Jersey Shore Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ring told me, “Well, an Aggie Ring’s gotta do what an Aggie Ring’s gotta do and today is the day this Aggie Ring is going to make kolaches.”

Aggie Ring started out by taking 1/2 cup of the beer yeast that the brewer at Jughandle brewery gave him and diluted it with 1/2 cup of tap water. Then he added a tablespoon or so of sugar and allowed the yeas to “bloom” for about 15 minutes.

When the yeast was ready, Aggie Ring added it to about 8 cups of flour, some melted butter, salt, and a bit more sugar and mixed it all together with the stand mixer and bread hook until it was all nicely combined. Aggie Ring prefers a dough that’s a bit on the sticky side as he can always add more flour later on. He can’t add water to dry dough as easily. Aggie Ring’s dough turns out differently every time because sometimes he replaces half of the water with beer, or milk, or buttermilk. He usually throws in a tablespoon of white vinegar because he likes the “bite” the vinegar gives to the dough.

Aggie Ring greased a big bowl and put the dough in it to rise for an hour or so while he went upstairs to read his bible. When Aggie Ring came downstairs about 90 minutes later, he observed that the beer yeast had worked too well and the dough had risen far above the lip of the bowl. “Don’t you worry.” Aggie Ring told me. “I’m going to “beat the hell” outta the dough and get it down to a manageable size.” Aggie Ring proceeded to “beat the hell” outta the dough until it was down close to its original volume and put it aside for around 45 minutes for its second rise.

In the meantime, Aggie Ring pulled fresh kielbasa sausage out of the refrigerator and cut it into chunks. Aggie Ring then gently used a knife to slice open the casing on each piece of sausage which he then removed. “Yes,” says Aggie Ring. “I know the casing is edible, but no one should have to bite into casing when they’re eating this Texas Aggie Ring’s kolaches.” Aggie Ring sliced up a couple of blocks of several kinds of cheese he had bought the day before.

When the dough had finished its second rise, Aggie Ring pulled off a softball sized chunk and rolled it out on a floured prepared surface. Although Aggie Ring normally uses jalapeños for spice along with the kielbasa and pepper jack or sharp cheddar cheese, he decided to do something “wild and crazy” today. (You see, Aggie Rings, unbeknownst to even most Aggies can be ordered in two models, the “wild and crazy” model that is likely to do the unlikely when least expected an then there is the “ordinary safe” Aggie Ring model many of which never move out of Texas and see the world.)

Where was I? Oh yes… Aggie Ring let the dough “rest” for a few minutes before cutting it so the glutens could stretch out and it wouldn’t snap back to a smaller shape when cut. So, just because Jersey Shore Fightin’ Texas Aggie Ring is “wild and crazy,” instead of jalapeño slices, he took a can of extremely hot Hungarian paprika and sprinkled it over the rolled out dough. Then he took a piece of cheese and uncased kielbasa and put it on the dough where he cut out enough of it to hand form a kolache. Once Aggie Ring had filled up a baking sheet with them, he gave each of the kolaches a good brushing with an egg/buttermilk wash and sprinkled sesame seeds over them. And, because Jersey Shore Aggie Ring is “wild and crazy,” he sprinkled even more hot paprika on top.

After they came out of the oven and cooled, Aggie Ring tried a couple with some sriracha sauce on the side because, as he says, “That’s the way this Jersey Shore Aggie Ring rolls.” Then, Aggie Ring directed me, “Drive down the street and grab us a case of that Shiner Bock.”

#AggieRing #TexasAggie

I did some serious desk tidying the last few days. Things are now manageable in my little work world. The piled up paperwork was really getting out of hand. Now I know where everything is again. This photo has more notes than any other photo I've ever uploaded. Go check em out.

The idea of a stand mixer was formulated by Herbert Johnson, an engineer working at the Hobart Corporation. He had been inspired after seeing a baker mix dough, and thought that there must be a better way of doing the task. Development began, in 1914, the model "H" mixer was launched for industrial work. The U.S. Navy ordered mixers for two new Tennessee-class battleships, the California and the Tennessee, as well as the U.S. Navy's first dreadnought battleship, the South Carolina. In 1917, Hobart stand mixers became standard equipment on all U.S. Navy ships, prompting development to begin on the first home models.

The first machine to carry the KitchenAid name was the 10 quart C-10 model, introduced in 1918 and built at Hobart's Troy Metal Products subsidiary in Springfield, OH.[2] Prototype models were given to the wives of factory executives, and the product was named when one stated "I don't care what you call it, but I know it's the best kitchen aid I've ever had!" They were initially marketed at the farmhouse kitchen and were available in hardware stores.[3] But owing to the difficulty in convincing retailers to take up the product, the company recruited a mostly female sales force, which sold the mixers door-to-door.[1] The C-10 machine was also marketed heavily towards soda fountains and small commercial kitchens, and was also sold under the FountainAid and BakersAid model names.[4]

In 1922, KitchenAid introduced the H-5 mixer as its new home-use offering.[5] The H-5 mixer was smaller and lighter than the C-10, and had a more manageable five quart bowl. The model "G" mixer, about half the weight of the "H-5", was released in August 1928.[6] In the 1920s several other companies introduced similar mixers, with the Sunbeam Mixmaster becoming the most popular among consumers until the 1950s.

KitchenAid mixers remained popular, with the factory selling out of products each Christmas in the late 1930s. Having shut down production for the duration of the Second World War, the factory started up again in 1946 with production moving to Greenville, Ohio, to expand capacity.

The product range expanded beyond stand mixers for the first time in 1949, with dishwashers being introduced.[3]

In 1985, the company purchased the Chambers Company to incorporate its range of cookers into the KitchenAid brand.[1] After being cleared by a Federal appeals court in January 1986, Whirlpool Corporation were cleared to purchase KitchenAid after initial complaints regarding competition from dishwasher manufacturers White Consolidated Industries and Magic Chef were dismissed.[8] Refrigerators were added to the product line later in 1986.[1] The company used the popularity of celebrity chefs during the late 1980s to seize the chance to expand its customer range. In 1988, retailer Williams-Sonoma was opening new stores across the United States and released a cobalt blue stand mixer for the company. Although the retailer had been carrying KitchenAid products since 1959, the new stores introduced the mixers to a wider range of home cooks. This combined with a change in marketing strategy for KitchenAid, which resulted in a doubling of brand awareness over the course of the following three years.

KitchenAid began manufacturing blenders and other small appliances in the mid-1990s. The brand was further promoted by sponsoring the PBS show Home Cooking, and by introducing the mixers to television chefs such as Julia Child and Martha Stewart. Following the success with William-Sonoma, specific point of purchases were set up in department stores such as Kohl's and Macy's. Specific color mixers were released for specific retailers or to benefit charities, such as a pink mixer released to raise funds for breast cancer research or mixers sold at Target stores being available in that company's signature shade of red. The ProLine range of appliances was launched in 2003 with an initial six month exclusivity agreement with Williams-Sonoma

Should I feel the need to visit the Product Development Centres based at Ford's Melbourne Headquarters, from Geelong, the traffic is either Sunday-afternoon light or terrible.

One saving grace of terrible traffic, is that it gives me more time to look longingly at the lovely white-and-lime tractors and harvesters at the local CLAAS distribution centre, next to the highway. (Incidentally, the distribution centre nestles just besides the highway overpass used in 'Mad Max' where the message is phoned in that the hell-razing, post-apocalyptic bikies are heading in to town - but that is another story.)

In an earlier LUGNuts challenge that focused on food-related and on farm vehicles - Challenge 37 'The Food We Eat', I took delight in building various model s from the CLASS Tractor range, in miniland scale. This resulted in some nice (and very large), lime tractors. An absence of time, large wheels & tires, and lime Lego, left a few model untried, including the magnificent CLASS XERION, a double steering axle, giant wheeled behemoth, with a swiveling cab so it can go forwards, backwards, AND sideways - AWESOME.

The XERION will have to wait for another challenge somewhere down the line.

The other CLAAS with which I was captivated appears periodically in the distribution yard, and is equally magnificent. This model is the equally enormous CLAAS JAGUAR Harvester. I am a little bit sad that it can only go forward, but it makes up for this in being able to carry all sorts of crazy cutting, slicing and dicing tools on the front end. I have modeled only two here the Maize Cob Silage (MCS), designed to harvest corn/maize type plants, and the more traditional spinning long blade harvester type tool. There are more cool tools too, so they may be modeled for adaptation to the MotorCity-scale JAGUAR shown here.

One key difference from the Challenge 37 tractors, and the JAGUAR Harvester shown here is the scale. The sheer size of the real JAGUAR - 6.6 metres long (20 ft), and 3.8 metres tall (10.5 ft), not including any tool attachments, make it a seriously big entity. Maybe I will get to a Miniland-scale JAGUAR someday, but for now, I display the model in a more manageable 1:28 (MotorCity scale).

Incidentally, the Lego Group have also released a Harvester in the past few years under the 'City' line. One of the images shows this model (Nr. 7636). My JAGUAR was loosely based on this model for size and tool compatibility, and also as an example of the customisation of original Lego models that can add a dose of individual creativity to Lego modeling.

The point of this?

This CLAAS JAGUAR model has been created for Flickr LUGNuts 68th Build Challenge - 'A Baker's Dozen', to the sub-theme Nr. 11. 'Any tractor or combine harvester'.

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.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

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

Some background:

Towards the end of WWII, large, piston-engined flying boats had been used exctensively in th bepatrol and bomber role, but with the advent of the new jet engine technology, engineers in several countries started to explore the new propulsion type's potential in different areas - including seaborne usage.

Towards the end of WWII and the far-stretched conflict theatre in the Pacific, the flying boat as well as float planes still had a large appeal due to their independence from airfields. This offered a lot of tactical flexibility. On the other side, the jet engine promised (much) higher speeds, but with the relative higher weight of early jet-driven aircraft (more fuel was needed, and more engines, as thrust was relatively low) a seaborne type would also avoid the need for a prepared and long airstrip to operate.

After serving in these second line roles, both aircraft were finally scrapped in 1965 and replaced by land-based types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 14.11 m (46 ft 6 1/3 in)

Wingspan: 12.46 m (40 ft 9 1/2 in)

Height: 4.10 m (13 ft 5 1/4 in)

Empty weight: 9.265 kg (20.408 lb)

Loaded weight: 16.080 kg (35.418 lb)

Powerplant:

2× J47-GE-23 engines, rated at 2.631 kN/5.800 lbf each

Performance

Maximum speed: 932km/h (577mph/503nm) at sea level

Range: 2.092 km (1296 ml)

Service ceiling: 13.450 m (44.040 ft)

Armament

4× 20 mm (0.79 in) M3 autocannons with 200 RPG.

Eight underwing hardpoints for a total external ordnance of up to 4.000 lb (1.816 kg), including bombs of up to 1.000 lb calibre, eight HVAR missiles, drop tanks or two torpedos.

The kit and its assembly:

This model is a complete fantasy aircraft, inspired by a TV documentation about sea plane projects in the USA and USSR after WWII. Among others, the Martin P6M SeaMaster and the Saro SR.1/A made an appearance, and I wondered how an escort fighter for the P6M would have looked like in USN service? Well, let's build one...

Making a flying boat is pretty tricky, and the whole thing was built from scratch and with lots of putty.

Basically, the following went into it, all 1:72 unless stated otherwise:

● Fuselage and cockpit from a Hobby Boss F-86E

● Floating bottom is the lower half of a Matchbox Heinkel He 115 swimmer

● Wings come from another Hobby Boss F-86E, but this time a Batch 30 aircraft with extended wing tips

● Vertical stabilizer comes from an Academy MiG-21F

● Horizontal stabilizers come from a 1:100 Tamiya Il-28 bomber

● Stabilzer swimmers come from a vintage box scale Revell Convair Tradewind kit

● Engine intakes and exhausts are resin parts from Pavla, replacements for a Hasegawa B-47 kit

● A massive beaching trolley, which actually belongs to the A-Model Kh-20M missile kit

Assembly went from fuselage over the wing roots, the improvised engine nacelles, outer wings and stabilizer swimmers, step by step. I had a vague idea of what the aircraft should look like, but the design more or less evolved, depending from what I had at hand.

For instance, the Il-28 stabilizers were late additions, as the original F-86 parts turned out to be much too small for the massive aircraft.

The cockpit was taken OOB, just a pilot figure was added and the canopy cut into two pieces, so that it could be displayed in an open position.

Around the hull, small mooring hooks made from wire were added, gun nozzles made from hollow needles, as well as some antennae, since the whole kit was rather bleak and simple.

The trolley was puzzled together from the parts supllied with A-Model's Kh-20M (AS-3 'Kangaroo') kit, but was modified (e. g. with different wheels) and adapted to the flying boat's hull. It fits perfectly in shape and design, though!

Painting and markings:

Nothing fancy, as a jet-powered flying boat fighter is unique enough. Design benchmark was again the P6M, and AFAIK these aircraft were painted in just two tones: FS16081, a very dark grey, with white undersides and a wavy waterline. They were definitively not blue of any sort, as one might think in the first place.

I started with the lower side - white is always difficult to apply, and in order to avoid any trouble I used stpray paint from a rattle can and used a very light grey instead of pure white. The latter has two benefits: it covers the surface much better than white, and the contrast is not so harsh - the grey still leaves 'room' for some dry-brushing with white.

Next step was the dark grey - I used Humbrol's 32, which is FS36081 and looks very good. Dry-brushing with Humbrol 79 (Dark Blue Grey) was used for some counter-shading, and after a black ink wash I also painted some panel lines with a mix of black and matt varnish onto the hull. That turned out to be a little much, but finally, when the decals were applied (wild mix from various aftermarket sheets and the scrap box), the overall impression became much better.

The trolley was simply painted in yellow and makes a nice contrast to the dark aircraft on top of it.

Both aircraft and trolley were additionally weathered with some dry-brushed rust and grinded graphite, and finally received a coat of matt varnish.

Last trip to Panti Bird Sanctuary was on 9th Aug 2014. Yesterday visit gave me some surprise, like this White morph Asian Paradise Flycatcher. 2nd times I gotta see it and always so high up but this set, manageable passable unlike the 1st set, cannot show people at all. xlolx

Salvin's mollymawk or Salvin's albatross (Thalassarche salvini) is a typical medium-sized black and white albatross species. During the breeding season (August-April) they occur throughout coastal New Zealand, especially from Cook Strait south, and across to south-east Australian waters. After breeding it migrates to seas off Peru and Chile and occurs as a vagrant in the South Atlantic. A small population of a few pairs was reported breeding on the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean.

DESCRIPTION

The Salvin's mollymawk is a large seabird of about 90 cm and 2.56 m across the wings and weighs 3.3 to 4.9 kg. They are, alongside the shy albatross, the largest of the mollymawk group. The adult bird has a pale grey face, upper throat, and upper mantle, creating a hooded effect, and has a silver-grey crown. Its back, upperwing, and tail are grey-black. The rump and underparts are white with a black thumbmark on underwing and black narrow leading and trailing edges on the wing and black wing tips. The bill is pale grey-green, with a pale yellow upper ridge, and a bright yellow tip on the upper mandible, and a dark spot on the tip of the lower mandible.

THREATS AND CONSERVATION

All breeding sites are free from mammalian predators, although an expanding New Zealand fur seal population at the Bounty Islands may be affecting breeding success. Salvin’s mollymawk was the second most common albatross species killed in the New Zealand fisheries 1998-2004 with demersal longliners and trawling operations responsible for the majority of mortalities. The conservation status of this species was moved from nationally vulnerable to nationally critical in 2013; the IUCN classifies this species as vulnerable. Bird banding and studies are underway, and all of the islands except for The Pyramid, and Forty-fours Island, which are privately owned, are nature preserves. In 1998, the Snares Islands and Bounty Islands were declared World Heritage Sites, and in 2006, the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission adopted a measure to require bird bycatch mitigation measures south of 30°S. Banding shows that about 97% of adults survive from one year to the next, and the oldest birds would live for over 30 years.

BREEDING

The Salvin’s mollymawks breed in large, densely packed colonies, mainly on small rocky islands with little vegetation. They are monogamous with shared incubation and chick care. The nest is a pedestal of mud, feathers, bird bones, guano and debris accumulated from the immediate vicinity, and used and added to year after year. The single large white egg is laid in August-September, and incubated by both parents until early November (in about 65-75 days). The chicks fledge in February-April at about 115-130 days-old, and are independent at fledging.

BEHAVIOUR

As a typical albatross, Salvin’s mollymawks have perfected soaring flight. In strong winds they wheel effortlessly on their long, narrow, stiffly held wings. They use their webbed feet for swimming and as rudders when coming in to land. Their strongly hooked bills are used to grasp prey whilst the sharp edges of the upper mandible are used to slice it into manageable portions. However, albatrosses have a great capacity to extend the throat, and so can swallow large pieces of food. Salvin’s mollymawks feeds mainly on fish, squid, krill, salps and offal from fishing vessels taken from the surface. They rarely plunge or dive for food. Usually they are silent at sea, though may give harsh croaking when squabbling for food.

TAXONOMY

Mollymawks belong in the order Procellariiformes, along with shearwaters, fulmars, storm petrels, and diving petrels. They share certain identifying features. First, they have nasal passages that attach to the upper bill called naricorns, although the nostrils on the albatross are on the sides of the bill, unlike other tubenosed seabirds. The bills of Procellariiformes are also unique in that they are split into between 7 and 9 horny plates. They produce a stomach oil made up of wax esters and triglycerides that is stored in the proventriculus. This is used against predators as well as an energy rich food source for chicks and for the adults during their long flights. Finally, they have a salt gland that is situated above the nasal passage and helps desalinate their bodies, due to the high amount of ocean water that they imbibe. It excretes a high saline solution from their nose.

The Salvin’s, white-capped, shy and Chatham albatross were long considered the same species (a subspecies of Diomedea cauta (Gould, 1841)). However, following the transfer of D. cauta to the genus Thalassarche it was elevated to specific status. Molecular analysis has shown that it and the closely related Chatham albatross are sister taxa, and more distantly related to the shy.

Sources: Wikipedia, nzbirdsonline.org.nz

After about a year's break, I have decided to return to this extremely difficult project, and I'm determined to have it finished no later than June 8th. The puzzle has been stashed on the floor underneath my puzzle table for the whole year, being too large and fragile to move.

It seemed as though there were nothing but black pieces remaining but I've been able to pick out some that have a hint of leaf or stem, and to attach all but one stray flower to the main puzzle. I've also noticed that shape-wise, there are some pieces that have a less jagged edge to them - probably one of the earlier cuts, when the cutter was separating the puzzle into manageable parts - and so I've brought those pieces into the fold.

It's going to be a long, slow journey.

This is at the 60-hour mark. For reference, I've attached previous updates below.

To start with, I'll upload a single, unedited picture from each day of the trip to keep things manageable...

Another cold wet Wintry day, strolling around The Glen shopping centre, debating what to have for lunch. I realise it is Saturday, and Shira Nui is open for lunch! All it takes is a quick phone call to confirm and book.

Because this is a sushi restaurant, our choices are easy. A Sushi Lunch Special and a Sashimi Lunch Special, oh and send us a plate of wagyu beef yakiniku. Yum!

The chawan mushi arrived first, and it was the silkiest, smoothest savoury egg custard I have ever had, again :) The chicken broth on top was rich and very tasty. So tasty, yet so hot, I burnt my tongue.

This was followed by 2 cold starters, a chewy crunchy konnyaku with a sesame sauce, and a peppery spaghetti salad with a light mayonnaise.

Then comes the beef! There is no better way to serve marbled wagyu beef that to sear it quickly, yakiniku style, to give it a nice burnt colour and melt some of the fat. Of course, the lesser cuts can be made into burgers, etc, but sometimes, we need a bit of luxury.

The fish is good as always, and today's sashimi included hiramasa kingfish, wild barramundi, tuna and salmon. The kingfish with shisho was good, but surprisingly Suzuran's kingfish sahimi seemed fresher with a distinct crunch to the flesh. The barammundi was good too, but the tuna, was soft, smooth and buttery. Very good! As always, the offcuts from the fish were tossed into the salad, dressed with sesame oil and vinegar.

On the sushi platter we had cod, according to Nishikura-san, salmon, tuna, wild barammundi, hiramasa kingfish, prawn, tamago (egg omelet). All very good.

Even on such a Wintry day, Shira Nui was full. For both sessions. Both the tables, and the counter were full. It is obvious that bookings, even on the day, are essential.

Shira Nui 不知火

247 Springvale Rd

Glen Waverley VIC 3150

(03) 9886-7755

Lunch Tue-Sat noon-2pm. Dinner Tue-Sun 6pm-10pm

Reviews:

- Shira Nui, by Dani Valent, Epicure, The Age May 22, 2007 Sit at the sushi counter. Order the omakase

- Shira Nui By Jane Faulkner, Epicure, The Age October 10, 2005 Shira Nui is worth crossing town for.

- Fusion without power By John Lethlean, The Age August 5 2003 At Shira Nui, only certain types of sushi will be delivered to the table, so fanatical is the chef. The full range is available only to a manageable group of sushi-bar diners. He makes; you eat immediately; then he makes again. This is the omakase menu, a sushi-only degustation that is the purest, most pleasurable dining experience I have had all year.

- Shira Nui ... again - TummyRumbles by mellie on May 17th, 2009

- Shira Nui - Miettas

Age Good Food Guide 2010 Score: 14.5/20

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 14.5/20

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "A nondescript Glen Waverley shopping strip is not the obvious place to seek boundarypushing Japanese food, but Shira Nui's camouflage partially explains its 'hidden treasure' status"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20

Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20

Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 14/20

AGFG 2004, score 14/20

- Shiranui - UrbanSpoon

- Shira Nui - Your Restaurants

The storm that Blew through California last weekend caused major damage with heavy flooding in Southern California, but up here in the bay area we lucked out with manageable rains and a gorgeous sunset last Sunday

Shot on Tripod with a Panasonic GH4 and two MFT lenses: Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8PRO and Panasonic Lumix 35-100mm f/2.8.

I downsized the final file to a four minutes 1440p MPEG4 video to have a manageable file size (Approx 340MB).

Grading done with Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Lite.

Video also available on youtube:

youtu.be/0cc6j9o34LU

U.S. Air Force Airman 1st Class Mari Mosteller, 49th Wing public affairs, launches her boat off of a 15-foot waterfall here Feb. 19. Learning how to manage the stress and anxiety of launching a boat off of a 15-foot waterfall helped Airmen, a spouse and a civilian participating in the Holloman Outdoor Wingman Program to understand the manageability of stress in everyday life situations. Each Airman, spouse and civilian walked away with a better understanding of both how to handle themselves on a waterfall and how to cope through the stress of work in a healthy way.

Holloman Air Force Base Public Affairs Office

Photo by Daniel Liddicoet

Date Taken:02.18.2012

Location:SAN MARCOS, TX, US

Read more: www.dvidshub.net/image/530805/holloman-outdoor-wingman-pr...

SO much wonderful here for us to contemplate.

The Lincoln is a different sculpture at this scale. The genius of this design is that it depicts Lincoln realistically and humbly...but in the size and trappings of a Roman hero. As a three foot bronze? Hey, it's our pal Abe!

French's original work was this size, if I remember right; this might have even been a casting off of it. It's a little amazing that sculptors would create their work at a manageable scale, and then send it off to stone carvers or metal foundries to create -- from scratch -- a copy of the sculptor's work for display.

And by "copy" I don't mean "make a plaster mold, fill it with stuff, let the stuff harden, presto, duplicate of the original." I mean that the thing that French made served as the instructions for the stoneworkers who made the actual, public-facing piece. I suppose it's obvious with just a little thought but it's still a little bit of a disconnect to imagine sculpture as something more like architecture, where the creator makes plans that laborers follow, and the public never sees something that was worked by the creator's own hands, than, say, painting.

OK, sure: he had a longstanding relationship with the stoneworkers and he was able to fine-tune their work before it went on display. Still: huge amount of trust. It feels similar to when I file a column or an article to my editors.

Then! I stop to think about the problem French faced, of making a three-foot sculpture and trying to maintain in his mind's eye how well it was going to read when it scaled up to 19 feet. Was he putting in enough detail? Too much? What would the proportions look like when the effects of perspective hit it? Would screwy perception things happen as a result of the fact that the sculptor was looking at it at eye level with (in a sense) telephoto vision, whereas visitors to the Lincoln Memorial would approach it like mice?

Yet it looks magnificent at this size and from any viewing angle. Hm.

Well, let's not discount my ignorance. The docent in the gallery had many answers, but she didn't know if this object was strictly a copy of the model French intended for the memorial, or if it was something he tweaked for sale to the public.

A different docent (yes, I was in the gallery long enough for a shift change) told me that the Concord Museum was lucky to be able to site such a huge piece to begin with.

"One of French's most important works was a statue of Andromeda, chained to her rock," he said. "We couldn't display it because the floor in the gallery couldn't handle the weight. You could say that it couldn't take the Andromeda Strain...!"

I immediately praised this most worthy use of pun, shook the man's hand, and announced that I was placing an extra dollar in the museum's donation box specifically to encourage him to continue to make that joke for the remainder of the exhibit's run.

When I left the museum I announced "I have supported Dave's pun with my dollars" to the two people at the front desk. "Oh, no," they said, and some light bickering between downstairs and upstairs ensued.

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).

A group of people throw snowballs at each other in Times Square (in Father Duffy Square) during winter storm Nemo in New York City.

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Camera: Sony a99 | Lens: 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6

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I live for snowstorms in New York City. So you can just imagine how bummed I was last winter season when we barely got any snow. Growing up in New York City, I remember quite a few blizzards and its with fond nostalgia that I always wish for at least one great snowstorm during the winter. New York City is extra beautiful when covered in a blanket of freshly fallen snow.

When I heard that winter storm Nemo (also known as the Blizzard of 2013, February snowstorm and other terms) was going to deliver some gorgeous white flakes from the sky I was more than ready for it. The photos in this set are not edited the way I would normally edit them. I just basically imported them into Lightroom and adjusted some contrast in a few cases from the RAW files. I will most likely go through the photos here plus others that I am not posting and give them the Vivienne treatment at some point. I am just floored at how incredible it was to shoot the snow with the Sony a99. I did go out of my way to protect it despite it being weather-sealed since it isn't technically my camera and since my lenses also needed protection. I must have been quite a sight in my ski-mask, enormous scarf, giant winter boots and a camera covered in plastic. :) It seemed like I had an easier time shooting in this snowstorm than in the two blizzards that I took photos in back in 2010 and 2011. I think it's because the wind was far more manageable and because I was out before the blizzard hit with full force. While the snow was heavy, the winds were easy to deal with in some respects since the gusts were few and far between.

I decided to walk from where I live on the Lower East Side all the way to Times Square since I do this particular walk frequently and know all of the spots I have always wanted to capture in the snow. I had a blast! The wind did get stronger and stronger as I got closer to Times Square and by the time I made my way home it was full-on blizzard conditions so I think I went at the optimal time. I somehow managed to take photos in the East Village, around Union Square, Chelsea (in truth, I had really hoped that the Empire State Building would be visible but it was completely hidden by the snow and lack of visibility), 5th Avenue, Midtown, the New York Public Library on 42nd Street and 5th Avenue, Bryant Park (which was absolutely ethereal in the snow) and finally Times Square.

And so, the photos here are pretty much almost straight out of the camera save for a few tweaks to levels, no fancy tinkering (but I can't wait to do so!).

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View more of my New York City photography at my website NY Through The Lens.

View my photography profile on Google Plus: New York City photography by Vivienne Gucwa

To purchase any of my work view my site gallery for info here.

To use any of my photos commercially, simply click the link which reads "Request to license Vivienne Gucwa's photos via Getty Images". This link can be found on the bottom right corner of the page of the photo you are interested in using.

Surely you have clear what kind of flower you like for your wedding. But you know the type of industry that you favor or going according to your dress?

Every day there is more variety and are best florists in the market. It is very important to consider the establishment of the bride and the type of dress. We must choose between seasonal flowers and bear in mind that if we want a flower out of season or some special color, it dearer price in the industry.

If you are lost and do not know the flowers that are in season or which combine better with your outfit, do not panic. Put yourself in the hands of a florist and let me advise. The floral art is more complex than we profession and a good professional will create the bouquet of your dreams.

Of all the models, the bouquet is the industry for excellence. It is simulated half - sphere rounded, symmetrical and manageable.

It is ideal for weddings more conventional style and combines perfectly with dresses where the body is simple and tight but the skirt is more elaborate, ornate and volume. The ideal dresses for these branches are cut A or princess.

In the waterfall model flowers fall down simulating what its name suggests. Providing a sense of verticality, ideal if you're looking to stylize the figure. They

combine perfectly with straight cut suits, even if your dress carries a large tail or veil. Depending on the flowers and decorations you choose for processing can you provide a more bohemian, classic or modern twist.

Read Also: How To Get A Tropical Wedding | Beach Wedding Tips

Types bouquet for bride:

Our recommendation is that you do not come over size as the width of the field, it is more beautiful and elegant if predominates length .

BOUQUET

This type of bouquet can be made with all kinds of flowers.

Flowers and stems are joined at the base with a beautiful fabric, an old lace handkerchief or even a family heirloom. Often in these fields a cameo, a brooch or something sentimental and blue with traditional motifs added.

But more we like is with wildflowers or combining different types of flowers. This bouquet is ideal for outdoor weddings or less conventional places. It

highlights the simplicity of the bridal bouquet and the original idea. The stems are always visible. This is a bunch of small, so only dresses combined with large volume.

LONG STALK

It is a bouquet made with large flowers: tulips, calla lilies, sunflowers, are an example of flowers that are ideal for this type of industry. Vertical and bound by the stem forms, they can be both symmetric and asymmetric.

As in all kinds of classes should be chosen if we want to lengthen the silhouette. This bouquet is suitable for all kinds of dresses.

PRESENTATION

Its design is one-sided, since I have to take cradled in one arm, this type of industry is not particularly comfortable therefore is not among the favorites, but if you like big flowers like orchids, lilies or calla do not discard, it is as valid as the other option.

Hope you like it. Share and Comment us. ustype.com/wedding-bouquet-styles-2017/

A few 'grab shots' taken down at Cardiff Bay at the end of Sir Ian 'Beefy' Botham's walk for the NSPCC.

I am at my maximum / manageable (for me) number of people on my 'Contacts List' so I will not be adding any more people at present - but many thanks for the interest.

Cheers ... Dave

**(Update June: We tried the kraut for the first time tonight, one quart jar, but there was only one problem. The kids had "tasted" it so much all day while cooking with sausages that come time for dinner there was not much left! It's a much milder taste than store bought, and saltier, but kids like it much much better)

Found a new recipe for homemade sauerkraut so made 9 quarts.

If it turns out good, I will make another batch. Any recipe that has "easy" in the name always catches my eye! I found this one at: www.bellaonline.com/articles/art31615.asp

Recipe is:

Easy Homemade Sauerkraut Recipe

Guest Author - Amy R. Kendall

www.mapletreepublishing.com/Authors/Amy_Kendall

Cabbage is a staple in southern homes. It is easy and cheap to grow so it is typically found in many kitchen gardens. In fact, cabbage is one of the oldest vegetables and has been in gardens for over 3,000 years.

Sauerkraut is a popular way of extending the shelf life of cabbage providing a source of vitamin C during times when greens are scarce or not growing. It is estimated that Americans consume about 387 million pounds of sauerkraut annually.

Don’t be turned off by this delectable treat, which is milder in taste than store bought kraut. It may seem like an overwhelming recipe when you see it involves canning jars but no canning experience is needed since the jars are simply filled and covered. No water bath or pressure canner is required.

Easy Homemade Sauerkraut

4 large heads cabbage

1 gallon water

1 cup pickling salt

1 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar, if desired

Canning jars, washed

Canning lids & rings, boiled and kept hot

Wash your cabbage heads thoroughly and discard any wilted or damaged leaves. Remove the core. I do this by cutting my cabbage in half and then using my knife to cut out the core on each half.

At this point you have two choices. You can use the whole cabbage head for sauerkraut or discard the green leaves for another use, such as stuffed cabbage. Most people discard the green leaves and use only the white cabbage for kraut. Either choice is acceptable.

Use a shredder to shred your cabbage into slices or you can use your knife cut the cabbage into small manageable pieces for the chopper. If you have a food chopper take your shredded or cut up cabbage and chop into small pieces. You can also use a round sharp cutter similar to a biscuit cutter. I do not recommend using a blender or knife. The blender will chop the cabbage too small and uneven and the knife is too time-consuming.

The consistency of your cabbage should be small diced pieces. Store bought cabbage is cut into long strands, which is fine, but I prefer the smaller pieces. This sauerkraut will also have a crunch that is not typical of store canned kraut. It is very yummy!

At some point while you are chopping cabbage bring to boil water, salt, vinegar, and sugar(if desired) in a small stock pot. I omit the sugar in my recipe because I like a more sour taste in my kraut. Pack your chopped cabbage in clean canning jars. You will want to pack your cabbage tightly but not too tightly, just enough to smoosh it together nicely in the jar. Fill jars until you have 1”-3/4” head space (the space at the top of the jar that is left without food).

Pour boiling brine into jars. Run along the inside of the jar along the glass a thin knife or spatula to remove air bubbles. Add more liquid until there is 3/4” head space and no air bubbles trapped in the cabbage. Wipe off each jar rim and cover with a hot lid and ring.

Set in a cool, dark place for at least 3 weeks on top of newspaper or a towel before eating. As the cabbage ferments, gas and bubbles will form which force air out of the jar thus sealing the jar. Sometimes the brine will overflow during fermentation so that is why I recommend the placing your jars on paper. Any jars that do not seal completely should be eaten as soon as possible.

Serving Sauerkraut: Empty contents of jar into strainer and rinse well with cool water to remove any salt residue. Put a tablespoon of oil in a large skillet. Add kraut and heat thoroughly. Serve warm with your favorite southern dinner or put on hotdogs and your favorite sandwiches.

Problem Solving Using the Why Tree by xtremelean.us

* This presentation is on problem solving using the why tree and is designed to teach a standardized approach for your people at all levels of the organization. Good problem solving skills within your company will cause your business to thrive while making everyone's life easier in the process.

* While problem solving does not have to be difficult, there are many that like to make it sound that way.

* People are not born as natural problem solvers and you don't need a college degree to learn to be a good problem solver either.

* Good problem solving skills can be taught and that is what I am going to do. My goal is to teach you a simple standardized approach that can be used in your business or personal life. You can also use this training video to teach others at your business. When completed, you will fully understand and be ready to use the concepts taught here.

* When we become good at problem solving, we start eliminating the problems that cause our head to spin once and for all. Our life becomes much easier and we suddenly have more time and less frustration. You are probably watching this video because that is exactly the direction you want to go in your life.

* Let's first discuss what a problem is or is not.

* A problem is the difference between actual conditions and the desired conditions and you don't know how to solve it.

* Let's put this in simpler terms.

* Let's change desired condition with "Want" and change actual condition with "Have"

* So the difference between what we have and what we want is the problem.

* And it's only a problem if you don't already know what the solution is.

* Let me give you a simple illustration of what a problem is. Barney here wants a female companion, but he does not have one, and he doesn't know exactly what to do about it. That is Barneys problem. That seems pretty straightforward doesn't it?

* The biggest type of problem people face is when something suddenly goes wrong.

* Captain Jack here is flying 300 passengers across the continent when all of a sudden, the plane starts to go down.

* In this case, the pilot WANTS to have full control of the plane again.

* But what he has is a plane that is going down and he doesn't know what happened or what to do about it.

* Does the pilot have a problem? 100% affirmative.

* Everyone has problems in their life at one time or another, so we all have the responsibility and opportunity to solve problems many times in our lives. It is absolutely best when we solve a problem so it never ever returns again. When you solve problems this way, your life becomes easier.

* When it comes to problem solving, some people just start shooting from the hip. This can be a very costly, time consuming, and frustrating approach. Preferable to this would be to take some aim at our target. After all, if we take the time to aim carefully at our target we increase the chance of hitting the bulls eye.

* Let's use a hypothetical problem that everyone can relate to. You arrived to work late.

* By the way, always clearly define the problem in as few words as possible, while also making sure everyone can understand what the problem is.

* And the reason we arrived to work late is because our car would not start.

* Many people put a lot of emphasis on root cause analysis, which is finding out what exactly what caused the car not to start.

* This is a fish bone diagram which is another tool that can be used for determining the root cause of a problem.

* And while sometimes finding the root cause is important, finding the best solution that will prevent the problem from reoccurring is THE most important objective.

* In this case, let's say you were at the end of your ropes with this piece of junk anyway and had decided you were going to buy a new car.

* Do you really care what exactly caused your old car not to start? Not really.

* Will the new car be a proper solution to your problem and get you to work reliably for many years to come? Absolutely

* My point is, solutions are more important than causes and in my opinion, outweigh them greatly.

* All right, let's do a reality check. You have a crap car, you were late to work because it would not start, and you have no money to buy a new car.

* You now need to know what caused your car not to start so you will not be able to fix it.

* The Why Tree method is the focus of this presentation, but it relies on knowing the 5-Why root cause analysis method. The 5-Why method for determining root cause is one of the simplest methods to learn and to complete. You start with a clear problem statement, then ask why the problem happened and write the answer down. If that answer did not identify the root cause, continue asking why until it does.

* Let's go through an example.

* For example our problem is we woke up late.

* We would then ask "why did we wake up late?"

* The alarm did not go off.

* "why did the alarm not go off?"

* Because the time reset on the alarm clock?

* Why did the time reset on the alarm clock?

* Because the power went out.

* Why did the power go out?

* Because of the severe thunderstorms.

* Why were there severe thunderstorms?

* We don't know.

* Notice that solutions are out of our control when the power went out? We do not have control over the power or the weather. So the line of questioning should stop when we do not have any control over the cause.

* One of the problems with the 5-Why root cause analysis is it only allows for one line of questioning. Based on the answers you give, you can get off the trail to solutions very quickly.

* Let's back up and change the answer to "why did the time reset on the clock?" to:

* Because the clock lost power

* Then why did the clock lose power?

* Because the alarm clock did not have the backup battery installed.

* Why was the backup battery not installed?

* Because we did not have one at the time.

* Take notice that the answers you give will dramatically change the outcome. You must also ensure the answers are accurate or once again you will be on a wild goose chase.

* We now have a root cause that we have control over and an easy solution to the problem. Having a backup battery installed in the alarm clock allows it to continue working in the event of a power outage. This solution is very simple and effective with a very low cost. It is easy to implement and has no negative consequences.

* While you now have a good solution to this problem, let's not forget that batteries do not last forever. You will need to check the batteries in the alarm clock on a regular basis if your want to eliminate this particular problem forever.

* Even though this approach is called 5-Why, 5 is just a rule of thumb for the number of times to ask why. It could be more or less though depending on the problem. When you no longer know the answer to the question that is a good place to stop. Speculation will rarely serve you well.

* While the 5-Why root cause analysis is a good and simple tool, I find the Why Tree diagram is a much better tool for brainstorming multiple possible causes of the problem. Discovering multiple causes of the problem allows you to develop multiple potential solutions to the problem. You would use the same 5-why approach but the tree diagram allows you to list multiple potential causes to each why. There is no limit to the size or shape of your Why Tree. Let me share an example of using the Why Tree.

* Let's use a real life problem I experienced recently. We put in a new lawn at our house and it wasn't very long before I noticed the grass was dying is some areas. I was upset and wanted to know why and the solution to the problem.

* It did not take long to put two and two together. The dog peeing on the lawn was causing it to die. The reason I want to share this example with you is to show you there are almost always several solutions to any given problem.

* While you may have multiple solutions for any given problem, and even though all of the solutions may solve the problem, there are costs or consequences to consider. Your job in good problem solving is to come up with:

A: The simplest

B: Most effective solution

C: At the lowest cost

D: That is the easiest to implement

E: With no negative consequences.

* The description of my problem is very simple "my grass is dying in small sections". So the 1st question why is the grass dying? Because the dog is peeing on the grass, why is the dog peeing on the grass? Because he is not trained to go elsewhere.

* I must confess, when I first saw that the dog peeing on the grass was causing it to die, I jumped to my first solution and that was a well planned hunting accident where the dog had more to worry about than the bird.

* But that solution would end up in divorce court. Although this solution would be simple, 100% effective, relatively low cost, and easy to implement, the consequences of this solution would make it a very poor choice.

* Then I thought how can I train the dog to stay off the nice new lawn?

* Someone suggested setting up an electric fence and I thought that would be a perfect solution. So off to the pet store I went only to discover these fences aren't cheap. Although this solution would be very effective and there were no negative consequences I could foresee, the cost was high and not simple to install or implement. Still the best solution I have found up to this point.

* I realized I needed to dig deeper to find more causes and therefore more solutions so I asked myself again, "why is the grass dying?"

* Because of the dog pee. I don't have any control over the natural functions of the dog so there is no solution there.

* Why is the dog pee causing the grass to die?

* I had to do some research on the internet, but quickly found my answer. Because dog pee has high levels of Nitrogen.

* Why are there high levels of Nitrogen in the dog pee?

* I also found the answers on the internet that it could be related to their diet

* Or they are not drinking enough water.

* I investigated changing the diet for my dog and found that over the lifetime of the dog, you will probably spend more than the electric fence. I also found out there are health risks for the dog with this diet. I found this solution to be simple, but the effectiveness in my mind was questionable. The cost was again high and the negative consequences of the health of the dog were not exciting. Bordering again on the divorce court thing.

* The dog not drinking enough water was another cause looking for a solution.

* I also thought I could probably teach my dog to read before I could get her to drink more water. So while this solution may be effective at a low cost with no negative consequences, I did not feel this would be simple or easy to implement at all.

* We might not be able to get the dog to drink more water which would dilute the Nitrogen, but maybe we can dilute the Nitrogen another way. What if we adjusted the sprinklers to come on more frequently in the area the dog goes potty? Here is an extremely simple and easy to implement solution that should be totally effective with no cost or negative consequences. Guess what solution I chose to solve my problem?

* There is a simple way to cross check the solution you have chosen. Just read your Why Tree in reverse order and substitute the question why with the word because. Let's try this.

* We are going to adjust the sprinklers to come on more frequently because we need to dilute the high levels of Nitrogen because of the dog pee, because the dog pee is killing the grass. Make sure when you do the cross check that your solution makes sense all the way down the line.

* Root cause analysis is definitely a team effort. After all, two heads are better than one. Choose your team members wisely and keep the team size to a manageable group however.

* Don't worry about the repeatability of this problem solving process. In my mind, problem solving is a very creative process.

* If you give the same problem to three different teams, depending on the creativity of each team, you will most likely end up with three different solutions to the problem. This is absolutely normal. Just be creative and focus on the best solution to the problem you face and implement it.

* If this process does not give you a solution that is clearly correct, you may need to use a different problem solving tool.

* In the future, I will be posting videos on all of the problem solving tools including, Pareto charts, flow charts, fishbone diagrams, brainstorming tools, mind maps, failure mode and effects analysis, and TRIZ. So stay tuned.

This is the end of the presentation, but the beginning of your journey towards realizing the benefits of good problem solving at your own company. We have many years experience in the tools of Six Sigma with problem solving skills at the forefront. Let us know how we can help you.

If you need help in training or implementing problem solving, visit us at www.xtremelean.us

Squid are cephalopods in the superorder Decapodiformes with elongated bodies, large eyes, eight arms and two tentacles. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, and a mantle. They are mainly soft-bodied, like octopuses, but have a small internal skeleton in the form of a rod-like gladius or pen, made of chitin.

Squid diverged from other cephalopods during the Jurassic and occupy a similar role to teleost fish as open water predators of similar size and behaviour. They play an important role in the open water food web. The two long tentacles are used to grab prey and the eight arms to hold and control it. The beak then cuts the food into suitable size chunks for swallowing. Squid are rapid swimmers, moving by jet propulsion, and largely locate their prey by sight. They are among the most intelligent of invertebrates, with groups of Humboldt squid having been observed hunting cooperatively. They are preyed on by sharks, other fish, sea birds, seals and cetaceans, particularly sperm whales.

Squid can change colour for camouflage and signalling. Some species are bioluminescent, using their light for counter-illumination camouflage, while many species can eject a cloud of ink to distract predators.

Squid are used for human consumption with commercial fisheries in Japan, the Mediterranean, the southwestern Atlantic, the eastern Pacific and elsewhere. They are used in cuisines around the world, often known as "calamari". Squid have featured in literature since classical times, especially in tales of giant squid and sea monsters.

TAXONOMY AND PHYLOGENY

Squid are members of the class Cephalopoda, subclass Coleoidea. The squid orders Myopsida and Oegopsida are in the superorder Decapodiformes (from the Greek for "ten-legged"). Two other orders of decapodiform cephalopods are also called squid, although they are taxonomically distinct from squids and differ recognizably in their gross anatomical features. They are the bobtail squid of order Sepiolida and the ram's horn squid of the monotypic order Spirulida. The vampire squid, however, is more closely related to the octopuses than to any squid.

The cladogram, not fully resolved, is based on Sanchez et al, 2018. Their molecular phylogeny used mitochondrial and nuclear DNA marker sequences; they comment that a robust phylogeny "has proven very challenging to obtain". If it is accepted that Sepiidae cuttlefish are a kind of squid, then the squids, excluding the vampire squid, form a clade as illustrated. Orders are shown in boldface; all the families not included in those orders are in the paraphyletic order "Oegopsida".

DESCRIPTION

Squid are soft-bodied molluscs whose forms have been modified to adopt an active predatory lifestyle. The head and foot of the squid are at one end of a long body, and this end is functionally anterior, leading the animal as it moves through the water. The foot has been transformed into a set of eight arms and two distinctive tentacles, which surround the mouth; each appendage takes the form of a muscular hydrostat and is flexible and prehensile, usually bearing disc-like suckers.

The suckers may lie directly on the arm or be stalked. Their rims are stiffened with chitin and may contain minute toothlike denticles. These features, as well as strong musculature, and a small ganglion beneath each sucker to allow individual control, provide a very powerful adhesion to grip prey. Hooks are present on the arms and tentacles in some species, but their function is unclear. The two tentacles are much longer than the arms and are retractile. Suckers are limited to the spatulate tip of the tentacle, known as the manus.

In the mature male, the outer half of one of the left arms is hectocotylised – and ends in a copulatory pad rather than suckers. This is used for depositing a spermatophore inside the mantle cavity of a female. A ventral part of the foot has been converted into a funnel through which water exits the mantle cavity.

The main body mass is enclosed in the mantle, which has a swimming fin along each side. These fins are not the main source of locomotion in most species. The mantle wall is heavily muscled and internal. The visceral mass, which is covered by a thin, membranous epidermis, forms a cone-shaped posterior region known as the "visceral hump". The mollusc shell is reduced to an internal, longitudinal chitinous "pen" in the functionally dorsal part of the animal; the pen acts to stiffen the squid and provides attachments for muscles.

On the functionally ventral part of the body is an opening to the mantle cavity, which contains the gills (ctenidia) and openings from the excretory, digestive and reproductive systems. An inhalant siphon behind the funnel draws water into the mantel cavity via a valve. The squid uses the funnel for locomotion via precise jet propulsion. In this form of locomotion, water is sucked into the mantle cavity and expelled out of the funnel in a fast, strong jet. The direction of travel is varied by the orientation of the funnel. Squid are strong swimmers and certain species can "fly" for short distances out of the water.

CAMOUFLAGE

Squid make use of different kinds of camouflage, namely active camouflage for background matching (in shallow water) and counter-illumination. This helps to protect them from their predators and allows them to approach their prey.

The skin is covered in controllable chromatophores of different colours, enabling the squid to match its coloration to its surroundings. The play of colours may in addition distract prey from the squid's approaching tentacles. The skin also contains light reflectors called iridophores and leucophores that, when activated, in milliseconds create changeable skin patterns of polarized light. Such skin camouflage may serve various functions, such as communication with nearby squid, prey detection, navigation, and orientation during hunting or seeking shelter. Neural control of the iridophores enabling rapid changes in skin iridescence appears to be regulated by a cholinergic process affecting reflectin proteins.

Some mesopelagic squid such as the firefly squid (Watasenia scintillans) and the midwater squid (Abralia veranyi) use counter-illumination camouflage, generating light to match the downwelling light from the ocean surface. This creates the effect of countershading, making the underside lighter than the upperside.

Counter-illumination is also used by the Hawaiian bobtail squid (Euprymna scolopes), which has symbiotic bacteria (Aliivibrio fischeri) that produce light to help the squid avoid nocturnal predators. This light shines through the squid's skin on its underside and is generated by a large and complex two-lobed light organ inside the squid's mantle cavity. From there, it escapes downwards, some of it travelling directly, some coming off a reflector at the top of the organ (dorsal side). Below there is a kind of iris, which has branches (diverticula) of its ink sac, with a lens below that; both the reflector and lens are derived from mesoderm. The squid controls light production by changing the shape of its iris or adjusting the strength of yellow filters on its underside, which presumably change the balance of wavelengths emitted. Light production shows a correlation with intensity of down-welling light, but it is about one third as bright; the squid can track repeated changes in brightness. Because the Hawaiian bobtail squid hides in sand during the day to avoid predators, it does not use counter-illumination during daylight hours.

Squid are cephalopods in the superorder Decapodiformes with elongated bodies, large eyes, eight arms and two tentacles. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, and a mantle. They are mainly soft-bodied, like octopuses, but have a small internal skeleton in the form of a rod-like gladius or pen, made of chitin.

Squid diverged from other cephalopods during the Jurassic and occupy a similar role to teleost fish as open water predators of similar size and behaviour. They play an important role in the open water food web. The two long tentacles are used to grab prey and the eight arms to hold and control it. The beak then cuts the food into suitable size chunks for swallowing. Squid are rapid swimmers, moving by jet propulsion, and largely locate their prey by sight. They are among the most intelligent of invertebrates, with groups of Humboldt squid having been observed hunting cooperatively. They are preyed on by sharks, other fish, sea birds, seals and cetaceans, particularly sperm whales.

Squid can change colour for camouflage and signalling. Some species are bioluminescent, using their light for counter-illumination camouflage, while many species can eject a cloud of ink to distract predators.

Squid are used for human consumption with commercial fisheries in Japan, the Mediterranean, the southwestern Atlantic, the eastern Pacific and elsewhere. They are used in cuisines around the world, often known as "calamari". Squid have featured in literature since classical times, especially in tales of giant squid and sea monsters.

EVOLUTION

Crown coleoids (the ancestors of octopuses and squid) diverged at the end of the Paleozoic, in the Permian. Squid diverged during the Jurassic, but many squid families appeared in or after the Cretaceous. Both the coleoids and the teleost fish were involved in much adaptive radiation at this time, and the two modern groups resemble each other in size, ecology, habitat, morphology and behaviour, however some fish moved into fresh water while the coleoids remained in marine environments.

The ancestral coleoid was probably nautiloid-like with a strait septate shell that became immersed in the mantle and was used for buoyancy control. Four lines diverged from this, Spirulida (with one living member), the cuttlefishes, the squids and the octopuses. Squid have differentiated from the ancestral mollusc such that the body plan has been condensed antero-posteriorly and extended dorso-ventrally. What may have been the foot of the ancestor is modified into a complex set of appendages around the mouth. The sense organs are highly developed and include advanced eyes similar to those of vertebrates.

The ancestral shell has been lost, with only an internal gladius, or pen, remaining. The pen, made of a chitin-like material, is a feather-shaped internal structure that supports the squid's mantle and serves as a site for muscle attachment. The cuttlebone or sepion of the Sepiidae is calcareous and appears to have evolved afresh in the Tertiary.

DIGESTIVE SYSTEM

Like all cephalopods, squids are predators and have complex digestive systems. The mouth is equipped with a sharp, horny beak mainly made of chitin and cross-linked proteins, which is used to kill and tear prey into manageable pieces. The beak is very robust, but does not contain minerals, unlike the teeth and jaws of many other organisms; the cross-linked proteins are histidine- and glycine-rich and give the beak a stiffness and hardness greater than most equivalent synthetic organic materials. The stomachs of captured whales often have indigestible squid beaks inside. The mouth contains the radula, the rough tongue common to all molluscs except bivalvia, which is equipped with multiple rows of teeth. In some species, toxic saliva helps to control large prey; when subdued, the food can be torn in pieces by the beak, moved to the oesophagus by the radula, and swallowed.

The food bolus is moved along the gut by waves of muscular contractions (peristalsis). The long oesophagus leads to a muscular stomach roughly in the middle of the visceral mass. The digestive gland, which is equivalent to a vertebrate liver, diverticulates here, as does the pancreas, and both of these empty into the caecum, a pouch-shaped sac where most of the absorption of nutrients takes place. Indigestible food can be passed directly from the stomach to the rectum where it joins the flow from the caecum and is voided through the anus into the mantle cavity. Cephalopods are short-lived, and in mature squid, priority is given to reproduction; the female Onychoteuthis banksii for example, sheds its feeding tentacles on reaching maturity, and becomes flaccid and weak after spawning.

CARDIOVASCULAR AND EXCRETORY SYSTEMS

The squid mantle cavity is a seawater-filled sac containing three hearts and other organs supporting circulation, respiration, and excretion. Squid have a main systemic heart that pumps blood around the body as part of the general circulatory system, and two branchial hearts. The systemic heart consists of three chambers, a lower ventricle and two upper atria, all of which can contract to propel the blood. The branchial hearts pump blood specifically to the gills for oxygenation, before returning it to the systemic heart. The blood contains the copper-rich protein hemocyanin, which is used for oxygen transport at low ocean temperatures and low oxygen concentrations, and makes the oxygenated blood a deep, blue color. As systemic blood returns via two vena cavae to the branchial hearts, excretion of urine, carbon dioxide, and waste solutes occurs through outpockets (called nephridial appendages) in the vena cavae walls that enable gas exchange and excretion via the mantle cavity seawater.

BUOYANCY

Unlike nautiloids which have gas-filled chambers inside their shells which provide buoyancy, and octopuses which live near and rest on the seabed and do not require to be buoyant, many squid have a fluid-filled receptacle, equivalent to the swim bladder of a fish, in the coelom or connective tissue. This reservoir acts as a chemical buoyancy chamber, with the heavy metallic cations typical of seawater replaced by low molecular-weight ammonium ions, a product of excretion. The small difference in density provides a small contribution to buoyancy per unit volume, so the mechanism requires a large buoyancy chamber to be effective. Since the chamber is filled with liquid, it has the advantage over a swim bladder of not changing significantly in volume with pressure. Glass squids in the family Cranchiidae for example, have an enormous transparent coelom containing ammonium ions and occupying about two-thirds the volume of the animal, allowing it to float at the required depth. About half of the 28 families of squid use this mechanism to solve their buoyancy issues.

LARGEST AND SMALLEST

The majority of squid are no more than 60 cm long, although the giant squid may reach 13 m. The smallest species are probably the benthic pygmy squids Idiosepius, which grow to a mantle length of 10 to 18 mm, and have short bodies and stubby arms.

In 1978, sharp, curved claws on the suction cups of squid tentacles cut up the rubber coating on the hull of the USS Stein. The size suggested the largest squid known at the time.

In 2003, a large specimen of an abundant but poorly understood species, Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni (the colossal squid), was discovered. This species may grow to 10 m in length, making it the largest invertebrate. In February 2007, a New Zealand fishing vessel caught the largest squid ever documented, weighing 495 kg and measuring around 10 m off the coast of Antarctica. Dissection showed that the eyes, used to detect prey in the deep Southern Ocean, exceeded the size of footballs; these may be among the largest eyes ever to exist in the animal kingdom.

DEVELOPMENT

The eggs of squid are large for a mollusc, containing a large amount of yolk to nourish the embryo as it develops directly, without an intervening veliger larval stage. The embryo grows as a disc of cells on top of the yolk. During the gastrulation stage, the margins of the disc grow to surround the yolk, forming a yolk sac, which eventually forms part of the animal's gut. The dorsal side of the disc grows upwards and forms the embryo, with a shell gland on its dorsal surface, gills, mantle and eyes. The arms and funnel develop as part of the foot on the ventral side of the disc. The arms later migrate upwards, coming to form a ring around the funnel and mouth. The yolk is gradually absorbed as the embryo grows. Some juvenile squid live higher in the water column than do adults. Squids tend to be short-lived; Loligo for example lives from one to three years according to species, typically dying soon after spawning

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In a well-studied bioluminescent species, the Hawaiian bobtail squid, a special light organ in the squid's mantle is rapidly colonized with Aliivibrio fischeri bacteria within hours of hatching. This light-organ colonization requires this particular bacterial species for a symbiotic relationship; no colonization occurs in the absence of A. fischeri. Colonization occurs in a horizontal manner, such that the hosts acquires its bacterial partners from the environment. The symbiosis is obligate for the squid, but facultative for the bacteria. Once the bacteria enter the squid, they colonize interior epithelial cells in the light organ, living in crypts with complex microvilli protrusions. The bacteria also interact with hemocytes, macrophage-like blood cells that migrate between epithelial cells, but the mechanism and function of this process is not well understood. Bioluminescence reaches its highest levels during the early evening hours and bottoms out before dawn; this occurs because at the end of each day, the contents of the squid's crypts are expelled into the surrounding environment. About 95% of the bacteria are voided each morning before the bacterial population builds up again by nightfall.

BEHAVIOUR

LOCOMOTION

Squid can move about in several different ways. Slow movement is achieved by a gentle undulation of the muscular lateral fins on either side of the trunk which drives the animal forward. A more common means of locomotion providing sustained movement is achieved using jetting, during which contraction of the muscular wall of the mantle cavity provides jet propulsion.

Slow jetting is used for ordinary locomotion, and ventilation of the gills is achieved at the same time. The circular muscles in the mantle wall contract; this causes the inhalant valve to close, the exhalant valve to open and the mantle edge to lock tightly around the head. Water is forced out through the funnel which is pointed in the opposite direction to the required direction of travel. The inhalant phase is initiated by the relaxation of the circular muscles causes them to stretch, the connective tissue in the mantle wall recoils elastically, the mantle cavity expands causing the inhalant valve to open, the exhalant valve to close and water to flow into the cavity. This cycle of exhalation and inhalation is repeated to provide continuous locomotion.

Fast jetting is an escape response. In this form of locomotion, radial muscles in the mantle wall are involved as well as circular ones, making it possible to hyper-inflate the mantle cavity with a larger volume of water than during slow jetting. On contraction, water flows out with great force, the funnel always being pointed anteriorly, and travel is backwards. During this means of locomotion, some squid exit the water in a similar way to flying fish, gliding through the air for up to 50 m, and occasionally ending up on the decks of ships.

FEEDING

Squid are carnivores, and, with their strong arms and suckers, can overwhelm relatively large animals efficiently. Prey is identified by sight or by touch, grabbed by the tentacles which can be shot out with great rapidity, brought back to within reach of the arms, and held by the hooks and suckers on their surface. In some species, the squid's saliva contains toxins which act to subdue the prey. These are injected into its bloodstream when the prey is bitten, along with vasodilators and chemicals to stimulate the heart, and quickly circulate to all parts of its body. The deep sea squid Taningia danae has been filmed releasing blinding flashes of light from large photophores on its arms to illuminate and disorientate potential prey.

Although squid can catch large prey, the mouth is relatively small, and the food must be cut into pieces by the chitinous beak with its powerful muscles before being swallowed. The radula is located in the buccal cavity and has multiple rows of tiny teeth that draw the food backwards and grind it in pieces. The deep sea squid Mastigoteuthis has the whole length of its whip-like tentacles covered with tiny suckers; it probably catches small organisms in the same way that flypaper traps flies. The tentacles of some bathypelagic squids bear photophores which may bring food within its reach by attracting prey.

Squid are among the most intelligent invertebrates. For example, groups of Humboldt squid hunt cooperatively, spiralling up through the water at night and coordinating their vertical and horizontal movements while foraging.

REPRODUCTION

Courtship in squid takes place in the open water and involves the male selecting a female, the female responding, and the transfer by the male of spermatophores to the female. In many instances, the male may display to identify himself to the female and drive off any potential competitors. Elaborate changes in body patterning take place in some species in both agonistic and courtship behaviour. The Caribbean reef squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea), for example, employs a complex array of colour changes during courtship and social interactions and has a range of about 16 body patterns in its repertoire.

The pair adopt a head-to-head position, and "jaw locking" may take place, in a similar manner to that adopted by some cichlid fish. The heterodactylus of the male is used to transfer the spermatophore and deposit it in the female's mantle cavity in the position appropriate for the species; this may be adjacent to the gonopore or in a seminal receptacle.

The sperm may be used immediately or may be stored. As the eggs pass down the oviduct, they are wrapped in a gelatinous coating, before continuing to the mantle cavity, where they are fertilised. In Loligo, further coatings are added by the nidimental glands in the walls of the cavity and the eggs leave through a funnel formed by the arms. The female attaches them to the substrate in strings or groups, the coating layers swelling and hardening after contact with sea water. Loligo sometimes forms breeding aggregations which may create a "community pile" of egg strings. Some pelagic and deep sea squid do not attach their egg masses, which float freely.

ECOLOGY

Squid mostly have an annual life cycle, growing fast and dying soon after spawning. The diet changes as they grow but mostly consists of large zooplankton and small nekton. In Antarctica for example, krill is the main constituent of the diet, with other food items being amphipods, other small crustaceans, and large arrow worms. Fish are also eaten, and some squid are cannibalistic.

As well as occupying a key role in the food chain, squid are an important prey for predators including sharks, sea birds, seals and whales. Juvenile squid provide part of the diet for worms and small fish. When researchers studied the contents of the stomachs of elephant seals in South Georgia, they found 96% squid by weight. In a single day, a sperm whale can eat 700 to 800 squid, and a Risso's dolphin entangled in a net in the Mediterranean was found to have eaten angel clubhook squid, umbrella squid, reverse jewel squid and European flying squid, all identifiable from their indigestible beaks. Ornithoteuthis volatilis, a common squid from the tropical Indo-Pacific, is predated by yellowfin tuna, longnose lancetfish, common dolphinfish and swordfish, the tiger shark, the scalloped hammerhead shark and the smooth hammerhead shark. Sperm whales also hunt this species extensively as does the brown fur seal. In the Southern Ocean, penguins and wandering albatrosses are major predators of Gonatus antarcticus.

HUMAN USES

IN LITERATURE AND ART

Giant squid have featured as monsters of the deep since classical times. Giant squid were described by Aristotle (4th century BC) in his History of Animals and Pliny the Elder (1st century AD) in his Natural History. The Gorgon of Greek mythology may have been inspired by squid or octopus, the animal itself representing the severed head of Medusa, the beak as the protruding tongue and fangs, and its tentacles as the snakes. The six-headed sea monster of the Odyssey, Scylla, may have had a similar origin. The Nordic legend of the kraken may also have derived from sightings of large cephalopods.

In literature, H. G. Wells' short story "The Sea Raiders" featured a man-eating squid species Haploteuthis ferox. The science fiction writer Jules Verne told a tale of a kraken-like monster in his 1870 novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.

AS FOOD

Squid form a major food resource and are used in cuisines around the world, notably in Japan where it is eaten as ika-somen, sliced into vermicelli-like strips; as sashimi; and as tempura.[60] Three species of Loligo are used in large quantities, L. vulgaris in the Mediterranean (known as Calamar in Spanish, Calamaro in Italian); L. forbesii in the Northeast Atlantic; and L. pealei on the American East Coast.[60] Among the Ommastrephidae, Todarodes pacificus is the main commercial species, harvested in large quantities across the North Pacific in Canada, Japan and China.

In English-speaking countries, squid as food is often called calamari, adopted from Italian into English in the 17th century. Squid are found abundantly in certain areas, and provide large catches for fisheries. The body can be stuffed whole, cut into flat pieces, or sliced into rings. The arms, tentacles, and ink are also edible; the only parts not eaten are the beak and gladius (pen). Squid is a good food source for zinc and manganese, and high in copper, selenium, vitamin B12, and riboflavin.

COMMERCIAL FISHING

According to the FAO, the cephalopod catch for 2002 was 3,173,272 tonnes (6.995867×109 lb). Of this, 2,189,206 tonnes, or 75.8 percent, was squid. The following table lists squid species fishery catches that exceeded 10,000 tonnes (22,000,000 lb) in 2002.

IN BIOMIMICRY

Prototype chromatophores that mimic the squid's adaptive camouflage, have been made by Bristol University researchers using an electroactive dielectric elastomer, a flexible "smart" material that changes its colour and texture in response to electrical signals. The researchers state that their goal is to create an artificial skin that provides rapid active camouflage.

The squid giant axon inspired Otto Schmitt to develop a comparator circuit with hysteresis now called the Schmitt trigger, replicating the axon's propagation of nerve impulses.

WIKIPEDIA

BOX DATE: 1999

MANUFACTURER: Mattel

BODY TYPE: 1993; articulated waist, elbows, & knees; painted gloves; over sized flat feet

HEAD MOLD: 1995 "Teen Skipper"

PERSONAL FUN FACT written by my sister: There is an antique store about thirty minutes from our home. If it weren't so very pricey, we'd probably be there more often. Usually, we see way more dolls we want than we end up taking home. However, circa 2014, when I saw this doll, I HAD to have her! When I used to play with our School Photographer Becky, I was aware of the existence of this doll. I wished I had her for her "racing wheelchair". In fact, I used to use our Cut N Style Salon chairs as a "racing wheelchair" sometimes and pretended that Becky had a coach and everything. (I used to call it her "after school wheelchair-racing class...don't think that's really what they'd call racing wheelchairs...) I HAD to buy this doll. For one thing, she looks a lot like School Photographer Becky, so I could use her as a stunt double. For another, we don't play with our Barbies and make them talk very often anymore, so I knew that I had to buy the doll with the special chair in case we played dolls anytime soon. Making one of our Becky dolls use it would be a dream come true. I also love how this doll has saran hair--it's more manageable than the kanekelon on the Photographer dolls. I think this doll is also extremely beautiful and I'm so lucky to have her! Even all these years later, her novelty hasn't worn off. I still feel excited when I see her. Even though she wasn't a childhood doll, she still brings back fond memories. I always remember how I made our old, less attractive Pet Doctor Barbie Becky's "frenemy" who was her teammate on the wheelchair team. They were rivals, though Christine pretended to be Becky's friend. I feel like Pet Doctor Barbie being associated with Becky is what made me decide to make Becky date the more attractive Pet Doctor Barbie, Jessica, much later. I think Becky and Jessica make a very cute couple and, these days, the Pet Doctor Barbie is not a competitor or a teammate, is not in a wheelchair, but is cheering Becky on wherever she goes!

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.

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

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.

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!

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).

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.

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/

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!

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.

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.

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…

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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.

© All rights reserved

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

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.

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

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.

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).

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.

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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

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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

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The sculpture is called REQUIEM FOR A REPROBATE. It is made of plaster, steel and newspaper. The newspaper contains my father's obituary. The image was posted previously. The description is new.

In the late 80's to early 90's I produced a great number of plaster sculptures. I was provided a large working space and I spent a lot of time there. The man that owned the gallery where I exhibited my work had an enormous empty house on Portico Row on Spruce Street in Philadelphia. He provided the second floor for me to work in. When he made the offer I was carving small polychromed sculptures. They were finished with an obsessiveness that led certain critics to erroneously refer to them in reviews as ceramics. Their mistakes delighted me.

The work sold quite well and exhibited I had galleries in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. I had a fairly large clientele of in New York that consisted almost entirely of stockbrokers. One scene in the film American Psycho shows men sitting around comparing their expensive business cards in an attempt to out-do each other. This competitive and materialistic behavior of the stock brokers that bought my work was exactly like that scene in American Psycho. It was fascinating and horrifying simultaneously. Their materialism was almost a joke. If one of them owned the work of a contemporary artist they all had to, which explains why I knew so many stockbrokers. One of them in particular was in Philadelphia quite frequently. He was a close friend of the owner of the gallery that showed my work and he was one of the few people in that crowd that I could bear talking to. Most of them were intolerable. His bookie (the son-in-law of the former mayor of Philadelphia Frank Rizzo) was was also located in Philadelphia which may explain the frequency of his visits.

Because my work was selling well I had an impetus to spend a great deal of time in the studio. Much to the horror of the gallery owner and not long after I moved my studio to Spruce Street, I changed my style of work. I went from highly polished wooden wall sculptures to funky, nasty looking plaster, rubber and steel sculptures that were very weird looking and much more difficult for the average person to deal with. They also created a great deal of dust that I tracked all over this enormous house. This work was much more difficult to comprehend and it alienated my dealer and the collectors that regularly bought my work. On one level I really didn't care. I was fed up with the gallery systems, I was sick of dealers trying to control what types of work I made, I couldn't bear the attitudes and greed of collectors and I was tired of talking to people that I found reprehensible, mendacious, materialistic and covetous. In addition to my irritation with the culture industry, the bottom fell out of the art market. The bubble burst. I was now in the position that the system that I hated and that used to pay my rent suddenly wasn't. Peers who had the year before appeared on the covers of Artforum were now working in Manhattan as plumber's assistants. Literally.

I continued making the plaster sculptures. I loved the change and I enjoyed working with the materials. I was producing them at the same rate that I banged out the earlier wooden sculptures but the new work was considerably larger, heavier and more difficult to store. My sales screeched to a halt but my production continued unabated. I saw what was happening but I couldn't care less about it. Despite my financial situation, I felt weightless.

After several years on the market my dealer finally sold the building. I packed everything up and stored half the sculpture in my small home in South Philadelphia and the other half in the basement of the house that my friend Kevin Madden was renting down the street. The work remained in Kevin's basement for the better part of a decade.

I was conscious of monopolizing most of Kevin's space once I moved all of the works down there. It was imperative that something needed to be done about this situation. I realized that some of the transitional work was instrumental in working out some technical and aesthetic issues that would later appear in the more successful pieces. When I looked at these seminal works objectively, it was apparent that they were not as strong as the later work and ultimately not worth storing. On the average, the better work was the result of issues worked out during the process of making two or three lesser works.

The solution to the storage problem was a sixteen ounce framing hammer. Once every six months or so I would go to Kevin's house and cull the weaker work from the herd. It was a lot easier to dispose of the work in pieces than in their heavier and bulkier form. I enjoyed the act of destruction almost as much as I did their creation. The violence of the act appealed to me and the activity was cathartic.

The result of a day of destruction left me with only the best examples of the work from that time period. The weaker sculptures no longer existed. After a decade of destruction, Kevin was moving to another apartment and the remaining works, few in number, needed to be relocated. I was left with a manageable amount of best works of that decade. The destruction of the work was an editing process in its most physical form. The experience gained through the process of making the sculpture was all that remained. The process of creation without physical form could not be commodified, co-opted or sold. It taught me to make dispassionate decisions based solely on the quality of the work with no consideration of the cost of the materials or its commercial value. Destruction disavowed the romantic notion of the preciousness of the art object. The work was forever spared the indignity of being used as decorations in the homes of the wealthy. The process was irreversible. It discouraged hoarding which is ultimately an act of greed. I taught myself to make decisions without the luxury of regret. Because of these decisions I am free from envisioning an alternative past. The process of destruction improved the quality of my entire oeuvre. The act of destruction became a positive and creative act. Ultimately it is a discipline and an act of liberation. No regrets.

www.radicalart.info/destruction/metzger.html

Please visit my blog at:

historywillabsolvemike.blogspot.com/

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.

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. 🏠💦❤️

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.

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

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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:

- Specials Board

- Long Dining Table

- Object d'Art

- Business Card

- back

- Produce Store

- A message from Stephanie

- Gumboots - Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation fundraiser AUD40

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.

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.

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.