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Ju 52

 

Role Transport aircraft, medium bomber, airliner

Manufacturer Junkers

Designer Ernst Zindel

First flight 13 October 1930 (Ju 52/1m); 7 March 1932 (Ju 52/3m)

Status Active

Primary users Luftwaffe

Luft Hansa

Spanish Air Force

Produced 1931–1945 (Germany)

1945–1947 (France)

1945–1952 (Spain)

Number built 4,845

 

The Junkers Ju 52/3m (nicknamed Tante Ju ("Aunt Ju") and Iron Annie) is a German trimotor transport aircraft manufactured from 1931 to 1952. Initially designed with a single engine but subsequently produced as a trimotor it saw both civilian and military service during the 1930s and 1940s. In a civilian role, it flew with over twelve air carriers including Swissair and Deutsche Luft Hansa as an airliner and freight hauler. In a military role, it flew with the Luftwaffe as a troop and cargo transport and briefly as a medium bomber. The Ju 52 continued in postwar service with military and civilian air fleets well into the 1980s.

Design and development

 

The Ju 52 was similar to the company's previous Junkers W 33, although larger. In 1930, Ernst Zindel and his team designed the Ju 52 at the Junkers works at Dessau. The aircraft's unusual corrugated duralumin metal skin, pioneered by Junkers during World War I, strengthened the whole structure.

 

The Ju 52 had a low cantilever wing, the midsection of which was built into the fuselage, forming its underside.[1] It was formed around four pairs of circular cross-section duralumin spars with a corrugated surface that provided torsional stiffening. A narrow control surface, with its outer section functioning as the aileron, and the inner section functioning as a flap, ran along the whole trailing edge of each wing panel, well separated from it. The inner flap section lowered the stalling speed and the arrangement became known as the Doppelflügel, or "double wing".[2]

 

The outer sections of this operated differentially as ailerons, projecting slightly beyond the wingtips with control horns. The strutted horizontal stabilizer carried horn-balanced elevators which again projected and showed a significant gap between them and the stabilizer, which was adjustable in-flight. All stabilizer surfaces were corrugated.

 

The fuselage was of rectangular section with a domed decking, all covered with corrugated light alloy. There was a port side passenger door just aft of the wings, with windows stretching forward to the pilots' cockpit. The main undercarriage was fixed and divided; some aircraft had wheel fairings, others not. There was a fixed tailskid, or a later tailwheel. Some aircraft were fitted with floats or skis instead of the main wheels.

 

In its original configuration, designated the Ju 52/1m, the Ju 52 was a single-engined aircraft, powered by either a BMW IV or Junkers liquid-cooled V-12 engine. However, the single-engine model was underpowered, and after seven prototypes had been completed, all subsequent Ju 52s were built with three radial engines as the Ju 52/3m (drei motoren — "three engines"). Originally powered by three Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet radial engines, later production models mainly received 574 kW (770 hp) BMW 132 engines, a licence-built refinement of the Pratt & Whitney design. Export models were also built with 447 kW (600 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp and 578 kW (775 hp) Bristol Pegasus VI engines. The two wing-mounted radial engines of the Ju 52/3m had half-chord cowlings and in planform view (from above/below) appeared to be splayed outwards, being mounted at an almost perpendicular angle to the tapered wing's sweptback leading edge (in a similar fashion to the Mitsubishi G3M bomber and Short Sunderland; the angled engines on the Ju 52 were intended to make it easier to maintain straight flight should an engine fail, while the others had different reasons). The three engines had either Townend ring or NACA cowlings to reduce drag from the engine cylinders, although a mixture of the two was most common (as can been seen in many of the accompanying photographs), with deeper-chord NACA ducts on the wing engines and a narrow Townend ring on the center engine (which was more difficult to fit a deeper NACA cowl onto, due to the widening fuselage behind the engine). Production Ju 52/3m aircraft flown by Luft Hansa before World War II, as well as Luftwaffe-flown Ju 52s flown during the war, usually used an air-start system to turn over their trio of radial engines, using a common compressed air supply that also operated the main wheels' brakes.

Operational history

 

Ju 52s damaged in Crete, 1941

A Luftwaffe Ju 52 being serviced in Crete in 1943. Note the narrow chord Townend ring on the central engine and the deeper-chord NACA cowlings on the wing engines.

Luftwaffe Ju 52s dropping paratroops

Prewar civil use

 

In 1932, James A. Richardson's Canadian Airways received (Werknummer 4006) CF-ARM, the sixth ever-built Ju 52/1m. The aircraft, first re-fitted with an Armstrong Siddeley Leopard radial engine and then later with a Rolls-Royce Buzzard and nicknamed the "Flying Boxcar" in Canada,[3][4] could lift approximately three tons and had a maximum weight of 7 tonnes (8 tons). It was used to supply mining and other operations in remote areas with equipment too big and heavy for other aircraft then in use. The Ju 52/1m was able to land on wheels, skis or floats (as were all Ju 52 variants).[5]

 

Before the nationalisation of the German aircraft industry in 1935, the Ju 52/3m was produced principally as a 17-seat airliner. It was used mainly by Luft Hansa and could fly from Berlin to Rome in eight hours. The Luft Hansa fleet eventually numbered 80 and flew from Germany on routes in Europe, Asia and South America.[citation needed]

Military use 1932–1945

 

The Colombian Air Force used three Ju 52/3mde bombers equipped as floatplanes during the Colombia-Peru War in 1932–1933. After the war, the air force acquired three other Ju 52mge as transports; the type remained in service until after World War II.

 

Bolivia acquired four Ju 52s in the course of the Chaco War (1932–1935), mainly for medical evacuation and air supply. During the conflict, the Ju 52s alone transported more than 4,400 tons of cargo to the front.[6]

 

In 1934, Junkers received orders to produce a bomber version of the Ju 52/3m to serve as interim equipment for the bomber units of the still-secret Luftwaffe until it could be replaced by the purpose designed Dornier Do 11.[7] Two bomb bays were fitted, capable of holding up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) of bombs, while defensive armament consisted of two 7.92mm MG 15 machine guns, one in an open dorsal position, and one in a retractable "dustbin" ventral position, which could be manually winched down from the fuselage to protect the aircraft from attacks from below. The bomber could be easily converted to serve in the transport role.[8] The Dornier Do 11 was a failure, however, and the Junkers ended up being acquired in much larger numbers than at first expected, with the type being the Luftwaffe's main bomber until more modern aircraft such as the Heinkel He 111, Junkers Ju 86 and Dornier Do 17 entered into service.[9][10]

 

The Ju 52 first saw military service in the Spanish Civil War against the Spanish Republic. It was one of the first aircraft delivered to the fraction of the army in revolt in July 1936 as both a bomber and transport. In the former role, it participated in the bombing of Guernica. No more of the bomber variant were built after this war, though it was again used as a bomber during the bombing of Warsaw[11] during the Invasion of Poland of September 1939. The Luftwaffe then relied on the Ju 52 for transport roles during World War II, including paratroop drops.

World War II

 

In service with Lufthansa, the Ju 52 had proved to be an extremely reliable passenger airplane. Therefore, it was adopted by the Luftwaffe as a standard aircraft model. In 1938, the 7th Air Division had five air transport groups with 250 Ju 52s. The Luftwaffe had 552 Ju 52s at the start of World War II. Even though it was built in great numbers, the Ju 52 was technically obsolete. Between 1939 and 1944, 2,804 Ju 52s were delivered to the Luftwaffe (1939: 145; 1940: 388; 1941: 502; 1942: 503; 1943: 887; and 1944: 379). The production of Ju 52s continued until approximately the summer of 1944; when the war came to an end, there were still 100 to 200 available.

 

The Ju 52 could carry eighteen fully equipped soldiers, or twelve stretchers when used as an air ambulance. Transported material was loaded and unloaded through side doors by means of a ramp. Air dropped supplies were jettisoned through two double chutes; supply containers were dropped by parachute through the bomb-bay doors, and paratroopers jumped through the side doors. SdKfz 2 kettenkraftrad (half-track motorcycles) and supply canisters for parachute troops were secured under the fuselage at the bomb bay exits and were dropped with four parachutes. A tow coupling was built into the tail-skid for use in towing freight gliders. The Ju 52 could tow up to two DFS 230 gliders.

Heavy losses in combat

 

The first major operation for the aircraft was in Operation Weserübung, the attack on Denmark and Norway on 9 April 1940. Fifty-two Ju 52s from 1. and 8. Staffel in Kampfgeschwader 1 transported a company of Fallschirmjäger and a battalion of infantry to the northern part of Jutland, and captured the airfield at Aalborg, vital to support the operation in southern Norway. Several hundred Ju 52s were used to transport troops to Norway in the first days of this campaign.

The Netherlands

 

Later, Ju 52's participated in the attack on the Netherlands on 10 May 1940, where they were deployed in the first large-scale air attack with paratroops in history during the Battle for The Hague. No fewer than 295 Ju 52s were lost in that venture and in other places in the country, due to varying circumstances, among which were accurate and effective Dutch anti-aircraft defences and German mistakes in using soggy airfields not able to support the heavy craft.[12] On 10 May alone, 278 were downed or disabled.

 

Thus, almost an entire year's production was lost in one day in the Netherlands. The lack of sufficient numbers of aircraft most probably heavily influenced the decision not to invade England following the Battle of Britain.[12]

After the Netherlands

 

After the campaign in the West, the air transport units were brought up to their pre-Netherlands strength and were assembled at airfields in the Lyon, Lille, and Arras areas in August 1940.[13] Probably this was done using new and repaired aircraft augmented by other transport planes like the FW-200 Condor and the Ju 90.

A Ju 52 approaching Stalingrad, 1942

 

The next major use of the Ju 52 was in the Balkans campaign, most famously in the Battle of Crete in May 1941. Lightly armed, and with a top speed of only 265 km/h (165 mph) – half that of a contemporary Hurricane – the Ju 52 was very vulnerable to fighter attack and an escort was always necessary when flying in a combat zone. Many Ju 52's were shot down by anti-aircraft guns and fighters while transporting supplies, most notably during the desperate attempt to resupply the trapped German Sixth Army during the final stages of the Battle of Stalingrad in the winter of 1942–1943.

 

During the North African Campaign, the Ju 52 was the mainstay reinforcement and resupply transport for the Germans, starting with 20 to 50 flights a day to Tunisia from Sicily in November 1942, building to 150 landings a day in early April as the Axis situation became more desperate. The Allied air forces developed a counter-air operation over a two-month period and implemented Operation Flax on 5 April 1943, destroying 11 Ju 52s in the air near Cap Bon and many more during bombing attacks on its Sicilian airfields, leaving only 29 flyable.[14] That began two catastrophic weeks in which more than 140 were lost in air interceptions,[15] culminated on 18 April with the "Palm Sunday Massacre" in which 24 Ju 52s were shot down and another 35 staggered back to Sicily and crash-landed.[16]

 

The seaplane version, equipped with two large floats, served during the Norwegian Campaign in 1940, and later in the Mediterranean theatre. Some Ju 52's, both floatplanes and landplanes, were also used as minesweepers, known as Minensuch — literally, "mine-search" aircraft in German — fitted with a 14-metre (46 ft) diameter current-carrying degaussing ring under the airframe to create a magnetic field that triggered submerged naval mines and usually given an -"MS" suffix to designate them, as with the similarly equipped Bv 138 MS trimotor flying boat.[17]

Hitler's personal transport

Main article: Hans Baur § Die Fliegerstaffel des Fuehrers

 

Hitler used a Deutsche Lufthansa Ju 52 for campaigning in the 1932 German election, preferring flying to transport by train. After he became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Hans Baur became his personal pilot, and Hitler was provided with a personal Ju 52. Named Immelmann II after the World War I ace Max Immelmann, it carried the registration D-2600.[18] As his power and importance grew, Hitler's personal air force grew to nearly 50 aircraft, based at Berlin Tempelhof Airport and made up of mainly Ju 52s, which also flew other members of his cabinet and war staff. In September 1939 at Baur's suggestion, Immelmann II was replaced by a four-engine Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor, although Immelman II remained his backup aircraft for the rest of World War II.

 

Eurasia was the main Chinese Airliner Company in the 1930s and the Ju-52 was their main airliner plane. One of them was commandeered by the Chinese Nationalist Party Government and became Chiang Kai-shek's personal transport.[citation needed]

Postwar use

 

Various Junkers Ju 52s continued in military and civilian use following World War II. In 1956, the Portuguese Air Force, who was already using the Ju 52s as a transport plane, employed the type as a paratroop drop aircraft for its newly organized elite parachute forces, later known as the Batalhão de Caçadores Páraquedistas. The paratroopers used the Ju 52 in several combat operations in Angola and other Portuguese African colonies before gradually phasing it out of service in the 1960s.[19]

 

The Swiss Air Force also operated the Ju 52 from 1939 to 1982 when three aircraft remained in operation, probably the last and longest service in any air force.[20] Museums hoped to obtain the aircraft, but they were not for sale.[21] They are still in flying condition and together with a CASA 352 can be booked for sightseeing tours with Ju-Air.[22] During the 1950s the Ju 52 was also used by the French Air Force during the First Indochina War as a bomber. The usage of these Junkers was quite limited.[23]

 

The Spanish Air Force operated the Ju 52, nicknamed Pava, until well into the 1970s. Escuadrón 721 flying the Spanish-built versions, was employed in training parachutists from Alcantarilla Air Base near Murcia.[24]

 

Some military Ju 52s were converted to civilian use. For example, British European Airways operated eleven ex-Luftwaffe Ju 52/3mg8e machines, taken over by the RAF, between 1946 and retirement in 1947 on intra-U.K. routes before the Douglas DC-3 was introduced to the airline.[2] French airlines such as Societe de Transports Aeriens (STA) and Air France flew Toucans in the late 1940s and early 1950s.

 

A Ju 52 and a Douglas DC-3 were the last aircraft to take off from Berlin Tempelhof Airport before all operations ceased there on October 30, 2008.[25]

Other versions

 

Most Ju 52s were destroyed after the war, but 585 were manufactured after 1945. In France, the machine had been manufactured during the war by the Junkers-controlled Avions Amiot company, and production continued afterwards as the Amiot AAC 1 Toucan. In Spain, Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA continued production as the CASA 352 and 352L. Four CASA 352s are airworthy and in regular use today.

 

A CASA-built Ju52/3m appears in the opening sequence of the 1968 Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood film Where Eagles Dare.

Woven Map Notebook

Maize (/meɪz/ MAYZ; Zea mays subsp. mays, from Spanish: maíz after Taino: mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The leafy stalk of the plant produces pollen inflorescences and separate ovuliferous inflorescences called ears that yield kernels or seeds, which are fruits.

 

Maize has become a staple food in many parts of the world, with the total production of maize surpassing that of wheat or rice. In addition to being consumed directly by humans (often in the form of masa), maize is also used for corn ethanol, animal feed and other maize products, such as corn starch and corn syrup. The six major types of maize are dent corn, flint corn, pod corn, popcorn, flour corn, and sweet corn. Sugar-rich varieties called sweet corn are usually grown for human consumption as kernels, while field corn varieties are used for animal feed, various corn-based human food uses (including grinding into cornmeal or masa, pressing into corn oil, and fermentation and distillation into alcoholic beverages like bourbon whiskey), and as chemical feedstocks. Maize is also used in making ethanol and other biofuels.

 

Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. In 2014, total world production was 1.04 billion tonnes. Maize is the most widely grown grain crop throughout the Americas, with 361 million metric tons grown in the United States alone in 2014. Genetically modified maize made up 85% of the maize planted in the United States in 2009. Subsidies in the United States help to account for its high level of cultivation of maize and its position as the largest producer in the world.

 

HISTORY

PRE-COLUMBIAN DEVELOPMENT

Maize is a cultigen; human intervention is required for it to propagate. Whether or not the kernels fall off the cob on their own is a key piece of evidence used in archaeology to distinguish domesticated maize from its naturally-propagating teosinte ancestor. Genetic evidence can also be used to determine when various lineages split.

 

Most historians believe maize was domesticated in the Tehuacán Valley of Mexico. Recent research in the early 21st century has modified this view somewhat; scholars now indicate the adjacent Balsas River Valley of south-central Mexico as the center of domestication.

 

An influential 2002 study by Matsuoka et al. has demonstrated that, rather than the multiple independent domestications model, all maize arose from a single domestication in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. The study also demonstrated that the oldest surviving maize types are those of the Mexican highlands. Later, maize spread from this region over the Americas along two major paths. This is consistent with a model based on the archaeological record suggesting that maize diversified in the highlands of Mexico before spreading to the lowlands.

 

Archaeologist Dolores Piperno has said:

 

A large corpus of data indicates that [maize] was dispersed into lower Central America by 7600 BP [5600 BC] and had moved into the inter-Andean valleys of Colombia between 7000 and 6000 BP [5000–4000 BC].

— Dolores Piperno, The Origins of Plant Cultivation and Domestication in the New World Tropics: Patterns, Process, and New Developments

 

Since then, even earlier dates have been published.

 

According to a genetic study by Embrapa, corn cultivation was introduced in South America from Mexico, in two great waves: the first, more than 6000 years ago, spread through the Andes. Evidence of cultivation in Peru has been found dating to about 6700 years ago. The second wave, about 2000 years ago, through the lowlands of South America.

 

The earliest maize plants grew only small, 25-millimetre-long (1 in) corn cobs, and only one per plant. In Jackson Spielvogel's view, many centuries of artificial selection (rather than the current view that maize was exploited by interplanting with teosinte) by the indigenous people of the Americas resulted in the development of maize plants capable of growing several cobs per plant, which were usually several centimetres/inches long each. The Olmec and Maya cultivated maize in numerous varieties throughout Mesoamerica; they cooked, ground and processed it through nixtamalization. It was believed that beginning about 2500 BC, the crop spread through much of the Americas. Research of the 21st century has established even earlier dates. The region developed a trade network based on surplus and varieties of maize crops.

 

Mapuches of south-central Chile cultivated maize along with quinoa and potatoes in pre-Hispanic times; however, potato was the staple food of most Mapuches, "specially in the southern and coastal [Mapuche] territories where maize did not reach maturity". Before the expansion of the Inca Empire maize was traded and transported as far south as 40°19' S in Melinquina, Lácar Department. In that location maize remains were found inside pottery dated to 730 ± 80 BP and 920 ± 60 BP. Probably this maize was brought across the Andes from Chile. The presence of maize in Guaitecas Archipelago (43°55' S), the southernmost outpost of pre-Hispanic agriculture, is reported by early Spanish explorers. However the Spanish may have misidentified the plant.

 

COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE

After the arrival of Europeans in 1492, Spanish settlers consumed maize, and explorers and traders carried it back to Europe and introduced it to other countries. Spanish settlers far preferred wheat bread to maize, cassava, or potatoes. Maize flour could not be substituted for wheat for communion bread, since in Christian belief only wheat could undergo transubstantiation and be transformed into the body of Christ. Some Spaniards worried that by eating indigenous foods, which they did not consider nutritious, they would weaken and risk turning into Indians. "In the view of Europeans, it was the food they ate, even more than the environment in which they lived, that gave Amerindians and Spaniards both their distinctive physical characteristics and their characteristic personalities." Despite these worries, Spaniards did consume maize. Archeological evidence from Florida sites indicate they cultivated it as well.

 

Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates. It was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbus's voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. Widespread cultivation most likely began in southern Spain in 1525, after which it quickly spread to the rest of the Spanish Empire including its territories in Italy (and, from there, to other Italian states). Maize had many advantages over wheat and barley; it yielded two and a half times the food energy per unit cultivated area, could be harvested in successive years from the same plot of land, and grew in wildly varying altitudes and climates, from relatively dry regions with only 250 mm (10 in) of annual rainfall to damp regions with over 5,000 mm (200 in). By the 17th century it was a common peasant food in Southwestern Europe, including Portugal, Spain, southern France, and Italy. By the 18th century, it was the chief food of the southern French and Italian peasantry, especially in the form of polenta in Italy.

Names

 

The word maize derives from the Spanish form of the indigenous Taíno word for the plant, mahiz. It is known by other names around the world.

 

The word "corn" outside the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand refers to any cereal crop, its meaning understood to vary geographically to refer to the local staple. In the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, corn primarily means maize; this usage started as a shortening of "Indian corn". "Indian corn" primarily means maize (the staple grain of indigenous Americans), but can refer more specifically to multicolored "flint corn" used for decoration.

 

In places outside the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, corn often refers to maize in culinary contexts. The narrower meaning is usually indicated by some additional word, as in sweet corn, sweetcorn, corn on the cob, baby corn, the puffed confection known as popcorn and the breakfast cereal known as corn flakes.

 

In Southern Africa, maize is commonly called mielie (Afrikaans) or mealie (English), words derived from the Portuguese word for maize, milho.

 

Maize is preferred in formal, scientific, and international usage because it refers specifically to this one grain, unlike corn, which has a complex variety of meanings that vary by context and geographic region. Maize is used by agricultural bodies and research institutes such as the FAO and CSIRO. National agricultural and industry associations often include the word maize in their name even in English-speaking countries where the local, informal word is something other than maize; for example, the Maize Association of Australia, the Indian Maize Development Association, the Kenya Maize Consortium and Maize Breeders Network, the National Maize Association of Nigeria, the Zimbabwe Seed Maize Association.

 

STRUCTURE AND PHYSIOLOGY

The maize plant is often 3 m (10 ft) in height, though some natural strains can grow 13 m (43 ft). The stem is commonly composed of 20 internodes of 18 cm (7 in) length. The leaves arise from the nodes, alternately on opposite sides on the stalk. A leaf, which grows from each node, is generally 9 cm (3+1⁄2 in) in width and 120 cm (3 ft 11 in) in length.

 

Ears develop above a few of the leaves in the midsection of the plant, between the stem and leaf sheath, elongating by around 3 mm (1⁄8 in) per day, to a length of 18 cm (7 in) with 60 cm (24 in) being the maximum alleged in the subspecies. They are female inflorescences, tightly enveloped by several layers of ear leaves commonly called husks. Certain varieties of maize have been bred to produce many additional developed ears. These are the source of the "baby corn" used as a vegetable in Asian cuisine.

 

The apex of the stem ends in the tassel, an inflorescence of male flowers. When the tassel is mature and conditions are suitably warm and dry, anthers on the tassel dehisce and release pollen. Maize pollen is anemophilous (dispersed by wind), and because of its large settling velocity, most pollen falls within a few meters of the tassel.

 

Elongated stigmas, called silks, emerge from the whorl of husk leaves at the end of the ear. They are often pale yellow and 18 cm (7 in) in length, like tufts of hair in appearance. At the end of each is a carpel, which may develop into a "kernel" if fertilized by a pollen grain. The pericarp of the fruit is fused with the seed coat referred to as "caryopsis", typical of the grasses, and the entire kernel is often referred to as the "seed". The cob is close to a multiple fruit in structure, except that the individual fruits (the kernels) never fuse into a single mass. The grains are about the size of peas, and adhere in regular rows around a white, pithy substance, which forms the ear. The maximum size of kernels is reputedly 2.5 cm (1 in). An ear commonly holds 600 kernels. They are of various colors: blackish, bluish-gray, purple, green, red, white and yellow. When ground into flour, maize yields more flour with much less bran than wheat does. It lacks the protein gluten of wheat and, therefore, makes baked goods with poor rising capability. A genetic variant that accumulates more sugar and less starch in the ear is consumed as a vegetable and is called sweet corn. Young ears can be consumed raw, with the cob and silk, but as the plant matures (usually during the summer months), the cob becomes tougher and the silk dries to inedibility. By the end of the growing season, the kernels dry out and become difficult to chew without cooking them tender first in boiling water.

 

Planting density affects multiple aspects of maize. Modern farming techniques in developed countries usually rely on dense planting, which produces one ear per stalk. Stands of silage maize are yet denser,[citation needed] and achieve a lower percentage of ears and more plant matter.

 

Maize is a facultative short-day plant and flowers in a certain number of growing degree days > 10 °C (50 °F) in the environment to which it is adapted. The magnitude of the influence that long nights have on the number of days that must pass before maize flowers is genetically prescribed and regulated by the phytochrome system.

Photoperiodicity can be eccentric in tropical cultivars such that the long days characteristic of higher latitudes allow the plants to grow so tall that they do not have enough time to produce seed before being killed by frost. These attributes, however, may prove useful in using tropical maize for biofuels.

 

Immature maize shoots accumulate a powerful antibiotic substance, 2,4-dihydroxy-7-methoxy-1,4-benzoxazin-3-one (DIMBOA). DIMBOA is a member of a group of hydroxamic acids (also known as benzoxazinoids) that serve as a natural defense against a wide range of pests, including insects, pathogenic fungi and bacteria. DIMBOA is also found in related grasses, particularly wheat. A maize mutant (bx) lacking DIMBOA is highly susceptible to attack by aphids and fungi. DIMBOA is also responsible for the relative resistance of immature maize to the European corn borer (family Crambidae). As maize matures, DIMBOA levels and resistance to the corn borer decline.

 

Because of its shallow roots, maize is susceptible to droughts, intolerant of nutrient-deficient soils, and prone to be uprooted by severe winds.

 

While yellow maizes derive their color from lutein and zeaxanthin, in red-colored maizes, the kernel coloration is due to anthocyanins and phlobaphenes. These latter substances are synthesized in the flavonoids synthetic pathway from polymerization of flavan-4-ols by the expression of maize pericarp color1 (p1) gene which encodes an R2R3 myb-like transcriptional activator of the A1 gene encoding for the dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (reducing dihydroflavonols into flavan-4-ols) while another gene (Suppressor of Pericarp Pigmentation 1 or SPP1) acts as a suppressor. The p1 gene encodes an Myb-homologous transcriptional activator of genes required for biosynthesis of red phlobaphene pigments, while the P1-wr allele specifies colorless kernel pericarp and red cobs, and unstable factor for orange1 (Ufo1) modifies P1-wr expression to confer pigmentation in kernel pericarp, as well as vegetative tissues, which normally do not accumulate significant amounts of phlobaphene pigments. The maize P gene encodes a Myb homolog that recognizes the sequence CCT/AACC, in sharp contrast with the C/TAACGG bound by vertebrate Myb proteins.

 

The ear leaf is the leaf most closely associated with a particular developing ear. This leaf and above contribute 70% to 75% to 90% of grain fill. Therefore fungicide application is most important in that region in most disease environments.

 

ABNORMAL FLOWERS

Maize flowers may sometimes exhibit mutations that lead to the formation of female flowers in the tassel. These mutations, ts4 and Ts6, prohibit the development of the stamen while simultaneously promoting pistil development. This may cause inflorescences containing both male and female flowers, or hermaphrodite flowers.

 

GENETICS

Maize is an annual grass in the family Gramineae, which includes such plants as wheat, rye, barley, rice, sorghum, and sugarcane. There are two major species of the genus Zea (out of six total): Zea mays (maize) and Zea diploperennis, which is a perennial type of teosinte. The annual teosinte variety called Zea mays mexicana is the closest botanical relative to maize. It still grows in the wild as an annual in Mexico and Guatemala.

 

Many forms of maize are used for food, sometimes classified as various subspecies related to the amount of starch each has:

 

Flour corn: Zea mays var. amylacea

Popcorn: Zea mays var. everta

Dent corn : Zea mays var. indentata

Flint corn: Zea mays var. indurata

Sweet corn: Zea mays var. saccharata and Zea mays var. rugosa

Waxy corn: Zea mays var. ceratina

Amylomaize: Zea mays

Pod corn: Zea mays var. tunicata Larrañaga ex A. St. Hil.

Striped maize: Zea mays var. japonica

 

This system has been replaced (though not entirely displaced) over the last 60 years by multivariable classifications based on ever more data. Agronomic data were supplemented by botanical traits for a robust initial classification, then genetic, cytological, protein and DNA evidence was added. Now, the categories are forms (little used), races, racial complexes, and recently branches.

 

Maize is a diploid with 20 chromosomes (n=10). The combined length of the chromosomes is 1500 cM. Some of the maize chromosomes have what are known as "chromosomal knobs": highly repetitive heterochromatic domains that stain darkly. Individual knobs are polymorphic among strains of both maize and teosinte.

 

Barbara McClintock used these knob markers to validate her transposon theory of "jumping genes", for which she won the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Maize is still an important model organism for genetics and developmental biology today.

 

The centromeres have two types of structural components, both of which are found only in the centromeres: Large arrays of CentC, a short satellite DNA; and a few of a family of retrotransposons. The B chromosome, unlike the others, contains an additional repeat which extends into neighboring areas of the chromosome. Centromeres can accidentally shrink during division and still function, although it is thought this will fail if it shrinks below a few hundred kilobase. Kinetochores contain RNA originating from centromeres. Centromere regions can become inactive, and can continue in that state if the chromosome still has another active one.

 

The Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center, funded by the USDA Agricultural Research Service and located in the Department of Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is a stock center of maize mutants. The total collection has nearly 80,000 samples. The bulk of the collection consists of several hundred named genes, plus additional gene combinations and other heritable variants. There are about 1000 chromosomal aberrations (e.g., translocations and inversions) and stocks with abnormal chromosome numbers (e.g., tetraploids). Genetic data describing the maize mutant stocks as well as myriad other data about maize genetics can be accessed at MaizeGDB, the Maize Genetics and Genomics Database.

 

In 2005, the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Energy (DOE) formed a consortium to sequence the B73 maize genome. The resulting DNA sequence data was deposited immediately into GenBank, a public repository for genome-sequence data. Sequences and genome annotations have also been made available throughout the project's lifetime at the project's official site.

 

Primary sequencing of the maize genome was completed in 2008. On November 20, 2009, the consortium published results of its sequencing effort in Science. The genome, 85% of which is composed of transposons, was found to contain 32,540 genes (By comparison, the human genome contains about 2.9 billion bases and 26,000 genes). Much of the maize genome has been duplicated and reshuffled by helitrons—group of rolling circle transposons.

 

In Z. mays and various other angiosperms the MADS-box motif is involved in floral development. Early study in several angiosperm models including Z. mays was the beginning of research into the molecular evolution of floral structure in general, as well as their role in nonflowering plants.

 

EVOLUTION

As with many plants and animals, Z. mays has a positive correlation between effective population size and the magnitude of selection pressure. Z. m. having an EPS of ~650,000, it clusters with others of about the same EPS, and has 79% of its amino acid sites under selection.

 

Recombination is a significant source of diversity in Z. mays. (Note that this finding supersedes previous studies which showed no such correlation.)

 

This recombination/diversity effect is seen throughout plants but is also found to not occur – or not as strongly – in regions of high gene density. This is likely the reason that domesticated Z. mays has not seen as much of an increase in diversity within areas of higher density as in regions of lower density, although there is more evidence in other plants.

 

Some lines of maize have undergone ancient polyploidy events, starting 11m years ago. Over that time ~72% of polyploid duplicated genes have been retained, which is higher than other plants with older polyploidy events. Thus maize may be due to lose more duplicate genes as time goes along, similar to the course followed by the genomes of other plants. If so - if gene loss has merely not occurred yet - that could explain the lack of observed positive selection and lower negative selection which are observed in otherwise similar plants, i.e. also naturally outcrossing and with similar effective population sizes.

 

Ploidy does not appear to influence EPS or magnitude of selection effect in maize.

 

BREEDING

Maize reproduces sexually each year. This randomly selects half the genes from a given plant to propagate to the next generation, meaning that desirable traits found in the crop (like high yield or good nutrition) can be lost in subsequent generations unless certain techniques are used.

 

Maize breeding in prehistory resulted in large plants producing large ears. Modern breeding began with individuals who selected highly productive varieties in their fields and then sold seed to other farmers. James L. Reid was one of the earliest and most successful developing Reid's Yellow Dent in the 1860s. These early efforts were based on mass selection. Later breeding efforts included ear to row selection (C. G. Hopkins c. 1896), hybrids made from selected inbred lines (G. H. Shull, 1909), and the highly successful double cross hybrids using four inbred lines (D. F. Jones c. 1918, 1922). University supported breeding programs were especially important in developing and introducing modern hybrids. By the 1930s, companies such as Pioneer devoted to production of hybrid maize had begun to influence long-term development. Internationally important seed banks such as the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) and the US bank at the Maize Genetics Cooperation Stock Center University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign maintain germplasm important for future crop development.

 

Since the 1940s the best strains of maize have been first-generation hybrids made from inbred strains that have been optimized for specific traits, such as yield, nutrition, drought, pest and disease tolerance. Both conventional cross-breeding and genetic modification have succeeded in increasing output and reducing the need for cropland, pesticides, water and fertilizer. There is conflicting evidence to support the hypothesis that maize yield potential has increased over the past few decades. This suggests that changes in yield potential are associated with leaf angle, lodging resistance, tolerance of high plant density, disease/pest tolerance, and other agronomic traits rather than increase of yield potential per individual plant.

 

Tropical landraces remain an important and underutilized source of resistance alleles for for disease and for herbivores. Notable discoveries of rare alleles for this purpose were made by Dao et al 2014 and Sood et al 2014.

 

GLOBAL PROGRAM

CIMMYT operates a conventional breeding program to provide optimized strains. The program began in the 1980s. Hybrid seeds are distributed in Africa by the Drought Tolerant Maize for Africa project.

 

GENETIC MODIFICATION

Genetically modified (GM) maize was one of the 26 GM crops grown commercially in 2016. The vast majority of this is Bt maize. Grown since 1997 in the United States and Canada, 92% of the US maize crop was genetically modified in 2016 and 33% of the worldwide maize crop was GM in 2016. As of 2011, Herbicide-tolerant maize varieties were grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, El Salvador, the European Union, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, the Russian Federation, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States. Insect-resistant maize was grown in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, the European Union, Honduras, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, the United States, and Uruguay.

 

In September 2000, up to $50 million worth of food products were recalled due to the presence of Starlink genetically modified corn, which had been approved only for animal consumption and had not been approved for human consumption, and was subsequently withdrawn from the market.

 

ORIGIN

Maize is the domesticated variant of teosinte. The two plants have dissimilar appearance, maize having a single tall stalk with multiple leaves and teosinte being a short, bushy plant. The difference between the two is largely controlled by differences in just two genes, called grassy tillers-1 (gt1, A0A317YEZ1) and teosinte branched-1 (tb1, Q93WI2).

 

Several theories had been proposed about the specific origin of maize in Mesoamerica:

 

It is a direct domestication of a Mexican annual teosinte, Zea mays ssp. parviglumis, native to the Balsas River valley in south-eastern Mexico, with up to 12% of its genetic material obtained from Zea mays ssp. mexicana through introgression.

It has been derived from hybridization between a small domesticated maize (a slightly changed form of a wild maize) and a teosinte of section Luxuriantes, either Z. luxurians or Z. diploperennis.

It has undergone two or more domestications either of a wild maize or of a teosinte. (The term "teosinte" describes all species and subspecies in the genus Zea, excluding Zea mays ssp. mays.)

It has evolved from a hybridization of Z. diploperennis by Tripsacum dactyloides.

 

In the late 1930s, Paul Mangelsdorf suggested that domesticated maize was the result of a hybridization event between an unknown wild maize and a species of Tripsacum, a related genus. This theory about the origin of maize has been refuted by modern genetic testing, which refutes Mangelsdorf's model and the fourth listed above. 

 

The teosinte origin theory was proposed by the Russian botanist Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov in 1931 and the later American Nobel Prize-winner George Beadle in 1932.: 10  It is supported experimentally and by recent studies of the plants' genomes. Teosinte and maize can cross-breed and produce fertile offspring. A number of questions remain concerning the species, among them:

 

how the immense diversity of the species of sect. Zea originated,

how the tiny archaeological specimens of 3500–2700 BC could have been selected from a teosinte, and

how domestication could have proceeded without leaving remains of teosinte or maize with teosintoid traits earlier than the earliest known until recently, dating from ca. 1100 BC.

 

The domestication of maize is of particular interest to researchers—archaeologists, geneticists, ethnobotanists, geographers, etc. The process is thought by some to have started 7,500 to 12,000 years ago. Research from the 1950s to 1970s originally focused on the hypothesis that maize domestication occurred in the highlands between the states of Oaxaca and Jalisco, because the oldest archaeological remains of maize known at the time were found there.

Connection with 'parviglumis' subspecies

Genetic studies, published in 2004 by John Doebley, identified Zea mays ssp. parviglumis, native to the Balsas River valley in Mexico's southwestern highlands, and also known as Balsas teosinte, as being the crop wild relative that is genetically most similar to modern maize. This was confirmed by further studies, which refined this hypothesis somewhat. Archaeobotanical studies, published in 2009, point to the middle part of the Balsas River valley as the likely location of early domestication; this river is not very long, so these locations are not very distant. Stone milling tools with maize residue have been found in an 8,700 year old layer of deposits in a cave not far from Iguala, Guerrero.

 

Doebley was part of the team that first published, in 2002, that maize had been domesticated only once, about 9,000 years ago, and then spread throughout the Americas.

 

A primitive corn was being grown in southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America 7,000 years ago. Archaeological remains of early maize ears, found at Guila Naquitz Cave in the Oaxaca Valley, date back roughly 6,250 years; the oldest ears from caves near Tehuacan, Puebla, 5,450 B.P.

 

Maize pollen dated to 7,300 B.P. from San Andres, Tabasco, on the Caribbean coast has also been recovered.

 

As maize was introduced to new cultures, new uses were developed and new varieties selected to better serve in those preparations. Maize was the staple food, or a major staple – along with squash, Andean region potato, quinoa, beans, and amaranth – of most pre-Columbian North American, Mesoamerican, South American, and Caribbean cultures. The Mesoamerican civilization, in particular, was deeply interrelated with maize. Its traditions and rituals involved all aspects of maize cultivation – from the planting to the food preparation. Maize formed the Mesoamerican people's identity.

 

It is unknown what precipitated its domestication, because the edible portion of the wild variety is too small, and hard to obtain, to be eaten directly, as each kernel is enclosed in a very hard bivalve shell.

 

In 1939, George Beadle demonstrated that the kernels of teosinte are readily "popped" for human consumption, like modern popcorn. Some have argued it would have taken too many generations of selective breeding to produce large, compressed ears for efficient cultivation. However, studies of the hybrids readily made by intercrossing teosinte and modern maize suggest this objection is not well founded.

 

SPREADING TO THE NORTH

Around 4,500 ago, maize began to spread to the north; it was first cultivated in what is now the United States at several sites in New Mexico and Arizona, about 4,100 ago.

 

During the first millennium AD, maize cultivation spread more widely in the areas north. In particular, the large-scale adoption of maize agriculture and consumption in eastern North America took place about A.D. 900. Native Americans cleared large forest and grassland areas for the new crop.

 

In 2005, research by the USDA Forest Service suggested that the rise in maize cultivation 500 to 1,000 years ago in what is now the southeastern United States corresponded with a decline of freshwater mussels, which are very sensitive to environmental changes.

 

CULTIVATION

PLANTING

Because it is cold-intolerant, in the temperate zones maize must be planted in the spring. Its root system is generally shallow, so the plant is dependent on soil moisture. As a plant that uses C4 carbon fixation, maize is a considerably more water-efficient crop than plants that use C3 carbon fixation such as alfalfa and soybeans. Maize is most sensitive to drought at the time of silk emergence, when the flowers are ready for pollination. In the United States, a good harvest was traditionally predicted if the maize was "knee-high by the Fourth of July", although modern hybrids generally exceed this growth rate. Maize used for silage is harvested while the plant is green and the fruit immature. Sweet corn is harvested in the "milk stage", after pollination but before starch has formed, between late summer and early to mid-autumn. Field maize is left in the field until very late in the autumn to thoroughly dry the grain, and may, in fact, sometimes not be harvested until winter or even early spring. The importance of sufficient soil moisture is shown in many parts of Africa, where periodic drought regularly causes maize crop failure and consequent famine. Although it is grown mainly in wet, hot climates, it has been said to thrive in cold, hot, dry or wet conditions, meaning that it is an extremely versatile crop.

 

Maize was planted by the Native Americans in hills, in a complex system known to some as the Three Sisters. Maize provided support for beans, and the beans provided nitrogen derived from nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria which live on the roots of beans and other legumes; and squashes provided ground cover to stop weeds and inhibit evaporation by providing shade over the soil. This method was replaced by single species hill planting where each hill 60–120 cm (2 ft 0 in–3 ft 11 in) apart was planted with three or four seeds, a method still used by home gardeners. A later technique was "checked maize", where hills were placed

 

1 m (40 in) apart in each direction, allowing cultivators to run through the field in two directions. In more arid lands, this was altered and seeds were planted in the bottom of 10–12 cm (4–4+1⁄2 in) deep furrows to collect water. Modern technique plants maize in rows which allows for cultivation while the plant is young, although the hill technique is still used in the maize fields of some Native American reservations. When maize is planted in rows, it also allows for planting of other crops between these rows to make more efficient use of land space.

 

In most regions today, maize grown in residential gardens is still often planted manually with a hoe, whereas maize grown commercially is no longer planted manually but rather is planted with a planter. In North America, fields are often planted in a two-crop rotation with a nitrogen-fixing crop, often alfalfa in cooler climates and soybeans in regions with longer summers. Sometimes a third crop, winter wheat, is added to the rotation.

 

Many of the maize varieties grown in the United States and Canada are hybrids. Often the varieties have been genetically modified to tolerate glyphosate or to provide protection against natural pests. Glyphosate is an herbicide which kills all plants except those with genetic tolerance. This genetic tolerance is very rarely found in nature.

 

In the midwestern United States, low-till or no-till farming techniques are usually used. In low-till, fields are covered once, maybe twice, with a tillage implement either ahead of crop planting or after the previous harvest. The fields are planted and fertilized. Weeds are controlled through the use of herbicides, and no cultivation tillage is done during the growing season. This technique reduces moisture evaporation from the soil, and thus provides more moisture for the crop. The technologies mentioned in the previous paragraph enable low-till and no-till farming. Weeds compete with the crop for moisture and nutrients, making them undesirable.

 

HARVESTING

Before the 20th century, all maize harvesting was by manual labour, by grazing, or by some combination of those. Whether the ears were hand-picked and the stover was grazed, or the whole plant was cut, gathered, and shocked, people and livestock did all the work. Between the 1890s and the 1970s, the technology of maize harvesting expanded greatly. Today, all such technologies, from entirely manual harvesting to entirely mechanized, are still in use to some degree, as appropriate to each farm's needs, although the thoroughly mechanized versions predominate, as they offer the lowest unit costs when scaled to large farm operations. For small farms, their unit cost can be too high, as their higher fixed cost cannot be amortized over as many units.[citation needed]

 

Before World War II, most maize in North America was harvested by hand. This involved a large number of workers and associated social events (husking or shucking bees). From the 1890s onward, some machinery became available to partially mechanize the processes, such as one- and two-row mechanical pickers (picking the ear, leaving the stover) and corn binders, which are reaper-binders designed specifically for maize (for example, Video on YouTube). The latter produce sheaves that can be shocked. By hand or mechanical picker, the entire ear is harvested, which then requires a separate operation of a maize sheller to remove the kernels from the ear. Whole ears of maize were often stored in corn cribs, and these whole ears are a sufficient form for some livestock feeding use. Today corn cribs with whole ears, and corn binders, are less common because most modern farms harvest the grain from the field with a combine and store it in bins. The combine with a corn head (with points and snap rolls instead of a reel) does not cut the stalk; it simply pulls the stalk down. The stalk continues downward and is crumpled into a mangled pile on the ground, where it usually is left to become organic matter for the soil. The ear of maize is too large to pass between slots in a plate as the snap rolls pull the stalk away, leaving only the ear and husk to enter the machinery. The combine separates the husk and the cob, keeping only the kernels.

When maize is a silage crop, the entire plant is usually chopped at once with a forage harvester (chopper) and ensiled in silos or polymer wrappers. Ensiling of sheaves cut by a corn binder was formerly common in some regions but has become uncommon. For storing grain in bins, the moisture of the grain must be sufficiently low to avoid spoiling. If the moisture content of the harvested grain is too high, grain dryers are used to reduce the moisture content by blowing heated air through the grain. This can require large amounts of energy in the form of combustible gases (propane or natural gas) and electricity to power the blowers.

 

PRODUCTION

Maize is widely cultivated throughout the world, and a greater weight of maize is produced each year than any other grain. In 2018, total world production was 1.15 billion tonnes, led by the United States with 34.2% of the total (table). China produced 22.4% of the global total.

 

UNITED STATES

In 2016, maize production was forecast to be over 380 million metric tons (15 billion bushels), an increase of 11% over 2014 American production. Based on conditions as of August 2016, the expected yield would be the highest ever for the United States. The area of harvested maize was forecast to be 35 million hectares (87 million acres), an increase of 7% over 2015. Maize is especially popular in Midwestern states such as Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois; in the latter, it was named the state's official grain in 2017.

 

STORAGE

Drying is vital to prevent or at least reduce mycotoxin contamination. Aspergillus and Fusarium spp. are the most common mycotoxin sources, but there are others. Altogether maize contaminants are so common, and this crop is so economically important, that maize mycotoxins are among the most important in agriculture in general.

 

USES

HUMAN FOOD

Maize and cornmeal (ground dried maize) constitute a staple food in many regions of the world. Maize is used to produce cornstarch, a common ingredient in home cooking and many industrialized food products. Maize starch can be hydrolyzed and enzymatically treated to produce syrups, particularly high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener; and also fermented and distilled to produce grain alcohol. Grain alcohol from maize is traditionally the source of Bourbon whiskey. Corn flour is used to make cornbread and other baked products.

 

In prehistoric times Mesoamerican women used a metate to process maize into ground cornmeal, allowing the preparation of foods that were more calorie dense than popcorn. After ceramic vessels were invented the Olmec people began to cook maize together with beans, improving the nutritional value of the staple meal. Although maize naturally contains niacin, an important nutrient, it was not bioavailable without the process of nixtamalization. The Maya used nixtamal meal to make varieties of porridges and tamales. The process was later used in the cuisine of the American South to prepare corn for grits and hominy.

 

Maize is a staple of Mexican cuisine. Masa (cornmeal treated with limewater) is the main ingredient for tortillas, atole and many other dishes of Central American food. It is the main ingredient of corn tortilla, tamales, pozole, atole and all the dishes based on them, like tacos, quesadillas, chilaquiles, enchiladas, tostadas and many more. In Mexico the fungus of maize, known as huitlacoche, is considered a delicacy.

 

Coarse maize meal is made into a thick porridge in many cultures: from the polenta of Italy, the angu of Brazil, the mămăligă of Romania, to cornmeal mush in the US (or hominy grits in the South) or the food called mieliepap in South Africa and sadza, nshima, ugali and other names in other parts of Africa. Introduced into Africa by the Portuguese in the 16th century, maize has become Africa's most important staple food crop. These are commonly eaten in the Southeastern United States, foods handed down from Native Americans, who called the dish sagamite.

 

Maize can also be harvested and consumed in the unripe state, when the kernels are fully grown but still soft. Unripe maize must usually be cooked to become palatable; this may be done by simply boiling or roasting the whole ears and eating the kernels right off the cob. Sweet corn, a genetic variety that is high in sugars and low in starch, is usually consumed in the unripe state. Such corn on the cob is a common dish in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Cyprus, some parts of South America, and the Balkans, but virtually unheard of in some European countries. Corn on the cob was hawked on the streets of early 19th-century New York City by poor, barefoot "Hot Corn Girls", who were thus the precursors of hot dog carts, churro wagons, and fruit stands seen on the streets of big cities today.

 

Within the United States, the usage of maize for human consumption constitutes only around 1/40th of the amount grown in the country. In the United States and Canada, maize is mostly grown to feed livestock, as forage, silage (made by fermentation of chopped green cornstalks), or grain. Maize meal is also a significant ingredient of some commercial animal food products.

 

NUTRITIONAL VALUE

Raw, yellow, sweet maize kernels are composed of 76% water, 19% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and 1% fat (table). In a 100-gram serving, maize kernels provide 86 calories and are a good source (10–19% of the Daily Value) of the B vitamins, thiamin, niacin (but see Pellagra warning below), pantothenic acid (B5) and folate (right table for raw, uncooked kernels, USDA Nutrient Database). In moderate amounts, they also supply dietary fiber and the essential minerals, magnesium and phosphorus whereas other nutrients are in low amounts (table).

 

Maize has suboptimal amounts of the essential amino acids tryptophan and lysine, which accounts for its lower status as a protein source. However, the proteins of beans and legumes complement those of maize.

 

FEED AND FODDER FOR LIVESTOCK

Maize is a major source of both grain feed and fodder for livestock. It is fed to the livestock in various ways. When it is used as a grain crop, the dried kernels are used as feed. They are often kept on the cob for storage in a corn crib, or they may be shelled off for storage in a grain bin. The farm that consumes the feed may produce it, purchase it on the market, or some of both. When the grain is used for feed, the rest of the plant (the corn stover) can be used later as fodder, bedding (litter), or soil amendment. When the whole maize plant (grain plus stalks and leaves) is used for fodder, it is usually chopped all at once and ensilaged, as digestibility and palatability are higher in the ensilaged form than in the dried form. Maize silage is one of the most valuable forages for ruminants. Before the advent of widespread ensilaging, it was traditional to gather the corn into shocks after harvesting, where it dried further. With or without a subsequent move to the cover of a barn, it was then stored for weeks to several months until fed to the livestock. Today ensilaging can occur not only in siloes but also in silage wrappers. However, in the tropics, maize can be harvested year-round and fed as green forage to the animals.

 

CHEMICALS

Starch from maize can also be made into plastics, fabrics, adhesives, and many other chemical products.

 

The corn steep liquor, a plentiful watery byproduct of maize wet milling process, is widely used in the biochemical industry and research as a culture medium to grow many kinds of microorganisms.

 

Chrysanthemin is found in purple corn and is used as a food coloring.

 

BIO-FUEL

"Feed maize" is being used increasingly for heating; specialized corn stoves (similar to wood stoves) are available and use either feed maize or wood pellets to generate heat. Maize cobs are also used as a biomass fuel source. Maize is relatively cheap and home-heating furnaces have been developed which use maize kernels as a fuel. They feature a large hopper that feeds the uniformly sized maize kernels (or wood pellets or cherry pits) into the fire.[citation needed]

 

Maize is increasingly used as a feedstock for the production of ethanol fuel. When considering where to construct an ethanol plant, one of the site selection criteria is to ensure there is locally available feedstock. Ethanol is mixed with gasoline to decrease the amount of pollutants emitted when used to fuel motor vehicles. High fuel prices in mid-2007 led to higher demand for ethanol, which in turn led to higher prices paid to farmers for maize. This led to the 2007 harvest being one of the most profitable maize crops in modern history for farmers. Because of the relationship between fuel and maize, prices paid for the crop now tend to track the price of oil.

 

The price of food is affected to a certain degree by the use of maize for biofuel production. The cost of transportation, production, and marketing are a large portion (80%) of the price of food in the United States. Higher energy costs affect these costs, especially transportation. The increase in food prices the consumer has been seeing is mainly due to the higher energy cost. The effect of biofuel production on other food crop prices is indirect. Use of maize for biofuel production increases the demand, and therefore price of maize. This, in turn, results in farm acreage being diverted from other food crops to maize production. This reduces the supply of the other food crops and increases their prices.

 

Maize is widely used in Germany as a feedstock for biogas plants. Here the maize is harvested, shredded then placed in silage clamps from which it is fed into the biogas plants. This process makes use of the whole plant rather than simply using the kernels as in the production of fuel ethanol.

 

A biomass gasification power plant in Strem near Güssing, Burgenland, Austria, began in 2005. Research is being done to make diesel out of the biogas by the Fischer Tropsch method.

 

Increasingly, ethanol is being used at low concentrations (10% or less) as an additive in gasoline (gasohol) for motor fuels to increase the octane rating, lower pollutants, and reduce petroleum use (what is nowadays also known as "biofuels" and has been generating an intense debate regarding the human beings' necessity of new sources of energy, on the one hand, and the need to maintain, in regions such as Latin America, the food habits and culture which has been the essence of civilizations such as the one originated in Mesoamerica; the entry, January 2008, of maize among the commercial agreements of NAFTA has increased this debate, considering the bad labor conditions of workers in the fields, and mainly the fact that NAFTA "opened the doors to the import of maize from the United States, where the farmers who grow it receive multimillion-dollar subsidies and other government supports. ... According to OXFAM UK, after NAFTA went into effect, the price of maize in Mexico fell 70% between 1994 and 2001. The number of farm jobs dropped as well: from 8.1 million in 1993 to 6.8 million in 2002. Many of those who found themselves without work were small-scale maize growers."). However, introduction in the northern latitudes of the US of tropical maize for biofuels, and not for human or animal consumption, may potentially alleviate this.

 

COMMODITY

Maize is bought and sold by investors and price speculators as a tradable commodity using corn futures contracts. These "futures" are traded on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) under ticker symbol C. They are delivered every year in March, May, July, September, and December.

 

ORNAMENTAL AND OTHER USES

Some forms of the plant are occasionally grown for ornamental use in the garden. For this purpose, variegated and colored leaf forms as well as those with colorful ears are used.

 

Corncobs can be hollowed out and treated to make inexpensive smoking pipes, first manufactured in the United States in 1869.

 

An unusual use for maize is to create a "corn maze" (or "maize maze") as a tourist attraction. The idea of a maize maze was introduced by the American Maze Company who created a maze in Pennsylvania in 1993. Traditional mazes are most commonly grown using yew hedges, but these take several years to mature. The rapid growth of a field of maize allows a maze to be laid out using GPS at the start of a growing season and for the maize to grow tall enough to obstruct a visitor's line of sight by the start of the summer. In Canada and the US, these are popular in many farming communities.

 

Maize kernels can be used in place of sand in a sandboxlike enclosure for children's play.

 

Stigmas from female maize flowers, popularly called corn silk, are sold as herbal supplements.

 

Maize is used as a fish bait, called "dough balls". It is particularly popular in Europe for coarse fishing.

 

Additionally, feed corn is sometimes used by hunters to bait animals such as deer or wild hogs.

 

UNITED STATES USAGE BREAKDOWN

The breakdown of usage of the 12.1-billion-bushel (307-million-tonne) 2008 US maize crop was as follows, according to the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report by the USDA.In the US since 2009/2010, maize feedstock use for ethanol production has somewhat exceeded direct use for livestock feed; maize use for fuel ethanol was 5,130 million bushels (130 million tonnes) in the 2013/2014 marketing year.A fraction of the maize feedstock dry matter used for ethanol production is usefully recovered as DDGS (dried distillers grains with solubles). In the 2010/2011 marketing year, about 29.1 million tonnes of DDGS were fed to US livestock and poultry. Because starch utilization in fermentation for ethanol production leaves other grain constituents more concentrated in the residue, the feed value per kg of DDGS, with regard to ruminant-metabolizable energy and protein, exceeds that of the grain. Feed value for monogastric animals, such as swine and poultry, is somewhat lower than for ruminants.

 

HAZARDS

PELLAGRA

When maize was first introduced into farming systems other than those used by traditional native-American peoples, it was generally welcomed with enthusiasm for its productivity. However, a widespread problem of malnutrition soon arose wherever maize was introduced as a staple food. This was a mystery, since these types of malnutrition were not normally seen among the indigenous Americans, for whom maize was the principal staple food.

 

It was eventually discovered that the indigenous Americans had learned to soak maize in alkali — water (the process now known as nixtamalization) — made with ashes and lime (calcium oxide) since at least 1200–1500 BC by Mesoamericans. They did this to liberate the corn hulls, but (unbeknownst to natives or colonists) it coincidentally liberates the B-vitamin niacin, the lack of which was the underlying cause of the condition known as pellagra.

 

Maize was introduced into the diet of non-indigenous Americans without the necessary cultural knowledge acquired over thousands of years in the Americas. In the late 19th century, pellagra reached epidemic proportions in parts of the southern US, as medical researchers debated two theories for its origin: the deficiency theory (which was eventually shown to be true) said that pellagra was due to a deficiency of some nutrient, and the germ theory said that pellagra was caused by a germ transmitted by stable flies. A third theory, promoted by the eugenicist Charles Davenport, held that people only contracted pellagra if they were susceptible to it due to certain "constitutional, inheritable" traits of the affected individual.

 

Once alkali processing and dietary variety were understood and applied, pellagra disappeared in the developed world. The development of high lysine maize and the promotion of a more balanced diet have also contributed to its demise. Pellagra still exists today in food-poor areas and refugee camps where people survive on donated maize.

 

ALLERGY

Maize contains lipid transfer protein, an indigestible protein that survives cooking. This protein has been linked to a rare and understudied allergy to maize in humans. The allergic reaction can cause skin rash, swelling or itching of mucous membranes, diarrhea, vomiting, asthma and, in severe cases, anaphylaxis. It is unclear how common this allergy is in the general population.

 

MYCOTOXINS

Fungicide application does not reduce fungal growth or mycotoxin dramatically, although it can be a part of a successful reduction strategy. Among the most common toxins are those produced by Aspergillus and Fusarium spp. The most common toxins are aflatoxins, fumonisins, zearalenone, and ochratoxin A. Bt maize discourages insect vectors and by so doing it dramatically reduces concentrations of fumonisins, significantly reduces aflatoxins, but only mildly reduces others.

 

ART

Maize has been an essential crop in the Andes since the pre-Columbian era. The Moche culture from Northern Peru made ceramics from earth, water, and fire. This pottery was a sacred substance, formed in significant shapes and used to represent important themes. Maize was represented anthropomorphically as well as naturally.

 

In the United States, maize ears along with tobacco leaves are carved into the capitals of columns in the United States Capitol building. Maize itself is sometimes used for temporary architectural detailing when the intent is to celebrate the fall season, local agricultural productivity and culture. Bundles of dried maize stalks are often displayed along with pumpkins, gourds and straw in autumnal displays outside homes and businesses. A well-known example of architectural use is the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, which uses cobs and ears of colored maize to implement a mural design that is recycled annually. Another well-known example is the Field of Corn sculpture in Dublin, Ohio, where hundreds of concrete ears of corn stand in a grassy field.

 

A maize stalk with two ripe ears is depicted on the reverse of the Croatian 1 lipa coin, minted since 1993.

 

WIKIPEDIA

Taken in lower Manhattn in March of 2008. Elisha in Billikid's rockership. Elisha looks determined. This time he will not fail .

 

Elisha and Bocvana departed earth armed with a .357 magnum, silver bullets, garlic, Holy Water and a wooden stake. This time Kam the Alien would be killed dead.

 

As they entered space Elisha and Bocvana turned off their cloaking device so as to attract the attention of Kam and her UFO. Sure enough they were picked up and drawn into the hull of the giant UFO. Kam was there to greet them.

 

Kam said hello and remarked that they could be a threesome. We played along with it and said sure, why not. So she set us all up in a big bedroom where she thought the action would take place.

 

Kam was still in the form of the mannequin Kathleen and looked like a million bucks. When she was naked she looked absolutely gorgeous. Too bad she would be dead in a few seconds.

 

I pulled out the .357 and pumped six silver bullets dipped in Holy Water and rubbed with garlic into her midsection. That did it. She spurted lots of blood and fell to the floor dead.

 

Before she could revive herself Bocvana and I drove a wooden stake into her heart. Red blood gushed from the wound.

 

Just to make sure that she would not come back to life we placed a garlic garland around her neck. We also had some peeled pieces of garlic which we inserted into her mouth and shoved up her butt and vagina.

 

Then we looked for a way out and back to our spaceship. We were actually in the cockpit when who should appear yet again, but Kam.

 

Oh my God I said to Bocvana, we are done for, she is neither a werewolf nor a Vampire.

 

Kam said she was neither a Vampire nor a werewolf because those creatures were not natural to her planet. They both came from the earth. She said that we had only momentarily knocked her out but now she said she was back.

 

She smiled and said that she enjoyed the experience of being almost dead. It was thrilling according to her. She again called me a jerk and said that Bocvana was a fool to even go along with me. Then she let us go. Her last remark before we took off was... " Elisha I'll see you soon" .

  

March 5, 2008.

   

 

This photo was taken in a dressing room at a Ross Dress for Less store in Orlando on Sunday, June 29. It was a busy evening for Joni. . . .

 

It started with dinner at a nearby Carrabba's with the wife as documented in the previous posted photo. After dinner, Joni drove back to her time share condo to drop off the wife and do some tidying up by putting on some jewelry items she had inexplicably neglected to put on before going out to dinner, possibly a warning of oncoming senility on her part. One can zoom in on this photo and see that she is wearing a necklace and bracelets on her wrists. These items are conspicuously absent in the previous posted portrait photo in which Joni was happily dining on her Chicken Parmiajoni earlier in the evening at Carrabba's. Also added on this return trip, but not really visible, were a pair of earrings. (Seriously, Joni, how do you forget to put on earrings before going out anywhere en femme??? Didn't you feel naked?)

 

Once properly accessorized, Joni then headed out to Orlando proper to drop in on one of her favorite LGBTQ haunts in the "Big O", as Orlando likes to bill itself. Sunday night in Orlando is not to be confused with a typical Friday or Saturday night in the clubs and bars, which are usually packed. Sunday evenings are far more sedate, as there was a much smaller crowd and there were opportunities to actually flirt with the relaxed bartenders, who normally don't have time to engage in verbal foreplay because they are usually overwhelmed serving beers and mixing and pouring drinks non-stop to the thirsty throngs who flaunt the local fire code's rules about maximum occupancy. Not so on Sunday nights when the vibe is far more subdued. So flirt away Joni did, as she enjoyed the rare opportunity to claim an open seat at the bar, especially since Joni wasn't attracting much attention from any of the younger studs who were in attendance.

 

Thus it was appropriate that at some point, Joni was approached by another older female patron who identified herself as a local woman from nearby Kissimmee. Oddly, she asked Joni if she came to this club often as this was only the third time she herself had been there despite living in the Orlando area for the past 15 years. Joni advised her that she was a tourist, but that she usually came here a few times any week that Joni was in town, which was once or twice a year since the wife and Joni maintained time shares in Orlando. Joni made a point of mentioning the wife as well as the fact that Joni was checking out in the morning and returning to South Carolina so as to subtly discourage the woman from entertaining any notions about hooking up with Joni for the night, which Joni sensed was a primary motive for the woman to approach Joni as she did. . . .

 

Not that the woman was unattractive, because she wasn't. Dressed in an ankle length floral skirt with a lacy white top, Joni would guess the woman was approximately 50 years old, give or take a few years. She was slightly paunchy in her midsection, which one might expect with a woman of that age, but she still had a pretty face and was displaying rather impressive cleavage. Joni sensed she was on the make and probably divorced, and probably lonely. I suspect she may have thought the same about Joni.

 

Furthermore, she didn't seem to care that Joni was a TG, and when Joni initially spoke in her non-feminine voice, her only reaction was to note that Joni didn't sound like someone from South Carolina. Indeed, we wound up having a pleasant conversation for about 20 minutes during which the woman never acknowledged or alluded to the fact that Joni was a TG. I guess one can call that acceptance; a nice thing in an increasingly non-accepting world.

 

During the course of our conversation, Joni confirmed the woman's suspicions that Joni was not a South Carolinian, but that she was originally a New Yorker by way of New Jersey who had retired to South Carolina. In turn, she advised Joni that she was also from New York, having grown up and lived upstate near Plattsburgh up by the Canadian border on the way to Montreal. She had moved south to Florida for employment, and was still working for a living. Jon and the woman commiserated that they both appeared to be out of place in this venue because they were clearly older than the vast majority of the patrons, but she said she still liked it because it was "fun". She suggested that the next time Joni is in town, she should try "Disney Springs", which has an adult themed nightclub on the Disney property which attracts an older crowd. Hmmm. . . . Frankly, Joni is quite skepticaI about that recommendation, but I suppose dancing with Mickey and Minnie might be fun! Hell, Joni might explore it first in drab and then give it a try. Maybe. . . Eventually, we parted ways which was good because it was already past 10:30 pm and Joni had one last item of business to attend to before she called it a night. She wanted to satisfy her urge to do some femme shopping, and she knew just the place to go - Ross "Dress for Less"!

 

Yes! Joni was going to a Ross "Dress for Less" late on a Sunday night to shop! What a concept! But shouldn't a store like Ross be closed on a late Sunday night, one might wonder? The short answer is "Yes", because everything else in Orlando was closed other than gas stations and convenience stores like Wa-wa. However, Joni's alter ego discovered this oddity by accident on the first night after he and the wife checked in late on Thursday evening and he went out looking for a grocery store to buy some food items to tide them over for their long weekend stay in Orlando. The alter ego had assumed that he could find a Publix or at least a Walmart that was open late, or at least until 10:00 p.m.

 

Once upon a time, it was common to find all-night Walmarts in various locations in and around Orlando, or in places like Myrtle Beach, as well as in parts of New Jersey. The rationale in those days was that these large stores kept their lights and air and heating systems operating overnight because they had work crews working to re-stock their shelves overnight, so it only made sense to keep the doors open all night with at least one cashier and open register during the overnight period to generate some extra sales revenue. The all-night stores were actually a great convenience to people whose jobs required them to work until late at night or the early morning hours, or for someone like Joni who would show up at 2:30 a.m. after a night of clubbing to scour the otherwise deserted cosmetic aisles or the women's hosiery department for new femme supplies without feeling embarrassed in the presence of other shoppers, or even the work crews, all of whom were trained by Walmart as a matter of corporate policy to be polite and accommodating to members of the LGTBQ community, and others similarly situated.

 

However, that apparently all ended as a result of the Pandemic. Nowadays, it is difficult to find any kind of store that stays open past ten o'clock, including a Walmart. Where Joni lives in South Carolina, most businesses and stores are closed by 8:00 p.m. when they literally roll up the sidewalks. . . . but this was Orlando, a hot international tourist destination. Surely, something would be open? Right?? . . . . WRONG!!! The alter ego thought he found a glimmer of hope when he drove by a shopping center in Kissimmee with a large Publix store visible from the highway with about 20 cars parked in the lot. It was almost 11:00 p.m. He was ecstatic after having driven around for about an hour searching vainly for an open store. He pulled into the lot and parked the car and walked up to the front door of Publix only to discover that this Publix was closed and had been closed since 9:00 p.m. So why are there so many cars in the parking lot? What gives?? That's when he saw a woman walk out of the adjacent store with a shopping bag. It was a Ross "Dress for Less". Walking over to the front door, he could see that there were plenty of people inside the store, shopping and working. This was definitely odd, he thought to himself. "It must be a special Thursday night thing.", he rationalized, until his unbelieving eyes spotted the store hours posted on one of the doors. Incredibly, this Ross store stayed open until midnight every night, seven nights a week! . . . Including Sundays!! . . . . Incredible!!!

 

He walked off and returned back to the resort condo empty-handed that night , but he was determined to alert Joni so she could take advantage of this unique shopping opportunity before the weekend was over. Joni was not a regular shopper at any Ross store, but she has had some notable good luck shopping at other Ross stores on occasion in various locations in the past.

 

So on the night in question, Joni returned to the Ross store and sure enough, it was open and quite busy. Joni only had less than an hour before closing to peruse the racks, but working fast, she identified 5 items to take into the changing room to try on as prospective purchases. She found a few winners; two pencil skirts, one in denim, and a floral print blouse and proceeded to the register where she got on a long line and waited for at least 20 minutes before she reached one of the three registers. The store was not only open, but it was busy as hell! The sum total for the three items was just a bit more than $40.00, and Joni was quite happy to "Dress for Less" during her midnight shopping spree! Indeed, the clock struck 12 well before she exited the store, and there were still many others waiting on line to reach the cashiers.

 

The attached photo was taken in the dressing room before Joni started trying on different items. From her smile, one can sense that Joni felt she was about to strike gold. . . .

One of my favourite photographers on flickr is Ira. This shot was inspired by her.

"John D. Leitch" & the Tugs "Point Valour" & "Glenada"

The 2 tugs have been opening the slip while the Risley is reopening the channel through the ice for

the Leitch who has been waiting to dock at Thunder Bay Terminals. But has been unable to get near there due to Ice Fields being blown into that part of the Bay and closing the channels cut by the Breakers.

  

This unique Great Lakes self-unloading bulk carrier was built by Port Weller Dry Docks, St. Catharines, Ont., as Hull #41. She was christened Canadian Century for Upper Lakes Group, Inc., Toronto, Ont., on April 15, 1967 by Mrs. G. E. Gathercole, wife of the Chairman of the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario. The name paid tribute to the 100th anniversary of Canada’s confederation.

 

At the time of her launch, the vessel was the largest capacity self-unloading vessel on the Great Lakes. Her squared hull design reduced wasted space thus increasing her tonnage, however her very tall wheelhouse and forward accommodation block gave her the distinction of being known as the “little bank building that floats.”

 

The Canadian Century’s original self-unloading system consisted of a single, center line conveyor belt gravity system with a 300-ton reclaimer feeding a bucket/hopper elevator system leading to a forward-mounted 250 foot discharge boom. The reclaimer consisted of 2 auger screws, each 26 feet long and 7 feet high. As they would turn, the cargo would be forced forward to the bucket elevator system. It could discharge at a rate of up to 4,000 tons per hour. Due to the technological advances in self-unloading systems, the Canadian Century’s bucket elevator system was replaced in 1975/76 with a modern loop belt elevator system capable of discharging cargo at a rate of up to 4,572 tons per hour. The discharge boom can be swung 95 degrees to port or starboard.

 

The vessel is powered by a Burmeister & Wain type 574 VT2F 160 diesel engine rated at 7,394 b.h.p. at 115 r.p.m. burning intermediate grade 180 fuel driving a controllable pitch propeller, giving the vessel a service speed of 14.5 knots. She is equipped with a 1,000 horsepower bowthruster. Her enormous single hold is fed by 22 hatches. She can carry 25,700 tons at maximum Seaway draft of 26 feet and is capable of carrying 31,600 tons at her maximum mid-summer draft of 29 feet 4 inches. Other capacities include 465 tons of fuel oil, 75 tons of diesel oil, 186 tons of potable water, and 17,348 tons of water ballast.

 

In December 2001, Canadian Century entered Port Weller Dry Docks for a mid-life refit. The $25-million (C) refit was similar to the work that the shipyard completed on Canada Steamship Lines’ CSL Tadoussac the winter before. The bow and stern sections remained intact, along with most of the main deck. The cargo hold and the rest of the midsection were replaced with a new, larger cargo hold and a one-belt self-unloading system with a flat tank top. When it returned to service in May of 2002, it not only carried more cargo, but could operate more efficiently through the increased use of technology.

 

The Century was built specifically to accommodate Upper Lakes Group’s first contract to carry coal for Ontario Hydro. During her first season of operation, she made 63 trips delivering coal totaling 1.7 million tons. On Dec. 8, 1967, she set a Welland Canal coal record by carrying 28,283 tons from Conneaut, Ohio, to Dofasco at Hamilton, Ont. June 18, 1969 saw the Canadian Century load a Conneaut, Ohio, record of 31,081 tons of coal for Ontario Hydro’s Lambton Generating Station at Courtright, Ont. In her early years, she would sail to Sept Isles, Que., to rendezvous with her former fleet mate Ontario Power to transfer coal loaded aboard the latter vessel at Sydney, Nova Scotia, for delivery to Nanticoke, Ont. The Canadian Century carried her first load of taconite ore pellets in 1986 when she loaded 25,427 tons at Pointe Noire, Que., for Hamilton, Ont. The vessel has carried cargoes of salt from ports such as Goderich, Ont., and Fairport, Ohio. She has also carried the odd cargo of grain products.

 

In her later years, the Canadian Century sailed under the management of Seaway Marine Transport, St. Catharines, Ont., a partnership of Algoma Central and Upper Lakes Group.

 

On March 23, 2001, the vessel was honored in the traditional Top Hat ceremony recognizing the passing of the first upbound vessel through the Welland Canal for the 2001 navigation season.

 

In 2002, the vessel was renamed John D. Leitch, honoring the chairman of the Upper Lakes Group. On February 25, 2011, a formal statement was issued announcing the sale of the privately owned Upper Lakes fleet and their associated interest in Seaway Marine Transport to the Algoma Central Corporation. On April 15, 2011, Algoma announced that the John D. Leitch would retain her name.

 

Written by George Wharton

 

Ship Particulars

Length730′ 00″ (222.51m)

Beam77′ 11″ (23.75m)

Depth45′ 00″ (13.72m)

Midsummer Draft29′ 8″ (9.04m)

Unloading Boom Conveyor Length250′ (76.2m)

Capacity34,127 tons

Engine Power7,500 bhp diesel

Previous Names

Canadian Century1967 – 2002

John D. Leitch2002 – Today

Fidalgo Bay.

NTSB Final Accident Report:

 

"The newly built yacht Baaden was being launched stern first down the Fidalgo Marina boat ramp in Anacortes, Washington, with eight shipyard personnel on board when it capsized after entering the water at 2050 on Sunday, May 18, 2014.

The yacht was salvaged but was declared a total constructive loss, estimated at $10 million. Three shipyard personnel who were trapped below decks for up to half an hour were treated for minor cuts and injuries at local hospitals. No pollution was reported.

New World Yacht Builders began construction of the Baaden in December 2011, working from an existing 80-foot-hull mold built in 2002 by Northern Marine. Like other large Northern

Marine yachts, the vessel was custom designed. The 80-foot mold was lengthened in the midsection and stem, the bow was given more flare, and a swim platform was added. The

resulting 85-foot vessel was designated Northern Marine model 8501 and was the first of its kind. New World described the Baaden as having commercial fishing vessel roots in an 85-foot European-style, luxury, long-range, oceangoing expedition yacht. The builder, the buyer’s representative, and an interior design firm collaborated on the vessel design and styling. Several sister vessels built to the 80-foot-hull design were completed and are in operation.

 

Due to water damage to interior woodwork, machinery, and electrical systems and expenses associated with repairing the vessel, at the time of this report the Baaden was considered a total constructive loss with an estimated value of $10 million.

Launch team members inspected the launch cradles, dollies, and equipment after the incident and noted that one of the tires on the forward dolly was flat, and witnesses said they saw bubbles coming from the forward dolly at the time of the launch. The tire likely was damaged during the initial port roll at 2037.

 

Probable Cause:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the capsizing of the yacht Baaden during its initial launch was the vessel’s low margin of stability due to the combined effects of a recording error during the final vessel weigh, which resulted in an incorrect assessment of the vessel’s center of gravity, and an overestimation of the weight of installed ballast."

 

www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/pages/MAB1514...

GUNDAM BZ DEFENDER

This is my fourth Gundam MOC, however this one is not from any Gundam continuity this is a custom Gundam based on my new double jointed mech frame design. If you made it to Brickfete you saw this before my internet audience did! Thanks to all the other mech builders for their suggestions and criticisms which resulted in a more poseable Lego Mobile suit frame for this MOC. This Gundam MOC stands tall at 15 inches – 3 inches taller than my usual mech / leader class transformer size and is equipped with a midsection cockpit for its pilot. He is very poseable! Enjoy rate and comment!

Pls also check out my YouTube video for more details on this MOC:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlYfjRMjUk

This is a new building I’ve not seen before found out a bit of info on it:

  

One Blackfriars is. 50 storey building, which is central London’s tallest residential tower since the Barbican. Containing 273 private flats, it was designed by Iain Simpson and features a distinctive curved, double-skin glass facade containing a continuous envelope of winter gardens. No expense has been spared; the building features 5,476 pieces of individually curved glass panels to ensure the facade looks as smooth and elegant as possible. Inspired by a 1950s vase, the building bulges outwards towards its midsection. Simpson says his building differs from other London skyscrapers due to its dynamic and asymmetrical form, which plays on the reflection of light from the ground and river below.

 

Most of the flats have been sold but if you have £12.5m to spare there is still time to reserve a three-bedroom apartment on the 42nd floor.

This is the outfit I wore during a recent poetry reading: The Nicole by Nicole Miller dress is something I found at JCPenney, along with a skirt of a similar pattern. I think the animal print is so striking (*purrr*).

 

The belt is something that's been in my closet for a long while; I can't remember exactly when or where I bought it, but it does go well with this dress, not to mention keeps the dress in place (flyaway at the midsection is so unsightly when you're out on the town).

 

This wavy red hair has steadily become my favorite, if not one of my favorites, especially after someone at a support group mentioned to me that I look better as a redhead than as a blonde. (Hmmm...)

Detail of the midsection of a fine Swamp Bay (Persea palustris) specimen growing in sandy soil next to the parking lot.

 

A close relative of the Avocado (P. americana), it's a member of the Lauraceae (Laurel Family) and one of the Carolinas' characteristic barrier-island tree species. As its name suggests, it's often a wetland associate, though here and elsewhere it seems to tolerate sandy soil near coastal dunes as well.

 

And like another relative, the Old World's true Laurel or Bay Tree (Laurus nobilis), Swamp Bay has simple, entire-margined, and delightfully aromatic leaves.

 

This image nicely shows the plant's mature bark, on the largest trunk visible here.

 

The other photos and descriptions of this series can be found in my Botany of the Carolinas Coastal Plain album.

  

Fidalgo Bay.

NTSB Final Accident Report:

 

"The newly built yacht Baaden was being launched stern first down the Fidalgo Marina boat ramp in Anacortes, Washington, with eight shipyard personnel on board when it capsized

after entering the water at 2050 on Sunday, May 18, 2014. The yacht was salvaged but was declared a total constructive loss, estimated at $10 million. Three shipyard personnel who were

trapped below decks for up to half an hour were treated for minor cuts and injuries at local hospitals. No pollution was reported.

 

New World Yacht Builders began construction of the Baaden in December 2011, working from an existing 80-foot-hull mold built in 2002 by Northern Marine. Like other large Northern

Marine yachts, the vessel was custom designed. The 80-foot mold was lengthened in the midsection and stem, the bow was given more flare, and a swim platform was added. The

resulting 85-foot vessel was designated Northern Marine model 8501 and was the first of its kind. New World described the Baaden as having commercial fishing vessel roots in an 85-foot

European-style, luxury, long-range, oceangoing expedition yacht. The builder, the buyer’s representative, and an interior design firm collaborated on the vessel design and styling. Several sister vessels built to the 80-foot-hull design were completed and are in operation.

 

Due to water damage to interior woodwork, machinery, and electrical systems and expenses associated with repairing the vessel, at the time of this report the Baaden was considered a total constructive loss with an estimated value of $10 million.

Launch team members inspected the launch cradles, dollies, and equipment after the incident and noted that one of the tires on the forward dolly was flat, and witnesses said they saw

bubbles coming from the forward dolly at the time of the launch. The tire likely was damaged during the initial port roll at 2037.

 

Probable Cause:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the capsizing of the yacht Baaden during its initial launch was the vessel’s low margin of stability due to the combined effects of a recording error during the final vessel weigh, which resulted in an incorrect assessment of the vessel’s center of gravity, and an overestimation of the weight of installed ballast."

 

www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/pages/MAB1514...

Da Wikipédia, em português:

Louva-a-deus

O louva-a-deus ou cavalinho-de-deus é um insecto, da ordem Mantodea. Há cerca de 2400 espécies de louva-a-deus, a maioria das quais em ambiente tropical e subtropical. Seu nome popular decorre do fato de que, quando está pousado, o inseto lembra uma pessoa orando. Os louva-a-deus são insetos relativamente grandes, de cabeça triangular, tórax estreito com pronoto e abdómen bem desenvolvido. São predadores agressivos que caçam principalmente moscas e afídios. A caça é feita em geral de emboscada, facilitada pelas capacidades de camuflagem do louva-a-deus. Como não possuem veneno, os louva-a-deus contam com as suas pernas anteriores que são raptatórias, ou seja, modificadas como garras, para segurar a presa enquanto é consumida. A sua voracidade leva a que sejam considerados muito bem vindos pelos amantes da jardinagem e agricultura biológica, uma vez que, na ausência de pesticidas, são um fator importante no controlo de pragas de jardim. Na América do Norte ocorrem apenas três espécies de louva-a-deus, duas das quais introduzidas no início do século XX para este mesmo efeito.

 

O voo do louva-a-deus é algo impressionante. Remete ao voo de um caça de combate. Ele também tem a capacidade de desviar de ataques de morcegos em pleno voo executando mergulhos.

 

O louva-a-deus é um animal muito venerado na China, tendo inclusive estilos de Kung Fu baseados em seus movimentos.

Acasalamento:

O ritual de acasalamento dos louva-a-deus, que decorre por volta do Outono, é uma época de perigo para os machos da espécie, uma vez que a fêmea muitas vezes acaba por os matar e comer durante/depois do ato. Depois do fato consumado, a fêmea põe entre 10 a 400 ovos numa cápsula endurecida que deposita no chão, superfície plana ou enrolada numa folha. Em algumas espécies, a fêmea permanece perto da cápsula e a protege contra os predadores, em particular algumas espécies de vespa. Após a eclosão, o louva-a-deus nasce como ninfa, que é em tudo igual ao adulto excepto no tamanho menor e na ausência de asas e de órgãos reprodutores maduros.

 

From Wikipedia, in english:

 

Mantis

For other uses, see Praying mantis (disambiguation) and Mantis (disambiguation).

Mantodea

Temporal range: 145–0Ma

PreЄ

Є

O

S

D

C

P

T

J

K

Pg

N

Cretaceous–Recent

Mantis-greece-alonisos-0a.jpg

Adult female Sphodromantis viridis

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Subclass: Pterygota

Infraclass: Neoptera

Superorder: Dictyoptera

Order: Mantodea

Burmeister, 1838

Families

 

Acanthopidae

Amorphoscelididae

Chaeteessidae

Empusidae

Eremiaphilidae

Hymenopodidae

Iridopterygidae

Liturgusidae

Mantidae

Mantoididae

Metallyticidae

Sibyllidae

Tarachodidae

Thespidae

Toxoderidae

Synonyms

 

Manteodea Burmeister, 1829

Mantearia

Mantoptera

 

Mantodea (or mantises, mantes) is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 species and about 430 genera[1] in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae.

 

The English common name for the order is the mantises, or rarely (using a Latinized plural of Greek mantis), the mantes. The name mantid refers only to members of the family Mantidae, which was, historically, the only family in the Order, but with 14 additional families recognized in recent decades, this term can be confusing. The other common name, often applied to any species in the order, is "praying mantis",[2] because of the typical "prayer-like" posture with folded fore-limbs, although the eggcorn "preying mantis" is sometimes used in reference to their predatory habits.[3][4] In Europe and other regions, however, the name "praying mantis" refers to only a single species, Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the termites and cockroaches (order Blattodea). They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets, or other insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies.

Etymology:

The name mantodea is formed from the Ancient Greek words μάντις (mantis) meaning "prophet", and εἶδος (eidos) meaning "form" or "type". It was coined in 1838 by the German entomologist Hermann Burmeister.

Systematics:

The systematics of mantises have long been disputed. Mantises, along with walking sticks, were once placed in the order Orthoptera with the cockroaches (now Blattodea) and rock crawlers (now Grylloblattodea). Kristensen (1991) combined Mantodea with the cockroaches and termites into the order Dictyoptera.

Anatomy and morphology:

Mantises have two grasping, spiked forelegs ("raptorial legs") in which prey items are caught and held securely. In most insect legs, including the posterior four legs of a mantis, the coxa and trochanter combine as an inconspicuous base of the leg; in the raptorial legs however, the coxa and trochanter combine to form a segment about as long as the femur, which is a spiky part of the grasping apparatus (see illustration). Located at the base of the femur are a set of discoidal spines, usually four in number, but ranging from zero to as many as five depending on the species. These spines are preceded by a number of tooth-like tubercles, which, along with a similar series of tubercles along the tibia and the apical claw near its tip, give the foreleg of the mantis its grasp on its prey. The foreleg ends in a delicate tarsus made of between four and five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no arolium and used as a walking appendage.[8]

 

The mantis thorax consists of a prothorax, a mesothorax, and a metathorax. In all species apart from the genus Mantoida, the prothorax, which bears the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoracic segments. The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movement of the head and forelimbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile. The articulation of the neck is also remarkably flexible; some species of mantis can rotate the head nearly 180 degrees.

 

Mantises may have a visual range of up to 20 metres. Their compound eyes may comprise up to 10,000 ommatidia. The eyes are widely spaced and laterally situated, affording a wide binocular field of vision and, at close range, precise stereoscopic vision. The dark spot on each eye is a pseudopupil. As their hunting relies heavily on vision, mantises are primarily diurnal. Many species, however, fly at night, and then may be attracted to artificial lights. Nocturnal flight is especially important to males in search of less-mobile females that they locate by detecting their pheromones. Flying at night exposes mantises to fewer bird predators than diurnal flight would. Many mantises also have an auditory thoracic organ that helps them to avoid bats by detecting their echolocation and responding evasively.[8]

 

Mantises can be loosely categorized as being macropterous (long-winged), brachypterous (short-winged), micropterous (vestigial-winged), or apterous (wingless). If not wingless, a mantis has two sets of wings: the outer wings, or tegmina, are usually narrow, opaque, and leathery. They function as camouflage and as a shield for the hind wings. The hind wings are much broader, more delicate, and transparent. They are the main organs of flight, if any. Brachypterous species are at most minimally capable of flight, other species not at all. The wings are mostly erected in these mantises for alarming enemies and attracting females. Even in many macropterous species the female is much heavier than the male, has much shorter wings, and rarely takes flight if she is capable of it at all.

 

The abdomen of all mantises consist of ten tergites with a corresponding set of nine sternites visible in males and seven visible in females. The slim abdomen of most males allows them to take flight more easily while the thicker abdomen of the females houses the reproductive machinery for generating the ootheca. The abdomen of both sexes ends in a pair of cerci.

Evolution:

One theory for the evolution of the group is that mantises evolved from proto-cockroaches, diverging from their common ancestors by the Cretaceous period, possibly from species like Raphidiomimula burmitica, a predatory cockroach with mantis-like forelegs. Possibly the earliest known modern mantis is Regiata scutra, although more common (and confirmed) is Santanmantis, a stilt-legged genus, also from the Cretaceous. Like their close termite cousins, though, mantises did not become common and diverse until the early Tertiary period.

Behavior:

Diet and predatory behavior:

Most mantises are exclusively predatory while exceptions are predominantly so. Insects form their primary prey, but the diet of a mantis changes as it grows larger. In its first instar a mantis eats small insects such as tiny flies or its own siblings. In later instars it does not or cannot profitably pursue such small prey. In the final instar as a rule the diet still includes more insects than anything else, but large species have been known to prey on small scorpions, lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, fish, and even rodents; they feed on any species small enough for them to capture, but large enough to engage their attention. For example, a large mantis feeding on a bee or bug might be pestered with impunity by jackal flies and biting midges that it would readily have eaten in its first instar. Large prey tends to increase in value with the cube of its size: a blowfly four times as long as a jackal fly represents a meal about 64 times as massive. However, the chewing action can be always triggered by picking the mantis up to deny it traction and stimulating its mandibles with food. When a female mantis is into her final growth spurt and is accumulating nutrients to make eggs, the largest available prey that she can manage is the most effective for her to concentrate on.[citation needed]

 

The majority of mantises are ambush predators, but some ground and bark species actively pursue their prey. For example, members of a few genera such as the ground mantids, Entella, Ligaria and Ligariella, run over dry ground seeking prey much as tiger beetles do. Species that are predominantly ambush predators camouflage themselves and spend long periods standing perfectly still. They largely wait for their prey to stray within reach, but most mantises chase tempting prey if it strays closely enough. In pure ambush mode a mantis lashes out at remarkable speed when a target does get within reach, details of the speed and mode attack varying with the species. A mantis catches prey items and grips them with grasping, spiked forelegs. The mantis usually holds its prey with one arm between the head and thorax, and the other on the abdomen. Then, if the prey does not resist, the mantis eats it alive. However, if the prey does resist, the mantis often eats it head first, some species of mantises being more prone to the behaviour than others. Unlike sucking predatory arthropods, a mantis does not liquefy prey tissues or drain its prey's body fluids, but simply slices and chews it with its mandibles as convenient, often from one end. If it should happen to have begun feeding on the midsection of the prey, it typically ends up eating first one remnant end from one foreclaw, then the rest from the other, leaving nothing but accidentally severed fragments such as limbs.[citation needed]

 

Chinese Mantids have been found to gain benefits in survivorship, growth, and fecundity by supplementing their diet with pollen. In replicated laboratory tests the first instar actively fed on pollen just after hatching, thereby avoiding starvation in the absence of prey. The adults fed on pollen-laden insects, attaining fecundity as high as those fed on larger numbers of insects alone.

Defense and camouflage:

Generally, mantises protect themselves by camouflage and concealment. When directly threatened, many mantis species stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide. The fanning of the wings makes the mantis seem larger and more threatening, with some species having bright colors and patterns on their hind wings and inner surfaces of their front legs for this purpose. If harassment persists, a mantis may strike with its forelegs and attempt to pinch or bite. As part of the threat display, some species also may produce a hissing sound by expelling air from the abdominal spiracles. When flying at night, at least some mantises are able to detect the echolocation sounds produced by bats, and when the frequency begins to increase rapidly, indicating an approaching bat, they stop flying horizontally and begin a descending spiral toward the safety of the ground, often preceded by an aerial loop or spin.[10][11]

 

Mantises, like stick insects, show rocking behaviour in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behaviour include the enhancement of crypsis by means of the resemblance to vegetation moving in the wind. However, the repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of animals with simpler sight systems. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field.[12]

 

Mantises are camouflaged, and most species make use of protective coloration to blend in with the foliage or substrate, both to avoid predators, and to better snare their prey. Various species have evolved to not only blend with the foliage, but to mimic it, appearing as either living or withered leaves, sticks, tree bark, blades of grass, flowers, or even stones. Some species in Africa and Australia are able to turn black after a molt following a fire in the region to blend in with the fire ravaged landscape (a type of adaptive melanism referred to as fire melanism). While mantises can bite, they have no venom. They can also slash captors with their raptorial legs (which is often preceded by a threat display wherein the mantis rears back and spreads its front legs and wings (if present), often revealing vivid colors and/or eyespots to startle a predator). Mantises are without chemical protection; many large insectivores eat mantises, including Scops owls, shrikes, bullfrogs, chameleons, and Milk Snakes.

Reproduction and life history:

Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity, and under some circumstances may also be observed in the field. 90% of the predatory species of mantis participate in sexual cannibalism.[13] The female may begin feeding by biting off the male’s head (as they do with regular prey), and if mating has begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by a ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male’s head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilisation while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behavior appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behavior in the field is natural, or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer, remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual organisms, and notice any disturbance occurring in the laboratory or field such as bright lights or moving scientists. Research by Liske and Davis (1984)[14] and others found (e.g. using video recorders in vacant rooms) that Chinese mantises that had been fed ad libitum (so that they were not hungry) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Courtship display has also been observed in other species, but it does not hold for all mantises.

 

The reason for sexual cannibalism has been debated, with some considering submissive males to be achieving a selective advantage in their ability to produce offspring. This theory is supported by a quantifiable increase in the duration of copulation among males who are cannibalized, in some cases doubling both the duration and the chance of fertilization. This is contrasted by a study where males were seen to approach hungry females with more caution, and were shown to remain mounted on hungry females for a longer time, indicating that males actively avoiding cannibalism may mate with multiple females. The same study also found that hungry females generally attracted fewer males than those who were well fed.[15] The act of dismounting is one of the most dangerous times for males during copulation, for it is at this time that females most frequently cannibalize their mates. This increase in mounting duration was thought to indicate that males are more prone to wait for an opportune time to dismount from a hungry female rather than from a satiated female that would be less likely to cannibalize her mate. Some consider this to be an indication that male submissiveness does not inherently increase male reproductive success, rather that more fit males are likely to approach a female with caution and escape.[16]

 

The mating season in temperate climates typically begins in autumn. To mate following courtship, the male usually leaps onto the female’s back, and clasps her thorax and wing bases with his forelegs. He then arches his abdomen to deposit and store sperm in a special chamber near the tip of the female’s abdomen. The female then lays between 10 and 400 eggs, depending on the species. Eggs are typically deposited in a frothy mass that is produced by glands in the abdomen. This froth then hardens, creating a protective capsule. The protective capsule and the egg mass is called an ootheca. Depending on the species, the ootheca can be attached to a flat surface, wrapped around a plant or even deposited in the ground. Despite the versatility and durability of the eggs, they are often preyed on, especially by several species of parasitic wasps. In a few species, the mother guards the eggs.[citation needed]

 

As in related insect groups, mantises go through three stages of metamorphosis: egg, nymph, and adult (mantises are among the hemimetabolic insects). The nymph and adult insect are structurally quite similar, except that the nymph is smaller and has no wings or functional genitalia. The nymphs are also sometimes colored differently from the adult, and the early stages are often mimics of ants. A mantis nymph increases in size (often changing its diet as it does so) by replacing its outer body covering with a sturdy, flexible exoskeleton and molting when needed. Molting can happen from five to ten times, depending on the species. After the final molt most species have wings, though some species are wingless or brachypterous ("short-winged"), particularly in the female sex.[citation needed]

 

In tropical species, the natural lifespan of a mantis in the wild is about 10–12 months, but some species kept in captivity have been sustained for 14 months. In colder areas, females die during the winter (as well as any surviving males)

Pest control uses:

Organic gardeners who avoid pesticides may encourage mantises as a form of biological pest control. During fall in temperate regions, mantis females typically deposit an ootheca on the underside of a leaf or on a twig, and in some species these are harvested commercially. If the egg case survives winter, the offspring, called nymphs, emerge in late spring or early summer. The nymphs have voracious appetites and typically cannibalize each other if they cannot find an adequate supply of aphids and other small insects. Tens of thousands of mantis egg cases are sold each year in some garden stores for this purpose. However, mantises prey on neutral and beneficial insects as well, basically eating anything they can successfully capture and devour.

Conservation status:

With one exception (the ground mantis Litaneutria minor in Canada, where it is rare — though it is common in the United States), North American mantises are not included among threatened or endangered species, though species in other parts of the world are under threat from habitat destruction. The European mantis (Mantis religiosa) is the state insect of Connecticut, but the General Statutes of Connecticut do not list any special protected status, as it is a non-native species from Europe and Africa. It became the state insect in October 1977 following a school project between Center Road School in Vernon, CT and then State Representative Chester W. Morgan of Vernon's 56th State Assembly District.

Introduced species:

Over 20 species are native to the United States, including the common Carolina Mantis, with only one native to Canada. Two species (the Chinese Mantis and the European Mantis) were deliberately introduced to serve as pest control for agriculture, and have spread widely in both countries. Additionally, there is a strong market in the exotic pet trade for mantis species from Asia, Africa and South America, and many species are bred in captivity for this purpose.

Cultural references:

One of the earliest mantis references is in the ancient Chinese dictionary Erya, which gives its attributes in poetry (representing courage and fearlessness), as well as a brief description. A later text, the Jingshi Zhenglei Daguan Bencao 經史證類大觀本草 ( Epic 史, history 證, collection 類, kinds 大觀, overall impression 本, basic 草, agriculture Annotated and Arranged by Types, Based upon the Classics and Historical Works") from 1108, is impressively correct on the construction of the egg packages, the development cycle, the anatomy and even the function of the antennae.

 

Western descriptions of the biology and morphology of the mantises had become relatively accurate by the 18th century. Roesel von Rosenhof accurately illustrated and described them in the Insekten-Belustigungen (Insect Entertainments). Aldous Huxley made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantises mated in the sight of two characters in the novel Island (the species was Gongylus gongylodes). The naturalist Gerald Durrell's autobiography My Family and Other Animals includes an account of a very evenly matched battle between a mantis and a gecko.

 

M. C. Escher's woodcut Dream depicts a human-sized mantis standing on a sleeping bishop.[18]

 

Two martial arts that had been separately developed in China have movements and fighting strategies based on those of the Mantis. As one of these arts was developed in northern China, and the other in southern parts of the country, the arts are nowadays referred to (both in English and Chinese) as 'Northern Praying Mantis' and 'Southern Praying Mantis'. Both arts are very popular in China, and have also been imported to the West in recent decades.

Mythology:

Southern African indigenous mythology refers to the mantis as a god in Khoi and San traditional myths and practices, and the word for the mantis in Afrikaans is hottentotsgot (literally, a god of the Khoi).[19][20] The word "Mantis" is also the Greek word for "prophet or seer".

  

While we were looking at windscreens for past project ideas, my nephew came across Lego's 6957 Solar Snooper (1992). Its awesomeness quickly led to the goal of recreating it in Galaxy Patrol form.

 

Some superb images by Nick Ebenhoch of his Solar Snooper build can be found at the link, www.orik.de/?page_id=328 . The first image was reviewed often for this project (along with instructions which can be found online), and clearly each view is terrific. I've only now noticed Nick's fantastic second and third images in researching who to credit here, and they shed more light on this super Lego model.

 

The goal with the front vehicle of the Galaxy Snooper was to very closely match the dimensions of Lego's Solar Snooper, the exceptions being the rear cannons and a slightly longer chassis needed for the desired tires. I wanted the vehicle to turn, and using the Technic 9390 steering design (I always need help) the front and rear wheels on the Galaxy Snooper turn in unison by rotating the fire control radar atop the vehicle. (Nick's second photo at the link shows that the Solar Snooper's midsection is a holding cell for evil Blacktron plotters; I didn't know this, and probably wouldn't have recreated it given the Galaxy Snooper's need for a vertical steering axle.

 

While very cool, I wasn't thrilled with recreating the Solar Snooper's trailer and flying vehicle, so the RRP -- Reconnaissance & Rescue Pod -- was born. The RRP attaches to its trailer using a horizontal axle that can slide in and out with sufficient friction to keep the RRP in place. The RRP's wings rotate up, then allowing the vertical takeoff & landing engines to swing out. The trailer chassis' front and rear wheels also turn in unison, following the lead of the trailer hitch. This following-along turning movement is not as firm as desired, but it works.

 

Galaxy Snooper features:

- Turning wheels as described above

- Positionable cannons housed at the rear of the front vehicle

- Antennas outside of cannon rotation points that can be raised and lowered

- Trailer with detachable Reconnaissance & Rescue Pod

- All canopies open, and there's a rear ramp door for the RRP

 

The color scheme is Dark Tan and Dark Blue with Trans-Dark Blue windscreens, along with Metallic Gold & Pearl Gold if available. Trans-Dark Pink is used for propulsion & thrusters, and Metallic Silver & Dark Red for weapon systems.

This is one of the most phallic architectural buildings I have ever seen. Thankfully it is located off center in Barcelona but you can still see from all around. I wonder what that architect was thinking: "Red Porche"?....

 

You can enjoy it Large here.

 

Agbar Tower detail.

Agbar Tower the Top.

Agbar Tower midsection.

GUNDAM BZ DEFENDER

This is my fourth Gundam MOC, however this one is not from any Gundam continuity this is a custom Gundam based on my new double jointed mech frame design. If you made it to Brickfete you saw this before my internet audience did! Thanks to all the other mech builders for their suggestions and criticisms which resulted in a more poseable Lego Mobile suit frame for this MOC. This Gundam MOC stands tall at 15 inches – 3 inches taller than my usual mech / leader class transformer size and is equipped with a midsection cockpit for its pilot. He is very poseable! Enjoy rate and comment!

Pls also check out my YouTube video for more details on this MOC:

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIlYfjRMjUk

A WIP I wanted some opinions on. I was just gonna keep it private and add some ship builders, but I figured I'd test the waters a little further. I was also going to add Tromas, but he doesn't allow people to add photos of him. Tromas, if you happen to see this, I would like your opinion.

 

But anyway to the build... I'm not sure what shapes and colors to do for the midsection. I was thinking grey, but the black and white give some interesting options as well.

Fidalgo Bay. General Construction Company's 700 ton capacity crane barge D.B. General. Here to lift the 90ft Northern Marine Yacht Bäden out of the water after it capsized during its launch on sunday night.

 

NTSB Final Accident Report:

 

"The newly built yacht Baaden was being launched stern first down the Fidalgo Marina boat ramp in Anacortes, Washington, with eight shipyard personnel on board when it capsized after entering the water at 2050 on Sunday, May 18, 2014. The yacht was salvaged but was declared a total constructive loss, estimated at $10 million. Three shipyard personnel who were trapped below decks for up to half an hour were treated for minor cuts and injuries at local hospitals. No pollution was reported.

 

New World Yacht Builders began construction of the Baaden in December 2011, working from an existing 80-foot-hull mold built in 2002 by Northern Marine. Like other large Northern

Marine yachts, the vessel was custom designed. The 80-foot mold was lengthened in the midsection and stem, the bow was given more flare, and a swim platform was added. The resulting 85-foot vessel was designated Northern Marine model 8501 and was the first of its kind. New World described the Baaden as having commercial fishing vessel roots in an 85-foot European-style, luxury, long-range, oceangoing expedition yacht. The builder, the buyer’s representative, and an interior design firm collaborated on the vessel design and styling. Several sister vessels built to the 80-foot-hull design were completed and are in operation.

 

Due to water damage to interior woodwork, machinery, and electrical systems and expenses associated with repairing the vessel, at the time of this report the Baaden was considered a total constructive loss with an estimated value of $10 million.

Launch team members inspected the launch cradles, dollies, and equipment after the incident and noted that one of the tires on the forward dolly was flat, and witnesses said they sawbubbles coming from the forward dolly at the time of the launch. The tire likely was damaged during the initial port roll at 2037.

 

Probable Cause:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the capsizing of the yacht Baaden during its initial launch was the vessel’s low margin of stability due to the combined effects of a recording error during the final vessel weigh, which resulted in an incorrect assessment of the vessel’s center of gravity, and an overestimation of the weight of installed ballast."

 

www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/pages/MAB1514...

Deboxing Designer Jasmine. The doll has been removed from the case, and the spacer removed from her back. She is now fully deboxed and lying down on a counter.

 

First look at the Disney Princess Designer Collection Jasmine Doll. She was released in October 2011, and I got her from eBay shortly afterwards, so It's been more than a year and a half since I got this doll. But I have not yet deboxed her, and this the first time I am doing a full photoshoot of her. I will photograph her boxed, during her deboxing, and fully deboxed.

 

My Designer Jasmine doll is a limited edition doll that was produced and sold exclusively by the Disney Store, and is numbered 5645 of 6000. She is based on the heroine from the Disney animated feature Aladdin (1992). She comes in an acrylic case with a built-in doll stand, with a base that has a golden filigree design, and a golden metallic nameplate. There is also a cardboard cover for the case that I have not photographed here.

 

She is 11 1/2'' tall, and has the same body as the other Designer Princess dolls, with jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips and knees (internal). She has rubber legs and fixed ankles, with feet angled for high heels.

 

She has jet black, 12'' long hair tied into a floor length pony tail. There are two golden elastic hairties in the upper and middle part of the ponytail, and the lower portion of her hair has loose curls. It is very soft and shiny. There were a few stray hairs, but I left them alone and did not comb it, as I thought her hair was neat enough as it was out of the box. She has light brown skin, and a unique face sculpt that is very pretty and movie accurate. She has large dark brown almond shaped eyes that are glancing towards her right. She has light blue-green eye shadow, and thick black eyebrows. She has rooted eyelashes, that are tapered in length from short to long, then at the ends there are very long curved antenna like lashes. She has a small straight nose, full dark purple lips in with a closed mouth smile. She has very pale red rouge on her cheeks.

 

Her three piece gown is made of bright blue-green satin and light blue organza. Her bodice is cropped short to reveal her midsection (including her belly button), and consists of light blue organza embedded with golden gems, draped over her upper arms, and gemmed blue-green satin lower and back sections. Her blue-green satin skirt is floor length and is figure hugging, flairing out at the bottom. It is hemmed and there is a light blue polyester lining. There is a very wide overskirt of the double layered light blue satin. I is open in front, but can be wrapped around to completely cover her inner skirt, or can be folded to reveal her inner skirt.

 

She is wearing light blue-green high heeled shoes, which match the color of her skirt.

 

Her accessories include earrings, a chain belt with pendant and Aladdin's lamp. The earrings are large golden triangles with gold colored gems. Her belt is made of fine gold chain, with a large round jeweled pendant just below her waist that gathers the strands of the chain together, the remainder of which fall almost to the floor. In her right hand is a golden lamp that is bejeweled with yellow gems. The top of the lamp is removable (it is held in place with rubber bands, which I left in place).

 

There were no real surprises revealed by deboxing her, although it was nice to see the full extent of her overskirt. I was also glad to take her out of her awkward head pose, which was a common problem among the Designer Princesses. One thing I didn't like was that her top was a little too short, and revealed her waist joint (that enables her to spin her upper body around 360 degrees). Tugging on her top didn't move it enough to hide the joint in the front. As a consequence, her waist joint moved very freely, and her upper body tended to turn whenever she was handled, aided by her long hair. Also her long luxurious hair is very heavy, so tends to pull her backwards slightly when she is posed on the display stand. Designer Rapunzel has a similar problem. Her very wide floor length overskirt and floor length hair make it difficult to rebox her neatly, which is a common problem with the Designer dolls with very wide floor length skirts.

These Mixed Martial Arts/ WOD shorts utilize a tool weight 4 method stretch material (FLEX Collection) for optimum convenience/ longevity, as well as are ONE HUNDRED% non limiting for your physical fitness or Mixed Martial Arts exercise. There is no Velcro on the midsection closing. These are bring up shorts yet they have the exact same Mixed Martial Arts appearance. Item Functions

 

bit.ly/29eTGkg

Casa Damians, located on Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona, is a striking example of early 20th-century eclectic commercial architecture that blends Art Deco, Noucentisme, and Beaux-Arts influences with a flamboyant flair.

Overview:

 

Location: Facing Plaça de Catalunya, directly above the C&A store

 

Date: Completed in 1915, originally designed as a commercial and residential building

 

Architect: Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia (credited with numerous civic and religious works throughout Barcelona)

 

Current Use: Houses retail (C&A) on the ground floors; upper levels may be office or mixed-use

 

Architectural Description:

Façade Composition:

 

The façade is vertically divided into three bays, with the central bay dramatically projecting and emphasized by grand sculptural and ornamental elements. The verticality is further accentuated by continuous window bands that span multiple stories.

Ground Level:

 

The base of the building is clad in dark, sturdy stone (likely granite), forming a visual pedestal for the ornate structure above.

 

Large storefront windows with a metal-framed glass curtain wall dominate this level—clearly adapted for retail use but framed within the building’s historic articulation.

 

The C&A branding is prominent but does not obscure the architectural detailing.

 

Midsection (Second to Fourth Floors):

 

These levels are defined by tall, narrow windows arranged in vertical bands, interrupted by horizontal decorative friezes featuring stylized reliefs (possibly vegetal motifs or geometric patterns in low relief).

 

Columns or pilasters between the windows feature pinkish decorative panels, possibly scagliola or colored stone.

 

Sculptural Program:

 

The standout features are the two heroic-sized nude figures, one male and one female, placed in niches flanking the central upper bay. These appear to be allegorical or mythological, stylized in the classical tradition but with a distinctly Art Deco touch—elongated proportions, idealized forms, and poised stillness.

 

Their elevated position and symmetry evoke a sense of grandeur and theatricality.

 

Crowning Element:

 

Above the cornice, the central tower rises to a circular belvedere with a parapet of classical dentils and relief ornamentation.

 

At the very top sits a glass globe or lattice sphere—a kind of finial or lantern reminiscent of early planetarium domes or modernist globes. It may have once been internally illuminated.

 

Four smaller geodesic-like spheres sit at the base of the belvedere, reinforcing the celestial or scientific allusion.

 

Style & Symbolism:

 

This building walks a line between noucentista sobriety (structured façade, stone cornice, classical restraint) and early modernist spectacle (glass, heroic statuary, globe finial).

 

It seems to celebrate commerce, human achievement, and rational order—fitting for its location at the city's civic and commercial heart.

 

The upward thrust of the building, culminating in the globe, reads as a metaphor for aspiration or enlightenment—or possibly a nod to cosmopolitanism and global reach, highly appropriate for a commercial building in early 20th-century Barcelona.

 

Urban Context:

 

Casa Damians is one of several grand commercial buildings facing Plaça de Catalunya, each representing a different phase in the city’s embrace of modernity.

 

It anchors its block visually, standing out from the more conventional residential façades that flank it with its ornament, sculptural drama, and symbolic vertical axis.

 

In Summary:

 

Casa Damians is a rich architectural confection that combines formality and flamboyance, rooted in classicism but openly flirting with modernism. It speaks to Barcelona’s golden age of commercial ambition, when buildings were not just vessels for commerce but symbols of civic pride and human potential.

 

(Chat GPT)

Hair: Neva: Sensitive Black; By Fri.day

Eyes: Sunburst by Shapes by Zada

Skin: Grace: First Romance-Tan: by Chaisuki

Vest, Stole, and Shirt, by Argrace.

Eyelashes: by Chandra Meehan

 

>> Name: Adagio

>> Age: 20 Physical

>> Species: Human

>> Blood type: B+

>> Height: 6'7"

>> Weight: 250 lbs

>> Gender: Female

>>Eyes: Blue

>>Enhancements: Shorter synapses and enhanced neurotransmitters, Triple dense Muscular system, Datajack. Combined Oragic/Cybernetic Brain, Metabolizes Platinum

>>Memory Implants: Language ( English ), Intermediate Medical Skills, Job Skills ( Classified ), Dance ( Multiple Styles )

................................................................................................................................................

 

>>Dossier: Adagio is a genetic construct using the base DNA of Taellinu Aichi. While Taellinu is the main genetic base, others strains of genes have been used to alter her overall appearance to look different from the genetic samples. While Adagio is technically unrelated to Taellinu, enough genetic match would be present that one could find a close enough link to perhaps claim Taellinu as either a sister or mother. Philosophically this is the case, however if known by Adagio this would, in all likelihood be adamantly denied. Adagio would view herself as a unique person, but in several ways she is only as unique as any other purpose built human being, and this would indeed be true for her.

 

>>Adagio was created to be security personnel for Ashagi Corporation, under the watchful eyes of Doctors Aylin Daviau, and Temp Parkin. The project was also overseen and approved along the way by Sauscony Selei, whom Adagio is a replacement for due to Adagio’s ‘inherently unstable’ nature. It is due to the input of Miss. Selei that Adagio bears no or little physical resemblance to her genetic forebears. Due to the insights and visions of her creators the problems inherent in Sauscony have been corrected, such as an overly brittle bone structure, weak muscles, and inability to fight.

 

>>Adagio herself is a cold un-emotive woman that on the surface takes pleasure from nothing. She has the same drawn look on her face on duty and off, part of the image she keeps up as an ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ as she sees herself anyway. This mindset leads her to try to be as efficient, quick, and as lethally effective as possible. She views her work for Ashagi as the reason for her entire existence, which in fact, it is. Adagio, unlike most beings like her, does not possess any memories of their previous forms, the reasoning for this is that Sauscony viewed Adagio as a sort of child, a sort of culmination of her being. A chance to undo what had been done to her, too doom her to a life imposed upon her by someone else, for the explicit purpose of prolonging her own life, it was deemed that adagio should be ‘given’ a life part of the reason as to why she contains none of her memories, personality, or beign.

 

>>As for the ‘improvements’ to Adagio over a regular human a triple dense musculature, increased response times, reflexes etc, this works by an increase in efficiency of synapse transmitters. However Adagio is no faster than the average human because of the added weight do to the dense muscles. The added muscle density of course means a high strength per pound ratio than a normal human, and due to quicker synapses Adagio ‘could’ become faster than normal if the right parts are given the proper degree of exercise. That is to say any further improvement over her ‘normal’ body must be done ‘the old fashioned way’ through hard work and exercise.

 

>>The fact that Adagio has more efficient neurotransmitters and quicker synapses than normal may seem a blessing, leading to faster reflexes and perhaps to faster memory recall. However a side effect of this is Adagio’s always rigid way of carrying herself. She is affected to such a degree that ‘wound up’ and ‘tense’ would fail to do her justice. Instead of the normal reactions to such things her brain would seem to have compensated for this by negating the usage of nearly all receptors involved with emotional response.

 

>>The knowledge that Adagio was implanted with was a fairly customized data set chosen by her creators, including normal language skills Adagio has knowledge required for her job including, hand to hand combat skills, skills with hand guns and blades to a limited degree, and as a personal touch by Sauscony Adagio should have some skill with dance. While this knowledge set is not expected to get adagio through her entire life, it is merely meant as the ground work for more improvement.

 

The First Measure

On The First Day

 

Well My first day was, Unique. I awoke to one of my creators Doctor Daviau. While I cannot say for sure everything about her, she seems efficient.

 

I later encountered a young girl, nellie. She seems to be a friend of one of the researchers here. She displayed what seems to be a keen intelligence, She could benefit the company eventually, I presented this to Doctor Daviau and she Agrees.

 

I Later met Doctor Parkin, My Other creator, She is an interesting one, i'll have to find out more. Later in the day i helped he rin a rescue operation of one of our employeees. we were successful in our attempts.

 

Barline

 

The Second Measure

The Second Flight

 

Well i have succeeded in furnishing my apartment to my specifications. It is more efficient now. I think that my coworkers are starting to like me more, despite my icy manner. If I had a logical explanation i'd give one.

 

Barline

 

The Third measure

Aurora in 4 voices

 

Well today started out just lovely. Someone set off a bomb downtown. When I went out side I could see the smoke and dust from it. I have no idea who set it or what purpose it could have been. I'm fairly certain it wasn't a warning from the mayor though. But even if it wasn't, I know this I won't be bothering his staff anymore. Even though that little stunt worked to some degree it didn't work when the cops came in.

 

Last night with Nellie seems to have been productive, she may be even more intelligent than I had assumed. She may be of great benefit eventually.

 

Along the lines of work I filled out my contract this morning. Apparently I'm being paid quite well, I'm quite pleased to be earning 250K a year, and I wonder what the paychecks of others are like.

 

The haulers fell through on my shipments. Thankfully I was able to get the business card for a Hideo Inaka, hopefully he'll be able to provide me with the items I need. I could probably get what I need through Ashagi, but I don't think that Ashagi deals in weaponry, at least of the type I'm needing.

 

The Yakuza fell through Also. Fortunately Black Star came through on the Beretta, and Aylin is covering the armor. I'll speak with doctor Parkin about the blades.

 

On another note I've been placed in charge of Shoya, it should be interesting to see what happens with her. Her morale is in the shitter and she badly needs someone to support her. I just hope that I can provide that need.

 

Barline

 

The Fourth measure

The wings of hope

 

Today has been interesting, I was able to obtain some blades from Doctor Parkin, who tried me out in a sparring match, and I will admit I have along way to go, but at least I have some minor skills. My strength is my greatest weapon and my greatest weakness it seems, I need to learn to be more Fluid in combat.

 

Fortunately my Skill or lack there of didn't matter in an encounter I had shortly after Obtaining the blades.

 

On the bright side the Haulers came through on the body armor at least. The bodysuit is an Impact resistant style, it would seem to be made of a form of cloth with pockets of High density gel perhaps silicone inside. It should provide adequate protection against blades and impact damage, if I'm right it should have some minor ballistics protection capabilities as well. They did however also obtain a thin armored vest for me, while it is quite thin and flexible, mobility matters to me more than weight.

 

BlackStar would seem to be coming through on the firearms side of things, I'll be happy to see if they deliver as promised.

 

Barline

_________________

 

I Feel that I should record my lessons with doctor Parkin so that i should learn from them in the Future, this is the first one.

 

Adagio: would nod slowly. “I apologize for my misunderstanding. I hope to earn these blades then, she’d remove the tanto from her self and draw the Katana. “You gave me the knowledge doctor I should be skillful enough to not kill you, and I shall make every effort to not, and yes I trust you Doctor.” With that she’d fall silent and coldly enter a ready position and make a fairly standard downward strike towards the doctor using all her strength and speed behind the blow, obviously a novice but the Doctor said she wanted to test her strength so she’d start by putting it on display, as he’d bring her arms down with the strike the doctor could perhaps notice adagio’s shoulders tensing hard showing a good deal of the enhanced striations and structure beneath her soft skin.

 

tempestual Parkin eyes the strike carefully, her sword licking out to parry it aside....she wouldn’t even try blocking a strike with that kind of power behind it. Even so, her arm would be jarred, a heavy tremor running up to her shoulder. Stepping to the left, she would suddenly dive into a roll, her blade seemingly a mere extension of her arm as it flicks forward. Unless blocked, it would slice a cut in Adagio's jeans, the very tip of it cutting the material. An amused smirk would be directed at Adagio "don’t use the standard forms......you are going to fight, not duel......." she will have ended up, by the beige chair, on her back, seemingly relaxed, and completely at ease....for some reason choosing this position.

 

Adagio: would coldly cast her eyes in the direction of temps as she hears the lades clang together for the first time. Barely noticing temps motions she would try to bring her blade down to protect her legs but she’d respond too slow, a limitation of both her skills and her slower reflexes. She’d look coldly down and see her pants hanging a little more limply in one area and she’d remain silent at the Doctors wisdom she’d just flick her blade downward as she’d rush quickly forward her powerful legs driving her forward on the balls of her feet, once she was within range of the Doctor she’d try an upward sweeping move with the tip of the blade facing down towards the ground possibly gouging her hardwood flooring.

 

tempestual Parkin eyes widen slightly, but the smile on her face indicates her contentment at the move chosen. Smooth leg muscles ripple, combining with defined abdominals to contort her body, her feet flying backwards over her head to raise herself to a crouch. A wide smile is directed at adagio “good good......you dint go for the down-swing as i expected". Without a pause, she would suddenly attack, her form in no way rigid, but free-flowing....she seemed to follow no set discipline, mixing styles and attacks. Her left leg rises, foot stamping harshly into the seat of the chair to drive her light form off the ground, hopefully avoiding any swipe made at her by adagio in the process. She would contort her body, spinning in the air, her sword lancing out three times before she lands, each time, it the blade would be turned. The first would be directed at Adagio's elbow, the next at her wrist, the last at her hand, hoping to dislodge the blade from her grip. Regardless, she would land in a feral crouch on the chaise, waiting

 

Adagio: would raise an eyebrow at the motion thinking it nearly impossible for a moment and she’d attribute it to years of training and the Doctor being a neko. She’d try o make a could slices at the Doctor as she would launch into the air she’d make the smallest of winces feeling the blade bite successfully into her three time in all the targeted spaces, and her grip loses significantly, only holding the katana in a two handed death grip had kept it in her hands. She’d frown little bit keeping her heavy handed double grip on the blade and she’d spin h r body towards the Doctors right side apparently aiming for a leg when she’d suddenly reverse the course taken as quickly as her muscles would allow and try an upward jab from the left. For Adagio it would probably be a more risky maneuver than it was worth, in all likelihood better left up to the Doctor to try and execute.

 

tempestual Parkin scoffs slightly, to her own eyes, the move seeming slow, clumsy almost. Dropping to the floor, her back arching, the blade would still catch her, slicing through her top, drawing a clean line of blood across the smooth skin of her stomach. It was ironic, she was about to beat Adagio with the same move she used on Soz. Falling to the floor, her left hand presents a balance point, her right leg straight, strong, as it swings round. In likelihood, it would knock Adagio from her feet, and if this happened as expected, temp would turn her spin into a smooth leap forward. Her sword, seemingly just a blur in its movement would stop, resting upon Adagio's throat, assuming of course it all went as planned. She would then whisper softly "you may keep the swords....but you have a long way to go.....if this was a true fight, i could have killed you any number of times. You cannot just rely on your impressive strength."

 

_________________

  

I had a bit of an encounter today I feel deserves a specil entry in my journal, the file is as follows...

 

Adagio: would raise an eyebrow at the man and secure her pants after finishing with her wound. She'd raise a well shaped eyebrow to the man and speak in her normal icy tone towards the man. "Can I help you?"

 

Bull Hendrassen would approach he slowy crossing through the curtain seperating them and silently he would get a closer look at her eyes and tilt his head to one side in a manner of confusion and then he would rub the side of his head hard, obviously distraught.

 

Adagio: would keep her eyebrows raised and her hands would cross in front of her below the oversized belt buckle just a few inches from the hilt of her Tanto. "Is there something I can do for you sir? Do you have a question about me or something?"

 

Bull Hendrassen lifts a shaky hand up and extends his finger pointing to her face. "you.....cant have those...not right....not right....I dont know....you....must be marked....yes must be....somethings unusual, special maybe? wonder, if it taste good?" he ocassionaly smacks himself in the head with his other hand as if trying to convince himself of something in a rather forceful manner and its obvious this guy is crazy.

 

] Adagio: would frown a little bit and keep her posture and gaze icy, her blue and orange eyes giving the man an icy look." If you're referring to my eyes you'd be right, I'm created, you could view me as a living sculpture of sorts." Even though her features would remain emotionless the man could perhaps pick up a hint of pride.

  

Bull Hendrassen would walk slowly around the medical table, his body language not particularly frightening at the moment as he is not being agressive...but he is closing the distance between them...he is after something. he extends buth hands up towards her face like he is trying to grab her head.

 

Adagio: would back up quickly and her hands would drop to her pants, her right would clasp onto her Tanto, and the left would hit her pocket sending an emergency message from the phone. She'd speak icily at the man her eyes giving the man a look of

 

Bull Hendrassen continues towards her slowly, he is driven, his psyhcosis not letting him back off, he has to know...."have to see....have to....must know...." his movements are still unagressive, but imposing.

 

Adagio: would draw her Tanto quickly from its sheath and she’d hold the blade steadily between herself and the man the edge parallel with the ground. She’d gaze coldly at the man with her emotionless eyes hoping that the body language of the drawn blade would be more than enough. If need be she could easily lunge forward to attack the man.

 

Bull Hendrassen would continue even as she drew the blade he is so absorbed in his driveness to see her eyes that he igrores the blade and walks right on top of it the blade sinking into his abdomen, and he keeps driving himself onto it, it stabbing into him further and further as he walks, the psychosis in his mind telling him that the pain is non-existant, he is above that, ascended from the mortal condition.

 

Adagio: would just coldly raise an eyebrow as she coldly keeps the blade steady putting all of her enhanced strength behind her one handed grip to keep the man where he is even as his blood would begin to cover her hand and run down her arm and mingle with the black silk of her shirt. She'd keep her emotionless icy gaze locked on the man unflinchingly staring at his mask while she tried keeping the man where he was.

 

Bull Hendrassen would have a pleading look in his eyes as he reached ever forward to her face. "please...i MUST SEE!" and he goes to grab her face....

 

Adagio: would raise an eyebrow and she’d flinch a little bit as the man grabs her face, she’d frown a little bit her gaze unflinching leaving her fist tightly gripping the blade still inside of the man. She’d speak coldly to the man as she would stare into those deep dark slits in his mask, her voice as cold as the frozen north, each syllable an icicle hanging in midair. “ Let me go or I spill your guts on the floor”

 

Bull Hendrassen ignores her request for a moment more and uses his thumb and index finger to spread open her eyelid so he can fully examine one of her eyes. he brings the mask in very closely to her face for few moments and tilts his head this way and that while he looks into her eye, his breathing slow and rythmic inside the mask. finally he slowly lets his head go back and he begins to back off the blade.

 

Adagio: would just remain crouched frozen by what just happened, and she would raise an eyebrow seeing the man back off of her blade silently. Once he’s clear of the blade she just watches the blood drip off the tip of her gleaming blade unsure of what exactly just happened before she reverts her icy gaze back to the man.

 

Bull Hendrassen seems not to even notice the stab wound in his midsection. "thank you." he says slowly and pauses for a moment. "i do hope that I have not offended you. you seem a bit tense..." that should be a bit of an obvious statement but he seems completly genuine with his words.

 

Adagio: would rise slowly at the man's now polite actions and she'd just look at her blood covered arm and blade before she'd hit her phone in he rpocket again and just nod silently at the man still chilingly cold and icy, but more confused than anything.

 

Bull Hendrassen nods back slowly. "you must be chosen, you said created, yes you are among us most special people indeed. you have something that sets you apart, yes indeed, apart from others..."

 

Adagio: would raise an eyebrow and she'd frown little bit still holding her blade in her hand she'd wipe the blood from her arm and blade with a medical towel she'd grab with her left hand. "I suppose that's a good thing then?"

 

Bull Hendrassen "yes, very good....you are the only person i have seen in the city that has you eyes, it must be a mark of greatness."

 

Adagio would raise an eyebrow hearing the bit about mark of greatness, she’d frown a little bit and it’d click that it was probably time to get away from this man while he was still polite. “Very well if that’s your opinion anyway.” She’d move to head for the curtain and head to the back door, she would speak icily to the man once more as she walked out. “I’ll see you later then I guess.”

   

_________________

 

Movement II

The Mysterious Sonata

 

The last few days have been quite unique; hell the word unique doesn’t describe them, special momentous, amazing, those are the words that describe them better, along with tormented, anguished, and painful.

 

I had to deal with the death of a good a good friend, Shoya. I feel awful at her death, I barely controlled myself when Lithia killed, her, but It my duty to solve problems, not to start them. I think that’s the whole reason why I held myself back. I actually cried when I carried her dead, headless body into the church, I don’t know if Sister D can forgive me for what I’ve done to her emotionally, I hope that she can forgive me. And I’ve gotten it cleared with the doctors at the MC, I had to lie and say that Serp was the cause of her death; I had to explain the same thing to a catwalker. Doctor Parkin and I are planning her funeral.

 

Speaking of Doctor Parkin, she has begun instructing me in the fields of genetics, she had me study a basic text on the matter and recite what I’d learned. Now she’s having me write a paper on how I’d improve the synapses in a nervous system, I must say the topic is fairly interesting. Overall I’m quite honored to be under the Doctors tutelage.

 

I had to deal with one of my boss’s mind games the other day; I won’t make more mention of it other than it caused me to discharge my weapon in anger. I just hope my emotions don’t all flood me at once, I am unsure if that is something that I can handle, while I like being able to feel, I’d rather not become like Aylin, her emotions are severely stunted it seems.

 

A man named Markko has become an acquaintance with me it seems. I don’t know what to say about him, he’s Intelligent, polite, and is quite complimentary of me. While I enjoy receiving compliments, Doctor Parkin did excellent work on me; I have to wonder if he gives all attractive women compliments such as the ones he gave me. He said that my beauty could make the Blue Lady, the ocean, jealous. I must say while quite the compliment, it seems a little too over the top to be simple politeness.

 

And finally Doctor Daviau has placed me in charge of Soz’s AI daughter, I am unsure of what to say about that. I guess I’ll learn what it’s like to be a parent or caretaker of some sort.

 

Barline

_________________

 

Movement IV

Adagio in Reprise

D.S al Coda

 

I have died, I have risen, and I have been reborn anew.

 

Perhaps that sounds a bit to full of myself but that is the case, apparently I have suffered a death, and when I awkoe from the tank i found that my employent with Ashagi has been terminated. though I owe them a thank you for what they have givn me. Per my instructions for memory implantation into a new body should teh need have ever arisen, Half of my brain ha sbeen replaced witha CPU operating in sync with my organic brain. Sadly something seems to be wrong with it. The Cio-cybernetic neurons that were suppose dto ahve been added in to allow this were not installed it semms. So I effectivly function with two largely independent brains. This will be a problem that I need to solve.

 

I came back and thought that Amara, my lover, would be pleased to see me again. Sadly I wa smistaken the woman was in hysterics and almost killed me in the TZ. I don't know what she went through emotionally, but I feel sorry for what she had to endure from me.

 

I kept sending he rmessages at least two short texts a day to let he rknow that i stillloved her, nthing mor ethen that. Finally the otehrnight she agreed to meet me again at the sushi bar. At first she was quite quiet with me, and thinsg starte dto get worse when chi showed up. With what he has done to Amara I can only understand why she ran off. I followed her of course to the Quinntukhat bridge, trying to comfort her. if there is one thing I never want to see again its my darling in tears the way she was teh othernight. We wound up in each others arms though, and i think the groundwork is there for us now.

 

With my termination at Ashagi I am now free to choose my own career path and I have, as the representative of the Bio-Mechs. I think the position shows my talents well. debate, political speech, understanding of business, all of my personal skills will ocme into play here. I Have also begun crossing over my genetics knowledge into the realm of the cybernetic. That can only be invaluable. So far i've drafted a contract with DuPlotte industries for various raw materials an dparts, and anotehr contract with the League of Engineers, for a 96GB connection for the HQ.

 

In other news I've begun Modeling for Artika at the gallery, and well it's more fun than I thought it would be, and well with teh fact im not skin and bones I never thought I could be a model, not after those mainland agencies said I had too much muscle tone.

 

Barline

_________________

 

Movement V

Pachelbels Canon in A

 

She said yes!

 

A few days ago at the Freetown days ball, my darling,my beautiful Amara finally said yes! I forget the exact words we used, I think it was something sappy along the lines of "Let me be yours forever darling." "I can't do that Adagio, but I can say yes." Sappy I know but it works. Anyway our next hurdle is showing the Father that we desrve to be wed in holy Matrimony. Nothing could have made me happier, I almost feel sorry for the workouts I've been putting Amara through.

 

After that we went to teh church to pray, it was quite the personal journey I think. WIth what Amara wants us to do, join teh Parish watch, I do not know if I should. I know that politically it might look good. But How will that conflict with my duties with the Bio-Mechs. I mean hell, with Serp and Mirage in the organization, I don't think I'm compatible. But if Amara wants it I'll try to join. I guess I should see exactly where this all ends up then hmm?

 

Whole Rest

_________________

 

Movement VI

The Light Aria

 

things have begun to change since the onset of my project. I began this work with the intent in increasing my intellect to something worthy of my creator. But things have taken some interesting turns. I've altered my metabolism for starters, I now metabolize platinum. I thought that I could alter my metabolism in such a way that only my braincells would be affected by this, to allow for faster synapses and quicker times for the electrical impulses thatrace through my brain, that race through everybody's brain. I also kickstarted the growth of my brin to produce more braincells and to develop the areas o fmy brain with little use, trying to make my thought process more efficient.

 

This technology if applied right could save people from Alzheimers or parkinsons. Hell virtually any degnerative neural condition.

 

But I was wrong.

 

The platinum has bonded with my skin as well a smy entire nervous stem. While it may look pretty, developing that was the single most painful experience of my life. I have no idea how I survived. I know i would be dead now had it not been for Amiya's Internevtion. Though even though my metabolism has stabilized, my brain still continues to grow.

 

i did this with the hopes of boosting my overall intelligence by 100 points, and combining my organic and cybernetic brains. the most recent scans from last friday show that I was right about that much at least. With the accelerated growth my intelligence quotient rests somewhere around the 400 mark plus or minus 75 either way. But it has come at a cost.

 

My brains have grown to become one, but I now posess at least three times the normal amount of bran cells, and the amount of gyri and sulci are at a level of concentration ten times higher than the average human. This is my saving grace that my brain is still growing denser and not physocally larger. It's amiya's help that has saved my life thusfar, but with my need for that treatment reaching astronomically expensive proportions, I need help from my creators.....Ashagi.

 

barline

   

One of those “gee, I didn't know what that was called” methods, knurling is the process used to cut or stamp a pattern onto metal shafts and knobs, such as the crosshatched areas around this centerpunch, to provide a grippable surface.

[SHIPtember 2013 Entry; ParLUGment Crazy 88s Challenge]

 

The IHS Rocktopula was built in 3853 by the Indi Halton Space Hotel and Cruise Lines to travel at non-relativistic speeds between planets and moons in the Sigma Orionis system. It has a capacity of 1400 passengers and 600 crew. It is a luxury liner, with various entertainment and activity rooms along the central corridor, and front sections. Passengers can dine at one of luxury 10 restaurants, gamble their intergalactic credits at the casino, and partake in zero-G squash, zero-G laser tag and other sporting activities. Passengers are also able to take advantage of the Spa to rejuvenate, as well as slow-sleep beds for reduced aging on longer cruises. Two observation towers adorn the mid-section of the ship for passengers to take in interstellar and planetary sights.

 

The liner is 1550 metres long, and has a top speed of 2500 kilometres per second. It has 3 main docking ports: one opening into the front reception area where guests arrive, and two along the midsection for loading supplies and crew.

 

The liner is rated 4 stars by Intergalactic Cruising Monthly.

 

Notes on the build:

- Incorporates 88 Rock tops (Element ID: 4506778 - Design ID: 42284) as part of the ParLUGment Crazy 88s challenge

- Uses RC train track as the main structural element to gain the length and rigidity (I was surprised how strong it was)

- One-hand swooshable

- I don't usually do spaceships; this is my first SHIP

- 155 studs long, 41 studs wide, 25 studs high

  

Swoosh Video: youtu.be/kyk3OXvgVNc

Complete set of images: www.flickr.com/photos/rt_bricks/sets/72157636033053224/

The Times Square Tower (7 Times Square), by David David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, was the last of the four 42nd Street redevelopment towers to be completed in June 2004. At 47-stories (221.5m) it also ended up being the tallest. Arthur Andersen was originally supposed to be the anchor tenant, but backed out after the Enron Scandal.

 

Like the neighboring 5 Times Square, the all-plot building was a tight fit, surrounded on three sides by subway lines, inlcuding station platofmrs and an entrance for the system's busiest station further complicating excavation and construction. As a concession, the foundations were made with minicaissons into the bedroom, and larger ones underneath the corners. Century-old foundation footings underneath the subway station were incorporated where possible.

 

The Tower benefits from special zoning, resulting in uniform floor sizes and panoramic views from every floor. The diagonally braced perimeter frame supports lateral loads and allows wider spacing on the facade columns. Solid bands in the facade contain thin diagonal lines, and a series of slightly accentuated "zig zgs" from the base of the tower to its roof enhance the building's verticality. A four-story advertising sign is attached to its midsection.

 

A prominent exhibit at New York's Museum of Modern Art was a sculpture by Robert Rauschenberg that shows a billy goat with a tire around his midsection. In the days before Internet porn, it was considered a powerful sexual symbol -- the randiest of randy creatures plunged headlong into the feminine symbol. Isamu Noguchi did something similar with intertwined stone carvings entitled "Lingam/Yoni."

The inflatable killer whale in this shot -- who has obvious pretensions at becoming a sperm whale -- has skewered a floatation device.

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of our beloved resident Eastern Water Dragon, Liz. When we moved to our property in the Blue Mountains in 2019, we discovered it was already inhabited by a breeding pair of Dragons (who we named Bob and Liz). Graciously, they agreed to share the space with us and over time came to feel safer around us. Bob went from terrified to merely wary and a little skittish. Liz, on the other hand, went from wary to exceptionally comfortable with our company. She was always recognizable by the kink toward the end of her tail, a sign of a past injury we will never know anything about.

We never fed them, or did any “taming” activities; instead, we respected their personal space, spoke to them kindly and worked around them when in the garden. Liz would watch Joe put in plants, occasionally nabbing a beetle grub he accidentally dug up. She was friendly, curious and patient and a constant fixture on the property. Bob maintained the larger territory that was our street, but more often than not, Liz could be found on her favourite rock, soaking up the sun. We adored these reptiles and considered them part of our family. We watched Liz get pregnant each year, delighting in the fact a new generation was on the way. We missed them in winter, and were thrilled at the first sighting in early spring. As I am chronically ill and spend most of my time alone at home, Liz provided much needed companionship for me, and made me feel less lonely. She was a great listener and would watch me photograph my bees while only a foot or so away from me. She was our friend.

Tragically, on Wednesday the 6th December, Liz was run over and killed while crossing the road from our neighbour’s place to ours. Joe found her in the evening when setting off to the shops, and we were both devastated. The force of the vehicle ruptured her lower midsection, and 4 of her nearly fully-developed eggs were ejected. We gathered them up, along with her body, and took her to the local vet who offered to incubate the eggs and autopsy her to check if there were more. Her body was still supple, so she had been recently killed, and one of the eggs landed in grass. It was a warm day, so they may have survived. We won’t know, and have asked not to find out from the vet, as it is too painful for us. We put in a report with Wires.

We’re both deeply saddened and are grieving. I have lost many pets, and this felt just as agonizing as any of their deaths did. I am considering petitioning council for signs to remind people to drive slowly on streets adjacent to bush, to spare our precious wildlife. I dedicate this post to Liz and the wonderful memories she gave us. Rest in peace, beautiful one. May your children live longer lives. Thank you to everyone who has read this. I know my Flickr community of naturalists will understand our loss.

 

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It is a version of Audi R8 LMS with CFRP (carbon fiber reinforced plastic) doors with high-energy absorbing new crash foams, new PS1 safety seat developed by Audi, updated transmission provides additional reserves on long-distance runs, increased engine power to 570 PS (419 kW; 562 bhp) (depending on restrictor regulations) with higher torque at lower engine speeds, a larger engine oil cooler and transmission fluid cooler, relocated steering hydraulics oil cooler to the vehicle's midsection, enlarged air vents, improved air flow to radiator and interior, front 12-inch wheels with Michelin 30-65/18 tires, optimized brake cooling at the front wheels, uniball joints transverse control arm mounts, weight-reduced compression and rebound-adjustable gas dampers from Bilstein, wider front hood with louvers, new wider rear wing with larger end plates, new front plate with optimized diffusion under the front end. Previous vehicles could be upgraded via an update kit.

 

The vehicle was sold for €329,900.00 plus VAT, with delivery began in March 2012.

 

(Wikipedia)

 

Da Wikipédia, em português:

Louva-a-deus

O louva-a-deus ou cavalinho-de-deus é um insecto, da ordem Mantodea. Há cerca de 2400 espécies de louva-a-deus, a maioria das quais em ambiente tropical e subtropical. Seu nome popular decorre do fato de que, quando está pousado, o inseto lembra uma pessoa orando. Os louva-a-deus são insetos relativamente grandes, de cabeça triangular, tórax estreito com pronoto e abdómen bem desenvolvido. São predadores agressivos que caçam principalmente moscas e afídios. A caça é feita em geral de emboscada, facilitada pelas capacidades de camuflagem do louva-a-deus. Como não possuem veneno, os louva-a-deus contam com as suas pernas anteriores que são raptatórias, ou seja, modificadas como garras, para segurar a presa enquanto é consumida. A sua voracidade leva a que sejam considerados muito bem vindos pelos amantes da jardinagem e agricultura biológica, uma vez que, na ausência de pesticidas, são um fator importante no controlo de pragas de jardim. Na América do Norte ocorrem apenas três espécies de louva-a-deus, duas das quais introduzidas no início do século XX para este mesmo efeito.

 

O voo do louva-a-deus é algo impressionante. Remete ao voo de um caça de combate. Ele também tem a capacidade de desviar de ataques de morcegos em pleno voo executando mergulhos.

 

O louva-a-deus é um animal muito venerado na China, tendo inclusive estilos de Kung Fu baseados em seus movimentos.

Acasalamento:

O ritual de acasalamento dos louva-a-deus, que decorre por volta do Outono, é uma época de perigo para os machos da espécie, uma vez que a fêmea muitas vezes acaba por os matar e comer durante/depois do ato. Depois do fato consumado, a fêmea põe entre 10 a 400 ovos numa cápsula endurecida que deposita no chão, superfície plana ou enrolada numa folha. Em algumas espécies, a fêmea permanece perto da cápsula e a protege contra os predadores, em particular algumas espécies de vespa. Após a eclosão, o louva-a-deus nasce como ninfa, que é em tudo igual ao adulto excepto no tamanho menor e na ausência de asas e de órgãos reprodutores maduros.

 

From Wikipedia, in english:

 

Mantis

For other uses, see Praying mantis (disambiguation) and Mantis (disambiguation).

Mantodea

Temporal range: 145–0Ma

PreЄ

Є

O

S

D

C

P

T

J

K

Pg

N

Cretaceous–Recent

Mantis-greece-alonisos-0a.jpg

Adult female Sphodromantis viridis

Scientific classification

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Arthropoda

Class: Insecta

Subclass: Pterygota

Infraclass: Neoptera

Superorder: Dictyoptera

Order: Mantodea

Burmeister, 1838

Families

 

Acanthopidae

Amorphoscelididae

Chaeteessidae

Empusidae

Eremiaphilidae

Hymenopodidae

Iridopterygidae

Liturgusidae

Mantidae

Mantoididae

Metallyticidae

Sibyllidae

Tarachodidae

Thespidae

Toxoderidae

Synonyms

 

Manteodea Burmeister, 1829

Mantearia

Mantoptera

 

Mantodea (or mantises, mantes) is an order of insects that contains over 2,400 species and about 430 genera[1] in 15 families worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. Most of the species are in the family Mantidae.

 

The English common name for the order is the mantises, or rarely (using a Latinized plural of Greek mantis), the mantes. The name mantid refers only to members of the family Mantidae, which was, historically, the only family in the Order, but with 14 additional families recognized in recent decades, this term can be confusing. The other common name, often applied to any species in the order, is "praying mantis",[2] because of the typical "prayer-like" posture with folded fore-limbs, although the eggcorn "preying mantis" is sometimes used in reference to their predatory habits.[3][4] In Europe and other regions, however, the name "praying mantis" refers to only a single species, Mantis religiosa. The closest relatives of mantises are the termites and cockroaches (order Blattodea). They are sometimes confused with phasmids (stick/leaf insects) and other elongated insects such as grasshoppers and crickets, or other insects with raptorial forelegs such as mantisflies.

Etymology:

The name mantodea is formed from the Ancient Greek words μάντις (mantis) meaning "prophet", and εἶδος (eidos) meaning "form" or "type". It was coined in 1838 by the German entomologist Hermann Burmeister.

Systematics:

The systematics of mantises have long been disputed. Mantises, along with walking sticks, were once placed in the order Orthoptera with the cockroaches (now Blattodea) and rock crawlers (now Grylloblattodea). Kristensen (1991) combined Mantodea with the cockroaches and termites into the order Dictyoptera.

Anatomy and morphology:

Mantises have two grasping, spiked forelegs ("raptorial legs") in which prey items are caught and held securely. In most insect legs, including the posterior four legs of a mantis, the coxa and trochanter combine as an inconspicuous base of the leg; in the raptorial legs however, the coxa and trochanter combine to form a segment about as long as the femur, which is a spiky part of the grasping apparatus (see illustration). Located at the base of the femur are a set of discoidal spines, usually four in number, but ranging from zero to as many as five depending on the species. These spines are preceded by a number of tooth-like tubercles, which, along with a similar series of tubercles along the tibia and the apical claw near its tip, give the foreleg of the mantis its grasp on its prey. The foreleg ends in a delicate tarsus made of between four and five segments and ending in a two-toed claw with no arolium and used as a walking appendage.[8]

 

The mantis thorax consists of a prothorax, a mesothorax, and a metathorax. In all species apart from the genus Mantoida, the prothorax, which bears the head and forelegs, is much longer than the other two thoracic segments. The prothorax is also flexibly articulated, allowing for a wide range of movement of the head and forelimbs while the remainder of the body remains more or less immobile. The articulation of the neck is also remarkably flexible; some species of mantis can rotate the head nearly 180 degrees.

 

Mantises may have a visual range of up to 20 metres. Their compound eyes may comprise up to 10,000 ommatidia. The eyes are widely spaced and laterally situated, affording a wide binocular field of vision and, at close range, precise stereoscopic vision. The dark spot on each eye is a pseudopupil. As their hunting relies heavily on vision, mantises are primarily diurnal. Many species, however, fly at night, and then may be attracted to artificial lights. Nocturnal flight is especially important to males in search of less-mobile females that they locate by detecting their pheromones. Flying at night exposes mantises to fewer bird predators than diurnal flight would. Many mantises also have an auditory thoracic organ that helps them to avoid bats by detecting their echolocation and responding evasively.[8]

 

Mantises can be loosely categorized as being macropterous (long-winged), brachypterous (short-winged), micropterous (vestigial-winged), or apterous (wingless). If not wingless, a mantis has two sets of wings: the outer wings, or tegmina, are usually narrow, opaque, and leathery. They function as camouflage and as a shield for the hind wings. The hind wings are much broader, more delicate, and transparent. They are the main organs of flight, if any. Brachypterous species are at most minimally capable of flight, other species not at all. The wings are mostly erected in these mantises for alarming enemies and attracting females. Even in many macropterous species the female is much heavier than the male, has much shorter wings, and rarely takes flight if she is capable of it at all.

 

The abdomen of all mantises consist of ten tergites with a corresponding set of nine sternites visible in males and seven visible in females. The slim abdomen of most males allows them to take flight more easily while the thicker abdomen of the females houses the reproductive machinery for generating the ootheca. The abdomen of both sexes ends in a pair of cerci.

Evolution:

One theory for the evolution of the group is that mantises evolved from proto-cockroaches, diverging from their common ancestors by the Cretaceous period, possibly from species like Raphidiomimula burmitica, a predatory cockroach with mantis-like forelegs. Possibly the earliest known modern mantis is Regiata scutra, although more common (and confirmed) is Santanmantis, a stilt-legged genus, also from the Cretaceous. Like their close termite cousins, though, mantises did not become common and diverse until the early Tertiary period.

Behavior:

Diet and predatory behavior:

Most mantises are exclusively predatory while exceptions are predominantly so. Insects form their primary prey, but the diet of a mantis changes as it grows larger. In its first instar a mantis eats small insects such as tiny flies or its own siblings. In later instars it does not or cannot profitably pursue such small prey. In the final instar as a rule the diet still includes more insects than anything else, but large species have been known to prey on small scorpions, lizards, frogs, birds, snakes, fish, and even rodents; they feed on any species small enough for them to capture, but large enough to engage their attention. For example, a large mantis feeding on a bee or bug might be pestered with impunity by jackal flies and biting midges that it would readily have eaten in its first instar. Large prey tends to increase in value with the cube of its size: a blowfly four times as long as a jackal fly represents a meal about 64 times as massive. However, the chewing action can be always triggered by picking the mantis up to deny it traction and stimulating its mandibles with food. When a female mantis is into her final growth spurt and is accumulating nutrients to make eggs, the largest available prey that she can manage is the most effective for her to concentrate on.[citation needed]

 

The majority of mantises are ambush predators, but some ground and bark species actively pursue their prey. For example, members of a few genera such as the ground mantids, Entella, Ligaria and Ligariella, run over dry ground seeking prey much as tiger beetles do. Species that are predominantly ambush predators camouflage themselves and spend long periods standing perfectly still. They largely wait for their prey to stray within reach, but most mantises chase tempting prey if it strays closely enough. In pure ambush mode a mantis lashes out at remarkable speed when a target does get within reach, details of the speed and mode attack varying with the species. A mantis catches prey items and grips them with grasping, spiked forelegs. The mantis usually holds its prey with one arm between the head and thorax, and the other on the abdomen. Then, if the prey does not resist, the mantis eats it alive. However, if the prey does resist, the mantis often eats it head first, some species of mantises being more prone to the behaviour than others. Unlike sucking predatory arthropods, a mantis does not liquefy prey tissues or drain its prey's body fluids, but simply slices and chews it with its mandibles as convenient, often from one end. If it should happen to have begun feeding on the midsection of the prey, it typically ends up eating first one remnant end from one foreclaw, then the rest from the other, leaving nothing but accidentally severed fragments such as limbs.[citation needed]

 

Chinese Mantids have been found to gain benefits in survivorship, growth, and fecundity by supplementing their diet with pollen. In replicated laboratory tests the first instar actively fed on pollen just after hatching, thereby avoiding starvation in the absence of prey. The adults fed on pollen-laden insects, attaining fecundity as high as those fed on larger numbers of insects alone.

Defense and camouflage:

Generally, mantises protect themselves by camouflage and concealment. When directly threatened, many mantis species stand tall and spread their forelegs, with their wings fanning out wide. The fanning of the wings makes the mantis seem larger and more threatening, with some species having bright colors and patterns on their hind wings and inner surfaces of their front legs for this purpose. If harassment persists, a mantis may strike with its forelegs and attempt to pinch or bite. As part of the threat display, some species also may produce a hissing sound by expelling air from the abdominal spiracles. When flying at night, at least some mantises are able to detect the echolocation sounds produced by bats, and when the frequency begins to increase rapidly, indicating an approaching bat, they stop flying horizontally and begin a descending spiral toward the safety of the ground, often preceded by an aerial loop or spin.[10][11]

 

Mantises, like stick insects, show rocking behaviour in which the insect makes rhythmic, repetitive side-to-side movements. Functions proposed for this behaviour include the enhancement of crypsis by means of the resemblance to vegetation moving in the wind. However, the repetitive swaying movements may be most important in allowing the insects to discriminate objects from the background by their relative movement, a visual mechanism typical of animals with simpler sight systems. Rocking movements by these generally sedentary insects may replace flying or running as a source of relative motion of objects in the visual field.[12]

 

Mantises are camouflaged, and most species make use of protective coloration to blend in with the foliage or substrate, both to avoid predators, and to better snare their prey. Various species have evolved to not only blend with the foliage, but to mimic it, appearing as either living or withered leaves, sticks, tree bark, blades of grass, flowers, or even stones. Some species in Africa and Australia are able to turn black after a molt following a fire in the region to blend in with the fire ravaged landscape (a type of adaptive melanism referred to as fire melanism). While mantises can bite, they have no venom. They can also slash captors with their raptorial legs (which is often preceded by a threat display wherein the mantis rears back and spreads its front legs and wings (if present), often revealing vivid colors and/or eyespots to startle a predator). Mantises are without chemical protection; many large insectivores eat mantises, including Scops owls, shrikes, bullfrogs, chameleons, and Milk Snakes.

Reproduction and life history:

Sexual cannibalism is common among most predatory species of mantises in captivity, and under some circumstances may also be observed in the field. 90% of the predatory species of mantis participate in sexual cannibalism.[13] The female may begin feeding by biting off the male’s head (as they do with regular prey), and if mating has begun, the male’s movements may become even more vigorous in its delivery of sperm. Early researchers thought that because copulatory movement is controlled by a ganglion in the abdomen, not the head, removal of the male’s head was a reproductive strategy by females to enhance fertilisation while obtaining sustenance. Later, this behavior appeared to be an artifact of intrusive laboratory observation. Whether the behavior in the field is natural, or also the result of distractions caused by the human observer, remains controversial. Mantises are highly visual organisms, and notice any disturbance occurring in the laboratory or field such as bright lights or moving scientists. Research by Liske and Davis (1984)[14] and others found (e.g. using video recorders in vacant rooms) that Chinese mantises that had been fed ad libitum (so that they were not hungry) actually displayed elaborate courtship behavior when left undisturbed. The male engages the female in courtship dance, to change her interest from feeding to mating. Courtship display has also been observed in other species, but it does not hold for all mantises.

 

The reason for sexual cannibalism has been debated, with some considering submissive males to be achieving a selective advantage in their ability to produce offspring. This theory is supported by a quantifiable increase in the duration of copulation among males who are cannibalized, in some cases doubling both the duration and the chance of fertilization. This is contrasted by a study where males were seen to approach hungry females with more caution, and were shown to remain mounted on hungry females for a longer time, indicating that males actively avoiding cannibalism may mate with multiple females. The same study also found that hungry females generally attracted fewer males than those who were well fed.[15] The act of dismounting is one of the most dangerous times for males during copulation, for it is at this time that females most frequently cannibalize their mates. This increase in mounting duration was thought to indicate that males are more prone to wait for an opportune time to dismount from a hungry female rather than from a satiated female that would be less likely to cannibalize her mate. Some consider this to be an indication that male submissiveness does not inherently increase male reproductive success, rather that more fit males are likely to approach a female with caution and escape.[16]

 

The mating season in temperate climates typically begins in autumn. To mate following courtship, the male usually leaps onto the female’s back, and clasps her thorax and wing bases with his forelegs. He then arches his abdomen to deposit and store sperm in a special chamber near the tip of the female’s abdomen. The female then lays between 10 and 400 eggs, depending on the species. Eggs are typically deposited in a frothy mass that is produced by glands in the abdomen. This froth then hardens, creating a protective capsule. The protective capsule and the egg mass is called an ootheca. Depending on the species, the ootheca can be attached to a flat surface, wrapped around a plant or even deposited in the ground. Despite the versatility and durability of the eggs, they are often preyed on, especially by several species of parasitic wasps. In a few species, the mother guards the eggs.[citation needed]

 

As in related insect groups, mantises go through three stages of metamorphosis: egg, nymph, and adult (mantises are among the hemimetabolic insects). The nymph and adult insect are structurally quite similar, except that the nymph is smaller and has no wings or functional genitalia. The nymphs are also sometimes colored differently from the adult, and the early stages are often mimics of ants. A mantis nymph increases in size (often changing its diet as it does so) by replacing its outer body covering with a sturdy, flexible exoskeleton and molting when needed. Molting can happen from five to ten times, depending on the species. After the final molt most species have wings, though some species are wingless or brachypterous ("short-winged"), particularly in the female sex.[citation needed]

 

In tropical species, the natural lifespan of a mantis in the wild is about 10–12 months, but some species kept in captivity have been sustained for 14 months. In colder areas, females die during the winter (as well as any surviving males)

Pest control uses:

Organic gardeners who avoid pesticides may encourage mantises as a form of biological pest control. During fall in temperate regions, mantis females typically deposit an ootheca on the underside of a leaf or on a twig, and in some species these are harvested commercially. If the egg case survives winter, the offspring, called nymphs, emerge in late spring or early summer. The nymphs have voracious appetites and typically cannibalize each other if they cannot find an adequate supply of aphids and other small insects. Tens of thousands of mantis egg cases are sold each year in some garden stores for this purpose. However, mantises prey on neutral and beneficial insects as well, basically eating anything they can successfully capture and devour.

Conservation status:

With one exception (the ground mantis Litaneutria minor in Canada, where it is rare — though it is common in the United States), North American mantises are not included among threatened or endangered species, though species in other parts of the world are under threat from habitat destruction. The European mantis (Mantis religiosa) is the state insect of Connecticut, but the General Statutes of Connecticut do not list any special protected status, as it is a non-native species from Europe and Africa. It became the state insect in October 1977 following a school project between Center Road School in Vernon, CT and then State Representative Chester W. Morgan of Vernon's 56th State Assembly District.

Introduced species:

Over 20 species are native to the United States, including the common Carolina Mantis, with only one native to Canada. Two species (the Chinese Mantis and the European Mantis) were deliberately introduced to serve as pest control for agriculture, and have spread widely in both countries. Additionally, there is a strong market in the exotic pet trade for mantis species from Asia, Africa and South America, and many species are bred in captivity for this purpose.

Cultural references:

One of the earliest mantis references is in the ancient Chinese dictionary Erya, which gives its attributes in poetry (representing courage and fearlessness), as well as a brief description. A later text, the Jingshi Zhenglei Daguan Bencao 經史證類大觀本草 ( Epic 史, history 證, collection 類, kinds 大觀, overall impression 本, basic 草, agriculture Annotated and Arranged by Types, Based upon the Classics and Historical Works") from 1108, is impressively correct on the construction of the egg packages, the development cycle, the anatomy and even the function of the antennae.

 

Western descriptions of the biology and morphology of the mantises had become relatively accurate by the 18th century. Roesel von Rosenhof accurately illustrated and described them in the Insekten-Belustigungen (Insect Entertainments). Aldous Huxley made philosophical observations about the nature of death while two mantises mated in the sight of two characters in the novel Island (the species was Gongylus gongylodes). The naturalist Gerald Durrell's autobiography My Family and Other Animals includes an account of a very evenly matched battle between a mantis and a gecko.

 

M. C. Escher's woodcut Dream depicts a human-sized mantis standing on a sleeping bishop.[18]

 

Two martial arts that had been separately developed in China have movements and fighting strategies based on those of the Mantis. As one of these arts was developed in northern China, and the other in southern parts of the country, the arts are nowadays referred to (both in English and Chinese) as 'Northern Praying Mantis' and 'Southern Praying Mantis'. Both arts are very popular in China, and have also been imported to the West in recent decades.

Mythology:

Southern African indigenous mythology refers to the mantis as a god in Khoi and San traditional myths and practices, and the word for the mantis in Afrikaans is hottentotsgot (literally, a god of the Khoi).[19][20] The word "Mantis" is also the Greek word for "prophet or seer".

 

Fidalgo Bay. General Construction Company's 700 ton capacity crane barge D.B. General. Here to lift the 90ft Northern Marine Yacht Bäden out of the water after it capsized during its launch on sunday night.

 

NTSB Final Accident Report:

 

"The newly built yacht Baaden was being launched stern first down the Fidalgo Marina boat ramp in Anacortes, Washington, with eight shipyard personnel on board when it capsized

after entering the water at 2050 on Sunday, May 18, 2014. The yacht was salvaged but was declared a total constructive loss, estimated at $10 million. Three shipyard personnel who were

trapped below decks for up to half an hour were treated for minor cuts and injuries at local hospitals. No pollution was reported.

 

New World Yacht Builders began construction of the Baaden in December 2011, working from an existing 80-foot-hull mold built in 2002 by Northern Marine. Like other large Northern

Marine yachts, the vessel was custom designed. The 80-foot mold was lengthened in the midsection and stem, the bow was given more flare, and a swim platform was added. The

resulting 85-foot vessel was designated Northern Marine model 8501 and was the first of its kind. New World described the Baaden as having commercial fishing vessel roots in an 85-foot

European-style, luxury, long-range, oceangoing expedition yacht. The builder, the buyer’s representative, and an interior design firm collaborated on the vessel design and styling. Several sister vessels built to the 80-foot-hull design were completed and are in operation.

 

Due to water damage to interior woodwork, machinery, and electrical systems and expenses associated with repairing the vessel, at the time of this report the Baaden was considered a total constructive loss with an estimated value of $10 million.

Launch team members inspected the launch cradles, dollies, and equipment after the incident and noted that one of the tires on the forward dolly was flat, and witnesses said they saw

bubbles coming from the forward dolly at the time of the launch. The tire likely was damaged during the initial port roll at 2037.

 

Probable Cause:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the capsizing of the yacht Baaden during its initial launch was the vessel’s low margin of stability due to the combined effects of a recording error during the final vessel weigh, which resulted in an incorrect assessment of the vessel’s center of gravity, and an overestimation of the weight of installed ballast."

 

www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/pages/MAB1514...

Designer Jasmine has been fully deboxed, and is posed standing, supported by the custom doll stand. Her overskirt, freed from the factory restraints, is now wider than the doll stand, and is allowed to drape over the edges of the base. The sunlight was fading as I was taking these photos, so some of the closeups used flash.

 

First look at the Disney Princess Designer Collection Jasmine Doll. She was released in October 2011, and I got her from eBay shortly afterwards, so It's been more than a year and a half since I got this doll. But I have not yet deboxed her, and this the first time I am doing a full photoshoot of her. I will photograph her boxed, during her deboxing, and fully deboxed.

 

My Designer Jasmine doll is a limited edition doll that was produced and sold exclusively by the Disney Store, and is numbered 5645 of 6000. She is based on the heroine from the Disney animated feature Aladdin (1992). She comes in an acrylic case with a built-in doll stand, with a base that has a golden filigree design, and a golden metallic nameplate. There is also a cardboard cover for the case that I have not photographed here.

 

She is 11 1/2'' tall, and has the same body as the other Designer Princess dolls, with jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips and knees (internal). She has rubber legs and fixed ankles, with feet angled for high heels.

 

She has jet black, 12'' long hair tied into a floor length pony tail. There are two golden elastic hairties in the upper and middle part of the ponytail, and the lower portion of her hair has loose curls. It is very soft and shiny. There were a few stray hairs, but I left them alone and did not comb it, as I thought her hair was neat enough as it was out of the box. She has light brown skin, and a unique face sculpt that is very pretty and movie accurate. She has large dark brown almond shaped eyes that are glancing towards her right. She has light blue-green eye shadow, and thick black eyebrows. She has rooted eyelashes, that are tapered in length from short to long, then at the ends there are very long curved antenna like lashes. She has a small straight nose, full dark purple lips in with a closed mouth smile. She has very pale red rouge on her cheeks.

 

Her three piece gown is made of bright blue-green satin and light blue organza. Her bodice is cropped short to reveal her midsection (including her belly button), and consists of light blue organza embedded with golden gems, draped over her upper arms, and gemmed blue-green satin lower and back sections. Her blue-green satin skirt is floor length and is figure hugging, flairing out at the bottom. It is hemmed and there is a light blue polyester lining. There is a very wide overskirt of the double layered light blue satin. I is open in front, but can be wrapped around to completely cover her inner skirt, or can be folded to reveal her inner skirt.

 

She is wearing light blue-green high heeled shoes, which match the color of her skirt.

 

Her accessories include earrings, a chain belt with pendant and Aladdin's lamp. The earrings are large golden triangles with gold colored gems. Her belt is made of fine gold chain, with a large round jeweled pendant just below her waist that gathers the strands of the chain together, the remainder of which fall almost to the floor. In her right hand is a golden lamp that is bejeweled with yellow gems. The top of the lamp is removable (it is held in place with rubber bands, which I left in place).

 

There were no real surprises revealed by deboxing her, although it was nice to see the full extent of her overskirt. I was also glad to take her out of her awkward head pose, which was a common problem among the Designer Princesses. One thing I didn't like was that her top was a little too short, and revealed her waist joint (that enables her to spin her upper body around 360 degrees). Tugging on her top didn't move it enough to hide the joint in the front. As a consequence, her waist joint moved very freely, and her upper body tended to turn whenever she was handled, aided by her long hair. Also her long luxurious hair is very heavy, so tends to pull her backwards slightly when she is posed on the display stand. Designer Rapunzel has a similar problem. Her very wide floor length overskirt and floor length hair make it difficult to rebox her neatly, which is a common problem with the Designer dolls with very wide floor length skirts.

Day 7 - Knicks City Dancers, Hawks vs Knicks, NY

4/30/08: Day 145 Surgery Eve

 

In 12 hours, I am going to be getting prepped for surgery… This picture is an illustration of my feelings at this very moment.

 

Not too long after Lanie was born, I learned that the large amount of extra skin on my stomach was nothing that would be disappearing. After having Jace a year ago, the situation worsened and has made me severely self-conscious of my midsection. After visiting my family doctor, he explained that even with a healthy diet and hard exercise, nothing can make skin spring back to its original state if it has decided not to.

 

For me, that was difficult news to hear. I’m no supermodel and not necessarily vain; however, this amount of extra skin is just not acceptable. I knew then that after we were done having children, I would have to take the drastic action and get an abdomnioplasty (tummy tuck). That tummy tuck is tomorrow!

 

In this shot, I blurred out my stomach skin because I am just not comfortable displaying it to the world. Maybe in months to come, I will post a before and after, but that will be a LONG time from now!

 

I beg that if you comment, please don’t judge me harshly. This is a very personal decision that I have made and I have many, many reasons for deciding to embark on this journey.

 

In these next weeks of recovery, I will especially appreciate your comments. I know there is a hard road ahead of me, and I thank you in advance for your words to me!

 

View On Black and Large.

3. Midsection (grille) rotates back to expose reverse studs for installing Powermaster Unit

Photographs taken during the TimeLine Events charter of Jetstream Tours 'Jacob Marley' to follow the Medway Barge Match.

 

The SS 'Richard Montgomery' was built by the St. Johns River Shipbuilding Company in its second year of operations, and was the seventh of the 82 such ships built by that yard. Laid down on 15 March 1943, she was launched on 15 June 1943, and completed on 29 July 1943, given the official ship number 243756, and named after General Richard Montgomery, an Irish-American soldier who was killed during the American Revolutionary War.

 

In August 1944, on what was to be its final voyage, the ship left Hog Island, Philadelphia, where it had been loaded with 6,127 tons of munitions.

 

It travelled from the Delaware river to the Thames Estuary, then anchored while awaiting the formation of a convoy to travel to Cherbourg, France, which had come under Allied control on 27 July 1944 during the Battle of Normandy.

 

When Richard Montgomery arrived off Southend, it came under the authority of the Thames naval control at HMS Leigh located at the end of Southend Pier. The harbour master, responsible for all shipping movements in the estuary, ordered the ship to a berth off the north edge of Sheerness middle sands, an area designated as the Great Nore Anchorage.

 

On 20 August 1944, it dragged anchor and ran aground on a sandbank around 250 metres from the Medway Approach Channel,[5] in a depth of 24 feet (7.3 m) of water. The general dry cargo liberty ship had an average draught of 28 ft (8.5 m); however, the Montgomery was trimmed to a draught of 31 ft (9.4 m). As the tide went down, the ship broke its back on sand banks near the Isle of Sheppey about 1.5 miles (2.5 km) from Sheerness and 5 miles (8 km) from Southend.

 

A Rochester-based stevedore company was given the job of removing the cargo, which began on 23 August 1944, using the ship's own cargo handling equipment. By the next day, the ship's hull had cracked open, causing several cargo holds at the bow end to flood. The salvage operation continued until 25 September, when the ship was finally abandoned before all the cargo had been recovered. Subsequently, the ship broke into two separate parts, roughly at the midsection.

 

During the inquiry following the shipwreck it was revealed that several ships moored nearby had noticed the Montgomery drifting towards the sandbank. They had attempted to signal an alert by sounding their sirens without avail, since throughout this Captain Wilkie of the Montgomery was asleep. The ship's chief officer was unable to explain why he had not alerted the captain. A Board of Inquiry concluded that the anchorage the harbour master assigned had placed the ship in jeopardy, and returned the Montgomery's captain to full duty within a week.

 

SS Richard Montgomery was an American Liberty ship built during World War II, one of the 2,710 used to carry cargo during the war. The ship was wrecked off the Nore in the Thames Estuary in 1944 with around 1,400 tonnes (1,500 short tons) of explosives on board which continue to be a hazard to the area.

 

Mulberry harbours were temporary portable harbours developed by the British during World War II to facilitate the rapid offloading of cargo onto beaches during the Allied invasion of Normandy in June 1944. After the Allies successfully held beachheads following D-Day, two prefabricated harbours were taken in sections across the English Channel from Britain with the invading army and assembled off Omaha (Mulberry "A") and Gold Beach (Mulberry "B").

 

The Mulberry harbours were to be used until the Allies could capture a French port; initially thought to be around three months. However although Antwerp in Belgium was captured on 4 September 1944, the Port of Antwerp was not opened until 28 November as the approaches to the port were held by the Germans until the (delayed) Battle of the Scheldt was won. Two French ports were eventually available; the port of Boulogne on 14 October after Operation Wellhit and the port of Calais in November after Operation Undergo. Montgomery insisted that the First Canadian Army clear the German garrisons in Boulogne, Calais and Dunkirk (which was held until 9 May 1945) first before the Scheldt although the French ports were "resoluteld defended" and had all suffered demolitions so would not be navigable for some time. The success of Operation Dragoon meant that the southern French ports of Marseille and Toulon were available in October.

 

So the need for the harbour at Gold Beach lessened only about five months after D-Day. It was used for 10 months after D-Day; and over 2.5 million men, 500,000 vehicles, and 4 million tonnes of supplies were landed at Gold Beach before it was fully decommissioned. The Mulberry harbour at Omaha Beach had been severely damaged in a storm in late June 1944 and was abandoned. This one, off Shoeburyness, was damaged whilst being towed to France, and abandoned at it's current site.

 

The Peugeot 304 is a small family car which was produced by the French manufacturer Peugeot from 1969 to 1980.

 

The 304 was introduced to the public at the Paris Motor Show in September 1969. Production of the saloon/sedan on the Sochaux assembly lines was discontinued during the summer of 1979, while the "Break" (estate) was produced until the spring of 1980.

 

Peugeot, which had always been a financially prudent company, saw a gap in the midsize car market in France, Italy and the rest of Western Europe. By using the smaller 204's midsection, development costs were minimized resulting in a higher profit margin because of the higher pricing structure in the larger, better equipped market. The 304's main competitors on its home market came from Renault and Simca, with Citroen noticeably absent from this sector at the launch.

 

The car was moderately advanced for its time, having fully independent suspension, and a four-speed gearbox located directly below the engine, sharing the same oil as the engine.

 

The 304 was designed to slot between the popular 204 and the recently introduced Peugeot 504. Since the 204 had an exceptionally spacious passenger cabin for its class, the 304 body used the central portion of the 204: engine and running gear components were mostly interchangeable between the two cars. However, the 304 had a restyled front grill and headlights, designed consciously to emulate the 504.

Á Bao A Qu - A creature that lives on the staircase of the Tower of Victory in Chittor. It may only move when a traveler climbs the staircase, and it follows close at the person's heels. Its form becomes more complete the closer it gets to the terrace at the tower's top. It can only achieve this ultimate form if the traveler has obtained Nirvana, otherwise it finds itself unable to continue.

Abtu and Anet - Two identical fish that, according to Egyptian legend, swam in front of the prow of the sun god's ship on the lookout for danger.

The Alicanto - A mine shaft dwelling bird that feeds upon gold. It is pursued by miners.

The Amphisbaena - A two-headed snake, with one head being where its tail would normally be. It is venomous and, if chopped in half, its two parts can reunite.

An Animal Imagined by Kafka - A kangaroo-like animal with a flat, human-like face and a very long tail.

Singing Beast Imagined by C. S. Lewis - An animal that sits upon its haunches like a dog, but appears more like a horse. Its toes are camel-like, and, unable to produce its own milk, it raises its young by weaning them on the milk of other animals. It has an entrancing call that sounds almost like a glorious song. (from Perelandra)

An Animal Imagined by Poe - A small, flat animal with pure white fur and bright red claws and teeth. Its head is feline, except for its canine-like ears.

Animals in the Form of Spheres - At the time of its writing, some believed that planets and stars were actually living beings, and that the movement of the heavenly bodies was voluntary.

Antelopes with Six Legs - According to Siberian myth, these six-legged antelopes were far too fast for human beings to catch. A divine huntsman, Tunk-poj, cut off the animal's rear-most legs to make the animal easier for humans to hunt.

The Ass with Three Legs - This massive creature is said to stand in the middle of the ocean. It has three legs, six eyes, nine mouths, and one golden horn.

Axehandle Hound

Bahamut - A huge, measureless fish which is often used to describe the spaces between heaven, earth, and hell.

Baldanders - Also known as Soon-Another's, these creatures can assume many shapes. It appears to have a human head and torso, the tail of a fish, the leg of a goat, and the wings and claws of a bird.

The Banshee - The "woman of the fairies" does not have a distinct shape, but is instead described by her keening wails.

Barometz - This "animal" is actually a plant in the shape of a lamb with golden fleece.

Basilisk - The basilisk's appearance has changed over the ages, but it is most often considered a chicken-like serpent with anywhere from four to eight legs. It is extremely venomous, and its gaze can turn anyone into stone.

Behemoth - A massive creature that is often likened to an elephant or hippopotamus.

Brownies - Small brown colored men that often visit homes while the inhabitants are asleep to perform various chores.

Burak - A horse-like creature with long ears and the wings and tail of a peacock. It may also have a man's face.

The Calchona - A creature resembling a shaggy white Newfoundland dog, bearded like a billy goat, which attacks mountain travelers.

Carbuncle - This creature was alleged to be seen in Latin America. Legends say the Carbuncle has some sort of jewel on its head.

Catoblepas - Described as a black buffalo with a hog's head, this creature's head is so heavy that it constantly hangs low to the ground. It is also believed that, like the basilisk, looking into its eyes will kill you instantly.

Celestial Cock - The Celestial Cock, also known as the Cock of Dawn, has three legs and makes its home in the Fu-sang tree, a mile-tall tree that grows in "the region of dawn." It is said to crow three times each day: once at dawn, once at midday and once when the sun sets.

Celestial Horse - A winged, white dog with a black head.

Celestial Stag - No one has ever seen a Celestial Stag. They live in underground mines, searching for the light of day. They will attempt to bribe, speak to, and even torture miners in their quest to reach the surface, where they turn into a deadly liquid form.

Centaur - A well-known beast with the torso of a man and the hindquarters of a horse. Most are portrayed as savage beasts, but others can be well learned in many arts.

Cerberus - A three-headed dog known to guard the gates of the underworld in Greek mythology.

The Cheshire Cat - A rather mischievous cat with a large, grinning face. It can also make itself invisible, leaving behind only its disembodied smile.

The Chimera - Although it may have several different forms, the chimera is most often described as a three-headed beast. Sprouting from its back is the head of a goat, a lion's head at its front, and a snake's head as its tail.

The Chinese Dragon - Compared to the Western Dragon, this dragon is considered divine and holy. It is often seen with antler-like horns and protrusions running along its spine. The Chinese dragon is often pictured with a pearl: the source of its power.

The Chinese Fox - These foxes appear like average foxes, but may sometimes be seen standing on their hind legs to walk. They presumably live about a thousand years, and are bad omens for their mischievous ways. They are known to shapeshift and are able to see into the future.

The Chinese Phoenix - Two basic creatures are described as a symbol of eternal love: the male Feng and the female Huang. They are described as very beautiful birds similar to a peacock, have three legs, and live in the sun.

Chonchon

Ch'ou-T'i - A legendary Chinese creature with a head both front and back.

Chronos or Heracles - This dragon-like creature is often known by two names. Like the chimera, it is made of three heads: a bull's head at its front, a god's head at its middle, and a lion's head at its rear.

The Denizens of Ch'uan-T'ou - Creatures with human heads, beaks, and bat wings.

An Insect Imagined by C. S. Lewis - A strange, jointed insect consisting of a cylindrical body and many thin legs.

Crocotta and the Leucrocotta - The crocotta is described as a hybrid of a dog and a wolf, and may be able to imitate the voice of a person. The leucrocotta is similar, but described as an antelope and hyena hybrid.

A Crossbreed - An animal described by Kafka in "Description of a Struggle" that is half cat and half lamb. Its fur is woolly and soft, yet it has a cat's face and claws. It does not make any sounds, and refuses to chase after rats.

Dopplegänger - Also known as the Double, the Dopplegänger is best described as a man's exact counterpart.

Eastern Dragon - Quite similar to the Chinese dragon of the same region, the Eastern dragon takes roughly the same form, but may be lacking wings. The pearl is also the source of its power, and they can make themselves invisible if they so wish.

Eater of the Dead - Most commonly associated with Egyptian myth, the Eater attends to the "wicked". It is described as having the head of a crocodile, the midsection of a lion, and the hindquarters of a hippo.

Eight-Forked Serpent - A massive serpent with eight heads and eight tails. Its eyes are a deep red, and trees are said to grow along its back.

The Elephant That Foretold the Birth of the Buddha - A white elephant with six tusks that appeared in a dream to, as its namesake suggests, foretell the birth of Buddha.

The Eloi and the Morlocks - In the setting of H. G. Wells' The Time Machine, it is suggested that humans evolve (or devolve) into two distinct species. The Eloi are thin and fragile artisans, living on fruits. The Morlocks are blind laborers, living underground and rising to the surface on moonless nights to feed on the Eloi.

Elves - Little is known about the actual appearance of elves, but they seem to be very small people, and are often portrayed as having pointed ears. They are known for causing all sorts of mischief, such as tangling hair and stealing cattle.

The Wonders of God's Creation Manifested in the Variety of Eight - A mysterious creature that lives in the world of Bliss. Allegedly, all sounds, sights, and smells to this creature are divine.

The Fairies - Fairies are described as beautiful, tiny people that like to meddle in the affairs of humans.

Fastitocalon - A massive whale that many sailors often mistake for an island.

Fauna of Mirrors - It was believed that another world existed behind all mirrors, inhabited by a wide amount of unknown and strange creatures. Luckily, our worlds are now cut off from one another.

Garuda - This beast is the mount of the god Vishnu. It is half man and half vulture, with a white face, deep red wings, and a golden body.

Gillygaloo - A bird which nests on mountain slopes and lays square eggs, which lumberjacks use as dice.

Goofang - A fish("about the size of a sunfish but much bigger") which swims backwards to keep the water out of its eyes.

Goofus Bird - A bird that builds its nest upside down and flies backwards.

Gnomes - Sprites of the earth and hills, gnomes are often shown as bearded dwarves, often with rough features. They often watch over treasure as well.

Golem - This creature was created for the purpose of doing menial chores, and was controlled by a magic tablet placed under its tongue. Normally apathetic and unaware, if uncontrolled the creature enters a wild frenzy.

Griffin - The griffin is best described as an eagle with the body of a lion, and it is very strong.

Haniel, Kafziel, Azriel, and Aniel - Sometimes referred to as angels, these four beasts also possessed four faces: a man's, a lion's, an ox's, and an eagle's. They also possessed four wings.

Haokah, the Thunder God - He appears as a man with large antlers, using the wind to beat his thunder drum.

Harpies - Creatures with a vulture's body, a woman's face, and an insatiable hunger. They are described as having filthy genitalia and a foul smell about them.

Heavenly Cock - Also known as the Bird of Dawn, this Chinese rooster has three legs and crows three times a day, to signal dawn, noon, and dusk.

Hide - A many-eyed octopus-like creature shaped like an animal's hide.

Hidebehind - A strong, nocturnal creature which feeds off the intestines of its prey. It captures and hides from wayfarers in the woods by sucking in its body so that it can hide behind the trunk of any tree, or the person trying to look at it. It is said they have an aversion to alcohol.

Hippogriff - A creature invented by Ludovico Ariosto in the 16th century in his epic Orlando Furioso, based on an expression of Virgil's denoting the impossible, "to cross griffons with horses"; the griffon [see above] being a cross between a lion and an eagle believed by Virgil's commentator Servius to loathe horses.

Hochigan - A long-ago bushman who stole the animals' gift of speech. Borges links this to Descartes' idea that monkeys stay silent to avoid having to work, and to a story by Argentinian author Lugones about a chimpanzee killed by the strain of learning to talk.

Hsiao - An owl-like creature with a man's face, an ape's body, and a dog's tail.

Hsing-T'ien - A headless creature with eyes on its chest and its mouth on its belly.

Hua-Fish - A flying snake-fish that foretells drought.

Huallepen - A swift-moving dog with a human head, which laughs maliciously.

Hui - An amphibious sheep-like animal, which can mate with cows to produce deformed offspring; if a pregnant woman sees one, her child will also be deformed.

Humbaba - A giant in the Assyrian epic Gilgamesh that guards mountain cedars, he is scaly, with vulture claws, lion paws, bull's horns and a tail and penis with snakes' heads at the ends. Men-scorpions from the poem, which guard the mountain Mashu, are also mentioned.

Hundred-Heads - The hundred heads was said to be a gigantic fish with many heads, each one that of a different animal. Legend holds that the fish was the reincarnated spirit of a monk who had often called others "monkey-head" or something similar. The karma of these insults had made him return as a monster.

The Hydra of Lernaea

Ichthyocentaur - from the waist up, this creature has the form of a man, but below the waist they have the fins and tail of a fish. Their forefeet are either in the form of a lion's or a horse's.

Jewish Demons- In Jewish tradition the world between those of the body and spirit is that of angels and devils, densely populated and including creatures from many other cultures. One of the devils is Keteb Mereri, Lord of the Noontide and of Scorching Summers.

Jinn- One of the three kinds of intelligent creatures created by Allah in Muslim tradition, Jinn are formed from smoke of fire, have five orders, can be good or evil and of either sex and can appear as clouds or in various forms or be invisible. Borges mentions various legends about them, as well as Victor Hugo's poem "Les Djinns", and the possible link between the Latin genius and Jinn.

Kami - this beast is said to be a giant cat-fish that lives beneath the surface of the earth, and causes earthquakes with its movements.

the Kilkenny Cats - These cats often fight with each other, devouring everything but the other's tail.

A King of Fire and his Steed - These were beings formed completely of the constantly changing flames of fire.

Kraken

Kujata - A giant bull with thousands of eyes, nostrils, mouths, and feet, which helps to support the world(perched atop Bahamut).

The Lamed Wufniks - there are precisely thirty-six Lamed Wufniks in existence. It is said that, without knowing it, they support the universe and affirm god. If one comes to realize their purpose, they immediately die and are replaced by another unsuspecting man.

Lamia - Half woman and half serpent, these creatures are said to have sprung from one of Zeus's varied love interests. They are thought to be sorceresses, and although they cannot speak they whistle sweetly.

Laudatores Temporis Acti

Lemuri - The Lemuri were the souls of the evil dead, created by Romulus to subdue the restless spirit of his brother Remus.

The Leveler - Reputed to live on the planet Neptune, this creature is 10 times the size of an elephant, and looks quite a bit like it. Its most remarkable features are its conical legs (which are flat on the bottom). Bricklayers employ the leveler to flatten hilly areas for construction projects. It is herbivorous and has few enemies.

Lilith - A woman created before Eve, according to a Hebrew document. Dante Gabriel Rossetti imagined her as a snake in Eden Bower and the similarity of her name with the Hebrew layil or night produced the Middle Age idea of her as a creature of the night.

The Lunar Hare - Ideas of the shapes seen in the moon range include the English "man in the moon", the legend of Cain eternally carrying thorns there, and the Chinese legend of the Lunar Hare: It jumped into a fire to feed the Buddha, who sent its soul to the moon, where it mixes the elixir of life.

Mandrake

Manticore

Mermecolion - An ant/lion hybrid which inevitably starves because it cannot eat either meat or grains, although its lion half craves the former and its ant half craves the latter.

Minotaur

The Monkey of the Inkpot - an extract from Wang Tai-Hai describes a small creature with black fur and scarlet eyes that sits by writers and drinks their leftover ink.

The Monster Acheron - A giant, taller than a mountain, with three mouths and all of Hell in his stomach, described in the Vision of Tundale.

The Mother of Tortoises - A giant tortoise made of water and fire, on whose shell is written the "Universal Rule", a divine treatise.

Musical Serpent - A four-winged serpent which makes sounds similar to those of the "Musical Stone".

Nāga - a half human half snake creature

Nasnas - A creature shaped like half a man, with one leg, one arm, one eye, and half a heart.

The Norns

The Nymphs

Odradek

An Offspring of Leviathan - A creature of medieval legend, "a dragon that was half beast and half fish".

Ocean Men - Merman - like creatures of Chinese legend, who cause storms.

One-Eyed Beings

The Ouroboros

The Panther

Peryton

The Phoenix

Ping Feng - A black pig with a head at each end.

Pinnacle Grouse - Has only one wing, and flies in a continuous circle around the top of a mountain.

Pygmies - 27-inch dwarfs mentioned by Pliny and Aristotle who inhabited the mountains beyond India, waging war on the cranes that attacked them for three months a year. The Carthaginians also had a god called Pygmy who was used as figurhead on warships.

Queer Arm People - People with a single arm and three eyes, who build flying chariots.

The Rain Bird - Also called the shang yang, this bird creates rain by carrying water from rivers in its beak.

Remora

Roperite - A pony-sized animal which uses its lariat-like beak to ensnare rabbits.

Rukh

Salamander

The Satyrs

Scylla

The Sea Horse - An aquatic horse, which sometimes surfaces to mate with land horses.

The Shaggy Beast of La Ferte-Bernard

Simurgh

Sirens

The Sow Harnessed with Chains - Also called the Tin Pig, this creature is heard rattling its chains on railroad tracks by night, but is never seen.

Sphinx

Squonk

Strong Toad - Distinguished from other toads by its turtle-like shell, the Strong Toad glows like a firefly, cannot be killed except by burning, and can attract or repel anyone nearby with its stare.

Swedenborg's Angels - The perfected souls of the blessed and wise, living in a Heaven of ideal things, each reflecting the perfection of this realm.

Swedenborg's Devils - these are people which, after dying, choose to go to hell rather than to heaven. They are not happy there, but they are reputed to be more content in hell than they would have been in heaven.

Sylph

Talos

The T'ao T'ieh - a dog with one(often monstrous) head attached to two bodies, which symbolizes the sins of gluttony and greed.

Teakettler

Thermal Beings - Entities composed solely of heat, from an earlier stage of the world's creation.

Ti-chiang - A faceless, supernatural bird with six feet and four wings.

The Tigers of Annam - Tigers who rule over the four cardinal directions, with the Yellow Tiger commanding them from the world's center.

The Trolls - Due to the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia, pagan giants were diminished into small, malevolent, stupid, mountain-dwelling elves. The Elder Edda states that the giants would cross Bifrost, a great rainbow, at the Twilight of the Gods, breaking it with their weight and so destroying the world. Trolls figure in Ibsen's Peer Gynt as 'nationalist' creatures that view their squalour as luxury and suggest putting out Peer Gynt's eyes so he can avoid seeing the ugliness he is confronted with.

Two Metaphysical Beings - Condillac's sensitive statue inhabited by a new-formed soul which becomes human through sensory perception(starting with smell); a creature that can only sense the outside world through a moveable feeler.

Unicorn

The Unicorn of China

Upland Trout - Flying fish which nest in trees and fear water.

Valkyrie

The Western Dragon

Youwarkee - The half-bird half-woman heroine of the 1751 novel Peter Wilkins by Robert Paltock, Youwarkee is one of the winged glumms that inhabit an Antarctic island. Peter Wilkins is a shipwrecked sailor who marries her and converts them to Christianity.

Zaratan

We all dream about travelling. This is a copy of a traditional Inuit kayak, or at least the midsection of such a kayak. The Inuits travelled the seas on kayaks like this one. From Siberia to North America and further on to Greenland. Artwork made by Jan Mellring. From the 2014 Art promenade in Österhaninge. The theme this year is Dreams.

HMS Cavalier is a retired C-class destroyer of the Royal Navy. She was laid down by J. Samuel White and Company at East Cowes on 28 March 1943, launched on 7 April 1944, and commissioned on 22 November 1944. She served in World War II and in various commissions in the Far East until she was decommissioned in 1972. After decommissioning she was preserved as a museum ship and currently resides at Chatham Historic Dockyard.

 

Construction

Cavalier was one of 96 War Emergency Programme destroyers ordered between 1940 and 1942. She was one of the first ships to be built with the forward and aft portions of her hull welded, with the midsection riveted to ensure strength. The new process gave the ship additional speed. In 1970 a 64-mile race was arranged between Cavalier and the frigate Rapid, which had the same hull form and machinery. Cavalier beat Rapid by 30 yards (27 m) after Rapid lifted a safety valve, reaching an average speed of 31.8 knots (58.9 km/h).

 

Service history

 

Cavalier returning to Portsmouth in 1946

After commissioning she joined the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, part of the Home Fleet, and took part in a number of operations off Norway. Most notably in February 1945 she was despatched with the destroyers Myngs and Scorpion[5] to reinforce a convoy from the Kola Inlet in Russia, which had suffered attacks from enemy aircraft and U-boats, and had subsequently been scattered by a violent storm. She and the other escorts reformed the convoy, and returned to Britain with the loss of only three of the thirty-four ships. This action earned Cavalier a battle honour.

 

Later in 1945 Cavalier was despatched to the Far East, where she provided naval gunfire support during the Battle of Surabaya. In February 1946 she went to Bombay to help quell the Royal Indian Navy Mutiny. After some time in the British Pacific Fleet she was paid off in May 1946 and was placed in reserve at Portsmouth.

 

Cavalier returned to service in 1957 after a modernisation, which included removing some of her torpedo tubes in favour of Squid anti-submarine mortars. She was again sent to the Far East, and joined the 8th Destroyer Squadron in Singapore. In December 1962 she transported 180 troops from Singapore to Brunei to help suppress a rebellion that became part of the Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation. After disembarking the troops she remained in Brunei as a communications centre for several days until other Royal Navy ships arrived to relieve her.

 

Cavalier was decommissioned in 1972 along with HMS Wellington (moored in London), and is the last surviving British destroyer of World War 2 still in the UK.

 

After decommissioning[edit]

After decommissioning at Chatham Dockyard, she was laid up in Portsmouth. As a unique survivor, after a five-year campaign led by Lord Louis Mountbatten, the ship was purchased by the Cavalier Trust for £65,000 and handed over on Trafalgar Day 1977 in Portsmouth. By selling the ship to the Trust, the UK Government and the Royal Navy severed all formal connection and responsibility for the ship. A special warrant was issued that allows her to retain the prefix "HMS" (Her Majesty's Ship) and fly the White Ensign, a privilege normally only enjoyed by commissioned ships of the Royal Navy. A similar privilege is enjoyed by another museum ship, the cruiser Belfast.

 

Moved to Southampton, Cavalier opened as a museum and memorial ship in August 1982. This was not commercially successful, and in October 1983 the ship was moved to Brighton, where she formed the centrepiece of a newly built yacht marina.

 

In 1987, the ship was brought to the River Tyne to form the centrepiece of a national shipbuilding exhibition centre planned by South Tyneside Metropolitan Borough Council in the former shipyard of Hawthorn Leslie and Company, builders of many similar destroyers. The plans for the museum came to nothing, and the borough council, faced with annual maintenance costs of £30,000 and a hardening of public opinion against unnecessary expenditure, resolved to sell the ship and wind up the venture in 1996. The ship sat in a dry dock (owing to a previous list) in a rusting condition, awaiting a buyer or scrapping in situ.

 

After the reforming of the Cavalier Trust, and a debate in Parliament, in 1998 Cavalier was bought by Chatham Historic Dockyard for display as a museum ship. Arriving on 23 May 1998, Cavalier now resides in No. 2 dry-dock.

 

On 14 November 2007, Cavalier was officially designated as a war memorial to the 142 Royal Navy destroyers sunk during World War II and the 11,000 men killed on those ships. The unveiling of a bronze monument created by the artist Kenneth Potts was conducted by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The monument is adjacent to the ship at the Historic Dockyard in Chatham, Kent.

 

In the summer of 2009 the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust made available accommodation on board the ship for youth groups who wish to stay on board and experience life on board a Royal Naval Destroyer.

 

In September 2010, Cavalier fired the first full broadside from a ship flying the White Ensign since a firing by the destroyer London in December 1981. This was due to the work of the heritage naval gun crew who restored all three 4.5-in guns back to working condition in conjunction with the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust.

 

In April 2014 Cavalier was added to Google Maps Business View (formerly Google Business Photos) by CInsideMedia Ltd, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of her launch. The tour, which includes Cavalier's engine and gear room, was enhanced with interactive audio hotspots to enable visitors with accessibility issues to explore the ship.

wikipedia

A S/B D&RGW train lead by SD40T-2 5385 claws it's way south on the Tennessee Pass line between Minturn and Pando, CO Aug 9, 1980. This was one of the many wonderful things I shot on a two week trip Mike Abalos and I took across the midsection of the US.

Fidalgo Bay.

NTSB Final Accident Report:

 

"The newly built yacht Baaden was being launched stern first down the Fidalgo Marina boat ramp in Anacortes, Washington, with eight shipyard personnel on board when it capsized after entering the water at 2050 on Sunday, May 18, 2014. The yacht was salvaged but was declared a total constructive loss, estimated at $10 million. Three shipyard personnel who were trapped below decks for up to half an hour were treated for minor cuts and injuries at local hospitals. No pollution was reported.

 

New World Yacht Builders began construction of the Baaden in December 2011, working from an existing 80-foot-hull mold built in 2002 by Northern Marine. Like other large Northern

Marine yachts, the vessel was custom designed. The 80-foot mold was lengthened in the midsection and stem, the bow was given more flare, and a swim platform was added. The

resulting 85-foot vessel was designated Northern Marine model 8501 and was the first of its kind. New World described the Baaden as having commercial fishing vessel roots in an 85-foot

European-style, luxury, long-range, oceangoing expedition yacht. The builder, the buyer’s representative, and an interior design firm collaborated on the vessel design and styling. Several sister vessels built to the 80-foot-hull design were completed and are in operation.

 

Due to water damage to interior woodwork, machinery, and electrical systems and expenses associated with repairing the vessel, at the time of this report the Baaden was considered a total constructive loss with an estimated value of $10 million.

Launch team members inspected the launch cradles, dollies, and equipment after the incident and noted that one of the tires on the forward dolly was flat, and witnesses said they saw bubbles coming from the forward dolly at the time of the launch. The tire likely was damaged during the initial port roll at 2037.

 

Probable Cause:

The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the capsizing of the yacht Baaden during its initial launch was the vessel’s low margin of stability due to the combined effects of a recording error during the final vessel weigh, which resulted in an incorrect assessment of the vessel’s center of gravity, and an overestimation of the weight of installed ballast."

 

www.ntsb.gov/investigations/accidentreports/pages/MAB1514...

Then we choose our aircraft:

The silver wings simmered, and everything else did too. I personally didn’t like the color silver very much. But, I was stuck with this thing, so I told myself to deal with it. “Finally we can do something on our schedule,” Fatima said.

“Here’s the key, enjoy your ride.” The desk lady walked back inside the building after she gave Fatima the key.

“Urgh, let’s just make this over with.” I was becoming more sad as the days rolled by. Then Fatima pressed a button that made the entry way open, so I went inside the thing.

“Guys, I think you are not going to have very much company. Kimber and Vy need to go to the doctor, and I think Hail, Suki, and Andru are emotionally unstable for this.” Thunder got into the ship. “But, i’m going with you if you like it or not!”

“Kirami, you’re coming.” I got out of the ship, and pulled Kirami inside the thing.

“So, its just me, Thunder, Yuni, and Kirami then going through with this mission.” Fatima went inside the aircraft right after Thunder did. After all that happened only four of us were actually continueing with the quest.

“Is it me or does anybody else feel like there aren’t enough people in this thing?” Thunder asked while looking around the place.

“Yeah, something just doesn’t seem right with only four people here,” Fatima responded. The place we bought was not that fancy, but we had to make do with what we had.

“Wait...I know somebody that may help us out. Her name is Luka, and she is a person that knows how to kick butt and she has a husband named Wilden that might help us too.” I felt so smart for remembering Luka was available at the time, so I grinned.

“That may not be a bad idea. Okay, we have to go to the control room. Thank god that lady gave me a map for this thing.” Fatima pulled out a paper that was in her back pocket. “I will get this thing ready, Yuni, Thunder, and Kirami. Just give me the address and we will be ready to go.”

“Um...the biggest house in Basil.” My confidence plummeted down when I realized I didn’t know Luka’s address; I knew her for a long time yet I had no idea about her address.

“You don’t know her address, don’t you, Yuni?” Fatima slapped her head.

“Maybe, just maybe, Kirami knows,” Thunder suggested. The two girls glared at Kirami with glazes that made you feel like a thousand needles were piercing your skin all at once.

“Yes, just stop doing that.”

“Alright.” They had their normal looks on which was good.

“6904 Chi Drive in Basil,” he answered. Oh no wonder I forgot it, I thought, I wanted to forget about the word Chi.

“Alright then.” Fatima and Thunder walked down the hallway to the right of me making Kirami and I all alone.

“Yuni, what is up with you?” Kirami questioned. Now he gave me the look that Thunder and Fatima gave him.

“Nothing.”

“Stop lying to me you love sick puppy! You are going insane with rapture and Yuni you even bet the life out of Kimber!” I never saw this side of Kirami before in my life, the angry side.

“I...don’t know. Tyler would do anything for me; remember he got processed just for me, and now I am doing anything for him.” Then I ran away from Kirami before he could debate with me. He didn’t know what true love was, but he was right about me being a love sick person.

It was the longest thirty minutes in my life:

“We are here,” Fatima yelled. I went to the control room right after Kirami fought with me, and I was starting to wonder where was Kirami.

“Thank god.” So, I ran out of the aircraft as fast as I could, a couple seconds.

“Wait up, Yuni!” Thunder ran out of the plane that moment, panting. Then she saw me kiss the ground. “What the h*ll are you doing?”

“Kissing the ground.” If Kirami saw what I did, which he seemed to always be watching me like a stalker, he would have probably thought I was practicing for when Tyler came back.

“We are wasting time people; we get what we need and then get out of here.” Fatima was the next one out of the ship that day. Her faces both showed a scowl of impatience; she just needed to lighten up for one day, ONE FREAKING DAY.

“Can’t I just relax for one second?” I was still laying on the grass, and disobeying Fatima’s orders, I was a rebel.

“No.” Party pooper, I thought, Rikku died, Tyler disappeared to Mona knew where, and Andrea died I needed to rest for a bit. Apparently, Fatima was too heartless to understand.

“Gosh, I miss Hail already.” The wind blew making Thunder’s pinkish hair flow in the breeze and so did Fatima’s hair. Sometimes we just had to move on; I refused to follow those words and so did the others.

“Deal with it,” Fatima responded. Kimber and Fatima were both heartless, literally and mentally, but I wasn’t going to stand for this behavior for much longer.

“Make her have time, Fatima.” I rushed over to aide Thunder with her heartache; something Fatima never experienced in her life.

“We have to do this, and I will do this with or without you!” Fatima screamed like a siren on her period.

“Hey, sometimes you just got to live a little.” By then I was tired of Fatima’s seriousness and heartlessness. But I was shocked that neither Wilden or Luka came out of their house yet to shut us up.

“That is what you think, yet I cannot ‘live’ a little in this situation.” Fatima came up to me and Thunder. “Come on hit me like you did to Kimber. Make my nose bleed and my eye turn black.”

“Revenge is not the way I do things.”

“Who says it would be revenge?” Fatima walked towards the door of Luka’s mansion, so I did too and so did Thunder. Then Fatima rung the doorbell and I heard a baby cry.

“Is that a baby?” I realized that Kirami and I forgot to tell Fatima and Thunder that Luka had children. Before I could answer their question, Luka opened the door with Von in her arms. “It is.” Fatima stared at me in disappointed manner.

“Well, come in, Yuni...and,um, Yuni’s friends.”

“I thought Luka was a boy,” Thunder whispered to me.

“No, she is a girl.” It was weird that Thunder thought Luka was a boy, but she did have a boy’s name. Luka read Thunder’s mind about her and gave her ‘the look’.

“Take a seat, Yuni and...Fatima and Thunder at the couch over there. Wait where’s Rikku and Suki? Oh no, that can’t be true.” Luka started to cry, but Thunder and Fatima looked confused. Then I also realized that Kirami and I did not tell them Luka could read minds. “No way, that’s not true; tell me its just a lie and you’re messing with me.”

“Rikku is dead.” But, I began to cry also when Wilden came down the stairs; he was always upstairs for some reason with Violet holding his hand.

“What is going on?” Thunder asked. “Seriously, i’m so lost.”

“Well, I could tell you the whole story, but that would take about a couple years.” Luka laughed, but she was the only one doing so.

“Yeah, just briefly tell it then.” Fatima crossed her arms and her legs; she wanted answers to her questions.

“Okay, here goes nothing.”

“Just get on with it already, Luka.” Thunder also waited so she could know what was going on.

“Rikku and I knew each other ever since we met when she was 14 and I was only 11, and she was one of the most loyal person I knew. Then she joined the blah blahs whatever the stupid Ali Vran thing is called. Well, years past and I didn’t see her until she came knocking at my door with a man named Tyler; I think Fern is his last name but i’m not sure. She would do anything for her friends, so she sacrificed herself to save the others with her from whatever came in the way, but something changed inside her when Andrea died, something wasn’t right. I should have known she would die sacrificing herself I should have done something.”

“With that out of th-”

“Yes.” Luka knew she was going to ask her to be on the team with us and answered Fatima before she could finish her sentence. “I will join the team.”

“Bu-”

“Wilden, Von is two and Violet is five; I think you can take care of them for a little while.” So, Luka went up to Wilden and handed Von to him. The baby looked exactly like his father with his cute innocence.

“Alright, let’s...oh Kirami I didn’t know you were here.” She backed away into a wall and Luka banged her head.

“What’s going on?” I questioned. I did not know that Kirami and Luka didn’t like each other before that event happened. “Why don’t you like each other?”

“I’m not going on this journey.” Kirami stormed out of the house, and slammed the door.

“Let’s go.” Luka got out of her house before any of us could ask her what that was about.

“Wilden, do you know why they hate each other?” Thunder asked when she got up to his face; I was annoyed with Thunder because she always did that, ALWAYS.

“Kirami just thinks i’m evil and that i’m playing with Luka just to know secrets and have kids with her.” Von then began to cry, and wouldn’t stop crying no matter what Wilden did.

“Why does he think that?” Fatima wanted to have even more answers than she needed.

“Because, Luka can’t read my mind for some reason.”

“Oh, that is why she knew all of that stuff.” At least I did not have to tell them, I thought, Wilden told them for me. Violet pulled on my leg so she could get my attention.

“What is it Violet?”

“Yuni, be safe and protect my mommy,” Violet answered. The girl was also holding a doll with black hair and eyes that had black marker drawn all over them, but then Violet dropped the doll making it break into a million pieces.

“No!” A shard of the broken doll strangely pierced the remains of the doll’s midsection. “This happened just because Von drew on her.”

“Don’t blame your brother, Violet.”

“But-”

“No butts young missy,” scolded Thunder. What when was Thunder ever good with little children, I wondered. Then Fatima, Thunder, and I went out the door so we could embrace the adventure ahead of us.

So, we bought all the stuff we needed for the ship:

“Finally, we can do this!” Fatima was our new ‘leader’ and was sitting in the ‘leader’ chair; which reminded me about the old tv show/movies Star Trek. While thinking about Star Trek I thought about how Tyler used to be in a show named UnDead.

“Yeah, um, team...um, FatimaThunderYuniLuka!” I cheered. All of the other girls looked at me like mad.

“Enough with the stupid jokes. Let’s do this thing!” Thunder fistpumped in the air.

“At least we don’t have to walk the thing. That would be bad,” Luka said while trying to make people look at the bright side.

“It was a pain in the butt when I had to walk the whole thing with no food or water.” Wonder, but painful at the same time, memories played in my mind of going on the journey. Tyler and Rikku were still here.

“First off the Temple of Uki or Uki Temple or whatever the h*ll they call it.” Fatima pressed a couple of buttons to tell the aircraft where we were going.

“I’m going to find you Tyler.” Then I got out the sphere that I secretly took when Rikku wasn’t watching years back; the sphere played the image of Tyler going crazy over and over again. I didn’t care about the fact Tyler was going nuts in a cell I was going to find him but not the truth, whatever that was.

“We will succeed in this, Yuni, just wait. Hm, I wonder if he’s hot or not.”

“Thunder, he is MY boyfriend.” I scolded at her, and she did nothing.

“Please forgive me then.” For some reason Thunder went down on her knee like she was asking to marry me.

“I will. Gosh, its late i’m going to hit the hay.” My eyes feel like they were going to fail on me if I didn’t get any sleep.

“Alright then.” Thunder was still wide awake when she looked at the sunset like Rikku did way back when, and it made me want to cry thinking about her and how she was dead but walking.

“I’m going too.” Luka grabbed my hand, and pulled me down the hallway where Fatima and Thunder couldn’t hear us.

“What are you doing?” I questioned Luka; she wouldn’t let go of my hand, and I tried to shake her off, no use.

“Do you really think Tyler is worth this much?”

“Yes, Luka he is the love of my life. That’s like saying if Wilden is really worth this much to you.” By the tone in my voice, you could easily tell that I was angry.

“I know that, but really. Rikku is dead you hear me? Also, there is the possibility that you may not ever find him.” Luka then read my mind, and rushed to her room. I was thinking if she ever asked me that question ever again I would kill her without mercy.

“I will find you!” Then I fell down on the floor and cried uncontrollably until it hurt and I fell asleep on the cold iron floor.

“We’re here!”:

I woke up when I heard Fatima’s voice, and she was standing right next to me, staring. “You were really tired, weren’t ya?”

“What did you think? I was lying, ha.” All Fatima did was stare at me even more. “Can you stop it?” It hurt so much that I covered my face with my hands, and screamed.

“Pussy.”

“I am not a pussy!” So, I got up and stared Fatima down to give her a taste of her very own medicine.

“Yes you are, don’t deny it.” I wanted to scream at Fatima, but I knew she would just think of even more clever comebacks to prove I was a pussy.

“Urgh, my head hurts,” I complained. My head was felt like hell at that moment of time.

“Stop talking because we need to do some hardcore sphere hunting. We have to wake up the others.” But, I didn’t want to see Luka’s face after she done the night before.

“Alright, I will get Thunder and you will get Luka.” Fatima nodded her head in agreement to my plan, so I got Thunder while she got jerky jerk.

Lightning, beautiful but deadly:

Somehow it reminded me about when Jack, Tyler’s crappy father, hit me in the face. That was how being struck by lightning felt, but the place was completely empty because everybody left when Envy was defeated. “We have the place to ourselves so this shouldn’t be very hard to do.”

“Maybe, it will be, Fatima.”

“Don’t sweat it, Yuni, we can do whatever we want.” So, the four of us went inside the Uki Temple hopeing to find more spheres to add to our collection. The outside was exactly the same expect for the fact that nobody was here.

“The once great Uki Temple has fallen.” Thunder ran ahead of us, but the rest of us still walked.

“I wonder what is making the lightning if nobody is here to do so?” Luka questioned.

“Nature.” Fatima seemed to know everything about this temple, and that was kind of creepy. Because, not even I knew that about the Uki Temple.

“Cool.” I tried to sound normal, but I knew Fatima didn’t think the normal me was normal.

“Did you learn about the Uki Temple when you were part of MARKA?” Luka was getting into Fatima’s personal business; she already knew the answer so I guessed she wanted me to know it as well.

“Yes, MARKA was planning to attack the temple, but something stopped them and I don’t know what because only Nathan knows. Nathan knows every single f*cking thing there is to know.” Fatima’s faces started to show fear like it never did before. “The only reason why i’m good is somehow I got my sense of fear back.”

“Oh my god, I feel so sorry for everybody that is part of this mess. Sometimes I think that if I never became a dumbldorian in the first place this would have never happened.” But, I thought to myself, you might have never meant Tyler in the first place.

“You becoming a dumbldorian made this place have a little bit of more peace,” Fatima responded, “who knows what Envy would have done if you didn’t stop him.”

“Fatima is right, Yuni, all of us would probably be dead if Envy wasn’t stopped.” Luka was turning less and less of a jerky jerk, but she was still one because what she said about Tyler.

“I know, it is just a feeling that I can’t fight.”

“Come on you slowpokes I am waiting for you. Like, we always have to stick together now, which is stupid, but i’m not the boss of group FatimaThunderYuniLuka!” I was super shocked that Thunder was using the name I thought of; but I told myself that it was just because she couldn’t think of any names for the team.

“Just wait a freaking minute Thunder!” Luka was the one that ran up to Thunder to make her shut up, and not Fatima. More things made me confused as my life went on.

“We won’t hear the end of it if we don’t hurry up.” Fatima also ran making me all alone in the universe. So, I quietly whistled, but it didn’t work. There was no answer; there was always no answer.

“Wait for me!” I cried out while running after the other girls until I reached the inside of the temple. Everything was gone, but the artwork on the ceiling, walls, and floors, it was creepy.

“This place used to be filled with wonders.” Thunder went around in circles around the abandoned place, and watching her made me dizzy.

“The beginning of the real test was here.” I stood in the place I stood years back when I got stuck by lightning and did not feel a single thing. It was the test to see if the person was a true dumbldorian or not, and I passed. But, then the ground shook.

“Is that an earthquake?” Thunder asked.

“Nonsense there are no earthquakes here,” Fatima answered.

“Actually there are.”

“Shut up, Luka.” When the others were stupidly fighting, I tried to look for a place to hide, but everything was gone and the only thing to do was wait. Then I felt something underneath me, yet the feeling disappeared a couple seconds later.

“Yuni!” All the others were racing to where I was at, but it was to no avail. I fell down the hole in the ground, screaming and yelling. Yet, the others couldn’t save me.

Grass, why was there grass here, I thought:

Then I looked around the place that I landed in, it seemed like a meadow. “Did I die?” I got up to see I was in a different outfit; which that was this totally weird. But, when I finished looking around, I saw somebody with blonde hair. “Tyler?”

“What?” The guy turned around, and it was Tyler. It was really him in your face Luka!

“Akki?”

“It’s me Yuni, remember?” What was happening, I pondered, why doesn’t Tyler recognize me?

“Akki, it is me Trey.” Whoever this person was it wasn’t Tyler, but he was, but he wasn’t. I kept fighting with myself over the fact if he was Tyler or not.

“No, my name is Yuni, Tyler.”

“Stop messing around.” The guy came over to me, and hugged me, it wasn’t Tyler. Tyler would have been confused about where the others were and how my hair got shorter.

“I’m not Akki i’m somebody else! I just look like her!” I yelled. “Now-”

“Ha, Akki, stop trying to trick me,” Trey laughed. He still had his arms around me, and I tried to escape, but couldn’t.

“My name is Yuni not Akki!” But, Trey then kissed me on the lips; I hated it that was a thing only Tyler could do because he was my boyfriend not Trey. “You disgust me.”

“Ak-”

“I’m not Akki whoever she is,” I interrupted full of anger and hatred.

“Ha, you are still playing around but we don’t have that much time left to do our plan.” Then I was really scared; what was this guy thinking of?

“What plan?” If he answered to get marry I told myself to freak out and try to kill him or hurt him or get away from the hellhole I was in.

“Do I really need to tell you after a-”

“YES!”

“Remember we were going to steal the MARKA robot thing and create a world in our visions. A world without war.” With that being said, I thought this guy was dropped when he was a baby. Then I did remember the robot thing we found in MARKA; he was talking about that piece of crappy metal.

“And, what will that world be like?” The guy just laughed like an idiot when he heard my question.

“A world like only us in it.” I wanted to scream, but I knew nobody but weirdo would hear it.

“But, what about our family and friends?”

“Akki, MARKA told Vy and the rest of our family away a long time ago.” When he said that I was even more scared than before; the real Akki was dead, Vy is somebody he knew, and Trey was insane.

“Who’s Vy?” Trey still wouldn’t let me go because he loved me too much to let go and make me free.

“Our daughter.” My eyes literally popped at Trey’s answer.

“Just let go of me! I am not Akki i’m somebody that just looks like her!” I screamed at the top of my lungs after that. It was for no use, but I was really frightened of what Trey would do to me.

“It was good MARKA got her. She was an annoying brat that always wanted attention.” I kept trying to summon my staff and take out one of my weapons, yet I couldn’t.

“She our daughter you shouldn’t talk about her like that.” Then I tried to pretend to be Akki because this guy was nuts.

“You really aren’t Akki.” He finally let go of me and made me fall head first into the ground. “I will kill you!” Trey pulled out his sword, and went closer and closer to me.

“No.” At the moment Trey almost killed me, I finally got my staff, and defended myself. “Please stop this!” I pleaded with him; but he wouldn’t stop his violent behavior.

“You don’t know how much it hurts to have your heart broken, Yuni!” He kept trying to cut open my heart with his sword.

“Yes, I do. My true love disappeared two years ago, and I am still trying to find him!”

“You’re a liar!” But, I was telling the truth and Trey was too insane to know so.

“Stop it!” Yet, before he could stop, I fell into a body of water.

 

I then saw that I was in my bed:

“Oh my god how did you do that?” Thunder asked. All the other girls, Thunder, Fatima, and Luka, were all around my bed for some reason.

“Gosh, you are soaked.” Luka ran out of my room, and back in with a towel and brand new clothes.

“Yuni, where were you? You just appeared out of nowhere and now you are drenched!” Fatima, once again, wanted to know more answers.

“Really?” Luka questioned. Gosh, I hated it when Luka read my mind so she could know what was going on; I didn’t even liked her that much in the first place. “We have to go back to MARKA!”

“Wait, we this got here. So, we go to MARKA after because first we tried to find more clues for years second I don’t even know why we need to go back to that hell!”

“Well, this guy named Trey who looks exactly like Tyler is a nutjob and wants to kill the entire human race with the thing we found,” I answered truthfully. Also I wanted to take Rikku and Andrea out of their misery of being slaves of Nathan.

“That is messed up, but i’m the leader and I say we will try to find Tyler on this path first!”

“Fatima, I really don’t think that is a good idea.”

“SHUT UP THUNDER!” Thunder put her hand over her mouth and exited my room. But, Fatima stared at me not Thunder, and then Luka left the room after Thunder. It was just Fatima and I.

“I will never know how love or heartache feel like, yet I do. No matter what I am going to help you find your love and the truth.” Then Fatima went out of the room leaving me all alone.

“Tyler, I will find you even if Trey kills me.” Then I closed my eyes hoping for a good dream to come to me.

Away from reality dreams were deadly:

In my dream, I was with Tyler and running away from people who looked like MARKA agents. “No matter what happens I will be with you,” Tyler said. I wanted this to be real, but at the same time not.

“I know.” Strangely I was in the clothes that I had on when I meet Trey for the first time. Then we reached the door, so Tyler opened it. Inside it was a robot; the robot that we found while searching for Vy.

“Here it is.”

“I know.” Something did not feel right about this dream, something felt insidious.

“Time to do this thing.” But, then Kimber went in with her gun, she was a MARKA agent in this dream.

“You’re ours b*tches!” yelled Kimber.

“We failed.” Tyler and I embraced each other while looking into each other’s eyes.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Then we kissed passionately in front of the old Kimber when other MARKA agents came in.

“Alright guys, shoot.” Kimber pointed at us, and grinned.

“Yes, commander Kimberly.” The guys and Kimber then aimed their guns at us.

“Shoot.” A bang went through my head while Tyler fell on the ground, probably dead.

“CRAP!”:

When I screamed I realized that it was just a short dream, not a real memory or the future. Then I saw that we were landing by looking out the window that I had in my room. “Let’s do this.” I went out of my room, which was a couple feet away from the control room, and, well, went to the control room.

“Looks like somebody is up.” Thunder went up to me, and she somehow had a hairbrush, so she brushed my black hair. “You’re hair is all over the place, Yuni.”

“Tell me something that I don’t know, Thunder.” I crossed my arms, but then she hit me with the hairbrush.

“I did that to wake you up.” She kept banging my head until I glared at her, and then Thunder went to the window. So, I yawned because I was bored until I realized where we were. The tree was still in the middle of the lake.

“Alright, we are on the ground so we can investigate now.” Fatima got out of her chair and Thunder ran to sit in it.

“I am Fatima and I am f*cking serious all the time,” Thunder joked.

“I am Thunder and I am a f*cking idiot all the time.” Fatima pulled Thunder out of her chair, and went outside with her.

“Wait, who is going to get Luka! Urgh, I guess I have to wherever she is.” Then I got the idea that I should sit in the chair because nobody else was there at that moment. So, when I sat down in the chair, Luka walked in with her arms crossed.

“What are you doing?” Luka questioned me.

“Being a rebel.” I made myself go in a billion circles with the chair, and then I felt like I was going to throw up.

“Get up, Yuni,” Luka commanded, “or I have to pull you up myself.” I did not want Luka to pull me, so I got up by myself.

“Come on we have to catch up with Fatima and Thunder!” Luka would not move and then I pulled her to the door.

The essential of Tyler was still at that place:

Happy memories made me cry; this place was filled with them. Tyler was here and he was not gone at the moments I remembered. Tears fell down from my face to the grass which was turning brown. “The last time I was here Rikku was alive and Tyler was with us.”

“Memories can be wonderful but could crush you from the inside.” Luka got out of my gasp, and started to look.

“This hurts too much.” I fell down on the grass and looked at the mid morning sky, the sky seemed to be laughing at me. If I stayed at the place I was at I knew I was going to turn mad. So, I forced myself to get up and go to the lake.

“Hey Yuni!” Thunder made me jump and fall into the lake; I was once again soaked, oh great.

“Don’t scare me like that.” Thank god the lake was not that deep, I thought. But, I was still soaking wet.

“Sorry, well I am just going to continue with searching...and. yeah, um, see you later.” She ran to an area of grass, and pretended to be doing her job.

“I guess I have to change again, urgh.” So, I got up and went up to Thunder to have my revenge. So, when I reached her, I pulled her to the lake and threw her in.

“What was that for?”

“Revenge.” Then I could not get the memories of this place out of my head, that was revenge for kissing me. Tyler and I had our first kiss here in the lake, and I got drenched but I did not care then. Only thing that ruined the moment was Kirami and processed Rikku.

“Earth to Yuni! You have been staring into nothing for the pass seconds! Hello!” She got out of the lake, and put her hand in my face, but I still was in a trance.

“Tyler!”

“What the...okay.” Then Thunder went back to what she was doing before I got my revenge. This is the end of my story, but I knew it was not the end of Tyler. Illusion, he was not an illusion in my mind.

“Where are you.” But, then I felt a hand on my shoulder, but nobody was there. When I looked back I saw the image of Tyler and I kissing. “Stop playing with me, Mona!”

“Yuni, what's wrong?” Fatima appeared from the lake; I didn’t know that she was there all that time.

“Emotions.”

“Oh, um, then fight away those emotions because I found this because I am the only one really looking.” Fatima showed a crystal blue sphere that was in the bottom of the lake.

“Fatima, you’re a lifesaver!”

“I’m not a candy, Thunder.”

“Let’s see the sphere,” Luka said while grabbing the blue sphere from Fatima. “Here goes nothing.” She pressed on the sphere, and it started to play something horrible. “How is this from the future?”

“This is messed up...Luka, where did you go?” I was watching the sphere when Luka disappeared; the sphere that showed Kirami and Wilden fighting with swords. “LUKA!” So, I stopped watching it when I realized that Luka just didn’t go away.

“Oh s*it!” Fatima yelled. The three of us looked up at the helicopter with the word MARKA on the side of it, and somehow Luka was there.

“Luka, we’re going to get you!” Thunder started to get stuff out of the backpack she was wearing, but nothing was going to help Luka.

“Go, before he gets you too!” she demanded. There were tears in Luka’s eyes; that was the first time ever I saw Luka crying that hard.

“Who?” But, something else answered that question for me, a man in the helicopter. A man named Wilden.

“Wilden, Kirami was right about him.” Then Wilden covered Luka’s mouth with his hand, and nodded.

“Why Wilden?” I asked, “why join MARKA!” I trusted Wilden with many things, but all this time he had been with MARKA. He was the one I trusted the most.

“I’ve been part of MARKA all this time, all of my life. It is such a pity that you have Fatima and Kimber on your team; they used to be so evil, so insidious.” Wilden laughed a, well, insidious laugh.

“You son of a b*tch, you have two kids, you have a family.” Fatima was trying to find the real side of Wilden, a side that was never there. “Continue our family.”

“What the h*ll are you talking about?” Was Fatima saying Wilden cheated with Luka with HER. I wanted to find the answers.

“I’m his wife,” Fatima answered.

“WHAT! But, i’m...no.” Wilden had put his hands off of Luka’s mouth, and Luka was shocked. “YOU F*CKER!” She pushed Wilden but he did not fall. “I thought I meant something to you.”

“Come home to Amaya and Enya.” Wait, Fatima did know how love felt like, I thought, she lied.

“Don’t you see that he was cheating on, Fatima!”

“Thunder, I don’t have any knowledge on how bad cheating is. I am a doll to MARKA!” She then sketched her legs, and Fatima jumped up. Of course, Fatima didn’t reach the heli.

“Time to die, Wilden!” When Wilden was too confused to do anything, Luka pushed him off of the helicopter.

“NO!” One of Fatima’s faces were overcoming the other. “Wilden!” Then Fatima had one face, no more two face.

“DIE!” Then Wilden’s body slammed into the ground, but he stood up after a couple of seconds of being dead. “What the?” Then the heli went away, taking Luka with it.

“No, Luka! I promised Violet to keep you safe.” The rain started to come down. Kind of a stereotypical moment for it to rain, I noted. Yet, Wilden attacked me. He stabbed my arm, and I screamed.

“Yuni, you are going down, Wilden.” Thunder lunged at Wilden, knocking him down. Fatima was just crying with her one face; she was a normal human being.

“Thunder, let me take care of him.” Fatima held out a panel with a big red button on it. She slowly pressed the button, and Fatima’s crying equaled the rain.

“This is not how it has to be.” Then the ground shook and unleashed a big groan when it opened underneath Wilden.

“Yes, this is how it is supposed to be how. Wilden, you have to die.”

“Ah!” Wilden fell into the darkness, screaming. He fell to his doom, screaming. He died, screaming.

“Crap, now Wilden is dead and who knows what happened to Luka.” I cried, I could not stop crying. Two of my friends were gone, gone and probably coming back. “Kirami was right.”

“Let’s get out of here before I freak out.” Then Fatima’s other face returned, frowning.

Next place:

“We have to do this before any tourist come.” Fatima’s face was back to the way it was at the beginning of this hellish journey. This was the place that Tyler wanted to visit and see the plants light up the blackness of the night.

“You just have to make me go through all this agony.” The plants were not lit yet because it was just the afternoon, but I wanted to see them as much as Tyler did.

“Yes.”

“Do you have to though?” Thunder questioned. “Maybe, we should go to MARKA headquarters.”

“Don’t you see-”

“I see that you are a selfish b*tch with that other face with I don’t know which one is evil.” Then I pushed Fatima into the river of plants, and she yelled. Fatima was on my last nerve. “It will only be Thunder and I now. I can teleport you to the others.” So, I chanted words, and Fatima disappeared.

“What did you do that for, Yuni?” Thunder then pushed me for revenge for Fatima, but she didn’t know how to teleport me. “We need all the people we can get.”

“Fatima needs to know how to not be the leader of the good.”

“Alright, you could have just told me.” Thunder jumped into the pool of water, and helped me out. Not like I needed the help but I still thanked her.

“So, what are we going to do now?” I asked. “We kind of don’t know what to do.”

“Go to MARKA.” Thunder ran to the ship, and I followed her. I knew Fatima would be super pissed at me; but I knew I had to face her one day or another and that was after we defeated Trey and Nathan, well hopefully.

“Wait for me, Thunder.”

“Do you really think I would leave you?” She then entered the ship after she said those words.

“Are you here, Tyler?” So, I did what I did everywhere, whistled. No answer just as usual. I was about ready to give up, but I told myself don’t think about quitting.

Revenge, I needed to fulfill the need:

Hell was exactly the same, but there was no helicopter in my sight. But, then I felt the ground shake, so I grabbed onto Thunder. “I don’t want to die.”

“I know.” We fell into the hole, but we didn’t die, we appeared to where Trey was. The grass was brown, and the water was completely gone; the paradise had turned into a hell.

“Oh look it is Yuni and one of her friends,” Trey welcomed. But, I summoned my staff; this guy wasn’t going to kill me after all that I had done to get that far. His sword had no blood on it. “I guess you know agent, well former agent, Kimberley GreenField.”

“You mean Kimber, yes.” I was still holding onto Thunder and I had my free hand protect us with my staff.

“She was the one that killed Akki.”

“Wait, my dream was your memory?” Trey nodded his head to my question which scared me.

“This is insane. So, you want to kill everybody ,us first?” Thunder seemed more frightened than I was. Death was inevitable, but neither one of us wanted to die this way. None of us wanted to die by the works of MARKA or the sly Trey until we saw Wilden.

“I’m going to be right back.” Then Trey walked to the injured Wilden, and laughed like Wilden did to annoy him.

“Don’t T-” A sword pierced through Wilden’s midsection, but he didn’t die. Then Trey looked at the blood shining on his once sinless sword. Trey went up to Thunder and I and somehow my staff vanished. We were going to die; we accepted our fate.

“Not so fast!” Kirami dropped from the whole, our new hero.

“Oh, wait I need to kill you.” Wilden jumped to where Kirami was at, and created a stone wall blocking the entrance. While Trey was distracted by the actions of the other men, so I brought out my gun and Thunder took out her lightning sword.

“It is OVER!” But, Trey disappeared and reappeared in a metal robot.

“MARKA is always bad with security.” He then started to shoot us with things that looked like powerful plasma, crap. “Should I do an evil laugh just for the fun of it, yes. BWAH HA HA!” Trey shoot the wall that separated us with Kirami, and then shoot Wilden making him turn into dust.

“Wow, you’re plan backfired.” I then started attacking the bottom of the machine with Thunder and Kirami.

“Stop it!” He tried to kill us, but he couldn’t hit us with anything. I wondered why Wilden’s knife wound didn’t hurt yet I pushed that thought out of my mind. I was away from reality making nothing make sense whatsoever.

“No, this is for revenge!” When I hit the robot again it fell down, and burst into flames. “Oh my god, thank goodness that is over.”

“I told you so.”

“This is not the right time, Kirami.” I fell down like the machine onto the dead grass.

“Yuni, I know you are heartbroken but still you can still celebrate this moment.” Thunder tried to pick me up, but I refused for her to do so.

“Can I just have some time alone?”

“Alright, Kirami and I will be out of this hole if you need anything.” She climbed up the hole with Kirami leaving me alone once again. So, I cried like a little child.

“Yuni, I can help you.”

“Leave me alone, Thunder, I said leave me alone.”

“I’m no Thunder.” With that being said, I got up and looked at a kid that was a ghost. “I can still help you.”

“How?” I thought I was going crazy because I was talking to a ghost that probably wasn’t even there.

“Tyler.”

“What about Tyler?” I questioned; I still could not believe that I was talking to a ghost. Then the place that we were in turned into something that was space-like with a cage in it, and only a cage.

“Go to him.”

“How?” The ghost kid gave me a beaten up jetpack with the name Yuni on it. So, I got the jetpack from the kid, and put it on.

“That is how.”

“Here goes nothing.” I then started to fly up the room; I wanted to see Tyler’s face again.

“If you get to him you keep him,” the kid yelled to me.

“I will keep him then because that would be easy.” So, I reached the cage in just a matter of seconds, and saw Tyler. His blonde hair was insane, and Tyler’s skin was dirty as well as his clothes.

“Tyler, its me Yuni!” I knocked on his cell, and Tyler turned around.

“Yuni...how...what. Its really you.”

“After years of searching for you I finally found you!” There were tears of joy rolling down my white cheeks. I tried to reach his hand, but Tyler wouldn’t move. “What?”

“Can you tell me what happened to the others when I was gone because I can’t move until I know what happened.” Tyler wouldn’t move a muscle, but his mouth and eye muscles.

“Well, Rikku is dead because her father...is the leader of MARKA and he made her die, and Wilden is also dead because he was a traitor and got shoot by this plasma thing. Luka is Mona knows where because MARKA took her, and the others I think are fine. We also meet some new people; I think you would like them.” My voice was tired after I said all of that, and I needed a rest.

“Well, s*it happened, but that doesn’t mean this would end in a bad way.” Tyler got up, and approached me, smiling. “It is good to see your face again.” He gave me a key, a silver key.

“You had the key all this time?”

“I can’t reach the lock.” He pointed at the top of the cage, and I saw the lock.

“Oh.” So, I flew up there. Then I put the key into the keyhole of the lock and opened the door on the top. I reached for Tyler’s hand and I felt it. He got out of the cage and hugged me.

“I love you, Yuni.”

“I love you too.” Our lips touched each other’s once again, and it felt so good to kiss Tyler again. But, then we separated when we noticed that we were falling into nothing.

“S*it!”

“Come on.” So, I flew us up, but it took a very long time because of all of the weight.

In the real world:

“What is taking her so long?” Thunder questioned. “We are in the MARKA territory.”

“She will come out of the sky now.” Then, right on cue, we fell out of the sky.

“Oh my god, is that Tyler he is cute.” I gave Thunder the eye, and got up.

“Um, okay then. But, I HAVE a girlfriend.” So, then we kissed again and Thunder moaned.

“Let’s get back to the others before we get noticed.” We all ran from the spot we were in. I was holding Tyler’s hand once more, my love was here and that what made me happy.

     

Oil Paint and Collage on Board

 

14" x 21"

 

This painting shows the midsection of an overweight lady. Her body is recreated here in a somewhat gross manner, inspired by the meat paintings by Chaim Soutine and portraits by Jenny Saville. Within her skin there are etched and cut-out words, which represent the labels associated with overweight people. The letters are cut out of McDonalds packaging to further reinforce this bipolar relationship with food - that on one side, the marketing, appearance and taste is seductive and makes you feel good, but afterwards you are overwhelmed by guilt and feelings of negative body image.