manageable photos on Flickr

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I can not emphasise how amazed I still am by this doll. I just spent SO many nights absolutely being frustrated by her and hated how difficult she was to work on in terms of sculpt and colour.

But I’m just so utterly amazed, I finally was able to *work* with her sculpt, and I can really appreciate her gorgeous cheekbones and her strong jaw and nose.

I ended up cutting her ultra long hair to just under her butt so it’ll be manageable but otherwise I’m happy I took the plunge to recustomize her.

Lowepro Stealth Reporter 600 AW 1 by John Encinas

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This would be a typical loadout I would take to shoot where I don't have to travel too far by foot. It's heavy but, manageable.

What's in the bag:

1- Nikon D2X w/ 80-200mm F2.8 AF-S

1- Nikon D2H w/ 17-35mm F2.8 AF-S

1- Nikon 28-80mm F2.8 AF-S

1- Nikon SU-800 command unit

1- Nikon SB-800 strobe

2- Nikon SB-600 strobe

2- Pocket Wizard transceivers

1- DIY Black straw grid

1- Canon G10 P&S

1- Nikon lens brush

You can view my blog at:

johnencinas.wordpress.com

Arbat refugee camps by Baram Maaruf

IDP's from Tikrit and Ramadi.

The refugee flow to the wealthy continent of Europe is just the tip of the iceberg. It's a minor crisis compared to the real refugee crisis hitting Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, where resources are not so plenty as in Europe. Belgium is not overwhelmed by a flood of refugees like Kurdistan. Many internal Iraqi refugees from areas which have been taken by IS flee to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Most refugees remain in the region, and within the sphere of influence of the conflicts of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Browse through these photos by photographer Baram Maaruf and you might get a better understanding of the scope of the "crisis" in Europe: limited and perfectly manageable. It's a not a "refugee crisis", but a crisis of "political will".

ARBAT IDP CAMP

Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp is located outside the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. It is one of the most overcrowded refugee camps in Iraq. The camp was supposed to house 800 displaced Iraqi families, but now there are more than 2000 families (23.000 people). In each tent there are several families. It was established for Syrian refugees as a transit camp, but it turned into a camp for internally displaced Iraqi refugees. As the crisis in Iraq enters its second year with no political or military solution in sight, the government and aid groups are being forced to seek longer-term humanitarian solutions for the more than three million displaced by violence across the country.

ASHTI CAMP

It’s a short drive to a new camp location just five km away: Ashti Camp. UNHCR and its partners began to move residents to better-equipped facilities in June 2015. Ashti camp, was recently completed and will eventually accommodate some 1000 families who will be moved from Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. They are displaced Iraqis sheltering in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. It looks like the foundation of a new village. Instead of pitched upon packed earth, tents here rest on poured concrete foundations. Plumbing is underground and electric wiring runs along poles that neatly follow the camp's grid layout.

ARBAT PERMANENT CAMP

The third refugee camp is a permanent camp for 6000 Syrian refugees, mainly Kurds from Kobani and Qamishlo. It looks like a village with paved roads, electricity wires, shops, little brick houses. Even though the whole “village” looks miserable, it is much “better” compared to Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.

Review of the Tangled the Series dolls from JC Penney! Review in the description! 😍 (also I feel like my phone always uploads them in the most random order so sorry about that! by Forever Young

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I got the new tangled the series dolls from JC Penney and I am in LOVE!!

I'll just start at the very beginning. I think their packaging is so much cuter than the new Disney store packaging this year. (Yes they are the same as the Disney Store dolls with some slight variations since they are partnered through the department store JC Penney in the USA)

Rapunzel is so short and darling compared to Eugene! She's about the same size as the small Disney store dolls but with adult proportions. Eugene is about as tall as a normal princess doll. Their outfits are so detailed and cute but still cartoony like the show. I actually love how cartoony these dolls look! It looks so good in person!

Rapunzel's hair is soft and SILKY! It comes with hair ties holding it into little bunches but she doesn't have the red beads some other dolls have. (I don't mind tho)

I don't have any other Series dolls so compare her to but I think her hair is longer than the hair that comes with the red beads but probably not as long as the 17 inch hair rapunzel sold by herself. I feel like it's the perfect blend of manageable and luxurious at this length 😍 her hair is a soft orangey blonde but not as fake looking as I anticipated from pictures. I think it matches the animation style of the show well and looks perfect with her dress!

Rapunzel and Eugene are very articulated (I'm not going to post pictures of the articulation because so many other people have already done a fantastic job of that)

Eugene's face is less "dead" looking than it seemed in some online photos. He looks very happy and sweet. The dolls I saw in store didn't have any huge production variations, which is great! I picked the set where Rapunzel's hair was most voluminous but otherwise they were basically identical.

I would definitely recommend this set! As a huge fan of the show, it's the perfect start to my collection! I feel like these two capture the show so well even if they're the only Series dolls you get they'd be perfect! I definitely want some of the other series sets but they will keep me happy for now!! ☺️

Feel free to ask me any questions about them!

2013 Classic Disney Princess Ariel 12'' Doll - Disney Store - First Look - Deboxed - Standing - Full Right Side View by drj1828

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My 2013 Classic Ariel Doll has been completely deboxed. She is standing, supported by a Kaiser doll stand (not included with the doll), and is photographed from various angles.

The 2013 Classic Ariel mermaid doll has many differences from the 2012 model, and is a greatly improved doll. She is both more attractive and more movie accurate. The major changes are to her head and face, her hair, her tail and her legs. There is a minor change to her shell bra. The only features that haven't changed are her torso and arms. I think that overall, she is the best doll in the new class of Classic Princess dolls from the Disney Store. That is fitting, as this is the year of the Diamond Edition release of her movie, The Little Mermaid.

Her head has been redesigned to be rounder than the previous models, thus more accurate by the shape alone. Her forehead is lower, her cheeks are fuller and her cheekbones are more prominent. Her cute button nose, open mouth smile and small angular chin seem to be same as the previous model. So her head is not as long, and her face is not as flat.

Her face is similar to last years, but with many small changes. Her eye molds appears to be the same shape, but the corners of her eyes are more rounded, so overall the eyes are slightly smaller but rounder. Her big round blue green eyes are wide open, and glancing to her right. They are darker, the pupils are significantly larger, and the glance is more severe than the 2012 doll. It makes for a more lively and adorable expression. She has four short thick curving black lashes over each eye, in the same pattern as last year, and black eyeliner under them that is thicker and darker than before. She has silver eyeshadow as before, but the thick eyeliner partially obscures the eyeshadow. Her rust colored eyebrows a little thicker and darker than last year, and are closer to her eyes. The rouge on her cheeks are much darker than last year, when it was barely visible, if it was there at all. Her mouth is the same, but her lips are a dark pink (as opposed to last year's pastel pink), and her upper lip is painted thinner, and her lower lip is painted fuller. Her face is very beautiful, youthful, lively and much more movie accurate than before.

Her waist length red hair is mostly straight and soft, but it ends in large stiff curls. The area around her face is also stiffened with gel to keep it off her face, which works very well to make her face much more open than the 2012 doll. Her volume of hair is much less than before. Her hair is much more manageable, neater, and movie accurate than before. But her part is still on the wrong side of her head, and the large curving front bangs of the movie character are still missing from this doll.

Her tail is a dark blue green color, with green glitter forming a scale pattern that is fetching. However her upper and lower fins are made of light blue green tulle that looks much less realistic and movie accurate than the 2012 model. Her purple shell bra is a little darker and a little more accurate than before. It also seems to fit better.

Her body is fully articulated in the arms, but now has the rubber legs of 2011 and earlier dolls, which has internal knee joints and fixed angled feet. Her hip joints allow her to sit down with her legs together and her back straight up, unlike the 2012 doll with the fully articulated but defective legs. Her angled rubber feet also make her about 1/4 inch shorter than the 2012 doll. I'd say that the rubber legs are definitely a big improvement for Ariel over the fully articulated hard plastic legs of 2012.

The packaging for the dolls is much improved. The box art has been completely redesigned, with beautiful decorations unique to each Princess (actually for each movie), and a cameo of the animated movie character. The boxes are the same height and width, but are 1/2'' flatter, making them smaller and lighter.

The 2013 Disney Princess Classic Doll Collection, released on June 10, 2013. They consist of 11-12'' articulated dolls of the 11 official Disney Princesses, from Snow White to Merida, as well as Princes, Villains and Sidekicks. I now have all 11 Princesses, Queen Elinor, Charlotte and Gaston. I will photograph them boxed, during deboxing and fully deboxed. I will also post reviews and comparative photos.

Classic Disney Princess Ariel Doll - 12''

US Disney Store

Released online June 10, 2013.

Purchased online June 13, 2013.

Received June 24, 2013.

$14.95 (was on sale for $10 at time of purchase).

North Norfolk Railway - The Poppy Line (02) by Patrick

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Railways of Great Britain

This start of another one of my collections, although I have posted a few in the past.

I have taken quite a few images over the years of Old Steam, Diesel and Electric engines and after sorting out probably 3,000 plus, I’ve now got it down to a more manageable number.

I’m starting with English Engines. Some of these images could be 25 years old. Many were transferred from negatives via a scanner so the quality will not be as good I would like. I have put them all through Photoshop to get rid of the most glaring issues

Apologies to those enthusiasts if I don’t get the right engine with the right Railway, they were taken a long time ago, some of them have moved on and my memory is not as good as it was.

Happy viewing.

AK with Armenian Mountain Division at peak of Mt Aragats by Armen Kojoyian

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A mountain I always wanted to climb is Mt Aragats the highest peak in Armenia at 13,420 ft. I was fortunate to summit in October of 2016 with a great mountain guide/photographer Hrach Hovhannisyan. Aragats the remnant of a extinct volcano, is a nice challenge of four separate peaks and manageable for the conditioned climber to ascend, couch potato no.

We began our ascent on a early cold crisp morning after a light snowfall that previous evening. Our goal was to summit around noon to beat any seasonal snow storm that may enshroud the top later that afternoon during our descent. Luck was on our our side as you see the storm clouds just starting to encroach in these photos.

On our ascent I looked over my shoulder a few times and I saw a line of dust rising up from what looked like a fast moving caterpillar across the valley floor. In about 45 minutes I was able to make out camouflaged men moving fast in formation. These young men in obvious great shape reached within 50 yards of me in no time at a rocky section of Mt Aragats they blew past me like they had springs in their legs. Up the increasing incline they passed me out of sight till they appeared again near the summit ridges looking like a crawling caterpillar again.

I reached the summit maybe a hour after they made it, and was introduced to the Captain and high altitude medical trainer of the Armenian Army’s Mountain Division. Well they were out for a chilly morning workout to take a summit of 13,420 ft. Legs of youth made that mountain just a hill!

Months of planning put me unexpectedly on the path of these great young men. These brave soldiers manning every stone aerie in the heavens are the defenders of a great nation, the future of Armenia is bright in their hands. A photographer’s secret magic like in no other art form is being on the right path towards the intersection of the unforeseen.

All photos copyright by Armen Kojoyian

armenkojoyian.com/ascent-mt-aragats/

Third Cherry Blossom 5 by Batty Collector

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I bought this Cherry Blossom back in July. Her hair is a blend of darker and lighter brown unlike the other Cherry Blossoms who have a blend of black and purple. She came nude so she borrowed clothes from one of my other Cherry Blossoms for some of these pictures. I'm so happy her bun is intact and her hair is much more manageable than my other two!

Keswick Codlin (Keswick Codling) by Conall

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dating to the 1790s in the English Lake District. productive apple variety.

For no good aesthetic reason, I am posting a bunch of pictures from today of some of the apples on the trees in our garden.

Nice time to look at them just now – mostly still quite small but swelling rapidly as we get to late summer.

My trees are on rootstock MM106 which is very common rootstock for non-dwarf trees and they are being grown as “half standards” (so first branch at 1.4M) which gives a tree big enough to produce a good crop but just manageable in a garden setting and reasonably easy to mow under with a ride-on. The trees are now 17 years old (planted as maiden whips in February 2004). I do tend to look at them a lot but don’t seem to photograph them as much as I might.

I have just registered for a 1-day course in cider making (along with 2 of my brothers) for late September down in Galway. So today looking at the apples with extra special interest. We need to bring 8kg of apples each to the course– so that is 24kg for the 3 of us. On looking around the trees this afternoon, I don’t think this will pose a challenge to achieve in 6 weeks’ time when the course is on.

Red Whispies by Diem Chau

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I should have taken a pic of the scalp before I glued it back on... basically she has white bangs and a thing layer of white at the bottom of the scalp. All of the top is red. I trimmed her bangs a bit to make it more manageable.

Let's try to make this wig manageable shall we? 😋✂️✨ #bjd #abjd #mnf #minifee #minifeeceline by Chelsea

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In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep. by Vol-au-Vent

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Albert Einstein (yeah, again....)

Kiki's HRR 'Happy Round Robin' letter appeal!

Let's only create HAPPY round robin letters... we've all got enough stuff we hated to have experienced throughout the year. We don't need others to know about that either; what they NEED are cheerful, happy news!

The first side effect will be that pages and pages of tedious 'news' will be reduced to a manageable size and in the future will put a smile on the readers' face.

I mean who is interested in Auntie's third hip replacement in only 20 years? Or that the 15th grandchild has grown his first tooth or, for that reason that the weather has been appalling most of the year but particularly during one's holidays...? I ask you - nobody! And to set everybody’s mind at rest; those quotes are NOT taken from this year’s round robins I received…

So, let's go for the 'Happy Round Robin'

I start the New Trend with a few of my happy news of 2011:

* All 2010 Christmas cards have left my house by latest Pentecost 2011 - I don't know if I can better that in 2011/12! I shall try for Easter…. If this is no good news to you; it is to me: Those who are in desperate need on THEIR CARD; the lonely ones, those who lost a beloved one, those whose family is all over the world but NOT with them, those in Old People’s Home with not many good news – all those are written and sent off – the others can wait!

* After only three months of no toilets at all in our home we can now use them once more! The next good news is that this happened in summer so we had the choice of going into the free and nearby nature (our garden) or use the very, very useful camping toilet I bought on the internet, thinking it was a chemical loo (which obviously it wasn't...). Since then, going to the toilet will never be the same; how often have you given any thought to the convenience of just reaching out to pull a chain, push a button and have all debris washed SAFELY away?! Thought so!

I now know all restrooms in the whole area and a large part of Paris too! Might come in useful one day... Nor has the garden suffered…

* We did so much singing towards the end of this year (in several countries) that we now both have lost our voices - which will please our combined families to no end over the Christmas get-togethers!

* Thanks to the brilliant autumn (fall) we had, I didn't have to take any walks to get some fresh air; I could just slip into my heavy duty plastic garden clogs and go.... extracting, weeding, planting, raking, sweeping, gathering, digging.... leaves, more leaves, ‘shave’ the mushrooms growing on rotting roots underneath the lawn, put the firs' cones back that the cats shot out of the planters and which I put there in the first place so that they (the cats!) wouldn't continuously jump onto and into my newly planted stuff which of course now will never take off!, then I bag light-heartedly millions of acacia shoots into garden bags, gather the thorny branches with a song on my lips, just licking the blood off the hands, pick up rotten walnuts that fell on our ground from a neighbour’s very old tree, followed by its leaves and now and then dispose of the quite substantial branches that tend to break off in the faintest wind, thus unfailingly hitting our roses and beheading them... All this for free, in the fresh and pure air, only accompanied by cats perusing their business and birds singing happily in the branches. And gosh, I feel so frightfully fit.... :)

* We happened to be invited to a friend's birthday party in Switzerland on the very same day Hero Husband had HIS b'day - so we climbed into the car and made it a weekend 'home'..... Which was such a success that we immediately planned to do the same more often… and we did!

* Shortly after we all went back to South Devon in England where HH and I lived for more than eight years for another birthday-party of several days: Mother in law wished to 'return' once more to the place where she paid so many enjoyable visit and the whole gang of my hubby's tribe flew and drove there from their separate places - what fun we had! To be repeated with no moderation and without a reason to go!

You got the idea of a Happy Round Robin, don't you?!

Some of the best 'round robins' of this year (so far) came from Scotland in form of a tiny slip of paper with 'telegram' style news, very much to the point and always evoking a smile on the reader's face.

Another one - and in my humble opinion ‘bestest’ ever - comes from a well-known couple whom we were lucky enough to get to know shortly before leaving England. They not only create their Christmas cards themselves but send out a 'real newspaper' and all the caprices they live through are documented in pictures and very witty texts. I look forward to that RR and spend hours of glee and grin over it; secret ingredient of great success is their poodle who (which?) plays always a vital role!

Would you accept this post as a sort of apology for not having received any news from me lately? Because, I'm not only flying about in the house and garden, I also spent weeks of my time entirely pleasing others. We ARE nearing Christmas and it’s amazing how many friends find me/us when they’re in some trouble or other. I don’t mind at all, I help with all my heart and time – but it doesn’t write my Christmas Letters… Am I forgiven?!

If you DO want to get a personalized E-Card, send me your private Email address and I put you on my ‘waiting list’. It says nowhere when the sell-by date for a delayed Christmas greetings should be…

Thank you so much for having been around again this year; although I have done literally no uploads – but not for want of trying, it was just more important to comment on YOUR STREAMS!

I am quietly hoarding trillions of photos, from in and around the house, from my very frequent trips here and there, from Paris and further afield, from all my activities which often include either a score, a cello or mostly a book and/or a complicated but ‘feasible’ Sudoku. Having/making/eating/organising dinners & apéros (cocktails for you – but not for me!) take an important place too and I have tons of pixies proving the good times I/we had! Anybody a nice cheese platter, many an empty wine glass, a succulent plate with something delicious on it? I have a folder full to bursting capacity with ♥, with doors, windows, outdoor-drinkies etc. etc – I will never get old enough to bring this all forward to show you!

Have a peaceful, happy, quiet or noisy Christmas – main thing is that it makes YOU happy! Enjoy a few moments of being just with yourself or/and some much loved one/s, eat and drink whatever seems good for you at the moment, take walks or stay in bed – read and sit – or start a Happy Round Robin! Talk to you around New Year…

------------------

Should you wish to know why this photo has such a huge grain; it's because the sender copied his pixie on a Word document.... we have therefore the paper grain as well as the treatment - which gives that olden times, and slightly nostalgic feeling I quite fancy! Never having learned about layers, flypapers and textures, I am happy with this outcome.

Kindly visit my Flickr DNA for more information on me and my work. Thanks!

PLEASE do NOT just add an icon - I delete those - I want your opinions, views, your participation! If you THEN wish to invite or fave, I am all the happier... ;-)

View my whole Christmas Season & one of my favourites : ♥ - LOVE - friends - ♥ as slideshow

VIDEO ON FLICKR: NOT THE END OF THE WORLD by Mitchell Joyce

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Inevitable Downfall of Manageable Society Via Web 2.0 Participatory Media? Not Flickr!

This whole video protest is just a big stalemate, there are people who embrace the ability to keep their content (photo, text, AND video) centralized in a community based network that they're comfortable with and there are the people who fear corruption from the introduction of this new medium of publication.

In my opinion, this is just embarrassing that the media is making a big deal over this, Flickr is a photography community and the availability of video services will not corrupt anything unless people make it that way.

I had originally over-looked the whole issue knowing the video feature on Flickr wouldn't affect me personally but being such a prominent Flickr user I figured I should voice my true opinion because that's what participatory web 2.0 social networks are all about: expressing your ideas to the world because everyone has a different view on things.

Flickr is NOT YouTube and it will never be YouTube. For those of you who fear a Flickr with messy videos and spam comments all over the place I think you're deliberately overlooking the sophistication of the Flickr community compared to websites like YouTube.

Every now and then there are videos of me shooting, those videos will be made available on my Flickr stream. I find nothing but awesome from that.

Please leave a comment on this video if you agree or disagree. If you think seeing me taking pictures or having fun with friends on my Flickr stream is a bad idea then I won't do it.

Birthday Cake by Tom Eubig

We could have cut his slice up into manageable pieces, but what's the fun in that?

When Demons Love Angels 39/365 by Tyler Cerka

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I have a story that goes along with this theme. Its pretty long, so if you would rather look at the pic, thats fine.

When Demons Love Angles

Love in its self is such a strong word. When exploited, it can manipulate man to serve as a slave to emotions. Love is sacred, religious almost, but an interesting paradox is when love is forbidden. Evil loves the damned and the righteous love the pure. However, those barriers break and thus we have a forbidden fruit with the sweetest of flavor. My past has left me tainted with the possession of a demon while my love is the purest of angels, untouched by the addiction of lust, the seductive touch of a sex. I am a man torn asunder by the grips of a demonic lust and the righteousness of a man born in God’s image. The seeds of lust were planted long ago and till this day, I fight, but I fear it’s a war that cannot be won.

It started so long ago, in the development of my youth. I never matured like the other boys I grew up with. I was so pure, innocent, naive, a lifestyle I wish I carried on to this day. But one by one, unbeknownst to me, an infection grew at the start of puberty. It wasn’t long before a friend of mine discovered sex and showed it to me. I didn’t know what to think. I was horrified and intrigued. I dismissed what I saw as unreal, I choose not to believe what I saw. But on that day, a demon entered through my eyes and infected my soul. Day after day, the sexual acts continued to play in my mind and despite my best efforts, I couldn’t exile them. This is when the demon began to dominate my subconscious. A few years later, masturbation was discovered and that, for many years, was my demon’s lustful escape through me.

I never had sex in middle school, but plenty of my peers were already immersed in the sexual world. I saw not a human being, but cleverly disguised demons in the form of adolescences. I must have had some purity left in me, because I kept my sanity and never gave in to my inner demons request. Masturbation still continued, but the self-inflicted lust was much more manageable than delving in to the world of sex. It wasn’t until high school however, when my hometown was a community of corruption that they feed my demon his needs. I didn’t know it then, but looking back, I was letting a wound fester and grow and it finally broke free. Despite the purity that fought back, the righteousness that valiantly attempted to defend what little innocence I had, the demon had won. Evil finally conquered Good and I was simply an instrument of lust, desire, and corruption.

My first sexual experience was possible by sacrificing love for lust. My inner demon, in full control of any physical responsibilities, smothered my judgment and freely gave away my virginity to a harlot. Never can I get that back, a gift so pure that is now lost forever. I sometimes wonder how many virginities she has claimed, but I’d rather not know, ignorance is bliss after all. But the demon inside me was still unsatisfied.

Years after my first encounter, many have fallen to the destructive lust of my inner demon, driven insane by the pleasure of sex. Granted some of those I slept with were already corrupted by their own demons, some were not. I can remember one encounter in which somehow, my demon completely shattered her trust in God, convinced her to betray her promise to Him, and he stole her virginity from her. In such a savage manner, my demon assaulted this beautiful angel, tore her wings off, and cursed her to a life of lust and endless hunger for sex. This assassin of innocence once again claimed another victim and in the cruelest of manners, etched her name in to my soul. After our love ended, a resistance in me happened. An uprising of righteous and purity took arm and attempted to subdue my demon who by now was a being of pure insanity. Some battles were won by good and those women escaped corruption, but more fell victim as years went on.

Now here I am, in love with an angel of the purity yet I am a demon of the most lustful evil. So tempting is it to inflict corruption when her heart is so open, but the innocence that was once shattered is now relentlessly clashing with the black evil flame of my demon. My soul and body are the victims of this war, but better me than her, I pray that evil wont prevail. I want to believe that good will always triumph evil in the end, but what if the resistance falls? Why does my demon love an angel like her? I despise how I am just an instrument of a far more powerful entity, but there is still resistance. The good in me uses the shattered innocence of my youth to forge weapons to fight this seemingly immortal demon.

May God help me in my cleansing and exorcism of this demon. Should the evil within annihilate all that is pure, let me fall in to arms of another corrupted demon and let not the wings of angles be ripped from their backs and consumed by lust.

2013 Classic Disney Princess Belle 12'' Doll - Disney Store - First Look - Deboxed - Standing - Closeup Right Front View by drj1828

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My 2013 Classic Belle 12'' Doll has been completely deboxed. She is standing, supported by a Kaiser doll stand (not included with the doll), and is photographed from various angles.

The 2013 Classic Belle doll has many differences from the 2012 model, but looks very similar, and is a somewhat improved doll. The only major change is to her legs, from fully articulated hard plastic legs to rubber legs with internal knee joints and fixed angled feet. There are a minor changes to her hair, face, dress and shoes. She is also missing her gloves. The features that haven't changed are her head mold, torso and arms.

Her head mold is identical to last year's doll. Her face is almost identical, with some subtle changes. Her green eyes have gotten darker, with the elimination of the ring of light green around her pupils, leaving just dark green around her pupils. Her pupils a touch larger. She has three short thick lashes over each eye, and silver eyeshadow, as before. Her eyebrows are a darker shade of brown, but the same thickness and length. A small be very significant change is the smoothing of the arch in her eyebrows, so they no longer have an ''evil'' wiggle. She has a short straight nose. She has gentle open mouthed smile, with a thin upper lip and full lower lip, painted in bright pink. Both her nose and mouth are unchanged from last year. Finally she has heavier application of pink rouge on her cheeks. Her face is just a beautiful as last year's doll, but is now friendlier looking with the changes in her eyebrows and eyes.

Her brown hair is medium length, but is shorter and much less voluminous than before. Gone are the two curls dropping down the sides of her face. There is a small bun at the top, as before. There is a small ponytail coming out of the back of the bun, whereas last year the ponytail was longer and lower down her the back of her head. The bulk of her hair is gently curving, and is gathered up in a large curl at the end, which is gelled to keep it in shape and in place. Other than the curl, her hair is soft and smooth. Rather than reaching her waist and spreading out beyond both her shoulders, her hair is now reaches the middle of her back, and is contained within the width her shoulders. It is much neater looking and manageable, as long as the curl at the end is not disturbed.

Her golden yellow satin dress is similar in design to the 2012 version, but there are some significant differences. The gold organza shoulder straps are very similar, but now they are wrapped lower down her shoulders, thus being more movie accurate. I had to adjust her left strap to make it lower, to match the right strap. Her bodice is now glitter free, but has the same design, with a V-shaped waist. The skirt is now much less voluminous, and has a pattern of glittering gold roses, instead of the gold glitter being sprayed in a random pattern. The gold organza decoration around the middle of the skirt is now only in the front, whereas the 2012 doll had the decoration go completely around the skirt. But as with last year's doll, the ruching is only in the front. At least the golden rose pattern continues to the back of the skirt. The skirt is about the length as before, but since the 2013 doll is on her tippy toes rather than her feet flat on the floor, the skirt doesn't quite reach the floor. The new dress holds its shape much better, due to the glitter giving the skirt more stiffness. The old dress is more movie accurate, and its volume is very impressive, but it requires a petticoat (which is not included) to keep its shape.

Her shoes are flats as in the old doll, but they are a little shorter, and a paler shade of yellow. With her fixed angled feet, she should have gotten high heels, as the 2011 and earlier dolls had.

She no longer has any accessories, as her full length gold satin gloves are gone.

Her body is fully articulated in the arms, but now has the rubber legs of 2011 and earlier dolls, which has internal knee joints and fixed angled feet. Her hip joints allow her to sit down with her legs together and her back straight up, unlike the 2012 doll with the fully articulated but defective legs. But her knees can only bend about 40 degrees, so her legs stick out when she is sitting. The leg joints are also much stiffer, so she is in a much more natural position when placed standing in a Kaiser doll stand. Her angled rubber feet also make her about 1/4 inch taller than the 2012 doll, who had flat feet.

The packaging for the dolls is much improved. The box art has been completely redesigned, with beautiful decorations unique to each Princess (actually for each movie), and a cameo of the animated movie character. The boxes are the same height and width, but are 1/2'' flatter, making them smaller and lighter. The packaging restraints are simplified, especially with a reduced use of T-tags, so the deboxing is quicker and easier, and there is less damage to the doll. Belle's box has rose and Cogsworth images with a yellow background.

The 2013 Disney Princess Classic Doll Collection, released on June 10, 2013. They consist of 11-12'' articulated dolls of the 11 official Disney Princesses, from Snow White to Merida, as well as Princes, Villains and Sidekicks. I now have all 11 Princesses, Queen Elinor, Charlotte and Gaston. I will photograph them boxed, during deboxing and fully deboxed. I will also post reviews and comparative photos.

Classic Disney Princess Belle Doll - 12''

US Disney Store.

Released online June 10, 2013.

Purchased online June 13, 2013.

Received June 24, 2013.

$14.95 (was on sale for $10 at time of purchase).

It Never Rains But It Pours by JOY

3 11

Decisions made. Cameras arrived. Visa paid off. The learning begins.

As the Olympus is such a magnificent creature, and I have cognitive problems, it's sure to take me the rest of my life get a handle on it. So in order to keep my frustration at a manageable level I also bought the little Panasonic. It will be my go-to camera for when I need a break AND it will be my go-anywhere camera so I don't miss those "Rats! Why don't I have my camera with me" shots.

My sincere gratitude to my flickr friends who gave me suggestions through my long period of indecision. Special appreciation to Staffan and John. But for you two I'd still be changing my mind with each new review.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Olympus E-M5 Mark II (Camera Launch: February 2015)

- World's Most Powerful 5-Axis VCM IS System

- Portable Dustproof/Splashproof Body

- Large 2.36 Million Dot EVF

- Vari-Angle Large 3.0" Touch LCD

- OM-D Movie - capture cinema quality movies

- 16MP Live MOS TruePic VII

- 40M High Res Shot exceeds image quality on full frame models

- 10fps High Speed Seq Shooting

- Full HD Frame Rate Movie

- High Bit Rate Movie

- Touch Operation During Movie

- Art Filter and Art Fade Movie Capability & Photo Story

- Clips - edit short movies with ease

- Remote Start and Stop Through Smart Phone

- Compatible with Olympus Capture

- Built-In Wi-Fi

- World's Shortest Shooting Time Lag

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS50 (Camera Launch: March 2015)

- 12MP

- 30x Optical Zoom

- 4x Digital Zoom

- Flash

- ISO Rating - Auto, ISO 80-6400

- Image Formats - JPEG, RAW

- Image Stabilizer

- 3.0" Screen Size

- Viewfinder

- Macro Feature (up-close 3cm macro shooting)

- Panorama Mode

- 24mm Leica Wide Angle Lens

- Movie Mode - Full HD 1080p

- WiFi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laney by Show Hope

Laney came under our care in August 2011 at eight months old. She was diagnosed with Phenylketonuria, a manageable condition which requires her to follow a strictly regimented diet for the rest of her life.

Diagram 1-6 complete. by Karen C.

5 3

Finished Diagram 1-6 of #mysmallworldqal and spent some time last night making paper-piece and plastic templates. I'm hoping the #pp templates will make piecing some of these tiny pieces more manageable. Off to sew for a bit on this drizzly Sunday. 🏠💦❤️

the coming of days by Christine

11 1

All I could manage today was a quick walk around the block. In the sunlight, it was brisk but manageable, but in the shade, when the wind blew... it was not pleasant. Not at all.

restoration by sj carey

5 4

It is difficult to state with any level of certainty what is in the future for Robinwood and the surrounding neighborhood. It is a pity when you see all of these colorful homes laid to waste. In the next year or so I suspect the city will begin to move forward with the Detroit Works Project which may determine the ultimate fate of this area. The plan is hinting towards moving folks from the more desolate areas of the city and into the solid neighborhoods. Whether that takes the form of a forced migration or a more passive, evolutionary, migration is still being debated. I suspect the evolutionary process will win out.

If the evolutionary process wins out then this area may actually have a bright future. Already you will find newer homes built on vacant lots. Being in the Woodward corridor, Robinwood stands to benefit in the event of mass transit finally arriving in the area. In my point of view, I see the city’s rebirth taking shape much as its original growth; up from the River along Woodward and along the River front, mostly to the east. It won’t happen overnight, and one magic bullet industry will not save the city. This will be a block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood revival. There will be much more green spaces between and within the various neighborhoods. The city actually has a chance to turn into a jewel along the Great Lakes by reinventing itself as a smaller, more manageable and greener city.

Quails petit-duc - Annie Smithers Bistrot by Alpha

5 4

Quails petit-duc - par boned and grilled, served on pommes anna, with grilled mushrooms and madeira sauce AUD30

---

We started with the cheese puffs, and it was like biting into little puffs of air. It was so light that spearing it with a fork was too hard, and we had to resort to fingers. We suspect that it is a basic souffle mix dollopped into hot oil and fried to a light and airy puff. Amazing.

Once I saw that the cheese puffs were a manageable size, I immediately added the duck neck sausage to our order. Not long after, 4 small discs of minced pork appeared. I love a good sausage and this didn't disappoint. It was served with segments of orange that provided a nice foil. There were also a few boiled baby beets hidden under the leaves and it seemed a bit too tender compared to the nice big flavoursome beets we were used to.

Julia was very impressed with the duck fillets, and she remarked several times how tasty the flesh was. I prefered the smoky grilled quail, but it was true, the quail meat was tender and juicy like the duck, but didn't have the richness of flavour of the duck. The pommes anna under the quail went amazingly well with the madeira sauce. The crispy bits of potato on the edges were also very good. The French beans were tender and so full of Spring sweetness.

We ended our meal with a good coffee and tea, and the profiteroles to share. We both loved the chocolate sauce, but we prefer the choux pastry at Laurent Pattiserie.

Annie Smither's Bistrot & Produce

03.5422.2039

72 Piper St

Kyneton VIC 3444

www.anniesmithers.com.au/

Reviews:

- Annie Smithers Bistrot, By Necia Wilden, The Age Epicure, September 27, 2005 Score: 15.5/20

- Annie Smithers Bistrot The Age Good Food Guide 2009 - 1 Chefs Hat

- Annie Smithers Bistrot, Kyneton - The Breakfast Blog, Saturday, May 13, 2006 chicken livers, bacon and spinach on toast. One of several tempting dishes on offer at Annie Smithers Bistrot. I love the smell of offal in the morning. 16/20 "mmm... liver"

- Annie Smithers Bistrot - Mietta's good gutsy French based dishes

- Annie Smithers’ Bistrot - Gourmet Traveller Annie Smithers, another Stephanie Alexander alum, is consolidating her empire, a shop and bistro showcasing Central Victorian produce. Assured cooking means primary flavours shine: succulent, flaky trout almondine tastes river-fresh; sweet scallops cooked just-so are plated with discs of smoky chorizo; sweet-salty tomato Tatin is the pick of the entrées. There’s usually offal on offer, perhaps creamy brains wrapped in prosciutto, and veal schnitzel, topped with a fried egg and anchovies, is pub-simple (and sized) but restaurant-finessed. Strawberry vacherin elevates berries and cream to a fitting conclusion to the meal: simple, comforting, classy.

Food Photos:

- Cheese Puffs with tomato and chilli dipping sauce AUD7.50 - insides

- Duck Neck Sausage stuffed with pork mince and pistachios with babybeets, green leaves and orange AUD18.50

- Quails petit-duc - par boned and grilled, served on pommes anna, with grilled mushrooms and madeira sauce AUD30

- Duck fillet with orange marmalade glaze, pan-fried potatoes AUD22.50

- Profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and drizzled with warm dark chocolate sauce AUD14.50

- Long Black AUD3

- Mariage Freres Tea AUD4.50

Decor Photos:

- back

- A message from Stephanie

- Gumboots - Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation fundraiser AUD40

Arbat refugee camps by Baram Maaruf

IDP's from Tikrit and Ramadi.

The refugee flow to the wealthy continent of Europe is just the tip of the iceberg. It's a minor crisis compared to the real refugee crisis hitting Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan, where resources are not so plenty as in Europe. Belgium is not overwhelmed by a flood of refugees like Kurdistan. Many internal Iraqi refugees from areas which have been taken by IS flee to the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. Most refugees remain in the region, and within the sphere of influence of the conflicts of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Browse through these photos by photographer Baram Maaruf and you might get a better understanding of the scope of the "crisis" in Europe: limited and perfectly manageable. It's a not a "refugee crisis", but a crisis of "political will".

ARBAT IDP CAMP

Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp is located outside the city of Sulaymaniyah in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. It is one of the most overcrowded refugee camps in Iraq. The camp was supposed to house 800 displaced Iraqi families, but now there are more than 2000 families (23.000 people). In each tent there are several families. It was established for Syrian refugees as a transit camp, but it turned into a camp for internally displaced Iraqi refugees. As the crisis in Iraq enters its second year with no political or military solution in sight, the government and aid groups are being forced to seek longer-term humanitarian solutions for the more than three million displaced by violence across the country.

ASHTI CAMP

It’s a short drive to a new camp location just five km away: Ashti Camp. UNHCR and its partners began to move residents to better-equipped facilities in June 2015. Ashti camp, was recently completed and will eventually accommodate some 1000 families who will be moved from Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. They are displaced Iraqis sheltering in Iraq's Kurdistan Region. It looks like the foundation of a new village. Instead of pitched upon packed earth, tents here rest on poured concrete foundations. Plumbing is underground and electric wiring runs along poles that neatly follow the camp's grid layout.

ARBAT PERMANENT CAMP

The third refugee camp is a permanent camp for 6000 Syrian refugees, mainly Kurds from Kobani and Qamishlo. It looks like a village with paved roads, electricity wires, shops, little brick houses. Even though the whole “village” looks miserable, it is much “better” compared to Arbat Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp.

Bull Creek Hills Loop Winter Scramble - Ben approaches the iconic pine tree on the way up by Ben

2

We were looking forward to a good hike with mild temperatures and little wind. The winds were much higher than predicted, but manageable. There was much less snow than we would have thought, considering we've above average snowfalls for this year. While the wind was annoying, the fact that wet snow would often clump to our boots was very frustrating... With all the ups and downs, we gained just over 800 m's on this very undulating 10.3 km return distance hike, but took 6 and a half hours to complete. The loveliest surprise was herd of Rocky Mountain Sheep near the true summit.

LCS Salamander by BlueSkinnedBeast

23 1

2023's SHIPtember build is (I think) complete!

A chunkier and generally bigger build than last year's cruiser Aegirocassis, this is my first ever minifig-scale SHIP and a departure from previous build strategies on a number of fronts:

- For the first time I tumbled to the idea of building the vessel in sections and snapping the sections together afterwards, so the crew section, spinal midsection and engine block were all built separately. I've heard of other people doing this before, but it's always gone against all my childhood instincts to build it in one piece and build it strong.

I tell you, though: it was a lot more manageable only having to manipulate a piece of the whole to put it together. From now on, unless there are other considerations, this is how I build SHIPs.

- As stated earlier, it's minifig scale, and by far the largest minifig-scale space construction I have yet built. There's a lot of fun to be had building a really large minifig-scale ship, but I'd always felt unable to produce a sufficiently interesting interior and if you're building at 'fig scale you really have to. This didn't need or get a really spectacular interior compartment, but baby steps.

- It's a civilian vessel. The "LCS" in the name I eventually settled on stands for "Light Container Ship"; I envisage this as being a spacegoing equivalent to a long-haul big rig as opposed to a giant commercial freighter; something that can haul 1-2 standard shipping containers (not included) held in magnetic clamps beneath the central spine. Previous SHIPs have all been decidedly military or at least explorer-type vessels, as well as being microscale they've been loaded with at least a few notable gun emplacements; this one is completely unarmed. It still follows my typical naming conventions, though, because I've named it after an animal, a stellar object or a mythological creature. Two of those at once, in fact.

- It didn't even use all of my blue, light bley and trans yellow, though it did come close. I'm contemplating building a little spacegoing Trans Am to go along with the spacegoing truck, for a real Smokey and the Bandit flavour....

Clocking in at 103 studs and thus beating out last year's submission by a single stud, the build is done.

Various angles to show off some of the features as well as the classic side view poster shot. Enjoy.

The Horror of the Super Fuzz! by robert_rex_jackson

Just a short demo of the more extreme settings of the Super Fuzz Pain Generator! What a freakshow. I mean, it will do some fuzz pedal stuff, but at the outer edges of its range it does...well, THIS! Pete Townshend used one of these every night for years...of course, he also frequently smashed his gear into tiny pieces, so perhaps I should have expected this...

Update: I solved the Super Fuzz mystery. The octave trimmer was the culprit. As you back down the octave trimmer, for some reason it increases the gain until the pedal is completely uncontrollable. I don't know why that wasn't more obvious to me sooner. With the octave trimmer up to about 3/4, the gain becomes much more manageable. Which, for some reason, is just the opposite of what I thought was going on. So I kept the trimmer low and it was making the pedal a nightmare.

Oh Shit... Not For The Faint of Heart... by Jean

2 47

I spent yesterday afternoon at the emergency room of our local hospital after I lost a fight with my table saw.... I was never the less very lucky and only ended up with my left thumb slithly shorter than the right one....

I almost always use push sticks.... I'll have to increase that to ALWAYS from now on... :-((

I will have no excuses for not visiting your pools in the next little while...

Thanks for all your kind concerns, the pain is manageable, the inconvenience of loosing the use of a thumb is the worst... And the loss of productivity in the shop where I have orders for 5 different pieces all in progress and now on hold... ;-(

by (sam I am)

3 20

215:365

This is me at the lake. Chair. Book. Snack. Sleep......well, yesterday I slept.

What am I reading, you ask? What am I not reading might be the better question.

At some point this past week, I realized that I've started and am in various stages of reading 5 books.

Huckleberry Finn - I'm teaching a literature class this fall. Trying to get a little ahead and prepared. Totally enjoying, but Huck and Jim really need to wrap it up. Escapade after escapade after escapade.....How long is that river anyway?

Catching Fire (Suzanne Collins) - a drastic contrast to Mr. Finn. I'm having a little trouble switching gears. I devoured the Hunger Games in 2 days earlier this summer and loved it. This particular story hasn't exactly caught fire with me yet. The yahoo started this one, so I thought I'd read along. At the rate I'm going, he'll finish weeks before me. What was the point of me even starting it? Haven't figured that one out yet. I had good intentions.

Left Neglected (Lisa Genova) - recommended and accompanied by a raving review from a dear friend. I started this one immediately. I've got this one on the back burner. I'm trying to be good and 'clean up' some of my current reading disaster so I can throw myself wholeheartedly into this one.

Gap Creek (Robert Morgan) - Oprah loved it for some reason, and I can't for the life of me figure out why. I'm halfway through this one and can't seem to get the motivation to jumpstart myself to finish. When I started thinking about the characters as 'the non-descript woman and her stupid husband', I thought it might be time to give this one a little break. Oprah, Oprah, what were you thinking?

The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir (Katrina Kenison) - This one got lost in the initial Gap Creek and Catching Fire frenzy. Need to pick this one back up.

The Sweet Life in Paris (David Lebowitz) - The yahoo asked for the Kindle so he could continue Catching Fire. Instead of arm wrestling him for the Kindle (which 4 out of the 5 other books I'm reading are on), I picked up this one and started it. We were in the car and it was handy....What's one more book? I always carry a book around with the Kindle. Ordered him his own Kindle. Problem solved. I need my Kindle.

Maybe I shouldn't ask what everyone else is reading... Obviously I'm having a little self control issue in the reading department. I desperately want to start reading Great Expectations....... but thought it might be wise to get the list to a more manageable level first though.

Vila Real Station Tras-os-Montes Portugal 3rd October 2010 by loose_grip_99

9 4

Trains no longer run to Vila Real station on the Linha do Corgo narrow gauge line from Regua and all trackwork has been lifted in the station & yard.

This is where it all went, cut up into manageable lengths and stacked at the south end of the yard. The pouring rain added to the melancholy.

Lower Falls Infrared by scrappydoggy

4

Lower Falls, Grand Canyon of Yellowstone, Yellowstone National Park

Shot with the Hoya R72 infrared filter. This is a test shot because frankly I'm not sure how to get the best look out of infrared. The cloud structure is pretty wicked.

The biggest challenge when shooting with the R72 filter is how dark it is. Exposure times are very long, even in bright sunlight. If I pursued IR shooting with more gusto, I would probably try to get an IR adapted camera rather than use a filter so that the exposure times are more manageable.

Hexar RF by Phil

7 1

As a result of my hectic schedule, I have not been shooting much. When I do find small intermittent pockets of time to exercise the eye, it has been with my long neglected Hexar with the CV Ultron 28mm f/2 (on t-loan from Edwin). The Ultron is a beautiful lens of stellar construction - much heftier and beefier than the Color-Skopa but still very manageable and compact. I have not gotten completely used to the 28mm FOV but it does offer a surprisingly new way of seeing and composing. And as with all wide-angles, it is very effective when zone-focusing. At f/8 everything from 1.5m to a hair shy of infinity is in focus, so really it is just pointing and shooting.

On a separate note, I found a fantastic rubberised hot-shoe spirit lever for my Hexar. I like that it sits almost flush with the top, maintaining the low-profile of my camera. It also fits very snugly and completely fills the gap within the hot-shoe. As such, it affords more protection against moisture than the usual plastic cover. Aside from use in landscape shots, the spirit-lever would be useful for preventing mangled horizons when shooting from the hip. I bought mine from the affable David, who runs an amazingly well-curated store called Good Poison which stocks Brady Bags, J.Myers and many other lust-inducing offerings.

2013 Classic Disney Princess Belle 12'' Doll - Disney Store - First Look - Deboxed - Standing - Full Right Front View by drj1828