to create what was the first great British motor racing team. Following the 1904 failure, the front of the new race car was extensively revised to include a streamlined nose and an exterior radiator. A spectacle with its 242ft ¼" copper pipe used for the unique 80-tube radiator, holding 20 gallons, operating at atmospheric pressure, the lines of copper tubing were as much about making the Napier L48 distinctive as about cooling. The combination of good looks and ambitious engineering was not sufficient to guarantee success: talented pilots with a grip to match the shoulder-width steering wheel, and with the feet of a dancer for peddling the throttle and brake of this 151-inch machine – the ultimate mount for the elite drivers.
The L48 was first raced in September 1904 at the Portmarnock Sands Speed Trials in Ireland, where it put up fastest time. That same month saw the Napier return to the Continent at the Gaillon Hill Climb in France, where the twenty-two-year-old British driver, Arthur MacDonald, completed the Flying Kilometer in 29.4 seconds, setting a record that would be beaten in a subsequent run by the Gobron-Brillié and then later by Darracq. The L48 finished third.
The car's greatest victory was won on the 25th of January 1905 on a stretch of sand between Florida's Ormond and Daytona Beaches where cars could realize their full potential on flat land unencumbered by speed limits. With Englishman Arthur MacDonald at the wheel, the Napier broke the Flying One Mile World Record of 104.65mph (or, 106.64mph). It was the first car to record 100 mph on American Soil and the first British car to crack the 100-mph barrier. Other achievements at the Velocity Weekend included the Flying Kilometer (American Record) 97.26 mph; the World's Competitive Kilometer Record (Standing Start) 81.6 mph; the World's Competitive Mile 96.25 mph; the World's Five Mile Record 91.37 mph; the World's Ten Miles Record 96.00 mph (winning the Miller Trophy); and the World's Twenty Miles Record 89.21 mph (winning the Thomas Trophy).
Six months later, on a glorious day, near Auvergne, France, at the Gordon Bennett Cup, British entrant Napier was the fastest over the kilometer with the L48 but finished the race in ninth place due to poor preparation. The car returned to the Daytona Beach Speed Trials in 1906, piloted by Walter Thomas Clifford Earp, dubbed 'England's Leading Gentleman Driver' by the Washington Post. The Los Angeles Times concurred that, 'England has certainly sent her best, both in a man and machine, to battle for the world's supremacy in automobile speed.' The other five racers were: Vincenzo Lancia driving a Fiat (he would later manufacture Lancia cars in Italy), Louis Chevrolet driving a Christie, Emanuel Cedrino from in Italy in a Fiat, William H Hilliard from Boston in an ex-Gordon Bennett racing car Napier, and J.R. Harding from Boston in a Daimler. At the 32-mile mark, disaster struck. The Napier's right rear tyre exploded, throwing fragments of rubber all over the beach to the horror of spectators. In the previous year, the car had wooden spoked wheels, but this time it had the first Rudge Whitworth wire wheels, he was confident could withstand the side strain on cornering. At fifty-eight miles, Cedrino was a handy seven minutes ahead of Clifford-Earp, but he too encountered trouble with his tires and began to slow down. In a moment of sheer brilliance, he stopped his car next to Vincenzo Lancia's car and proceeded to remove two tubes from the stranded car to put on his own wheels. He would not be denied. It was now a race of two, with Earp on three wheels about three minutes ahead, with Cedrino chasing behind with fresh tires and tubes. Clifford-Earp's winning margin was only 50 seconds after 100 miles. Despite racing 63 miles on only three tires, he had set a world record time of 1:15:40-2/5sec or 79.288 mph, beating the previous time by three minutes. Amongst the spectators, "pandemonium broke loose" was reported. The win was instantly legendary, later inspiring racing historian Dick Punett to title his book on the Ormond and Daytona Beach tournaments "Racing on the Rim" in tribute to this remarkable feat.
Clifford Earp and Arthur MacDonald were not the only drivers to find success behind the wheel of the L48 in this period of 'Edwardian Giants'. October 1906 saw Dorothy Levitt establish the Women's World Speed Record over the Flying Kilometer with a speed of 90.88 mph at the Blackpool Motor Race Meeting. Between 1906 and 1908, the Napier continued to be raced, gaining an even larger 20-litre engine along the way. The car was nicknamed 'Samson', a nod to the resemblance of the engine's copper cooling tubes to the flowing locks of the biblical strongman.
Fifteen miles away from their new factory in Acton, London, Brooklands, the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit was the place for high-speed testing. At a time where blanket speed limits were 20 mph. In November 1908, on the "Byfleet" banking, 'Samson' achieved a top speed of 130 mph. A record lap which stood for six years. In the months leading up to this achievement, L48 had set many more records including: first in the Thirty Mile Race (Montague Cup); 90 hp Ten Lap record raised to 102.21 mph and Half-Mile record raised to 114.98 mph; 90 hp Class short record pushed up to 119.34 mph.
The car was eventually sold for scrap by Napier. Fatigued by such an eventful career, it had become too dangerous for fast driving. In 1909 the second engine was taken out of the chassis and installed in a speedboat. This had been the fate of the first engine with the larger bore of 6¼", which was bought from S.F. Edge by speedboat racers Percy and Fred Cornwell of Cornwell Pottery, Melbourne, for the speedboat 'Nautilus II'. Napier had become the only manufacturer in the world to hold both the world land and the world water speed records. In 1905, Mr. Tucker and his Jarrow-Napier motorboat had achieved 30 knots; Albert I, Prince of Monaco, bestowed upon S.F. Edge the Order of St Charles in recognition of his achievement.
The story of the engine's survival after its racing career begins with Alan 'Bob' Hawker Chamberlain, manufacturer of the celebrated Australian-made Chamberlain Tractors. The Hawker name resonates: Bob's uncle was Harry Hawker, best known as the aviator and engineer associated with the Sopwith Camel and the Hawker aviation firm. Faced with the choice to either to polish this relic of the racing's golden age and put it on a stand in a museum, or to recreate the original car around the engine, the engineer's decision was of course in favor of the more ambitious line of action. Had the car been of a more conventional design, Chamberlain may not have bothered to re-construct the car.
At the Cornwell pottery factory where the engine was rediscovered, only the intake valve rocker arms and domes were visible, poking through the dust. England's Motor Sport magazine printed a photograph of Chamberlain's engine block with a notice asking for information, to which Anthony Heal responded by sharing the research he had conducted into Napier over several years. Fortunately, unlike other manufacturers, Napier did not destroy their records. The archiving efforts of enthusiasts such as Heal and Derek Grosmark enabled Bob Chamberlain to rebuild the Napier with characteristic thoroughness. When enlarged, excellent photographs of the engine taken in June 1904 even showed details of the casting imperfections. During the original construction of the car in the early 20th century, hundreds of wooden casting patterns had to be made as every component of the engine was a new design, so much was the engine at the cutting edge of engineering. Chamberlain did the same, reproducing from photographs and plans hundreds of wooden casting patterns to form the car presently offered at this sale. Chamberlain's friend found an article in an English motor journal which included original assembly drawings of the L48 engine, and it was learned that these were printed from the original and well-preserved ink on linen drawings held by a London Museum. These left no doubt that the engine found in Australia was the first and original one used in the Napier racing car L48.
The rebuilt engine was started for the first time in sixty-seven years on the 8th of July 1982, and it is said to have started on its first turn. It was tested on a dynamometer and showed almost 180 bhp at 161km/h. Journalist, author and stalwart Editor of the famed Motor Sport magazine, Bill Boddy, who had been a critic of poorly executed replicas, said in Motor Sport magazine in 1988, 'Whether or not you approve of the modern reconstruction of old cars, you must concede that this is the recreation of the decade'.
In May 1982 the car was shipped to the United Kingdom and campaigned twice, appearing in the June 1983 Brooklands Reunion and the July 1983 Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb. Australian F1 driver Tony Gaze drove it at the Colerne Sprints in 1983 and recorded a standing start kilometer in 30.67 seconds with a terminal speed of 111.73 mph. A record which stands in perpetuity, despite the best efforts of many potent Edwardian racing cars whilst this course was in use. In May 1983 the L48 was again shipped to the United Kingdom, getting its first high speed run at Donnington (Tom Wheatcroft had visited Australia to see the reconstruction underway).
To an independent Melbourne evening auction of the 23rd of April 1993, the Chamberlain family consigned the Napier and two other important cars: 1910 Craig "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car, and the Erle/Syme "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car. That night saw ownership transfer to Peter Briggs and his wife Robin. Mr. Briggs housed the car in his York Motor Museum, Western Australia, but the couple took it out on many an excursion.
John Keenan undertook primary research on the car when it went into the York Motor Museum, building on that already collated by Chamberlain. This attention to detail and careful mining of archival material further enhanced L48 earning Briggs invitations to show and compete the car at world's foremost events, including the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1999. Previously, at the 49th edition of this prestigious event, Automobile Quarterly awarded the car the most historically significant car. In 2000, the Napier was once again invited, by the then Lord March, to the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb where Peter Briggs took it to a class win. Graeme Cocks had the opportunity to exploit the power with a 160km/h run at the historic claypan of Lake Perkolilli in the Goldfields of Western Australia in 2007.
Something of the same spirit behind the engineering and commercial excellence of Napier, Edge and Rowledge, fired Bob Chamberlain's desire to feel what it was like to drive and race one of Britain's and the world's greatest race cars. Peter Briggs as a custodian enjoyed showing and rallying the car with his beloved Robin, recognizing in it the same perseverance and capacity for transformation that earned him pre-eminence in Australian business. To be the next custodian of the greatest British car from the "heroic age" of motor sport is to provide yourself with a passport to the world's best competitive events on the lawn and tarmac, including the S.F. Edge Trophy at the Goodwood Member's Meeting. Be part of the story of two cars separated by three-quarters of a century which share one heart and soul: its extraordinary engine.
- - -
It's a cool rainy pre-auction day at Bonhams. We've come for the cars, as we do, and another pre-auction tour by Andy Reid who is considered an expert in European sports and luxury cars and is a respected concours judge.
- - -
It's Scottsdale Car Week! I flew here and Fred drove with Harriet for some warmer weather, friend visits, and cars!
We bumped into to Evan Ide who was tending to this car. Had a nice chat but I did not ask for a photo. Evan Ide works with Bonhams, has been featured on Wayne Carini's "Chasing Classic Cars" several times, owns a classic car workshop in Massachusetts, and is an advisor to several major museum collections around the world.
Previewed at Scottsdale
Reconstructed 1904 Gordon Bennett Napier L48 "Samson" Racing Car
Sold at Amelia Island
Sold for US$742,000 inc. premium
Estimate: US$900,000 - US$1,100,000
Engine no. 1320A
15-Liter Inline 6-Cylinder F-Head Engine
Single 2 7/16" Carburetor
240bhp at 2,300rpm
2-Speed Manual Transmission
Beam Front Axle, Live Rear Axle
Rear-Wheel Mechanical Brakes
*Historic "tool room" recreation utilizing the original L48 engine which debuted in 1904
*The Napier L48 was the world's first successful six-cylinder racing car
*Napier's L48 famously broke the 100mph barrier with a Flying One Mile Record of 104.65mph, Ormond-Daytona Beach Meeting, 1905
*Driven by Dorothy Levitt to the Women's World Speed Record, October 1906
*Automobile Quarterly's 'Most Historically Significant Car' Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, 1999
*Goodwood Festival of Speed invitation, 1994 and 2000
THE NAPIER L48 "SAMSON" 15-LITER
"There is nothing in all of motoring quite like the massive displacement early racing cars. Driving this Napier you experience everything that makes this era so exciting. When setting off you are struck by just how tall the gearing is - first is like high in anything else. When you get the machine rolling and apply any throttle the machine hurls forward snapping your back in your seat. You are launched to over 50 mph before you can grasp what has happened and you are still in first gear! You need a bit more speed still to drop it in the only other gear and then it starts all over with the engine dropping to just a few hundred revs. When you open the throttle, it feels like it could go forever well past 100 mph. While thundering around in this beast one cannot help but be captivated by the fact that you are controlling the engine that set such a milestone world record." -Evan Ide, for Bonhams|Cars
This 'Edwardian Giant,' offered from the collection of its fifth owner in one hundred and twenty years, Australian businessman Peter Briggs. This "adventure capitalist" would surely have recognized himself in a car that shattered records and assumptions, and whose ownership and racing pedigree bring together for a most impressive roll call several of the most pioneering figures in the history of the automobile. The discovery of this engine in the 1950s to a complete body in the 1980s heralded the definitive rebirth into the motoring world of the L48 and its singular legacy any new owner must keep bright and burning the flame of transformation and perseverance this motor has ignited in all its custodians.
The Napier marque was begun by Montague Napier's father more than 100 years before the birth of the L48. Some years after Montague took over the large business it suffered a decline, and by 1900 was quite a small engineering shop producing products of a nonetheless superior precision, such as coin-weighing machines for the Royal Mint. Montague and his Australian-born collaborator Selwyn Francis Edge, a marketing wizard who cut his teeth in the hyper-competitive bicycle business, were eager to reposition Napier as an innovator in both business strategy and engineering. It was through endurance speed-cycling that the pair met the young engineer Arthur J Rowledge, a future assistant to Henry Royce, who would complete the team. Amongst the Bath Road Cycling Club members was S.F. Edge's wife, Eleanor Edge, who was also a pioneer motorist in her own right and a founding member of the world's first motoring club for women or "chauffeuses."
Around this time the British motor industry had struggled for recognition amongst the elite nations of motor manufacturing, namely France and Germany. Racing competitions were introducing weight limits so that extra weight could not be added to give greater grip to the very thin tires of racing cars of the time, which would slip against the road and wear out each time a cylinder fired. Every tire change cost time, and in one city-to-city race, Edge had to change 30 times. The French engineer and journalist who later founded the Le Mans 24 Hour Race, Charles Faroux, suggested to Edge that building a six-cylinder engine would address the problem, providing a smoother power delivery to the rear wheels and improving tire life. As part of his ambitious strategy of building powerful engines for the fastest cars and sending them to win high-profile international races¬, a kind of 'publicity stunt' that would become a favourite ploy of manufacturers, Edge announced in October 1903 that Napier would compete in the 1904 racing season, which would become the world's first successful six-cylinder car.
The purpose of the 'L48', the works racing car, conceived as an improvement of the market-leading Panhard Levassor and of Napier's own K5, was to break the Land Speed Record. The victory of the K5 at the 1902 Gordon Bennett Cup and its failure to secure the title the following year, had both proven instructive. For 1902 Edge had persuaded Napier to build a car weighing significantly below the 1000 kg limit even if this meant a lower powered car; although the K5 with its pressed-steel chassis could not approach the speeds attained by its competitors, these faster cars broke down and did not finish. Napier's loss the following year was in part an effect of rushed production, but the engine was still somewhat outdated. Napier retained from the K5 the chassis, suspension, steering, clutch, and rear axle. On the other hand, the automatic intake valves were connected to mechanical operation, bringing the maximum power from 80bhp to 100bhp at 1524rpm. The three-speed gearbox could not be retained as space and weight problems with the longer six-cylinder engine necessitated the use of as short two-speed and reverse gear. Galvanized by the publicity of the 1902 Gordon Bennett win in France, which had translated directly into a surge in orders and the massive growth of the business, the new goal for the Napier team was not simply to return to old glories but to exceed itself as well as the competition.
It is unlikely that Rowledge was alone responsible for the design. The basic concept of the six-cylinder engine was brilliant with its overlapping firing periods providing a smother power deliver, but it is unthinkable that a designer of his caliber could have been responsible for such defective details as the cylinders with crewed-on cast iron valve chest or the multi-seated faced intake values with minimal lift. History does not record the other hands that were part of this leap in mechanical engineering. Napier did not build the first six-cylinder car – Spyker built one in 1902 but it was not a success and is today part of the collection of the Louwman Museum in The Netherlands. When the Napier was finalized on 10th April 1903, no six-cylinder car of any make had been sold anywhere in the world, so Napier and Edge showed amazing confidence in building such a racing engine. Later, the first recorded sale of a six-cylinder car was a Napier touring model, having been first demonstrated in June that same year.
With the works car ready to be deployed onto the battlefield of industrial rivalries, S.F. Edge set himself with assembling a team for the Gordon Bennett Cup in Germany; he could not cross the Atlantic, so turned to the team of amateur and professional drivers at his disposal. Previously, the manager of the Dunlop Cycle Racing Team, he applied his experience to create what was the first great British motor racing team. Following the 1904 failure, the front of the new race car was extensively revised to include a streamlined nose and an exterior radiator. A spectacle with its 242ft ¼" copper pipe used for the unique 80-tube radiator, holding 20 gallons, operating at atmospheric pressure, the lines of copper tubing were as much about making the Napier L48 distinctive as about cooling. The combination of good looks and ambitious engineering was not sufficient to guarantee success: talented pilots with a grip to match the shoulder-width steering wheel, and with the feet of a dancer for peddling the throttle and brake of this 151-inch machine – the ultimate mount for the elite drivers.
The L48 was first raced in September 1904 at the Portmarnock Sands Speed Trials in Ireland, where it put up fastest time. That same month saw the Napier return to the Continent at the Gaillon Hill Climb in France, where the twenty-two-year-old British driver, Arthur MacDonald, completed the Flying Kilometer in 29.4 seconds, setting a record that would be beaten in a subsequent run by the Gobron-Brillié and then later by Darracq. The L48 finished third.
The car's greatest victory was won on the 25th of January 1905 on a stretch of sand between Florida's Ormond and Daytona Beaches where cars could realize their full potential on flat land unencumbered by speed limits. With Englishman Arthur MacDonald at the wheel, the Napier broke the Flying One Mile World Record of 104.65mph (or, 106.64mph). It was the first car to record 100 mph on American Soil and the first British car to crack the 100-mph barrier. Other achievements at the Velocity Weekend included the Flying Kilometer (American Record) 97.26 mph; the World's Competitive Kilometer Record (Standing Start) 81.6 mph; the World's Competitive Mile 96.25 mph; the World's Five Mile Record 91.37 mph; the World's Ten Miles Record 96.00 mph (winning the Miller Trophy); and the World's Twenty Miles Record 89.21 mph (winning the Thomas Trophy).
Six months later, on a glorious day, near Auvergne, France, at the Gordon Bennett Cup, British entrant Napier was the fastest over the kilometer with the L48 but finished the race in ninth place due to poor preparation. The car returned to the Daytona Beach Speed Trials in 1906, piloted by Walter Thomas Clifford Earp, dubbed 'England's Leading Gentleman Driver' by the Washington Post. The Los Angeles Times concurred that, 'England has certainly sent her best, both in a man and machine, to battle for the world's supremacy in automobile speed.' The other five racers were: Vincenzo Lancia driving a Fiat (he would later manufacture Lancia cars in Italy), Louis Chevrolet driving a Christie, Emanuel Cedrino from in Italy in a Fiat, William H Hilliard from Boston in an ex-Gordon Bennett racing car Napier, and J.R. Harding from Boston in a Daimler. At the 32-mile mark, disaster struck. The Napier's right rear tyre exploded, throwing fragments of rubber all over the beach to the horror of spectators. In the previous year, the car had wooden spoked wheels, but this time it had the first Rudge Whitworth wire wheels, he was confident could withstand the side strain on cornering. At fifty-eight miles, Cedrino was a handy seven minutes ahead of Clifford-Earp, but he too encountered trouble with his tires and began to slow down. In a moment of sheer brilliance, he stopped his car next to Vincenzo Lancia's car and proceeded to remove two tubes from the stranded car to put on his own wheels. He would not be denied. It was now a race of two, with Earp on three wheels about three minutes ahead, with Cedrino chasing behind with fresh tires and tubes. Clifford-Earp's winning margin was only 50 seconds after 100 miles. Despite racing 63 miles on only three tires, he had set a world record time of 1:15:40-2/5sec or 79.288 mph, beating the previous time by three minutes. Amongst the spectators, "pandemonium broke loose" was reported. The win was instantly legendary, later inspiring racing historian Dick Punett to title his book on the Ormond and Daytona Beach tournaments "Racing on the Rim" in tribute to this remarkable feat.
Clifford Earp and Arthur MacDonald were not the only drivers to find success behind the wheel of the L48 in this period of 'Edwardian Giants'. October 1906 saw Dorothy Levitt establish the Women's World Speed Record over the Flying Kilometer with a speed of 90.88 mph at the Blackpool Motor Race Meeting. Between 1906 and 1908, the Napier continued to be raced, gaining an even larger 20-litre engine along the way. The car was nicknamed 'Samson', a nod to the resemblance of the engine's copper cooling tubes to the flowing locks of the biblical strongman.
Fifteen miles away from their new factory in Acton, London, Brooklands, the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit was the place for high-speed testing. At a time where blanket speed limits were 20 mph. In November 1908, on the "Byfleet" banking, 'Samson' achieved a top speed of 130 mph. A record lap which stood for six years. In the months leading up to this achievement, L48 had set many more records including: first in the Thirty Mile Race (Montague Cup); 90 hp Ten Lap record raised to 102.21 mph and Half-Mile record raised to 114.98 mph; 90 hp Class short record pushed up to 119.34 mph.
The car was eventually sold for scrap by Napier. Fatigued by such an eventful career, it had become too dangerous for fast driving. In 1909 the second engine was taken out of the chassis and installed in a speedboat. This had been the fate of the first engine with the larger bore of 6¼", which was bought from S.F. Edge by speedboat racers Percy and Fred Cornwell of Cornwell Pottery, Melbourne, for the speedboat 'Nautilus II'. Napier had become the only manufacturer in the world to hold both the world land and the world water speed records. In 1905, Mr. Tucker and his Jarrow-Napier motorboat had achieved 30 knots; Albert I, Prince of Monaco, bestowed upon S.F. Edge the Order of St Charles in recognition of his achievement.
The story of the engine's survival after its racing career begins with Alan 'Bob' Hawker Chamberlain, manufacturer of the celebrated Australian-made Chamberlain Tractors. The Hawker name resonates: Bob's uncle was Harry Hawker, best known as the aviator and engineer associated with the Sopwith Camel and the Hawker aviation firm. Faced with the choice to either to polish this relic of the racing's golden age and put it on a stand in a museum, or to recreate the original car around the engine, the engineer's decision was of course in favor of the more ambitious line of action. Had the car been of a more conventional design, Chamberlain may not have bothered to re-construct the car.
At the Cornwell pottery factory where the engine was rediscovered, only the intake valve rocker arms and domes were visible, poking through the dust. England's Motor Sport magazine printed a photograph of Chamberlain's engine block with a notice asking for information, to which Anthony Heal responded by sharing the research he had conducted into Napier over several years. Fortunately, unlike other manufacturers, Napier did not destroy their records. The archiving efforts of enthusiasts such as Heal and Derek Grosmark enabled Bob Chamberlain to rebuild the Napier with characteristic thoroughness. When enlarged, excellent photographs of the engine taken in June 1904 even showed details of the casting imperfections. During the original construction of the car in the early 20th century, hundreds of wooden casting patterns had to be made as every component of the engine was a new design, so much was the engine at the cutting edge of engineering. Chamberlain did the same, reproducing from photographs and plans hundreds of wooden casting patterns to form the car presently offered at this sale. Chamberlain's friend found an article in an English motor journal which included original assembly drawings of the L48 engine, and it was learned that these were printed from the original and well-preserved ink on linen drawings held by a London Museum. These left no doubt that the engine found in Australia was the first and original one used in the Napier racing car L48.
The rebuilt engine was started for the first time in sixty-seven years on the 8th of July 1982, and it is said to have started on its first turn. It was tested on a dynamometer and showed almost 180 bhp at 161km/h. Journalist, author and stalwart Editor of the famed Motor Sport magazine, Bill Boddy, who had been a critic of poorly executed replicas, said in Motor Sport magazine in 1988, 'Whether or not you approve of the modern reconstruction of old cars, you must concede that this is the recreation of the decade'.
In May 1982 the car was shipped to the United Kingdom and campaigned twice, appearing in the June 1983 Brooklands Reunion and the July 1983 Shelsley Walsh Hill Climb. Australian F1 driver Tony Gaze drove it at the Colerne Sprints in 1983 and recorded a standing start kilometer in 30.67 seconds with a terminal speed of 111.73 mph. A record which stands in perpetuity, despite the best efforts of many potent Edwardian racing cars whilst this course was in use. In May 1983 the L48 was again shipped to the United Kingdom, getting its first high speed run at Donnington (Tom Wheatcroft had visited Australia to see the reconstruction underway).
To an independent Melbourne evening auction of the 23rd of April 1993, the Chamberlain family consigned the Napier and two other important cars: 1910 Craig "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car, and the Erle/Syme "Prince Henry" Benz works racing car. That night saw ownership transfer to Peter Briggs and his wife Robin. Mr. Briggs housed the car in his York Motor Museum, Western Australia, but the couple took it out on many an excursion.
John Keenan undertook primary research on the car when it went into the York Motor Museum, building on that already collated by Chamberlain. This attention to detail and careful mining of archival material further enhanced L48 earning Briggs invitations to show and compete the car at world's foremost events, including the annual Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in 1999. Previously, at the 49th edition of this prestigious event, Automobile Quarterly awarded the car the most historically significant car. In 2000, the Napier was once again invited, by the then Lord March, to the Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb where Peter Briggs took it to a class win. Graeme Cocks had the opportunity to exploit the power with a 160km/h run at the historic claypan of Lake Perkolilli in the Goldfields of Western Australia in 2007.
Something of the same spirit behind the engineering and commercial excellence of Napier, Edge and Rowledge, fired Bob Chamberlain's desire to feel what it was like to drive and race one of Britain's and the world's greatest race cars. Peter Briggs as a custodian enjoyed showing and rallying the car with his beloved Robin, recognizing in it the same perseverance and capacity for transformation that earned him pre-eminence in Australian business. To be the next custodian of the greatest British car from the "heroic age" of motor sport is to provide yourself with a passport to the world's best competitive events on the lawn and tarmac, including the S.F. Edge Trophy at the Goodwood Member's Meeting. Be part of the story of two cars separated by three-quarters of a century which share one heart and soul: its extraordinary engine.
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It's a cool rainy pre-auction day at Bonhams. We've come for the cars, as we do, and another pre-auction tour by Andy Reid who is considered an expert in European sports and luxury cars and is a respected concours judge.
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It's Scottsdale Car Week! I flew here and Fred drove with Harriet for some warmer weather, friend visits, and cars!
The southern side of the garden contains galleries and, above them, the National Art Library. From the garden, the interior of the two-story library can be seen. Fifteen mosaic panels representing scientific and artistic subjects such as Engineering, Mining, Steel Smelting, Building, Fine Arts, Drawing and Astronomy, form a frieze above the library windows | John Madejski Garden, named in honor of John Madejski, who funded the design, is known as a meeting point, resting place and home to a changing display of outdoor installations, and to many the heart of the V&A. The modern-day garden was designed in 2005 by landscape architect Kim Wilkie. The stepped, elliptical pool and water feature provide a serene reflection of the surrounding buildings while the lawn and planters impart a tranquil backdrop to the array of temporary outdoor displays. The design is based on the traditional simplicity of a garden courtyard with the drama and flexibility of a stage set. The garden design sits on the borderline between Modern and Postmodern. In its early days, a wide expanse of garden surrounded the South Kensington Museum, as the V&A was known before 1899. The lawns and trees belonged to the original house on the site, Brompton Park House, at one time the home of Queen Anne's gardener, Henry Wise. These gardens were gradually built over as the Museum expanded and today the enclosed garden courtyard, formed between 1857 and 1909, is a small reminder of the gardens which once filled most of the neighborhood that we now know as South Kensington. It was intended that a u-shaped arrangement would remain open to the south, with the entrance visible from Cromwell Road, but in the end the fourth side was filled in with an art library, completed in 1884 to enclose the courtyard. Viewing the buildings around the garden, visitors are treated to a wealth of decorative ornamentation – including terracotta modelling, mosaic and tiles – on each of the buildings' façades. The Museum's founding Director, Henry Cole, employed a team of decorative designers to apply painting, sculpture, mosaic and elaborate ironwork to the buildings, so that their exteriors were as beautiful and as instructive as the collections within them. Other sculptural details on the façades of the buildings are not carved but are modelled in terracotta. A clay-based ceramic, terracotta could be easily molded by hand or by tools, was more cost-effective and quicker to carve than other materials such as stone or marble. Reusable molds were used to produce many identical pieces, which saved money as each piece of sculpture or tile could be repeated many times using the same mold. The molds for the terracotta columns above the entrance, for instance, were reused for the façade of the Henry Cole Wing on Exhibition Road.
HCLS Chapters-of-Our-Lives Time Capsule installed in a beautiful circular bench in the lobby at HCLS Central Branch in Columbia, Maryland. A plaque displayed on the site that reads:
Within this bench rests a Time Capsule that captures the essence of Howard County Library System (HCLS) in 2015, our 75th Anniversary.
Its contents reflect our unwavering heritage as a 20th and 21st century educational institution with a mission to deliver equal opportunity in education for everyone through a curriculum that comprises Three Pillars: Self-Directed Education, Research Assistance & Instruction, and Instructive & Enlightening Experiences.
Symbolic of our timeless mission, this Time Capsule is a collection of three containers, all part of a 75-year plan:
To connect our past, present, and future, HCLS appointed 136 Howard County middle students to serve as Guardians. On October 24, 2015, they pledged to champion the HCLS legacy, keeping it safe for the next 25 years.
October 27, 2040 – The Class of 2015 will reconvene to pass on the role of Guardian to the next generation (Class of 2040). Together, the two generations will open and reseal the 2015 container, then fill the 2040 container.
October 24, 2065 – The Class of 2040 will gather to pass on the role of Guardian to the Class of 2065. Together, they will open and re-seal the 2015 and 2040 containers, then fill the 2065 container.
October 21, 2090 – The Class of 2065 will gather on the occasion of Howard County Library System’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary to open the Time Capsule.
Dedicated this 24th day of October, 2015 to the always forward-looking citizens of Howard County, MD.