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The adult leaf-footed bug, brownish in color and about three-quarters of an inch in length, has an elongated body with a triangular thorax, the midsection (tagma) of the insect body holding the head, legs, wings, and abdomen; the young (nymphs) look just like the adults but are smaller, have no wings, and are orange to light brown in color
To all who visit and view, and – especially – express support and satisfaction: you are much appreciated!
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Charlotte, NC – 2018AUG18 – Eastern Leaf-footed Bug:
Justin and Jenny with their son Will and Justin's mother Debbie invited Joe and me over for a housewarming. We had a great time – my first time meeting Debbie! – and, we love them – and love their house! I saw this now-familiar bug on their porch, so here are somewhat fuzzy cell phone photos of it walking on my one hand and arm in the rain as I photographed it with my other hand!
Hope you enjoy the 25% of 149 photos I took here this day!
Makes Joe get out of shape!
I know you won't think so, but I have lost a lot that of what I have gained.
I put a shirt on the other day that was so tight when I wore it in Vegas as I was getting muscular. Now the shirt was loose and I get get two fingers in the sleeve where I couldn't get any in before.
I got very lazy. And busy. I have only been working out once a week and I have been doing no cardio. And when I have free time instead of working out I have being playing Resident Evil Zero on Wii.
I have been eating Burger King twice a week for lunch (1220 calories 55 grams of fat) and drinking a Venti Caffè Mocha (450 calories and 22 grams of fat) almost daily.
Its taking its toll - mostly in my midsection. I'm staring to get a belly to match my already to big love handles.
I'm not happy.
I have to change to more work and less play.
No matter how hot my apartment gets - no shirtless shots until I get back in shape.
Year 2 - Upload 215
April 17, 2009
Angelokastro (Αγγελόκαστρο, "Castle of Angels" or "Angelos' castle") is one of the most important fortified complexes on Corfu. It is situated at the rocky shores on the north-west coast of Corfu. The fortress was built on a natural promontory which gave an excellent defensive position, due to the sheer inclines to the north, west and south, and provided a view of almost entire south Adriatic.
The origin of its name is not completely clear, with some historians mentioning that in 1214 Michael I Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus, sometimes called Michael Angelos, annexed Corfu to Epirus and following his death, Michael II Komnenos Doukas, often called Michael Angelos in narrative sources, further fortified the area and named it after himself and his father: Angelokastro. The Despots were related to the Komnenoi dynasty of Byzantine emperors.
It can be reasonably assumed that since Byzantium lost its dominion over southern Italy in 1071 AD, the Komnenoi must have paid a lot of attention to the castle since Corfu by default became the frontier to the west of the Byzantine Empire between the 11th and 12th centuries, serving to separate and defend Byzantium from its dangerous foes to the west. After the Crusaders took Constantinople in 1204, Corfu fell into the hands of a variety of invaders until 1267 when it was occupied by the Angevins of Naples. Shortly thereafter the Angevins took over Angelokastro. The takeover is documented in a rare manuscript of the time confirming the change of ownership of the castle. The manuscript is the oldest written reference to the castle.
In 1386, the castle came under the ownership of the Most Serene Republic of Venice. Throughout the period of the Venetian rule the castle enjoyed great prominence because it offered protection to the locals from foes such as the Genoan pirates to the west as well as the Turks to the east.
The Venetians, being the prominent maritime power of the era, used it to monitor the shipping lanes in the southern Adriatic and the Ionian sea. The Castellan of the castle was appointed by the city of Corfu and was a nobleman whose family name was included in the Venetian originated Libro d'oro (Golden Book), a list of the aristocratic families of Corfu.
In 1403, a Genoese pirate fleet made an attempt to occupy Angelokastro. The Genoan pirates burned and pillaged the surrounding area. Then they attempted to occupy the castle. After furious battles with the Corfiot garrison, they were ultimately repulsed.
In August of 1571, the Turks made another of many attempts at conquering Corfu. Having seized Parga and Mourtos from the Greek mainland side they attacked the Paxos island, killing, looting and burning. Subsequently they landed on Corfu's southeast shore and established a large beachhead all the way from the southern tip of the island at Lefkimi to Ipsos in Corfu's midsection of the eastern part of the island. These areas were thoroughly pillaged and burnt as in past encounters.
The Turks also attacked Angelokastro at that time trying to establish a beachhead at the northwestern part of the island, but the garrison at Angelokastro stood firm. These Turkish defeats both at the city castle in the east and Angelokastro in the west proved decisive and the Turks abandoned their attempt at conquering Corfu.
With the advent of modern warfare the castle's importance declined and gradually it fell into a state of disrepair. The passage of time did to the castle what no aspiring conqueror could.
From the Sith Knights datapad :
'The beast I sensed didn't give us much time before it lunged out of the jungle and immediately scooped up the Jedi fighter's nose. It held it aloft a long while , and during that time the troopers and the quadruped droid fired upon it until it got angry enough to hurl it to the last snowtrooper. This left it exposed with no weapons , and I darted in and drove my blade into its midsection. This made it fall backwards , and it rolled over to let the would be cooled and to allow it's back armor to protect it. I took my chance to finish it by plunging the red saber deep into the beast's back , and it roared and rose upwards before rapidly descending back down , and exhaled it's last breath. I can tell these two were once rancor young , mutated by someone. Perhaps even my Sith Masters , which means this is more tests. Sensing no more beasts , I decided to continue on to the direction the rest of the Jedi wreckage was in. Strange , the Dark Side energy still remained...'
So this is the back stab. ONCE AGAIN I didn't check to make sure I put what I wanted in focus. The real reason I wasn't careful taking it was at this point taking snow in and out of shots was making my hands feel numb and I was wanting to go in soon. Which I did just after the next set , before I took the last four snow photos. I'm glad the snow shots craze is over so I can worry about taking better photos of things instead of whether my hands fall off while I'm taking those photos. Look for an album after I upload the last six tomorrow of all this Sith Knight's story photos. All the ones from the first snow photo of the Dark Jedi sullustan and the snow troopers in barely any snow to the very last photo relating to this character (for now , anyway).
The Berlin S-Bahn [ɛs.baːn] is a rapid transit railway system in and around Berlin, the capital city of Germany. It has been in operation under this name since December 1930, having been previously called the special tariff area Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahnen (Berlin city, orbital, and suburban railways). It complements the Berlin U-Bahn and is the link to many outer-Berlin areas, such as Berlin Schönefeld Airport.
While in the first decades of this tariff zone the trains were steam-drawn, and even after the electrification of large parts of the network, a number of lines remained under steam, today the term S-Bahn is used in Berlin only for those lines and trains with third-rail electrical power transmission and the special Berlin S-Bahn loading gauge. The third unique technical feature of the Berlin S-Bahn, the automated mechanical train control, is being phased out and replaced by a communications-based train control system, but which again is specific to the Berlin S-Bahn.
In other parts of Germany and other German-speaking countries, other trains are designated S-Bahn without those Berlin specific features. The Hamburg S-Bahn is the only other system using third-rail electrification.
Today, the Berlin S-Bahn is no longer defined as this special tariff area of the national railway company, but is instead just one specific means of transportation, defined by its special technical characteristics, in an area-wide tariff administered by a public transport authority. The Berlin S-Bahn is now an integral part of the Verkehrsverbund Berlin-Brandenburg, the regional tariff zone for all kinds of public transit in and around Berlin and the federal state (Bundesland) of Brandenburg.
INTRODUCTION
The brand name "S-Bahn" chosen in 1930 mirrored U-Bahn, which had become the official brand name for the Berlin city-owned rapid transit lines begun under the name of Berliner Hoch- und Untergrundbahnen (Berlin elevated and underground lines), where the word of mouth had abbreviated "Untergrundbahn" to "U-Bahn", in parallel to "U-Boot" formed from "Unterseeboot" ("undersea boat" – submarine).
Services on the Berlin S-Bahn have been provided by the Prussian or German national railway company of the respective time, which means the Deutsche Reichsbahn-Gesellschaft after the First World War, the Deutsche Reichsbahn of the GDR (in both East and West Berlin) until 1993 (except West Berlin from 1984 to 1994, the BVG period) and Deutsche Bahn after its incorporation in 1994.
The Berlin S-Bahn consists today of 15 lines serving 166 stations, and runs over a total route length of 332 kilometres. The S-Bahn carried 395 million passengers in 2012. It is integrated with the mostly underground U-Bahn to form the backbone of Berlin's rapid transport system. Unlike the U-Bahn, the S-Bahn crosses Berlin city limits into the surrounding state of Brandenburg, e.g. to Potsdam.
Although the S- and U-Bahn are part of a unified fare system, they have different operators. The S-Bahn is operated by S-Bahn Berlin GmbH, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, whereas the U-Bahn is run by Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG), the main public transit company for the city of Berlin.
OPERATION
NETWORK
The S-Bahn routes all feed into one of three core lines: a central, elevated east-west line (the Stadtbahn), a central, mostly underground north-south line (the Nord-Süd Tunnel), and a circular line (the Ringbahn). Outside the Ringbahn, suburban routes radiate in all directions.
Lines S1, S2, S25 and S26 are north-south lines that use the North-South tunnel as their midsection. They were equally distributed into Oranienburg, Bernau and Hennigsdorf in the north, and Teltow Stadt, Lichtenrade and Wannsee.
Lines S3, S5, S7, S9 and S75 are east-west lines using the Stadtbahn cross-city railway. The western termini are located at Potsdam and Spandau, although the S5 only runs as far as Westkreuz and the S75 to Ostkreuz. The eastern termini are Erkner, Strausberg Nord, Ahrensfelde and Wartenberg. The S9 uses a connector curve (Südkurve) at Ostkreuz to change from Stadtbahn to the South-eastern leg of the Ringbahn. Another curve, the Nordkurve to the North-eastern Ringbahn, was originally served by the S86 line, but it was demolished in preparation of the rebuilding of Ostkreuz station and was not rebuilt afterwards. Both connector curves were heavily used in the time of the Berlin Wall, as trains coming from the North-Eastern routes couldn't use the West Berlin North-South route and the Southern leg of the pre- and post-Wall Ringbahn was in West Berlin.
Lines S41 and S42 continuously circle around the Ringbahn, the former clockwise, the latter anti-clockwise. Lines S45, S46 and S47 link destinations in the southeast with the southern section of the Ringbahn via the tangential link from the Görlitzer Bahn to the Ring via Köllnische Heide.
Lines S8 and S85 are north-south lines using the eastern section of the Ringbahn between Bornholmer Straße and Treptower Park via Ostkreuz, using the Görlitzer Bahn in the South.
SERVICE HOURS
The S-Bahn generally operates between 4am and 1am Monday to Friday, between 5am and 1am on Saturdays and between 6:30am and 1am on Sundays during normal daytime service. However, there is a comprehensive night-time service on most lines between 1am and 5am on Saturdays and 01:00 and 06:30 on Sundays, which means that most stations enjoy a continuous service between Friday morning and Sunday evening. One exception to this is the section of the S 8 between Blankenburg and Hohen Neuendorf which sees no service in these hours. Most other lines operate without route changes, but some are curtailed or extended during nighttime. Particularly, the S 1, S 2, S 25, S 3, S 41, S 42, S 5, S 7 are unchanged, and the S 45 and S 85 have no nighttime service. Westbound lines S 46, S 47, S 75, and northbound S 9 terminate at stations Südkreuz, Schöneweide, Lichtenberg and Treptower Park, respectively.
HISTORY
FROM THE BEGINNINGS TILL END OF WORLD WAR II
With individual sections dating from the 1870s, the S-Bahn was formed in time as the network of suburban commuter railways running into Berlin, then interconnected by the circular railway connecting the various terminal railway stations, and in 1882 enhanced by the east-west cross-city line (called the "Stadtbahn", "city railway"). The forming of a distinct identity for this network began with the establishment of a special tariff for the area which was then called the "Berliner Stadt-, Ring- und Vorortbahnen", and which differed from the normal railway tariff. While the regular railway tariff was based on multiplying the distance covered with a fixed price per kilometer, the special tariff for this Berlin tariff zone was based on a graduated tariff based on the number of stations touched during the travel.
The core of this network, that is the cross-city ("Stadtbahn") East-West line and the circular Ringbahn, and several suburban branches were converted from steam operation to a third-rail electric railway in the latter half of the 1920s. The Wannsee railway, the suburban line with the highest number of passengers, was electrified in 1932/33. A number of suburban trains remained steam-hauled, even after the Second World War.
After building the East-West cross-city line connecting western suburban lines, which until then terminated at Charlottenburg station with eastern suburban lines which had terminated at Frankfurter Bahnhof (later Schlesischer Bahnhof), the logical next step was a North-South cross-city line connecting the northern suburban lines terminating at Stettiner Bahnhof with the southern suburban lines terminating at the subsidiary stations of the Berlin Potsdamer Bahnhof. The first ideas for this project emerged only 10 years after the completion of the East-West cross-city line, with several concrete proposals resulting from a 1909 competition held by the Berlin city administration. Another concrete proposal, already very close to the final realisation, was put forward in 1926 by Professor Jenicke of Breslau university. Many sections of the S-Bahn were closed during the war, both through enemy action and flooding of the Nord-Süd-Bahn tunnel on 2 May 1945 during the final Battle of Berlin. The exact number of casualties is not known, but up to 200 people are presumed to have perished, since the tunnel was used as a public shelter and also served to house military wounded in trains on underground sidings. Service through the tunnel commenced again in 1947.
THE TIME OF EXPANSION
BEFORE THE CONSTR'UCTION OF BERLIN WALL
After hostilities ceased in 1945, Berlin was given special status as a "Four-Sector City," surrounded by the Soviet Occupation Zone, which later became the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The Allies had decided that S-Bahn service in the western sectors of Berlin should continue to be provided by the Reichsbahn (DR), which was by now the provider of railway services in East Germany. (Rail services in West Germany proper were provided by the new Deutsche Bundesbahn.)
Before the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Berlin S-Bahn had grown to about 335 kilometres. On the 13 August 1961, it was the biggest turning point in the operation and network for the S-Bahn.
As relations between East and West began to sour with the coming of the Cold War, it had become the victim of the hostilities. Although services continued operating through all occupation sectors, checkpoints were constructed on the borders with East Berlin and on-board "customs checks" were carried out on trains. From 1958 onward, some S-Bahn trains ran non-stop through the western sectors from stations in East Berlin to stations on outlying sections in East Germany so as to avoid the need for such controls. East German government employees were then forbidden to use the S-Bahn since it travelled through West Berlin.
AFTER THE CONSTRUCTION OF BERLIN WALL
The S-Bahn has also been operated in two separate subnets of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. In East Berlin, the S-Bahn retained a transport share of approximately 35 percent, the mode of transport with the highest passenger share. In the 1970s and 1980s the route network continued to grow. In particular, the new housing estates were connected to the grid in the northeast of the city (Marzahn and Hohenschönhausen).
The construction of the Berlin Wall led to West Berlin calling for the unions and politicians to boycott the S-Bahn. Subsequently, passenger numbers fell.
However, the Berlin S-Bahn strike brought the S-Bahn to the attention of the public, and aroused the desire to for West Berlin to manage its section of the S-Bahn itself. In 1983 negotiations of representatives of the Senate, the SNB and the Deutsche Reichsbahn took place. In December 1983, these were concluded with Allied consent to the agreement between the Deutsche Reichsbahn and the Berlin Senate for the transfer of operating rights of the S-Bahn in the area of West Berlin. The BVG received the oldest carriages from the DR; but the BVG was eager to quickly get to modern standards for a subway. Therefore, soon new S-Bahn trains were purchased on their behalf, which are still in use on the Berlin S-Bahn network as the 480 series.
Even before the Wall fell, there were efforts to substantial re-commissioning of the S-Bahn network in West Berlin.
REUNIFICATION
After the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, the first broken links were re-established, with Friedrichstraße on 1 July 1990, as the first. The BVG and DR jointly marketed the services soon after the reunification. Administratively, the divided S-Bahn networks remained separate in this time of momentous changes, encompassing German reunification and reunification of Berlin into a single city, although the dividing line was no longer the former Berlin Wall. DR and BVG (of the whole of reunified Berlin from 1 January 1992, after absorbing BVB of East Berlin) operated individual lines end to end, both into the other party's territories. For example, S2 was all BVG even after it was extended northward and southward into Brandenburg/former East German territory. The main east-west route (Stadtbahn) was a joint operation. Individual trains were operated by either BVG or DR end-to-end on the same tracks. This arrangement ended on 1 January 1994, with the creation of Deutsche Bahn due to the merger between DR and the former West Germany's Deutsche Bundesbahn. All S-Bahn operations in Berlin were transferred to the newly formed S-Bahn Berlin GmbH as a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, and the BVG withdrew from running S-Bahn services.
Technically, a number of projects followed in the steps of re-establishing broken links in order to restore the former S-Bahn network to its 1961 status after 1990,
especially the Ringbahn. In December 1997 the connection between Neukölln and Treptower Park via Sonnenallee was reopened, enabling S4 trains to run 75% of the whole ring between Schönhauser Allee and Jungfernheide. On 16 June 2002, the section Gesundbrunnen – Westhafen also reopened, re-establishing the Ringbahn operations.
EXPANSION
REDEVELOPMENT PROJECTS
OSTKREUZ
In 1988, Deutsche Reichsbahn presented plans for the transformation of Ostkreuz station. The long postponed renovation of the station began in 2007.
With nine lines (four on the Stadtbahn and five on the Ringbahn), Ostkreuz is one of the busiest stations on the network. Since the reconstruction is taking place during full operations. Work under the current plans was original projected to be completed by 2016, but it has been delayed and it is now expected to be completed in 2018.
With the progress of construction work on 31 August 2009, the southern connection and platform A were decommissioned. This route had to be realigned as a result. The construction plans envisaged that the connection would be restored by 2014. After its completion, traffic will again be able to be run from the southern Ringbahn onto the Stadtbahn.
In October 2009, the new Regionalbahn station on the Ringbahn was sufficiently complete for S-Bahn trains on the Ringbahn to use it temporarily. Demolition of the Ringbahn platform could then start and the new platform, including a concourse, could be built. This was put into operation on 16 April 2012, after a 16-day possession.
WIKIPEDIA
Just as she crossed Mach 1, the middle of our airframe burst apart into tiny bits overhead. From the photo analysis below, the reduction coupler began wobbling (despite a solid metal bar running up the middle) before ripping the fiber-glassed midsection apart.
The on-board avionic computer logged data through the supersonic burst, ending in a 100g singularity of shock to the system (chart below).
The upper and lower parts of the rocket fell separately and are largely unharmed, as is the avionics bay and motor. So she should take only a half hour or so to repair. But I did lose both on-board video cameras, the Flip HD did not save its file before losing power, and the cylindrical camera on the parachute line detached as the parachute shredded from supersonic inflation. If anyone finds a black cylinder out there, it might have a killer video. =)
Here is a compilation of the ground video from the pad cams and the flight line where the bottom section came back ballistic.
Central Pier, Blackpool
Central Pier is one of three piers in the town of Blackpool, England.
The pier is central in that it is located between the other two, but it was close to the site of the now-defunct Blackpool Central railway station about 500 metres south of Blackpool Tower. Since the coastline is very straight and flat, the pier simply extends at right angles to the sea front, roughly level with the promenade.
History: The success of the North Pier prompted the formation of the Blackpool South Jetty Company one year later in 1864. The pier now known as South Pier was built 30 years later. Impressed with the construction of Blackpool Pier (North Pier), the company hired the same contractor, Richard Laidlaw and Son of Glasgow for the project. This time, however, the company used the designs of Lieutenant-Colonel John Isaac Mawson rather than those of Eugenius Birch. When the pier was opened on 30 May 1868, it was 460 metres in length, 120 metres of which was a landing jetty for use at low tide. The first manager of the pier was Robert Bickerstaffe, coxswain of the first Blackpool lifeboat. Blackpool's lifeboat station is located next to Central Pier.
From the start, the new pier's emphasis was on fun rather than the genteel relaxation provided at North Pier. In the early days fun was provided mainly by dancing facilities, but in the 20th century, roller skating was introduced along with fairground rides and amusement machines. Steamboat excursions departed from the landing jetty as they did from North Pier. The dance halls became less popular after the Second World War and the facilities were adapted into a theatre, bars and amusement arcades by the 1970s.
The pierhead theatre was modernised in 1986 and became known as "Peggy Sue's Showboat". A striking addition came in 1990 when a 33 metre high ferris wheel was erected, a half-scale reference to the Victorian attraction that had been part of the Winter Gardens complex a century earlier.
Construction: Central Pier is constructed mostly of cast iron with wooden decking. The piles on which the structure rests were driven using the screw pile method pioneered by Eugenius Birch. This involved twisting screw-tipped cast iron piles down through the sand until they hit bedrock. The materials and building techniques were similar to those used for North Pier but the structure of Central is a little more delicate in appearance.
The pier has suffered relatively little damage save for fires in 1964 and 1973 which gutted the theatre buildings. The main structural alterations have been the removal of the obsolete 120-metre low tide jetty in 1975 and the construction of the ferris wheel in 1990. The addition of the wheel required the midsection of the pier to be strengthened to cope with the extra weight. [Wikipedia]
STS032-071-0AD East Africa Rift Valley, Ethiopia January 1990
The Great Rift Valley of east Africa extends through the midsection of Ethiopia as a northeast-southwest-trending elevated plateau. The average elevation above sea level for this part of the valley is 7000 feet (2130 meters). The valley floor is easily identified by a series of sizable lakes that have formed as water collects at the base of this extensive depression. Six major lakes of various shapes and colors approximately 110 miles (180 kilometers) due south of the capital city of Addis Ababa are visible in this photograph. Some volcanoes can be identified primarily from the drainage patterns that radiate in all directions from their craters. The large, dark L-shaped mountainous area east of the lakes is also volcanic in origin, its massive eroded drainage pattern very evident as the landscape falls away to lower elevations. This drainage basin is part of the Shebelle River that drains eastern Ethiopia, intermittently flows through central Somalia, and empties into the Indian Ocean. The darker area along the southeastern corner of the photograph is a vegetated, mountainous region where several elevations exceed 12 000 feet (3660 meters) above sea level.
"John D. Leitch" & the Tug "Point Valour"
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
Unfortunately for Dan, he didn’t get the long legs that the family is notorious for. All of his length ended up in his midsection.
Sometimes we call him Trunk.
Have a tremendous Tuesday everyone.
Robert Harbin of South Africa was one of the greatest inventors and performers of stage magic of all time. His Zig Zag Girl illusion is regarded as his masterpiece, and after his debut in 1965, it quickly became one of the most popular - and pirated - effects. Harry Blackstone, Jr., became one of the first Americans authorized by Harbin to preform this illusion, and Blackstone's version is the one on display.
Built by master illusion builder John Gaughan of Los Angeles, this effect shows the magician's assistant entering the cabinet and being horizonally trisected by two metal sheet blades. Her midsection is then pushed completely out to one side. The feat can be preformed surrounded by the audience, which made it practical for many non-traditional performing venues. Assisted by his wife Gay, Blackstone performed it throughout his career.
Eamon Cale finishes peeling off wee ones. He hears the pin drop in the scuffle, sees the lass hauled off Tres come back holding a grenade in her hand, but he's quick to see the pin hasn't been pulled. He whips back and grabs the haft of the scythe hooked in Tres' clothes, adding his strength to Cham's with a fierce backward yank to haul Tres up and off Jaina. "Auntie, get her out of here!" he barks, and reaches unerringly for the triggered grenade on Tres' chest. Four seconds. It's all they have.
ATMLADY Alcott: puts her arms around the girls and starts dragging them away
Elise Capalini can't blame the woman for striding in there despite her words; if her son were in there...yeah, she'd go in, too. She'd gotten Fern to go; that was something at least. She turns and strides forward, watching the apparent mech take on the other UAC soldier. She pins her ears at the sound of the shot, but moves toward Eamon and any kids on this side of him, silently praying when he reaches for the grenade.
Rai Pawpad wraps his arms around auntie's legs, hanging on to the girls.
Solrana Zagato lags on in, tilting her head to the side first at the sight of all the people in the MCMC, then taken a back by how many children where in there. She takes in a deep breath, looking the people over with suprise.
Tres Asbrink just grunts as he watches the Father reaching for his greandes and figures this is a battle he can not win. With him pulling everyone off of him he just throws the girl and the gerande at him. As he does that he quickly moves towards the exit to make his esacpe yelling for Pyros to get a move on its time to go.
Jaina Lefevre sails towards Eamon, not even having the strength to scream at this point. She's just wide-eyed and hurting.
Kimani Silvercloud is taken up by auntie and knowing she and Jai are now in safe arms she hears the mention of a grenade and curls into aunties arms
Nellie Meads flies through the air backwards, curling the precious, grown person's weapon in toward her chest. She hits the floor on the left part of her back, and skids like a hockey puck into the far wall, the top of her head making a sharp "whap".
Chameleon Blinker's sickle tear's through Tre's shirt as he runs. She steadies the scythe in one arm and keeps it at a ready stance, still unsure if danger remains, at least besides the ticking timebomb. She nods at Eamon, gratful for his help, especially in light of her wounded and bleeding right arm.
Rai Pawpad sprawls on the floor, the sudden tug on his tail taking him by surprise. He slides, twisting and struggling, to the back of the examining room, and looks up into his mother's face.
Pyros Zenovka just takes the rilfe and moves in a bit closer and brings up the useless rilfe and rys to smash at the mans face. His head turning to wacth Tres run past him and would let go of the rilfe at that time to run away ith the boss.
ATMLADY Alcott: gathers the children the best she can and shields their bodies with hers. Holding kimi in her arms and keeping jai and Rai close, she tries to comfort them"
Jaerik Draken 's head swiveled with the harsh blow of the rifle to his helmet. The sensation leaving a ringing in his ears and leaving him in a blur momentarily. But straightened his posture out as he hears the rifle drop to the ground and Pyros exiting.
Eamon Cale palms the grenade in time to catch Jaina as she's tossed bodily toward him. She lands hard against his chest, and he crouches in a single smooth motion, pushing her into Auntie's arms as he lunges for the door after the departing UAC. And prays grimly to Jesus, Mary, and any other fecking saint who might be listening that the delay element burns long enough for him to get the grenade out the back.
Elise Capalini isn't at all sure how the little neko girl flies right past her, but apparently she does. Her eye widens, and she moves to the girl's side, putting her hands over Nellie's before the pin can accidentally be pulled on this grenade. She would take the weapon from the girl, her ears still ringing from the gunshots as she watches Eamon with the live grenade.
Zoe Baran gathers Rai into her arms as quickly as she can, pressing him to her and not caring at the moment if she crushing him. She pushes off on her lead leg and hurries to the door where she entered. Her only though is to get this sweet boy out of any kind of blast radius.
Kimani Silvercloud squeezes auntie as tears run down her face, why did two awful things have to happen in one day, she just did not understand adults and their mean-ness
Solrana Zagato blinks in surprise at the mass chaos in the medical center, her jaw dropping open just a little as she sees a familar figure run by. Hey... wait a minute. She just stares in shock as Eamon heads for the back door as well, not seeing the grenade he was carrying and she feels torn before she started heading after Eamon and Tres.
Chameleon Blinker clutches onto her arm, watching Eamon run in wide eyed apprehension. She spots Solrana make a run for the man, and stumbles over to stop her. "Wait…no…bomb…"
Jaina Lefevre is wheezing and shaking, not saying a word. She thought she was safe in the hospital.... Lesson number three hundred and eighty two..for today.
Jaerik Draken turned quickly as Sol ran by, his heavily armored arm lifting to make her stop. Shaking his head slowly as he chirped through distortion of his helmet.
ATMLADY Alcott: lets Kimi down, "You girls should be safe now"
Jaerik Draken: Jatha'la bada boom..
Eamon Cale is through the thin curtains at a sprint. He hits the doors at a run, slamming them open at the same time his arm snaps around in a fastball pitch. The grenade sails over the rise, bounces once with a dull thump off the ground, and vanishes over the ridge. He whips around and into a crouch as the night roars and the concussive blast slams into him from behind.
Elise Capalini looks up at Auntie, thinking that they may be safe, but Father Eamon was out there with a live grenade... Bad, all bad...
Kimani Silvercloud plops down and goes over to jae knowing people probably cant understand him
Nellie Meads lies on ther back, staring up at the harsh light on the ceiling. She takes a couple of breaths, squirms on the floor to confirm that she hasn't broken anything. Not broken, but big ole bruisement in a major way. She feels her hand around the grenade, looks down at it, then rolls to her side and crawls out the door on her knees and one hand.
ATMLADY Alcott: says a prayer for the father, "hail mary, full of grace, don't let the grenade blow up in the fathers face"
Kimani Silvercloud touches Jae's arm and tugs on it "you ok?"
Jaerik Draken felt the side of the building shake and the lights flicker a moment, quickly crouching down and pulling Kima close and away from the back entrance, which blew open from the gust of the explosion. Sighing in relief as he placed his hand on her shoulder and examine her over for injuries.
Jaerik Draken: Dos okay? Xunus nind jivviim dos?
Jaina Lefevre is shaking against Auntie, staring where the man..and the bomb went. When the grenade goes off, she screams and puts both hands over her ears, eyes scrunched shut.
Kimani Silvercloud looks at Jai through one eye "my eye is swollen from the youayesee mans elbow" her ears flaten at the noise and she screams like a little girl clutching her ears and hudling to the ground
Chameleon Blinker's ears twitch violently as the force of the explosion booms straight into the giant noisecatchers. She clutches at her head with her bloodied hands and groans.
ATMLADY Alcott: hugs jaina, "thats a good sign dear. If the Father had the grenade still in his hand, the explosion would not have been that loud"
Solrana Zagato skids to a halt as the armored man tried to stop her and Sid tried to grab her. She freezes, her eyes going wider at the armored man and his strange chirping, her hands automatically going for her weapons before the explosion's shock wave knocked her off her feet. She landed on her ass, her hands going to cover her head.
Elise Capalini feels the entire building seem to shake when the grenade goes off. She closes her eye and holds the grenade she took against her chest; time seems to still right there. She looks up at Auntie, not sure if those words are a comfort or not. Slowly, she moves toward the back door.
Eamon Cale covers his head with his arms, but not quick enough. The blast slams him into the med center wall, making him bark out a curse as his shoulder and skull crack hard against the concrete. For a moment he sees stars, when he sees anything at all, and he can't hear a bloody thing. There's only pain throbbing between his ears, and the quick rasp of his breath in his throat. "Fookin, weepin, bleedin Jaysus," he mutters, bracing a hand against the wall as he heaves himself to his feet.
Elise Capalini can't hear much of anything; between the gunshots and grenade blasts. She opens the back door, looking for Eamon, expecting to find him quite blown to bits. She's rather surprised to find she's entirely wrong, but bleeding even so. She can only look at him for a long moment. Stitches--they'd only just gotten them out, she thinks, and bites the inside of her cheek so she won't do something girly, like cry.
Jaina Lefevre whimpers at the hug from Auntie and squirms to get her to let go. Wrapped ribs hurt like hell...without being squeezed by a UAC lunatic and rolled around on tables and floors. She just curls on her side, on the floor, and does something she's not done in years...slips a thumb into her mouth. You almost die twice in one day and tell me YOU won't be sucking your thumb too!
Jaerik Draken consoled Kima, tilting her head up with the crook of his finger as he slid his visor up, examing the swelling with his true eyes. Titling his head as he smiled softly, pressing a finger against her cheek bone as gently as he could, checking for breaks.
Eamon Cale's head comes up as the door beside him slams open a second time. Bloody scalp wound, always looks worse than it is, and he can feel the warm wet sheeting down the right side of his face. "I'm all right," he rasps--and can't hear himself. He winces and shoves off the wall, turning toward Elise. "I don't know about ye, lass," he whispers, swaying toward her to pull her into his arms, "but I'm bloody done wi' bein shot, bashed, and fookin stabbed every time we go out."
Kimani Silvercloud looks at Jae "were you hurt?" she looks him up and down eyes resting on his midsection she worries for one of the few adults she completely trusts
Chameleon Blinker slaps her hand back over her wound, watching Elise go after Eamon. She sighs, letting her sickle drop, clanging to the floor, as she looks around the room and checks to see if she's missed anyone needing help.
Jaerik Draken pressed his brass hand against the wound on his side, trying to stem the blood flow from it. Lifting his head to Kima and shaking his head. He'd survive, of this she could count on.
Jaerik Draken: Dorn tlu okay..
Jaerik Draken he nodded his head towards Jaina, giving Kim a small push towards her.
Jaerik Draken: Alu xxizz ilta...
Elise Capalini shakes her head, reading Eamon's lips to understand him. She tries to manage a smile, but her chin trembles. She lets herself be pulled into his arms, and reaches into his coat pocket for the handkerchief she knows will be there. She lifts it to his head and gently presses, then lifts the grenade in her other hand. "It wasn't without door prizes," she says and wonders if she's shouting. "Stitches here or in the med den?"
Kimani Silvercloud nods seeing he'll be okay she goes back to jai and just sits next to her knowing hugs will hurt
Solrana Zagato rubs her head as she blinks up at the others. She'd been taken unawares, not expecting it. Letting out a soft curse, she rolled onto the balls of her feet and tried to take stalk of who was injured and where.
Jaina Lefevre flinches as Kimi comes near, then glances at her and then back to the back doorway. She's watching...waiting for the next bad thing to happen.
Jaerik Draken slipped his visor back down as he stood up, slowly, gingerly, his hand never leaving his side. Letting out a low groan as he turned away. From within his helmet he was biting his tongue at the pain. There was shrapnel in there.
Kimani Silvercloud asks her in a soothing ton "will you be safer at home, once they patch you up again" she wants Jai to be in a safe locked place
Eamon Cale kisses her brow quickly as he pulls her close; no sense lingering and smearing her with blood. He chuckles wryly as she fishes out his handkerchief and presses it to the wound, only to half-close his eyes in another wince when the linen bites into open flesh. The pin is still in the grenade she's holding; he exhales and nods. "I have to see to Jaina first." He gently takes the handkerchief from her, holding it to his head himself, and turns her, drawing her after him and back inside.
Jaina Lefevre shakes her head. Tres is UAC...nowhere she would be /expected/ to be is safe.
Chameleon Blinker grips tightly onto her arm as crimson leaks through her closed fingers. Digging quickly in her pocket, she finds a piece of cloth and starts wrapping it tightly around her arm
Kimani Silvercloud looks around for anyone who can help Jai she says "can someone help Jai, she is hurt again!"
Solrana Zagato pushes her up to her feet, noticing the armored man injured and the kids. She purses her lips, drumming her fingers as she tried to determine who was the worst off. Frowning, she takes a step closer to the armored man, seeing him clutch at his side. "Let me see that?" she lifts her head up, looking over to the two children.
Elise Capalini nods at Eamon's words, and follows him back inside. Her own head is pounding, hearing still entirely off, but she knows well enough that they need to make sure the kids are secure before they do anything else.
Jaina Lefevre isn't really hurt /again/...just hurting...
Jaerik Draken shakes his head and steps away from Sol, waving her towards the children. "Hn.."
Kimani Silvercloud sees her shake, knowing jai needs a safe place to stay she looks around helplessly
HOHOHO
I meant to do this one last month, but the holidays got way from me. I'll be doing some more Christmas themed ones before I pack up the decorations for another year.
The top midsection of the shuttle opens up with a butterfly hinge detailed with metallic pieces. A multi-hinged robot arm extends outward to deploy packages.
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.
UPPER: Part 1-of-2 of set 5-of-5 of the coverage of Deadly Sin–related demon creatures.
• Netojax (Archfiend of Envy): A sentinel of darkness forged from a collection of some of the strongest compounds in existence, corporeal and otherwise, compacted together around a single bio–mechanical demonic being. The Netojax is truly a force to be reckoned with, a demon of astonishing strength, skill, endurance and intelligence, being much more powerful than it looks. As the Entrorth is to Wrath demons, it is the unquestioned and unmatched being of authority and leadership over all lesser Envy demons, and a fearsome commander in battle. This Archfiend stands out for being the only Envy demon with a corporeal, organic body component, with the extra–corporeal gem–like matter that makes up the entire bodies of the other creatures in the family comprising the Netojax’s exoskeleton, resulting in the demon resembling a cyborg. The organic and inorganic components weave in and out of each other throughout the length of the body.
As can be expected, Netojaxes are the most potent users of Dark Magic. Their bodies are intricately designed to store and attract the most immense quantities of energy possible, and they are constantly glowing and flashing, almost electrically, with power. They are self–trained to perform countless spells, many of which no other known being is capable of casting, and have the unique ability to physically clutch their own energy spheres in their hands. From the hand of a Netojax also protrudes a freely retractable short energy blade, which when fully charged with Dark Magic releases more than one terajoule of heated Infernal Energy into an entity upon physical contact, which would instantly, completely vaporize anything below at least 1,000 durability value. However, channelling this amount of energy into one attack requires intense focus by the user and consumes huge amounts of power from a Netojax’s body, so usually the blade is much less powerful, though still deadly. Netojaxes are highly intelligent and fully sapient, and can telepathically speak to any being in direct contact with it, the meaning of the signals automatically translated into whatever form the particular being best understands.
The Archfiend of Envy’s body ranges from 2–3 meters in height, weighing an average of two tons, though the creature’s self–levitating powers ignore weight. The durability value is above 4,000 if not 5,000. The total population of Netojaxes existing in the Underworld does not reach a level beyond the triple digits.
• Uhrlath (Lesser Beast of Wrath): A tiny yet nonetheless brutal and grotesque creature, the Uhrlath shares many traits with its fellow Wrath demons but is unique in several notable aspects. Uhrlaths appear to function as a sort of leech, latching onto the face or another body part of their victims and sucking out their life fluids with penetrative mouth organs. To achieve this and other tasks, these creatures are endowed with amazing agility and lower body strength which allow them to leap great bounds at extra–mortal velocities towards targets with impeccable precision. Its other means of attack are the double–pairs of pincers that serve as the extremities of all four of its limbs. Another major feature of the Uhrlath’s physiology is its optical anatomy, which consists of two tiny pupils floating in place inside a cavity of strange yellow liquid, somewhat similar to the Errvwarp's brain cavity. Uhrlaths are never larger than the equivalent of one meter, and are usually much smaller, and have a durability value of about 450.
• Torrigark (Greater Beast of Greed): Some say that whenever units of worldly value are lost to oblivion, their fate is to be claimed by one of these beasts. The Torrigark is a massive, hideous and hideously massive creature whose existence is devoted to hoarding treasure, not to be spent for other things of value, but to be kept forever and kept away from everyone and everything else. This monster’s agenda is quite similar to that of the related Penchrett, and in fact the two creatures largely dwell within the same underground expanse of caverns, with the Torrigarks occupying the largest empties of space to accommodate for their size, however the Greater Beast of Greed is many, many times more sinister and, well... greedy. In the Torrigark’s particular case, the primary motivation for collecting treasure is not merely so they can have it, which is the Penchrett’s modus operandi, but actually for the sake of taking from others, so that everyone else has less. Penchrett derive simple pleasure from the possession of treasure. Torrigarks in reality could not care any less about treasure itself; they are actively malicious and sadistic monsters who derive pleasure from making others have less. Any valuable item that is touched by the solid–red hand of a Torrigark is instantaneously corrupted, its value destroyed. Any other being is painfully and brutally burned upon touching it, a burning so severe as to reduce one’s hand to molten nothingness within a few seconds. When one dies, all the treasure it has claimed by touching turns to dust along with the demon’s body.
Extended fully upright, they measure up to ten meters, and their durability values reach upward of 3,500 at maturity.
LOWER: Four random, lesser demon varieties.
• Mumblabong: An animalistic demon that can be found in both the Gomorran Desert and the Cycian Deadlands. It is often incorrectly thought to be a Wrath demon, or even mistaken for an Uhrlath. While sharing a similar overall body structure and shape, the Mumblabong is considerably larger in size and furthermore can easily be distinguished from said creature of Wrath by its three individual eyes, whereas the Uhrlath is basically cyclopic. Its torso is broad and wide, and it has a smooth face but rough and spiky limbs, as well as boney plates near the origin points of those limbs and a single tiny red horn atop its head. Severed, this horn is sometimes kept as a charm of sorts by the intelligent demons of the City of Drenn, and is considered to be of moderate value in their twisted society. Mumblabongs are hostile towards most beings, including each other, by nature, and attack out of an openly sadistic desire to consume the flesh of their victims, rather than traditional, natural hunger. To this end, they have several methods of attack, including biting, slashing, tearing, and most uniquely, throwing their own feces, which can be made to come out of their bodies at will in amounts larger than what they have ingested, and is burningly acidic to the touch, to the point that when left on the ground, it burns a hole through the soil. The Mumblabong's weakest points are its round, bright pink ears; an obscene amount of blood vessels are connected to them, and as a result they will cause the demon to bleed profusely, often to death, if severed.
Mumblabongs possess a durability value of 500.
• Thresprik: A deformed humanoid demon that stands over three meters tall and resides exclusively in the Gomorran Desert Plane. Threspriks have transparent chests revealing the shapes of their skeletons, empty eye sockets which nevertheless still possess sight, bright green rotten teeth, and thin layers of green mold growing on certain parts of their bodies, including the faces. This mold is extremely toxic to mortals, and the mere scent of it can potentially be deadly. One particularly large and thick patch of mold grows on the Thresprik's upper face, including the forehead and space between the eyes. Their arms grow from their backs rather than their sides, while where the arms should be located are instead half–circles of thick, blackened bone that protrude back into the monsters' midsections. Despite originating from a highly inconvenient place on the body, the arms themselves are very long, articulate and useful, and actually reach further down on the body than the arms of most humanoid creatures. The Thresprik's nauseating and distorted humanoid form is reminiscent of that of most Gluttony demons, and its behavior is similar to that of the Chontulon, though not as mindless. They will eat almost anything, and drink the slime found in the Sea of Sludge to sustain themselves. Thus, they are most commonly found near the shores border the Gomorran Desert. Physical contact with pure water actually burns their flesh; with this in mind, it is thus logical that their main drinking fluid is basically the exact opposite of pure water.
The Thresprik's durability value is exactly 1,000.
• Inzincator: This thing isn't actually a demon at all. Rather, it is the only "species" in existence that is known to have been created by a Primal Deity. The Ggellod of Ergnoplis, however, was probably Primal in origin. Not long after the Great Kindling (the creation of the Nava–Verse), while the first humanoids were still in the process of being created, these mysterious creatures were found inhabiting several otherwise completely barren planets that had yet to be terraformed. It was discovered that they were created by the first Primal Deity to ever exist in the Nava–Verse, who was able to create life so easily due to the fact that the Nava–Verse had just been created, and the laws of its reality had not yet fully taken hold; thus, reality was easier to alter. The name of this deity is now lost, for it was swiftly not only dealt with by angels, but destroyed under such ceremonies that it was wiped from existence completely; the deity's very soul ceased to exist. However, their creator's utter destruction did not get rid of the Inzincators, and as wiping them all out manually would be too tedious, the angels went to God the Father and urged Him to perform a miracle doing away with all of the strange creatures, which He did; God transported every Inzincator to the Underworld, where they became honorary demons and remain to this day.
Physically, the Inzincators are short, square creatures with a distinctive "Primal" appearance; they have short legs with decent feet, pairs of horns, and long, wacky, waving, flailing purple arms. They are sentient but not sapient, and are moderately aggressive and hostile omnivores that tend to stick together in small groups. Whenever Inzincators attack, they "announce" their doing so with a loud, throaty howl. Their durability value range is 600–800.
• Ethmacrodon: Elusive, docile demons that exist only within the Catacombs of Greed, and are rare even there. They are more often than not found in the particularly deep parts of the catacombs, where the temperatures are so high that the heat even starts getting to the Greed demons. But the Ethmacrodons do not mind the heat at all; in fact, they have no sense of temperature whatsoever. One was once captured alive, and when immersed in lava during an experiment, the creature was completely unharmed and didn't even seem to notice the immense heat it was surrounded by. Ethmacrodons are small quadruped hellhounds with three dimly glowing blue tentacle–like tails, third eyes on the tips of their tongues, and blue crystalline structures growing upon their backs. Unlike practically all other demon types, they are totally harmless in and of themselves and aren't even carnivorous, for their diet consists of rocks and jewels. Their mouths are toothless but their gums are very acidic, enough to dissolve solid stones like sugary candies, but the contents of the mouths themselves (including the eyes on the tongues) are immune to this acidity. It is unknown how Ethmacrodons come into being, for the "birth" of one has never been witnessed. They have no sexual organs or other indicators of gender, so it is almost certain that they don't reproduce in the same way that normal creatures do, and they probably "appear" from nothingness or out of inanimate entities like many other demons do.
The crystal structures on the backs of Ethmacrodons contain large chunks of pure and genuine gold, which is appropriate considering the demons' location in the Catacombs of Greed. However, the blue crystals themselves in which these golden nuggets are embedded are actually of more value (to demons, at least), for when ground into powder, said crystals become a potent methamphetamine that, when ingested, heightens senses to euphoric levels and also triggers vivid hallucinations based on the user's deepest, usually sexual, desires of what they most want to see. And this is where the sinister element of the seemingly harmless Ethmacrodon comes into play (you didn't think that there would exist a demon with nothing evil about it, did you?). This crystal drug has no negative effect on demons, but is highly addictive, dangerous and potentially deadly to mortals. Demons crave it and hold it in high value, while in the mortal realm it is even higher in value, despite its harmfulness and illegality on most planets with organized systems of law and due to its extreme rarity and difficulty in acquiring.
The durability value of the Ethmacrodon is 350.
This one comes in the English/French printed boxes. Chilli's outfit consists of 2 black leather pieces: bikini top and pants with red/silver belt buckle with strap that goes around neck and down midsection. She has black platform shoes. Her accessories include a black mic headset, a black cell phone, silver camcorder, and a blue and white boombox. She sings the full single version of 'No Scrubs'.
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Is Lasik really worth it? We think so! In this article, we will be covering the national patient satisfaction rate of Lasik eye surgery. We will then compare it to other popular cosmetic treatments to see how they rank. Lasik is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic treatments in the unites states. In fact, Lasik eye surgery is the most performed cosmetic procedure in the world.
According to the American Academy of Opthalmology or the AAO, Lasik has seen a whopping 30 million procedures performed globally since it was first patented in the early 1980s and close to 700,000 thousand procedures are performed every year in the United States and growing. When comes down to it, Lasik is worth the price, and here’s why!
How well does Lasik score nationally?
Lasik, or laser in situ keratomileusis utilizes a laser to reshape the cornea of the eye and correct refractive errors. Refractive errors in the eye result in hyperopia and myopia, also known as nearsightedness and farsightedness. Here in Michigan, Lasik is used as a mechanism to free patients from their eyeglasses and contact lenses so they can enjoy life without the need for corrective eyewear, and this holds true around the world as well.
Numerous studies from 2018 have shown that 99% of Lasik eye surgery patients obtain greater than 20/40 eyesight. Studies also show that over 90% of patients obtain better than the advertised 20/20 vision. These statistics are with traditional Lasik as well, not the cutting edge CATz Lasik offered at Yaldo Eye Center and at other globally recognized Lasik practices. In addition to its high success rate, Lasik boasts an unparalleled 98% patient satisfaction rate; the greatest of any cosmetic surgery.
Lasik vs Hair Transplants
The hair transplant is another cosmetic procedure growing rapidly in popularity. During an FUE hair transplant, surgeons extract hairs in follicular units and transplant them to balding areas of the head. Follicles on the back and sides of the scalp are genetically resistant to balding. For this reason, they typically make up the donor hairs for grafting. As hair transplants become more popular in the United States, they are also greatly decreasing in cost. This is because more cosmetic practices are offering the procedure and technology is making it easier to perform.
Many different FUE hair transplant techniques exist. They include manual FUE, motorized FUE such as NeoGraft or SmartGraft, and robotic FUE using the ARTAS system. Motorized and robotic techniques typically carry the same cost as manual FUE and typically produce similar results. With that being said, they do make the procedure a bit more efficient. Lowering the procedure time for a treatment like hair restoration can surely increase patient satisfaction.
According to Bernstein Medical Research, over 395,000 hair restoration procedures are performed annually around the world. According to an international study by JAMA, hair transplants boast a global patient satisfaction rate of 97%. At this number, hair restoration comes really close to matching Lasik in terms of patient satisfaction.
Lasik vs Breast Reduction
Reduction Mammoplasty, more commonly referred to as breast reduction surgery, is an extremely popular procedure in the US. Just like Lasik, breast reduction has more than just a cosmetic benefit for patients. Women with extensively large breasts can suffer from bra strap grooving, back pain, poor posture, and muscle aches. During a breast reduction, an incision is created around the areola, extending down the center of the breast. Fat and glandular mass is removed in order to lighten the breasts and make them proportional to the body.
Breast reduction surgery is known to be one of the most life-changing and liberating procedures someone can have. Despite this belief, it holds a national patient satisfaction rate of 95% in 2018. Even though breast reduction results in a major lifestyle improvement. In short, the experience of an invasive surgery like breast reduction will always be a challenge. The easy procedure and recovery of Lasik give it a major boost in patient satisfaction.
Lasik vs Rhinoplasty (Nose-Job)
Rhinoplasty, or a “nose job” is a procedure designed to reshape the nose and eliminate nasal asymmetries, irregularities, and deformities. During rhinoplasty, a plastic surgeon creates incisions in the nose and works to mold a more subtle and symmetrical appearance that matches the patients face. They can reshape the structure by shaving bone and cartilage or by grafting fat cells into the nose. The surgeon can widen the nose, lower bumps, define the nasal tip, and much more.
Rhinoplasty is one of the most commonly performed cosmetic procedures in the United States, but how does it compare to Lasik? According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, approximately 223,018 rhinoplasty procedures were performed in 2018. This is nearly 1/3 the amount of Lasik eye surgeries performed.
This is mainly due to the fact that Rhinoplasty is a purely cosmetic procedure, and unlike Lasik, does not provide a functional and practical benefit to someones daily life. According to the Aesthetic Surgery Journal, rhinoplasty reached a national patient satisfaction rate of only 84% in 2018. This number causes many to cringe in comparison to the unparalleled 98% patient satisfaction rate of all-laser Lasik eye surgery.
Lasik vs Blepharoplasty (Eyelid Surgery)
Blepharoplasty, which is more commonly referred to as eyelid surgery, is also one of the most common cosmetic procedures performed in the US. As Michigans leaders in everything eyecare, we have personal experience performing premium Eyelid Surgery at the Yaldo Eye Center.
Eyelid surgery consists of creating incisions around the eyelid, corresponding to the area of focus, and then removing and tightening loose and saggy skin. Eyelid surgery is designed to treat saggy and droopy looking eyelids which often come naturally with age. Double Eyelid surgery is the most popular technique used in order to restore a youthful and healthy look to patients suffering from these conditions.
Eyelid Surgery Statistics
According to the ASPS, over 209,500 eyelid procedures were performed in 2018, ranking it among the top 5 most popular plastic surgeries in America. Although eyelid surgery is very popular, it only achieved an 85% patient satisfaction rate in 2018. We believe the reason for this is because eyelid surgery is a very delicate procedure, and many people performing it are not as experienced as the professionals at Yaldo Eye Center.
Because of this, patients are not getting the results they were promised or even “sold on” and are thus reporting a lower patient satisfaction rate. Even in the hands of professionals like us, blepharoplasty will never reach the unprecedented patient satisfaction rate of Lasik. This is because Lasik eye surgery provides such as a boost to one’s quality of life that long term patient satisfaction is inevitable.
Lasik vs Liposuction
Liposuction, is another one of the most commonly performed cosmetic treatments in the United States. Over 235,237 treatments were recorded in the year 2018. Liposuction is a popular treatment designed to eliminate stubborn fat from the body. Laser-liposuction entails inserting a cannula under the patient’s skin and liquifying fat cells via radio frequency. The liquefied fat cells are then sucked up via the cannula and the patient’s body is permanently re-contoured.
Liposuction is a procedure that removes excess body fat. It allows patients to permanently enhance their body contours. Liposuction is most commonly used to treat visceral fat build ups around the abdomen and thigh area. It can also treat fat under the arms that come with old age.
The national patient satisfaction rate of liposuction, which was only 80% in 2017, comes nowhere near that of Lasik’s 98%. Liposuction has a lower rate than Lasik for many reasons. As an invasive procedure, the overall experience is nowhere near as comfortable and pain-free as Lasik.
Second, the results of liposuction can take months to realize, while CATz Lasik can present patients with notably enhanced vision, the day after surgery. Liposuction also commonly presents more complications such as bleeding and bruising. Lasik on the other hand, only occasionally presents dry eyes in patients who neglect postoperative care.
Lasik vs Breast Augmentation
Breast augmentation is the 2nd most popular cosmetic and the #1 most popular plastic surgery in 2019. More specifically, breast augmentation utilizing synthetic implants, either composed of saline or silicone. Breast implants can increase the size, fullness, and outward projection of the breasts. Breasts have long been a symbol of beauty and femininity in women. It’s no surprise that close to 300,000 women chose to have breast implants every year in the US.
Breast augmentation is also very popular among patients looking to restore lost breast volume after a mastectomy. This surgery is known as breast reconstruction and does not factor into the statistics of breast augmentation. Larger, perkier, and more youthful breasts can provide women with a boost of self-esteem and confidence. They may help women feel more confident and attractive in their body.
Breast implants were taboo when they first became popularized, but in recent years, they have been growing in popularity. This upward trend is supported by the addition of teardrop shaped implants and the vast improvements in cohesive silicone engineering. Since the year 2000, breast augmentation has increased by 37%. In 2017, over 300,000 produced were performed in the United States.
This number places breast augmentation as the #1 plastic surgery and the #2 cosmetic surgery in the US by volume. Implants are second to Lasik, which boasts double the procedures every single year. In addition, 92% of women reported being satisfied with their breast augmentation experience and results.
Lasik vs Mastopexy (Breast Lift)
Unlike breast augmentation, a breast lift does not incorporate synthetic implants. A breast lift cannot increase the size, fullness, and volume of the breasts. With this in mind, it certainly can create a more youthful and vibrant look. The breast lift is used to treat women who are suffering from saggy and droopy breasts. These symptoms typically come from aging, weight fluctuation, or pregnancy.
The surgeon begins by creating an incision around the areola, similar to that of a breast reduction discussed earlier. The surgeon then repositions the areola and nipple to a higher point on the breasts. Once the areola is positioned, the surgeon then removes excess fat, tissue, and glandular mass from the breasts. The surrounding skin is tightened to create a lifted, youthful look, hence the name breast lift.
In 2018, over 101,000 breast lift procedures were performed. This places it among the top 10 most performed cosmetic treatments in the US. In 2018, the breast lift held a national patient satisfaction rate of 93%. This is significantly greater than some of the cosmetic surgeries mentioned earlier, but still low in comparison to Lasik eye surgery and even less popular refractive surgeries such as PRK, Lasek, and the ever-increasing Multifocal implants, or ICL procedure.
Lasik vs Abdominoplasty (Tummy Tuck)
Abdominoplasty, more commonly known as the tummy tuck, is a very popular cosmetic procedure in the United States. Over 127,000 tummy tuck surgeries were recorded in 2018. An abdominoplasty is a procedure that entails a repairing of the abdomen and removal of excess skin. When patients lose weight they are often left with excess skin which cannot be eliminated naturally. During a tummy tuck, excess skin around the midsection is trimmed and tightened creating a tighter tummy.
This process consists of opening the abdomen and restitching loose and torn abdominal muscles. This results in a firmer and harder midsection which cannot be attained naturally if the muscles are torn. The abdominal muscles are often stretched when people gain a significant amount of weight and lose it abruptly. Abdominal muscles can become permanently torn with pregnancy and for this reason, it is very often included in a mommy makeover.
In 2018, the tummy tuck earned a national patient satisfaction rate of approximately 86%, which similar to most cosmetic procedures as we have learned, pales in comparison to that of Lasik eye surgery. This is because the tummy tuck can result in many more complications than Lasik. Tummy Tucks also have a significantly more challenging recovery than Lasik.
Why does Lasik dominate the market?
Lasik is more than just the most successful procedure in the US, its also the most popular. With 700,000 procedures a year, Lasik sees more than double the procedure volume as breast augmentation.
Lasik eye surgery has many benefits that bring it to the top of both lists. The first is that it is a very practical procedure. Procedures such as breast augmentation and rhinoplasty have little practical advantages past making patients look better. Although looking better and increasing self-esteem has amazing benefits to a patients quality of life, it does not compare to the results of eliminating the constant and impractical stress that is corrective eyewear such as contacts and glasses from ones daily life.
The second reason, is the experience of Lasik eye surgery compared to other popular procedures. Most of the competing procedures are very invasive and often require spending a night in the hospital. This leaves patients with a less pleasing experience and a more painful and challenging recovery after surgery. Lasik is not invasive, as it merely consists of firing an excimer laser into the cornea and reshaping the patient’s eye to properly refract light. The procedure takes roughly 15 min to complete and patients can be home quick. Cosmetic procedures such as breast reduction or a tummy tuck can take hours to complete.
Why is Lasik a global success?
Patients who visit our Lasik Michigan center on their day of surgery, usually arrive home 1 hour after their surgery. Patients are given simple recovery instructions and rarely experience pain or discomfort. In addition, our Lasik patients spend the night after surgery in the comfort of their own home.
All in all, Lasik eye surgery is #1 for a reason. The treatment is very practical, affordable, and easy to undergo and recover from. As technology improves, Lasik will only grow more in popularity and patient satisfaction. As we mentioned earlier, the 98% satisfaction rate was with patients who had traditional all laser Lasik. If you recall, most of the top providers in the nation, now strictly feature the CATz Lasik system.
Would you like to learn more about how Lasik eye surgery can help improve your quality of life? Are you interested in a FREE Lasik evaluation with Michigan’s premier eye surgeon, Dr. Yaldo? If so, give us a call today at (248)-553-9800. We are Yaldo Eye Center, Michigan’s leaders in everything eyecare.
Looking for the best cataract surgeon in Michigan? Dr. Yaldo is an expert cataract surgeon who has performed over 10,000 cataract procedures for patients throughout Michigan and the Midwest.
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The extended-range C-130E model entered service in 1962 after it was developed as an interim long-range transport for the Military Air Transport Service. Essentially a B-model, the new designation was the result of the installation of 1,360 US gal (5,150 L) Sargent Fletcher external fuel tanks under each wing's midsection and more powerful Allison T56-A-7A turboprops. The hydraulic boost pressure to the ailerons was reduced back to 2,050 psi (14.1 MPa) as a consequence of the external tanks' weight in the middle of the wingspan. The E model also featured structural improvements, avionics upgrades and a higher gross weight. Australia took delivery of 12 C130E Hercules during 1966–67 to supplement the 12 C-130A models already in service with the RAAF. Sweden and Spain fly the TP-84T version of the C-130E fitted for aerial refueling capability.
Photo: Thomas Ohlsson Photography
www.thomasohlsson.com | 500px | Facebook | Flickr | Instagram
The Chrysler 300 "letter series" are high-performance personal luxury cars that were built by Chrysler in the U.S. from 1955 to 1965. After the initial year, which was named 300-C, the 1956 cars were designated 300B. Successive model years given the next letter of the alphabet as a suffix (skipping "i"), reaching the 300L by 1965, after which the model was dropped.
The 300 "letter series" cars were among the vehicles that focused on performance built by domestic U.S. manufacturers after World War II, and thus can be considered one of the muscle car's ancestors, though full-sized and more expensive.
The automaker began using the 300 designations again for performance-luxury sedans, using the 300M nameplate from 1999 to 2004, and expanding the 300 series with a new V8-powered 300C, the top model of a relaunched Chrysler 300 line, a new rear-wheel drive car launched in 2004 for the 2005 model year. Unlike the first "letter series" series, the successive variants do not feature standard engines producing at least 300 hp (220 kW), except for Chrysler's current top-line 300C models.
1955 C-300
This first of the letter series cars did not bear a letter, but can retroactively be considered the '300A'. The 'C-' designation was applied to all Chrysler models; however for marketing purposes the numerical series skipped more than 225 numbers forward in sequence in order to further reinforce the 300's bhp rating. The 300 originally stood for the 300 hp (220 kW) engine. The C-300 was really a racecar aimed at the NASCAR circuits that was sold for the road for homologation purposes, with Chrysler's most powerful engine, the 331 cu in (5.4 L) FirePower "Hemi" V8, due to the hemisperic shape of the combustion chambers, fitted with twin 4-barrel carburetors, a race-profiled camshaft setup, solid valve lifters, stiffer suspension, and a performance exhaust system. By 1956 this would be the first American production car to top 355 hp (265 kW), and the letter series was for many years the most powerful car produced in the United States.
The car's "Forward Look" styling can be attributed as much to the Chrysler parts bin as designer Virgil Exner. The front clip, including the grille, was taken from the Imperial of the same year, but the rest of the car did not look like an Imperial. The midsection was from a New Yorker hardtop, with a Windsor rear quarter. Exner also included base-model Chrysler bumpers and removed many exterior elements such as back-up lights, hood ornament, side trim, and exterior mirrors. An electric clock and two-speed windshield wipers were standard. There were few options available including selection of three exterior colors (red, white and black) and only one color of tan leather interior. Power windows and power seat were available but air conditioning was not available in 1955.
Measured at 127.58 mph (205.32 km/h) in the Flying Mile, and doing well in NASCAR, the C-300 aroused interest that was not reflected in its modest sales figure of 1,725.
When the C300 competed in NASCAR, it was painted to advertise that it was the "world's fastest stock car".
[Text from Wikipedia]
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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.
The midsection of a large brackish wetlands preserve called 'De Slikken van Flakkee' on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the Netherlands.
All pictures in my stream are copyrighted. Please don't use my images on websites, in print or any other media without my prior written permission. © Taco Meeuwsen, all rights reserved. Many of my pictures are being represented by Getty Images, © Getty Images all rights reserved.
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...
Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War. and has been extended to honor all Americans who have died in all wars while serving in the US Armed Forces.
The statue seemed to form an X in the midsection and reminded me of a book and movie about WW II, "They were Expendable".
Information about They Were Expendable
I was a bad, bad boy :D I got another anime figure. Yeah, that happened. In my defense, she's one of the few figures outside of certain Macross Frontier Sheryl figures that I still want. This figure is one of the last figures I admired from before I got into dolls.
Who is she? She's Tamaki Kousaka from To Heart 2. This is the Mariage [sic] figure from New Line. This one's from over 10 years ago, too. To Heart 2 had a bit of a surge in popularity around 2007. Perhaps it was a new anime at that time. I never watched it. I just remember To Heart 2 and especially Tamaki being popular. I even have a To Heart 2 doll schoolgirl uniform that my Madalaine often wears that I got in 2008. I remember another Tamaki figure in particular where she was dressed in lingerie, and there was a deluxe version that had actual fishnet stockings! But this is the Tamaki Kousaka Mariage figure, and this is a whole different... Wait, it's not wholly different from that lingerie figure? What gives? How naughty is it? Will Madalaine get upset with her Daddy again?
Well, to start with, Tamaki is wearing a long, flowing white dress that is adorned with roses, ribbons, and other accessories. She's even wearing very classy arm-length gloves. Tamaki also has a small necklace and a real fabric veil that clips onto her head with a small metal piece that goes around her head. The design is simple but elegant and classy. There is plenty of detail in the pleats of the gown, and it trails behind her gracefully as if she's walking forward down the aisle and just taking a quick moment to turn her head and look at her mom before taking her wedding vows. She also comes with a separate bouquet of roses that you have to put in her hands.
The inner workings of this figure are that of a real bridezilla :D Seriously, she's sweet, but there is A LOT going on behind the scenes. Her clothes are actually four or five parts. I discovered the intricacies of this while unpacking her in order to clear her of her plastic wrapping. It's impossible to do without partially undressing her, so I saw some of what her dress could do in order to get her ready to be displayed. The simplest part is the long lower portion of the dress. It actually functions as the base of the figure if you choose to use it. The figure comes with a traditional base, but it can't be used in the full dress configuration. It will push the rest of the figure up too high. The upper skirt portion of the dress falls into the lower dress portion, and gravity holds it together. The body of the figure is very well supported by the upper skirt, though there is a little wiggle room for fine tuning. This upper skirt appears to want to split in two sections, but I was only able to get one section separated. Perhaps the fact that it's been together for over a decade made it settle in too well. Getting one side separated was enough to get the plastic out, though. The big rose on the front pops in and out and acts as kind of a staple to help keep the upper skirt closed. The corset portion of the dress appears to be removable, but I did not try. I did not need to do so in order to remove the plastic. The petal-looking wrap around portion actually comes off super easily and shows that the top of the corset does not cover Tamaki's breasts all the way. This was the second part that came off when I was undoing her plastic wrapping. I think her head is supposed to pop off, but I couldn't get it to easily pop off, and I didn't want to force it. There was a plastic wrap that had a hole in it that her neck went through. I just tore it instead of risking breaking her neck.
Underneath the covering of the dress is Tamaki's body and other clothing details. She has lovely legs and high heels. The heels have little inserts in them that settle between the base of the shoe and the heel. These inserts have little holes for the stand should you choose to display Tamaki in short skirt form. Tamaki's panties are removable and are unusually pretty despite being rather basic. I don't know what it is. Her panties are just super pretty. They have a little clip on one side which assists with removal. There are no graphic details down below, but there are seams where her legs meet her pelvis. I'm not sure what these seams are for. The legs don't seem to be removable. The seams are not visible with the panties on, so it's not all bad. Like I said about the corset, it appears to be removable, but I didn't try. I'm sure she has a lovely midsection, though. Unlike down below, her breasts are very much detailed. Full color and wouldn't look out of place in the frozen food aisle if you know what I mean :D But above all that is the blushing bride! She's such a cute bride, too. She has the signature Tamaki hairstyle, her eyes are wide and loving, her nose is tiny and cute, and she's smiling on her wedding day which is always a plus.
Tamaki is a 1/6 scale figure! I have long given though to pairing her up with my Momoko Dramatic Bride doll. I think I will one day. My Dramatic Bride doll, Stella, has been single for far too long. But being 1/6 scale with all of this wedding gown, she takes up a lot of space in full gown configuration. I'm currently keeping her in front of my Wonder Woman painting that you may have seen in the background of my pics. (Not these pics.)
So, after all of the details about how it's possible to undress Ms. Tamaki, could it be possible that this figure might get Madalaine's seal of approval? Well, yes! It is possible! While I may switch her to short skirt mode from time to time, that's the only change I plan to make to her appearance. I have absolutely no interest in depicting Ms. Tamaki on her wedding night :D I got her in order to have her dressed as a bride, and I'm perfectly happy with her that way. If I wanted to look at a topless, pretty much naked figure, I'd look at my Luashia figure :D (Sorry, Madalaine!) Though I do have to wonder what was going on in the To Heart franchise over in Japan if they released a figure like this. I could have sworn the To Heart 1 anime that actually did come to the USA was a G/PG show.
I was a bad, bad boy :D I got another anime figure. Yeah, that happened. In my defense, she's one of the few figures outside of certain Macross Frontier Sheryl figures that I still want. This figure is one of the last figures I admired from before I got into dolls.
Who is she? She's Tamaki Kousaka from To Heart 2. This is the Mariage [sic] figure from New Line. This one's from over 10 years ago, too. To Heart 2 had a bit of a surge in popularity around 2007. Perhaps it was a new anime at that time. I never watched it. I just remember To Heart 2 and especially Tamaki being popular. I even have a To Heart 2 doll schoolgirl uniform that my Madalaine often wears that I got in 2008. I remember another Tamaki figure in particular where she was dressed in lingerie, and there was a deluxe version that had actual fishnet stockings! But this is the Tamaki Kousaka Mariage figure, and this is a whole different... Wait, it's not wholly different from that lingerie figure? What gives? How naughty is it? Will Madalaine get upset with her Daddy again?
Well, to start with, Tamaki is wearing a long, flowing white dress that is adorned with roses, ribbons, and other accessories. She's even wearing very classy arm-length gloves. Tamaki also has a small necklace and a real fabric veil that clips onto her head with a small metal piece that goes around her head. The design is simple but elegant and classy. There is plenty of detail in the pleats of the gown, and it trails behind her gracefully as if she's walking forward down the aisle and just taking a quick moment to turn her head and look at her mom before taking her wedding vows. She also comes with a separate bouquet of roses that you have to put in her hands.
The inner workings of this figure are that of a real bridezilla :D Seriously, she's sweet, but there is A LOT going on behind the scenes. Her clothes are actually four or five parts. I discovered the intricacies of this while unpacking her in order to clear her of her plastic wrapping. It's impossible to do without partially undressing her, so I saw some of what her dress could do in order to get her ready to be displayed. The simplest part is the long lower portion of the dress. It actually functions as the base of the figure if you choose to use it. The figure comes with a traditional base, but it can't be used in the full dress configuration. It will push the rest of the figure up too high. The upper skirt portion of the dress falls into the lower dress portion, and gravity holds it together. The body of the figure is very well supported by the upper skirt, though there is a little wiggle room for fine tuning. This upper skirt appears to want to split in two sections, but I was only able to get one section separated. Perhaps the fact that it's been together for over a decade made it settle in too well. Getting one side separated was enough to get the plastic out, though. The big rose on the front pops in and out and acts as kind of a staple to help keep the upper skirt closed. The corset portion of the dress appears to be removable, but I did not try. I did not need to do so in order to remove the plastic. The petal-looking wrap around portion actually comes off super easily and shows that the top of the corset does not cover Tamaki's breasts all the way. This was the second part that came off when I was undoing her plastic wrapping. I think her head is supposed to pop off, but I couldn't get it to easily pop off, and I didn't want to force it. There was a plastic wrap that had a hole in it that her neck went through. I just tore it instead of risking breaking her neck.
Underneath the covering of the dress is Tamaki's body and other clothing details. She has lovely legs and high heels. The heels have little inserts in them that settle between the base of the shoe and the heel. These inserts have little holes for the stand should you choose to display Tamaki in short skirt form. Tamaki's panties are removable and are unusually pretty despite being rather basic. I don't know what it is. Her panties are just super pretty. They have a little clip on one side which assists with removal. There are no graphic details down below, but there are seams where her legs meet her pelvis. I'm not sure what these seams are for. The legs don't seem to be removable. The seams are not visible with the panties on, so it's not all bad. Like I said about the corset, it appears to be removable, but I didn't try. I'm sure she has a lovely midsection, though. Unlike down below, her breasts are very much detailed. Full color and wouldn't look out of place in the frozen food aisle if you know what I mean :D But above all that is the blushing bride! She's such a cute bride, too. She has the signature Tamaki hairstyle, her eyes are wide and loving, her nose is tiny and cute, and she's smiling on her wedding day which is always a plus.
Tamaki is a 1/6 scale figure! I have long given though to pairing her up with my Momoko Dramatic Bride doll. I think I will one day. My Dramatic Bride doll, Stella, has been single for far too long. But being 1/6 scale with all of this wedding gown, she takes up a lot of space in full gown configuration. I'm currently keeping her in front of my Wonder Woman painting that you may have seen in the background of my pics. (Not these pics.)
So, after all of the details about how it's possible to undress Ms. Tamaki, could it be possible that this figure might get Madalaine's seal of approval? Well, yes! It is possible! While I may switch her to short skirt mode from time to time, that's the only change I plan to make to her appearance. I have absolutely no interest in depicting Ms. Tamaki on her wedding night :D I got her in order to have her dressed as a bride, and I'm perfectly happy with her that way. If I wanted to look at a topless, pretty much naked figure, I'd look at my Luashia figure :D (Sorry, Madalaine!) Though I do have to wonder what was going on in the To Heart franchise over in Japan if they released a figure like this. I could have sworn the To Heart 1 anime that actually did come to the USA was a G/PG show.
I can almost remove every piece of dark azur, and still have a structurally sound frame. The only place I can't do that is on the midsection of the legs, where the armor is needed to lock all the SNOT plates in the leg together.
White Sands Missile Range Museum
Redstone was the Army's largest surface-to-surface ballistic missile. Modified Redstone rockets launched America's first satellite and first human into space. Developed by Wernher Von Braun, Redstone is a direct descendant of the German V-2 rocket.
As a field artillery missile, Redstone was designed to extend the firepower and range of conventional artillery cannon against ground targets. It could deliver a nuclear or high-explosive warhead to targets 200 miles away. In 1951, a nuclear warhead meant a 3-ton package. Since Redstone was a ballistic missile, its initial trajectory and guidance was provided by the launcher. Great care was taken to level the missile and to orient the stabilized platform accurately in the direction of the target.
Redstone's liquid-fueled engine burned alcohol and liquid oxygen, producing about 75,000 pounds of thrust. At burnout, or when the propellant was exhausted, it had a speed of 3,800 miles per hour (6,116 kilometers per hour). For guidance, Redstone had a totally new pure-inertial guidance system using air-bearing gyros. Beyond the earth's atmosphere the inertial guidance system directed it toward the target. After reaching the proper speed, the rocket engine cut out and dropped off, along with the fuel tanks. Then the guidance system and warhead coasted to the target.
As a field artillery missile, Redstone was mobile and transportable by plane, truck or train. However, when on the move, it needed a convoy eighteen miles long, with 200 vehicles carrying approximately 10,000 individual pieces of equipment and more than 600 men. The Redstone itself was carried on three trucks-its nose section (warhead) midsection (power plant and fuel tanks) and tail section- to be assembled in the field.
Named after Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, where it was developed and built, Redstone's development was triggered by outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 to counter Soviet Cold War threats. The first Redstone missile was launched on August 20, 1953 from the Army's missile test range at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and traveled 8,000 yards (7,315 meters). Thirty-six more were launched rough 1958, testing structure, engine performance, guidance and control, tracking and telemetry. On May 16, 1958, combat-ready soldiers fired their first Redstone rocket. It was put into U.S. Army service in Germany that June.
Redstone has been called the Model-T of the Free World's space program. A solid-fuel fourth stage was added to it and Redstone became the Jupiter-C rocket. On January 31, 1958, a Jupiter-C lifted America's first orbiting satellite, Explorer I, into space.
Starting in 1959, warhead some Redstone rockets were modified for NASA's Mercury program. Propellant tanks were elongated by 96 inches, adding 20 seconds of burn time. The section was replaced by the Mercury capsule and escape tower. The first of these Mercury Redstone rockets was tested at Cape Canaveral on December 19, 1960. On May 5, 1961, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space when he was launched on a suborbital flight in a Mercury capsule by a Redstone rocket engine.
Between 1958 and 1962, eighteen Redstone missiles were fired at White Sands Missile Range. Pershing replaced Redstone beginning in 1960.
Length: 69 ft
Diameter: 70 in
Weight: 30 tons
Propellant: Liquid
Range: 200 miles
First Fired: 1958
The "John D Lietch" waiting to load Potash or coal backing into Thunder Bay Terminals.
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.
Deboxing Designer Jasmine. The clear acrylic cover of the case has been removed, so she is now in the open. She is still attached to the cardboard backing and plastic spacer by wires, rubber bands and plastic tacks. She is also supported by the built-in doll stand.
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.
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.
Pattern: Sweet Tee by Mary Jane Mucklestone, Interweave Knits Spring 2009
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino in Evening Violet, Natural, and a tiny bit of hand-dyed pink for the centers of the flowers
Needles: 3.75mm and 4.5mm circulars
Notes: I already knit this top once before, but stupidly managed to felt it while using the washing machine to wet block after finishing. I must have set the machine on the wrong cycle, because I've used the washing machine on wool items many times before without incident. This time, however, I felted it to the point where it was even too small to fit my six-year-old daughter. I was really, really pissed for a day or two, but decided to suck it up, order more yarn, and knit it again.
I wound up having to restart this version a second time, because there was a marked difference between the first skein of yarn I used, and the second. I had to rip out a good 6" of the bottom of the sweater, and start again, this time being sure to alternate skeins. Fortunately, this did the trick, so the slight variations blend together. There is still a noticeable stripe of darker color across the bustline (though it doesn't really show in the photo), even with the alternating skeins, but there is no way I'm ripping any of this out and knitting it again.
I made a few small modifications:
*used the larger (4.5mm) needle for the garter stitch edging on the lower body (it pulled in too much with the 3.75mm needles)
*changed the waist shaping to a more traditional decrease and increase along the sides, rather than having two rows of decreases (and the corresponding increases) across the midsection of the sweater
*made the neckline slightly smaller
Overall, I am glad that I took the time to reknit this top, because it's really cute and fits well. I think it will even work in the winter with a long sleeved shirt underneath.
"ANOTHER B.C. FERRY, Province of British Columbia, Ferries Division - B.C. Ferries, Victoria, B.C.
To provide speedy, luxurious and efficient service to the countless visitors journeying between the British Columbia mainland and Vancouver Island, the B.C. Ferries continue with their launching of modern up-to-date-ferries."
Color photo by W.J.L. Gibbons, AMPA.
Published, distributed and © by Stan V. Wright Ltd., Victoria, B.C.
Above photo of the M.V. City of Vancouver in 1962. Renamed M.V. Queen of Vancouver in 1963. Sister ship to the M.V. Queen of Victoria (ex-City of Victoria; 1962-2000). Approximate cost of each ship was $3.6 million.
106 car capacity increased to 150 through the installation of platforms in 1968. 84-foot midsection was added in 1972 and "lifting" project added an upper car deck in 1981 increasing capacity to 284. Retired in 2009.
M-200.
Escala 1/43.
Peugeot 304 (1969-1979).
Sochaux (France).
Serie Super-Stars.
Pilen.
Hecho en España / Made in Spain.
Año 1970. (4-70)
Esta miniatura pertenece a la 1ª serie fabricada por Pilen, que se caracteriza principalmente por:
- Los faros delanteros son amarillos.
- Los pilotos traseros son verticales,
- Carece de agujero en la base.
- Caja de cartón (Super-Stars).
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PILEN - Historia
"Pilen nació en Ibi (Alicante) a finales de los 60, creada por Pilar y Enrique Climent (de ahí Pil-En); éste ya comercializaba en compañía de sus hermanos los juguetes Clim.
Al principio fabricaron miniaturas de Fórmula 1 a escala 1:36, pero en seguida se pasaron a la 1:43 copiando moldes de las marcas Corgi, Tekno, Politoys, Mebetoys...
Obtuvieron de la casa francesa Dinky el permiso para fabricar sus modelos en España.
Sus coches tuvieron numerosas variantes (hasta cromados), distintos tipos de ruedas, etc. Se asociaron a otras marcas, como las holandesas AHC, Artec, Oto y Doorkey, la venezolana Juguinsa y la española Guiloy."
(...)
"Los fundadores de PILEN son Enrique Climent Gisbert y su esposa, Pilar.
De ahí el logotipo de la marca, formado por las primeras letras de sus nombres. Debajo, las iniciales del fundador, Enrique Climent Gisbert. [ECG]
(...)
--------------------------------
"Hacia 1962, uno de los socios fundadores de la fábrica juguetera Climent Hermanos, S.L, D. Enrique Climent Gisbert, decide abandonar la firma familiar para crear su propia empresa junto a su mujer Pilar (PIL-ar y EN-rique)."
(...)
"La primera línea de productos estará compuesta por una serie de pistolas y revólveres hechos de fundición de material zamack."
El 23 de enero de 1970 se regularizarán como sociedad anónima bajo la marca comercial PILEN."
(...)
"Poco a poco fueron abandonando la primera gama de juguetes para centrarse de manera completa en la fabricación de miniaturas de metal reproducidos a escala."
(...)
"Fue una empresa que tuvo gran protagonismo al gozar sus juguetes de mucha aceptación.
En el año 1983 cesó sus actividades (...). Desde la propia firma se auspiciaría poco después la creación de otra sociedad llamada Artec, que abrió sus actividades en el año 1988 y que (...) seguían ofreciendo unos juguetes de gran calidad (consiguieron un Molinillo de Plata el mismo año que se lanzaron al mercado como marca."
Fuentes:
"La industria juguetera en Ibi, 1905-2005", edición del Ayuntamiento de Ibi, 2005.
More info:
pilen.jimdofree.com/coches-1-43/
myspace.com/pilenmania/mixes/classic-mis-fotos-569751
foro.autoescala.net/index.php?threads/miniaturas-espa%C3%...
www.paolorampinieditore.it/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/AUT...
wikivisually.com/wiki/Auto_Pilen
minicarmuseum.com/database/pdf/autopilen1977.pdf
thevintagetoyadvertiser.org/tag/auto-pilen/
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Auto Pilen
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Auto Pilen was a diecast line of model cars made in Ibi, Alicante, in southeastern Spain by Pilen S.A..
Models were produced from the 1970s through the mid-1990s mostly in 1:43 scale.
A majority of the castings were inherited from French Dinky. The company was started in the 1960s, diecasting items like colorful metal sailboats and key chains.
In the late 1980s. Pilen was apparently bought by AHC of the Netherlands."
(...)
"Pilen made at least 50 different models, in the most convoluted story of diecast seconds and recasts of any successful diecast manufacturer (Colleccion Auto Pilen. No date).
Dies were apparently used or copied from a variety of other companies including French Dinky, Corgi Toys, Solido, Mebetoys, Tekno, Politoys (Polistil), and possibly some Mercury models."
(...)
"Pilen's model selection appears taken (whether by direct copying from blueprints or through available dies) from a variety of other producers, especially French Dinky Toys. Some tools from Meccano s.a. were transferred from Calais to Pilen in Spain so the models made by Pilen were Dinky castings – the base plate of which had been modified from MADE IN FRANCE to MADE IN SPAIN. For example, the Talbot/Simca/Chrysler 1100 saloon, Renault 12 saloon, Mercedes 250 coupe, Ferrari P5, Citroën CX Pallas, and Matra-Simca Bagheera were French Dinky castings (Dinky Toys Encyclopaedia). Later versions of these cars, though, did not say Dinky anywhere on the base plates.
So, from 1974 until 1981, several French Dinky Toys passenger cars were made by Pilen.
Bickford says that originally there was an agreement to market the French Dinkys in Spain, but most were sold under the Pilen brand name (Bickford 2009).
The French dies were used, but of course the base plates were altered, hiding that fact. These cars were almost exactly similar to the French dies, but with Pilen's own paint finishes."
(...)
"Auto Pilen also made a line of Matchbox-sized 1/64 scale cars, but these are more rare. Besides a SEAT 131 Wagon, a SEAT Ritmo, a Renault 4F (Van), a Peugeot 504, and a Range Rover – among others – were made but little is known about them."
(...)
"Pilen maintained a close association with other Spanish toy makers also headquartered in Alicante like Joal, Guiloy, Guisval, and Mira."
(...)
"Around 1980 there was a Pilen connection with Holland OTO, which had taken over Dutch Efsi Toys.
A 1980 Auto Pilen catalog shows many of the revered Efsi vehicles like the Model T series and many Efsi trucks continued as a line Pilen 1980 (Bras 2012).
Around 1990, there was also a connection with the Dutch diecast company AHC which appears to have bought Holland Oto and thus Auto Pilen (Bickford 2009). AHC has since shared dies and traditionally Pilen stamped cars can be found in both AHC and Holland OTO labeled boxes (Bickford 2009; Johnson 1998, p. 15)."
(...)
"With the bankruptcy of Doorkey in the early 1990s, Auto Pilen disappeared.
The last new models with the Pilen name appeared at this time.
In its time, Auto-Pilen was the king of the knock-off and die-cast second. Perusal of the model lineup shows castings were copies or closely copied vehicles from several different companies (Collection Auto Pilen).
Models were precisely crafted in a professional and uniform-looking range from leftover castings that had previously been in use elsewhere. Pilen appears to have been the most successful company ever at using second hand castings – yet so very nicely reconfigured."
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auto_Pilen
More info:
www.gamas43.com/Dinky_SP/DinkyEsp.html
myspace.com/pilenmania/mixes/classic-dinky-espa-a-fabrica...
pilen.jimdofree.com/asociaci%C3%B3n-con-otras-marcas-i/
pilen.jimdofree.com/asociaci%C3%B3n-con-otras-marcas-ii/
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Peugeot 304
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"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 304 was a success for Peugeot and was noted for several advanced features under its Pininfarina styled exterior.
With its independent suspended front-wheel-drive drivetrain and disc brakes, it rode and handled better than most of its contemporaries, including some cars in higher price brackets.
The chassis served Peugeot well and lasted for approximately 24 years adapted to derivative models. There was a distinct upmarket feel to the 304, its handsome lines were well suited to postwar Europe's newly affluent middle classes who desired roomy, advanced and stylish cars to park in their driveways.
At about this time the Autoroutes were opening up France and car manufacturers around Europe knew that any car launched hence, would need to add an ability to travel at high speeds, in relative comfort with sure-footed handling to its lineup in order to compete. The 304 fulfilled this brief and became one of the best-selling cars in its market segment.
The car was sold until 1980 and was replaced by the Peugeot 305, which had been launched in 1977.
It was based on the Peugeot 204 with which it shared many components, the most obvious difference being the frontal styling."
(...)
-------------------
Peugeot 304
Manufacturer
Peugeot SA
PSA Group
Production
1969 – 1980
1,178,423 produced
Class
Small family car (C)
Body style
4-door saloon
4-door estate ("break")
2-door coupé
2-door convertible
2-door van ("fourgonette")
Layout
FF layout
Related
Peugeot 204
Engine
1.3 litre I4 XL3
1.3 litre I4 XL5
Dimensions
Wheelbase
2,595 mm (102.2 in) saloon
Length
4,140 mm (163 in) saloon
Width
1,570 mm (62 in) saloon
Height
1,410 mm (56 in) saloon
Curb weight
890 kg (1,960 lb) – 970 kg (2,140 lb)
Chronology
Predecessor
Peugeot 204
Successor
Peugeot 305
Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peugeot_304
More info:
Taladis stood waiting as the surroundings of the Pit became like a second-skin to him. The dark cat reached up and touched the tip of his nose as he growled. The cold green eyes drifting to the water momentarily, before he looked up at Tank. He raised his left hand up - with his right hand back closer to his body. His right foot on the backstep, and his left foot at the front-step. Tal started to move towards Tank, keeping his distance and starting to circle the man. The dull expression of the cat telling no story at all.
Tank looked around the pit at the crowd and frowned. There was something strangely familiar about this setting, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it. It didn't matter much anyway, his attention was quickly shifted back to the black cat as he waited for the fight to begin. When he saw Tal take up a combative stance, he did too, though he purposely left himself open to a strike to his face hoping to bait him in for a counter blow. He circled in the same direction, keeping a little distance between them. His mind filtered out the background noise as he focused intently on the fight at hand.
Taladis had been moving to keep Tank at a distance, or at least keep him within his striking range. By Tank circling with him in the direction he was moving, Tal's power was in the proper place. Almost immediately, the dark cat moved forward on his left foot and twisted his hip as he jerked a rightlow kick shin first towards Tank's upper left thigh. Tal's hands held high as he threw the kick, and whether or not he landed - he would leap back and immediately started circling Tank again.
Tank had left himself open for a facial strike not a leg strike, so he wasn't quite expecting that. He tried to shift a bit to ease some of the pressure of the blow, but it still landed with a fairly solid hit and causing him to stumble back a few steps. Kicking. He hated kickers. It was going to be tricky getting past his long reach, but he took up circling again if there wasn't a follow up strike. His focus was now watching the legs for sign of the next attack as he tried to slowly and subtly bring himself in closer with each step to the side.
Taladis hadn't followed up at all after the initial strike. Taladis simply growled, as he let his hands drift slightly. He'd opened himself up just a bit, as he continued to move towards Tank's left - Tal's right. He walked in the water with a splashing sound, it didn't seem to bother his movement too much. Though, he'd thrown no strikes in this moment, seemingly just waiting for Tank to come in.
Tank had come in just outside of reach for his arms to strike, and in the final moment he would close that gap with a quick step forward as he swung his right fist carelessly for the side of Tal's head, however it was intentionally careless to throw him off defending the real strike that was coming in with his left hand aimed right for the sternum. If his right hand hit, the blow would be mostly superficial, a jarring knock but nothing more serious than a slap to the face would give. However, the stealth strike would all depend on what Tal had in mind for a counter to the initial.
Taladis was watching Tank's movements very carefully as he continued to circle. When Tank had jerked to the side with that right hand, Tal fully expected a bolo punch. His hands moved up quickly as he deflected the strike, but as he moved back from the bolo punch he had already started to shift his hips to throw a left low kick. He was caught halfway through the swing and Tank's basic uppercut into his sternum had nearly put Tal down right there. A loud gasp came from the black cat, as he moved backwards away from Tank - and out of the man's punching range. Tal was visibly winded from the punch, though his standing guard was still full, as far as bystanders could tell.
Tank was pleased as his little plan worked, though as Tal stumbled out of range it thwarted any attempts at a follow up strike. He just grinned to himself now mostly as he studied his victim lining up his next strike. He wasn't about to let the cat catch his breath before he tried to make a move, so coming in again for another quick strike he swung out with his left hand first this time, but unlike the last there was no follow up. This one seemed more aimed, more intent on landing the hit than the previous, and it was aimed right for Tal's temple. If he missed it would certainly throw his own balance off quite a bit as he had put his weight behind the blow.
Taladis had immediately moved back when Tank had come at him. The scene was an odd one, with Taladis backing up with his hands up - but not quite and Tank swinging wild. Tal's guard had taken the strike, and after the strike had been thrown - Tal push back off of Tank with his own body. Immediately after he jerked his body, his hips twisting entirely as his left leg shot up. His knee bent and then twisted, as he threw the head kick well - shin first at the side of Tank's head.
Tank had too much confidence for his own good and that would likely be his downfall. Underestimating his opponent's ability to recover and defend, his strike was easily deflected and as he was shoved back before he knew what was happening he heard a loud crack in his head and the next thing he knew he was staring at the ground with a loud ringing in his ears. He was still on his feet stumbling backwards, but doubled over from the force of the blow. He could feel blood running down the side of his face where the heel of Tal's boot had managed to cut in. "Kickers... I fuckin' hate kickers..." he muttered to himself.
Taladis had landed flush, but it was his left leg, not the right. For that, Tank might find himself lucky, as that right high kick had put out Rek. Tal pulled his left leg down as soon as possible, his left hand shooting out as he jabbed at Tank. If he'd made the man back up, Tal would chase him like he had chased Tal, backing him up with jabs and finishing up the combination with a right straight. Which if he missed, would end with Tal a little more than open, even if he'd landed. Had Tal not managed to back him up, he'd jerk to his left and throw a right handed bolo punch, as if to say to Tank - 'This is how you do it.'
Tank had stayed doubled over instead of straightening up quickly which left him in the pefect position to counter the incoming strikes. As Tal came forward so did he, charging forward with an angry yell and trying to tackle him with a shoulder to the midsection. Success or not in taking Tal off his feet, it would result in the blow missing his head and nailing him right in the shoulder blade which was fairly painful in and of itself. Being locked in his tackle move he had no time to react to such a blow though. It was either take him down or lift him over his head and bodyslam him while getting wailed on.
Taladis had started the combination of jabs, though it didn't pan out quite like he'd hoped it would. The dark cat let out another gasp of air, as he was nailed in the stomach by the tackle. Taladis hadn't been on the backstep, but the front step - and that left him in perfect position to get nailed. The dark cat was lifted up into the air - and let out a surprised grunt, no one had ever taken him off his feet before. Almost immediately after, the water crashed, as Tank came down hard ontop of Taladis - the dark cat letting out a another gasp. He hadn't had time to defend himself after hitting the ground, and was almost completely prone underneath of Tank, his body not quite working at the moment.
Tank was quick to follow up with his tackle, knowing he had the advantage now being in a close range grapple with the cat, that was unless he was as good with his fists as he was with his feet. He was quick to scramble over and try to straddle Tal so he could bring his fist down in a hard, straight down slam of knuckle to face. "I fuckin' hate kickers!" he'd shout at him if he got the chance to strike.
Taladis was still at the moment taken aback at being slammed into the ground, after being picked up. He'd been taken completely off surprise after all. The dark cat had managed to regain composure enough to wrap his l- nope. Tal's legs slipped as Tank took the mount. The only thing Tal managed to do was buck up with his legs, and try to force Tank up. That immediately stopped as Tank landed a solid shot to his jaw. He grunted unpleasantly, and brought his arms up quickly to defend anymore oncoming strikes. He was in a completely unadvantageous situation with Tank sitting on his chest, in prime position to punch, elbow, or headbutt him into oblivion.
Tank disregarded the arms coming up, he was pissed and he had meant what he said. He plain and simple, hated kickers, and now he was raining down blows trying to sneak some around the defensive position Tal had taken up. Swinging for whatever open spots he could find as he used his weight to do his best to try and keep him pinned beneath him. He was hoping that under the assault Tal would break his defense and he could get a good hit in or two, but the man was clearly a well trained fighter so the odds of him doing so were slim.
Taladis was clearly breathing heavily at this point, as he bobbed and weaved underneath of Tank the best that he could - moving away from the strikes that Tank was throwing out. Tal's hips bucked suddenly, as he tried to force Tank off of him. But nothing helped. The dark cat grunted in annoyance, as he opened his guard and took a big right hand that smacked him across the jaw with a loud pop. Tal wasn't completely helpless as he grabbed onto Tank's wrists immediately after two more punches landed - holding him as tightly as he could - trying to pull the man down against him.
Tank struggled once his wrists were caught hold of and put an end to his assault on Tal's defense. He growled frustrated as he tried his best to break the hold, and resist being pulled down. But after a moment he used Tal's attempts to bring him in close to his advantage, and hooked his arm tucking his hands in close to his chest, and twisted his upper half, trying to bring his elbow down like a knife aimed right for the mans mouth. His hope was to use his weight to cause some serious damage, maybe even knock out a tooth or two if the blow landed solid enough. Given Tal still had hold of his wrists, he had to work with what he could.
Taladis growled lowly as he took the elbow right to his mouth. The noise that was made as Tal's skin seemingly slip was very low, and sickly to anyone with enhanced hearing. Blood immediately began pouring from the long wound as Taladis continued to buck his hips. He snarled loudly, as he finally managed to position his legs wrapping them around Tank's waist - breaking the man's control over him finally. Body control was a wonderful thing when it worked in your favor. Tal continued to struggle as Tank still had the top position, but Tal still had a-hold of his wrists.
Tank had twisted back now to face Tal on the ground infront of him, but as Tal's legs wrapped around him he knew he was in trouble. Damn cat and his damn legs! Muttering something about kickers again, he tried for a quick strike with his head. Given the proximity unless Tal had already started to pull him away, he'd try to slam his forehead right into Tal's nose, he knew it was the weakest point on his face and the pain would daze the man quite a bit if he succeeded. Granted the blow with his own head would jar him a bit himself. Especially after the kick he'd already suffered.
Taladis' head immediately snapped back and hit the concrete. He was a little jarred himself. The loud thud of the Hound's head against his had been more than enough to cause Tal's ears to fall back against his head. He let out a low growl, as his blood continued to drain down off the side of his face and into the water. The dark cat's legs slipped back and moved to Tank's hips in a practiced manner. Almost as quickly, he had already pulled back on Tank's wrists and soon extended his legs kicking forward to kick Tank off of him. If he'd managed to get distance, almost immediately Tal would throw two feet at Tank's head - before standing up. If he hadn't managed to get away? He was probably in the shit.
Tank was rearing back to deliver a follow-up headbutt, and a rather nasty one at that, but his attempt had only left him open for Tal to throw him off as he'd planned. Caught off guard by the sudden movement, he quickly found himself at odds with the cat, and before he even had a chance to react to having his cushy seat stolen away, he felt a resounding kick slam into the side of his head. It threw him back a bit more, knocking him over into the water quite stunned. Reflexively he struggled to try and get back to his feet despite the odd way in which the room seemed to be spinning now.
Taladis had immediately jumped to his feet, as his heart raced and his chest was heaving. It was now obvious that Taladis' forehead where Muromachi had elbowed him before was split open again. Blood literally masking his face as it had in that fight, the large cut in his lower lip from the elbow from before a souveneir from this one. Tal was now on his feet while Tank was not on his. Not one to waste an opportunity, Tal immediately shot forward - stepping onto his left forefoot and throwing a soccer kick at Tank's head. Even if that had missed, Tal spun around and leapt into the air. One of the few times, the cat would leave his feet, aiming a stomp right for the top of Tank's head - face - or the back of his head. Whatever he could hit.
Tank had managed to get one knee under him but he hadn't gained much footing when the first kick came in and knocked him face down into the water. The cold shock of the water on his face was likely the only thing that was keeping him conscious after that. He moved to get his hands underneath him and lift himself up, still struggling to fight despite the fact that the two blows had pretty much put him out of commission. When the second blow came crashing down, that was it for him. Everything went dark as his face smashed back into the muck from the nasty blow and collided with pavement in the shallow depths. He lay still, not moving a muscle.
Taladis connected flush with the soccer kick, and the stomp both. Loud noises following both connections. The dark cat immediately pulled himself away from Tank, as he backed up looking down at the hound. He reached up and wiped the crimson mask from his face, only to have it replaced a moment later. Tal looked up towards Dmitry and growled in that low tone, "Knock out. Flying stomp." He said, then glanced back down towards Tank, "Medic."
Dmitry Luminos balls his hands into fists and jumps up to his feet. "THAT'S IT!" it shouts, with as much relief as finality. "3 and 0 undefeated....your winner by knockout, TAL!" He adds a whole lot more in his mind, but that's enough for the crowd. "Medic!!" he repeats.
Chisaki Nakajima growls harder still as Dmi calls out loudly..she'd narrow her eyes at him...waiting for her son to man up and get his as over to her.
Aranea Cullen: Janus... Randulf... would rise slowly seeing Tank sank into the muck. At the cry of medic. He would instantly move towards Tank, through the muck.
Amiya Viper stoic expression was quite passive as she watched the final blow to Tank. Head cocked a bit as dark eyes peered down on his form barely visible really as it would likely be slumped int he murky sludge.. not condusive to breathing for sure. Long muscular tail lashed behind her as good left hand flexed, and once Medic was shouted she moved for the edge but at seeing Randulf move ins he halted. Waiting on the walk above she simply crouched down along the edge and watched... the man had his pet and his medic.. there was little reasonf or her to go leaping down into the sludge.
Kayleigh Jigsaw clenched her jaw. A shuddering breath, she hadn't realized she'd been holding, had escaped her. Blue eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to make him get up. "Get up, goddamnit." It had been said through clenched teeth to keep her voice from cracking. She shook her head slightly as the fight was called. "Please just live. If he killed him..." She let it trail off. She just hoped Tank hadn't gotten himself killed.
Sapphira Laval jumped down into the water straight for Tal then.... she raised a fist and would throw her shoulder into a full blown punch to his chin - left to right. Phone clenched in her hand only added to the fist "Learn some patience."
Little Ming wasn't going anywhere, though he could likely be easily revived after the blow, he was likely to be fairly out of it even if he was roused to consciousness. It was quite possible he had a concussion, and possibly even a fracture at the back of his skull where the boot had hit.
Aranea Cullen: He would bow his body down slowly to retrieve his Canis from the water. Moving to cradle the man, being careful of the spikes on his gauntlets.
Taladis Tower stood there for the next few moments, still bleeding. He reached up and tapped at the tip of his nose, as he turned his body and reached for his cigars. The splashing of the water hadn't phased him, and when he turned back - he got clocked right cross the jaw by Sa. The already bloodied cat hadn't seen the punch coming, and they say - the punches you don't seem coming.. Tal's body went limp for a moment as he hit the water after Sa connected completely flush. He caught himself in the water a moment later, but he was clearly dazed by the power of the woman. Must be the ass.
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Young woman measuring herself on white, from a complete series of photos.
Strobist: Two Adorama AC master/slave flashes thru diffusion coming in from camera left, bounce fill on the right.
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Eddie O'Hare was the man who took down Al Capone, not Eliot Ness.
An attorney, "Fast Eddie" worked with Capone on business and legal matters starting in 1927. By 1930 O'Hare decided to turn state's evidence against Capone. He pointed the IRS to Capone's accountant who testified against him in 1931. Al Capone went to prison in 1933 for tax evasion.
On November 8, 1939, O'Hare was driving east on Ogden Avenue when a car pulled up beside his at Rockwell Street, pictured here. Inside were two thugs with shotguns. He tried to pull away when they unloaded big-game slugs into him, killing him instantly and causing him to crash into a post in the midsection (the island in the middle of this picture.) The crime remains unsolved to this day.
O'Hare International Airport is named after Eddie's son, Butch O'Hare. Butch was a war hero, a Medal of Honor recipient and the US Navy's first ace.
Located at 2601 W. Ogden Ave.
Jaina Lefevre is pacing back and forth, restless and fidgetty.
Rai Pawpad licks the cheeseburger grease off his fingers. "They took my pack, the ratbastards. Coulda left us my cards at least."
Jaina Lefevre nods. 'Yeah. Or something. Or my reader. I could read to ya or something."
Rai Pawpad nods. "You don't remember any stories? I do, but I get them confused sometimes."
Jaina Lefevre shrugs. "I remember some. But mostly I remember weapons specs and stuff. That's what I read a lot of."
Rai Pawpad: "That's gonna come in handy when we take over."
Jaina Lefevre goes and hangs on the mesh, kicking it with the side of her foot. "I'm BOOOOORRRed. I wanna get out."
Rai Pawpad watches her, having gone through the kicking stage a while ago. Now he's back in /me watches her, having gone beyond the kicking stage a while ago. He's settled into dread. "Me too. I tried to tunnel while you where sleepin, but all I did was break a claw. We need a tool."
Jaina Lefevre twines her fingers in the mesh and hangs from it. "We ain't got one. We ain't even got shoes."
Rai Pawpad looks at his feet, then pulls them up under him, his fingers curled around his toes. 'I don't want to be a mutant. Specially not a droolin one." He's quiet, almost talking to himself.
Jaina Lefevre looks over at him. "You won't be. They test stuff. I read about it. I don't wanna think about it though. It's bad."
Rai Pawpad: "Uh-huh." He doesn't want to think about it either, but his imagination's not cooperating. He hums a little to distract himself, rocking slightly. "Thinkin about other things now."
Jaina Lefevre looks over at him. "Like what? Like how mad Kimi is? or how mad Nellie's gonna be at me for gettin' you caught again?"
Rai Pawpad blinks. "No I wasn't thinkin about that. I was thinkin about the King, and the armor I'm gonna have someday. " He looks at her. "The Cohort's not gonna be mad at you, wasn't your fault."
Jaina Lefevre snorts a little. "Yeah, she is. She's mad at me about lotsa stuff."
Rai Pawpad: "She is?" He's surprised. "What, does she yell at you? She shouldn't, I'll tell her to stop."
Jaina Lefevre shakes her head. "She don't yell. She just gets mad. She was mad when I was friends with the Slingshot man and she was mad when I wasn't. She was mad 'cause I said you was special and it's just dumb. She's bossy too much."
Jaina Lefevre hugs her knees. "I bet my Moms are worried good now. And Sister D. How come it's taking them so long to do this?"
Tristaniel McMinnar swipes his entry card and enters. "Afternoon, campers. Remembered ye said ye were out of milk, so." He waggles a couple of individual-sized milk cartons with straws attached to the side.
Rai Pawpad bristles. "She's got no right bein mad about any of that. " He swallows. "Yeah, your moms should be lookin all over for you by now. Maybe somebody missed me, too." He doesn't sound to convinced of this last.
Jaina Lefevre looks at Rai, then at Tristan. "Tengu." she whispers to Rai and then just looks at Tristan. "Thank you." she offers coldly and hugs her knees. "Don't suppose you have a deck of cards or something?"
Rai Pawpad reaches for the milk, not one to waste supplies. "Yeah, give it here."
Tristaniel McMinnar reaches into a pocket and produces some paper and crayons. "And you wanted cards, guess O'm behind de times on what entertains kids today." A chuckle and he swipes to enter the cell. He crosses and hands the milk over. "Still cold."
Jaina Lefevre looks at Rai and then at Tristan. They could both jump him..maybe? She looks at Rai, then at Tris below them, then back at Rai.
Rai Pawpad takes the milk, and sucks it down. He catches Jai's glance, and eyes the pocket he's put the keycard in. "Yeah, cards. Jai's pretty good at poker, you wanna play?"
Tristaniel McMinnar nods. "Aye, could do." He notes their exchanged glances. "You plannin on hustlin me?"
Jaina Lefevre smiles so sweetly. "Course not." She tenses, then launches herself at Tristan's head, aiming to wrap herself around him and pull his hair and kick his wounded arm.
Tristaniel McMinnar is suddenly top-heavy by a bergen's worth in weight. Not expecting this, he crashes to the concrete floor. Thankfully, Jaina prevents the back of his head cracking off of the tiles. Something thumps into his freshly wounded arm and he screams, hot blood already staining the bandage.
Rai Pawpad dives off the bunk, his claws extended. He aims his shoulder into the man's midsection, hoping to knock him down, grappling with his claws to cling.
Jaina Lefevre sobs a breath. "Sorry! Sorry!" as she grabs his hair in her fists and lifts his head, slamming it as hard as she can against the floor.
Rai Pawpad straddles the guys waist, fumbling through his pockets, his fingers awkward with his claws out. He's looking for the keycard.
Tristaniel McMinnar makes a dull double thud as Jaina works his head. His left, good arm twists, fist balling and lashing out at the sobbing child currently doing a bang up job of tipping him towards unconciousness. His keycard is on his belt on a spring-loaded return lanyard.
Jaina Lefevre lifts his head to slam it down again, the fist catching her shoulder and knocking her to his side...onto his wounded arm. She cries out, one hand letting go of his head, the other now slapping at his eyes, her legs scrambling -on the arm-.
Rai Pawpad: His explorations have left tears in the man's shirt, but he finally finds the thing. He scambles over the prone body, the card in his hand and grabs at Jaina's arm. "Com'n, com'n! The lanyard snaps him back before he's fully clear of the man, and he growls, falling back onto the guy's chest. He grapples with the thing, a stream of mangled curse words pouring from him.
Tristaniel McMinnar roars in white-hot agony, blood running in a claret streamlet from his sodden bandage to pool on the floor. His left leg was lost to a sniper and subsequently replaced. As Rai is snapped back on the retention cord, a knee is lifted, aiming to plant the sole of a combat boot and push the attacking youngster off him. He reaches to grab Jaina anywhere. Hair, clothing, a limb, anything would to to try and yank her off him.
Jaina Lefevre screams as he grabs her hair, spinning her around as one foot aims for his head - likely under his chin. She screams "Run, Rai! RUN!"
Rai Pawpad huffs and rolls at the boot catches him in the side. He still has the card clenched tight in his hand, though, and it arrests his progress. He heaves a breath, and it hurts, hears Jaina yelling. He realizes in that moment that they aren't going anywhere unless he can get this card away. He scrambles back to the man's head, and grabs at his face, his claws aiming for the eyes. "Stop it you motherbastardsuckingrat! Stop it or I'll claw your frrishin eyes out!"
Tristaniel McMinnar liked his eyes. I mean, really. REALLY liked his eyes. With a set of razor claws suddenly blurring his vision he freezes, instantly stopping the struggle. "Awright, awright!" He says, quickly. "Take de card!" Hands out at his sides, palms stretched open, blood plipping to the concrete. His head swum from the combined pain, blood loss and mild concussion Jaina had rewarded him with.
Jaina Lefevre crawled off of him and started sobbing harder as she sees the blood. She shakes her head and grabs her arm, looking at Rai. "Let's go!" She looks at Tristan and whimpers"I'm sorry...but we don't wanna die.."
Rai Pawpad remains poised over the man's face. "Take the card, Jai. Open the door."
Tristaniel McMinnar breathes rapidly, trying to catch up on his oxygen debt and hoping his heart slows soon before it explodes in his chest. "Dere's a PIN code." He explains, voice a little muzzy. He blinks slowly.
Jaina Lefevre struggles with the card and gets to the gate, then stares at him. "What is it? What's the code?"
Rai Pawpad: "Fuck!" He almost never uses that one. "Is it gonna get us through all the doors?"
Tristaniel McMinnar groans. "Listen... listen... Oi..." He takes a slow, shaky inhale. "Oi really need ta stop me bleedin... can't... can't give ye de code if ... mmh." His head lolls slightly, puddle glistening in the overhead light.
Jaina Lefevre snarls and slaps the card into Rai's hand, moving over to tear at the shreds of Tristan's shirt and wrap his arm. She saw this done enough before, she can try it herself.
Tristaniel McMinnar was wearing a flexible-armoured vest. The cover is all torn up, sure, and could be used for a torniquet. "Torniquet... med pouch." He explains, blinking to focus.
Jaina Lefevre fumbles with the pouch and pulls it out. She looks at it a moment, then does her best to get it on his arm. "I hope I does this right." she mutters, tears on her cheeks, hands shaking.
Rai Pawpad sits back on his heels watching Jaina work. His voice is cold, though. "We don't want to kill ya. Just want to get out. Give us the codes, and we'll make sure someone knows your hurt down here. We aren't like you. We got honor."
Tristaniel McMinnar reaches to help her, slowly, with one hand, he grasps the polymer bar attached to the strap and twists it. "Like dis." Ignoring Rai's little speech.
Jaina Lefevre nods and does what's needed to stop Tristan's bleeding, then reaches up to gently pat his face with her hand. "We needs the code to get out. Please. We don't wanna die down here."
Rai Pawpad looks away, his guts all tangled. He doesn't like the blood on the floor, and this man had been decent to them. Still, "He's the enemy, Jai. He's got orders." His voice is weary. "He's not gonna tell us."
Tristaniel McMinnar blinks again. "By de time Oi give ye each door's code, we'll have been noticed." He goes as if to sit up, reaching for his medkit, blood still running in rivulets down his arm from his reopened wound. "And yeah, Oi have orders. Dey -dont- include bringing you feckin' milk or stuff to play wid. Don't include trustin' ye and bein' nice, eider. Ye wee fucks."
Jaina Lefevre backs up against the wall and looks from Tristan to Rai. "Great. We hurted him and it was for nothin. Shit." Yeah, she doesn't swear much either, but drastic times and all that.
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.
Facing westward and looking at the midsection of the Entrance Gate's eastern side.
Anyone familiar with the Windy City's iconic Water Tower & Pumping Station will have no trouble identifying this structure's architect—William C. Boyington. That man certainly had a thing for turrets and castellation. And, of course, for Lemont-Joliet Dolostone, the Regional Silurian Dolostone (RSD) variety so widely used in the city's formative decades. Here it's present in rock-faced and regular-to-random-coursed form.
Winter is definitely the time to see this fine display of carbonate sedimentary rock at its best, when it's not partially obscured with the foliage of vines that have been permitted to establish such a substantial toehold here. Note the stone's subtly varying weathering tints that give the Lemont-Joliet and other RSD types so much warmth and character.
The topographic high on which the cemetery is located is the Rosehill (or Rose Hill) Spit, an elongated, north-south deposit of sand and gravel created by longshore currents approximately 11.5 ka ago, during the Calumet highstand of ancestral Lake Chicago.
Originally this landform was dubbed Roe's Hill, after an early property owner. But in the cemetery's charter papers it was mistakenly listed as the phonetically identical Rose Hill, which in latter days has been elided into Rosehill.
The fact that the plaque above Entrance Gate's archway uses the modern form of the name makes me think it is of relatively recent date.
To learn much more about this site and 200 others in the Windy City, make it your top personal priority to get a copy of my book Chicago in Stone and Clay, described at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501765063/chicago-i...
And to peruse the other photos and descriptions in this series, pay a visit to my Graveyard Geology of Chicago album.
I felt pain. I was bleeding. I was loving every second of it. In the MMA rings, everybody was borderline bullshit. But here in this tiny-ass ring in Japan, I'm facing off against someone who's more than worth my time. Someone who can actually fight. It gives me...happiness. I'd say we've been tearing away at eachother for a good 5 minutes now. Those 5 minutes felt like 5 years. The most memorable part was when Anne got a good punch in my midsection. I've had guys twice her size hit me there in the ring, yet when she buried her fist into my abs, it was like my entire torso was just engulfed in flame. It was fucking AWESOME! My rebuttal came with a hard clothsline to her head. The force knocks her to the arena floor while I reel back in pain from that hit she gave me seconds earlier. She was down for a good 4 seconds before staggering up. She was panting, holding the side of her head from that clothsline. I was pretty tuckered out too. No other way to put it: she done beat the shit out of me. I gotta hand it to her, her determination was to die for. I've thrown some of my best hits at her. The kind I reserve for time in the armor. And yet she's back in stance, ready to keep fighting until one of us falls. Her wait was nearly over, though.
"...well Anne, you're much better than I though."
"Thanks, big guy. You ready for more?"
"Nah. We don't need that anymore. I had my fun. You should be the champ."
"W...what?"
The instant I got into Japan, the glory's been all mine. I mean, I'm a celebrity fighter in a martial arts tournament, I took on a metahuman witch, then I got superpowers and took on a superman copy.I've had my fill.It's time someone else do. So, I got out of my stance, walked to the arena edge...
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