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Got some super slick neodymium magnets from www.gaussboys.com/ and set it down with a mini-dab of special resin from the thermogalactic space gun. Ta-dah!
To be honest, what I spent on the setup wasn't cheap - but we didn't want to look the part either. So we graduated from the poster board and thumbtack display to a somewhat more presentable wood and silver bullet display board.
Due to my nonexistent woodworking skills the plywood basically still looks like plywood. I imagined it to be super cool if I could buff it out and make it look expensive, but bah, what have you.
So there, is the story about our display board. So far.
Stivan, a small settlement on Adriatic Sea island Cres in Kvarner bay, is an almost abandoned place. Incredibly stony ground, almost nonexistent arable soil, not close enough to the sea shore to be of interest for tourists, offers little to survive. Some old fig trees and olive trees and sheep, this is all one can rely on. But it is situated in a great landscape, in an open, rather flat (as the whole south part of the island) Mediterranean landscape, harsh, wind-swept and sunny, with mild spring and autumn climate and hot summers. Yet, 200 years ago men was capable not only to survive here but also to live full lives and to build large stony farmhouses like this one on my pictures. Now it is a ruin worth nothing, defeated by time and overtaken by Wulfen's Spurge (Euphorbia wulfeni).
I made these from felt. You can go to youtube on Diane Morello channel, and see, how they are made. Diane is so nice, you can email her for a free pattern too. I adjusted patter a bit, because my dolls foot is a bit wider and rise is nonexistent, but overall it is similar.
Pegaso was an established company noted for its trucks and motor coaches, but also produced sports cars for seven years. Pegaso chief technical manager by then was Wifredo Ricart, former designer of the Alfa Romeo 512, and fellow rival of Enzo Ferrari, who at the time had also worked for Alfa Romeo. 1956 Pegaso Z-102 Touring Panorámica Superleggera 86 cars built 6 1/2 years production line (3 built with wraparound windshield that is called a Panorámica for the wrap around windshield & 270 HP 4 Cams HEMI V8 3.2 LITER, 11 TO 1 COMPRESSION RATIO, All in a 2600 LBS. car.) Design.The Z-102 employed racing-car technology in its chassis and alloy body. Everything was produced in-house at Barcelona, where the Pegaso cars factory was, with the exception of the external coachwork, either by Carrozzeria Touring, Saoutchik or Serra (although early Z-102 units carry Pegaso-made bodies). A four-cam all-alloy V8 engine, dry-sump lubrication, and a 5-speed non-syncromesh gearbox mounted with the differential as a unit were within a pressed steel chassis.The Z-102 started life as two prototypes in 1951 as a coupe and a drophead. The coupe and convertible had dumpy steel bodies, and weight was an issue to the extent that Pegaso made the decision to revert to alloy for the coachwork. Coachbuilder Touring then 'beautified' the design, replacing the grille with a two-piece cross, lowering the car, repositioning the foglights, and simplifying various details to give it a clean profile, similar to the contemporary Aston Martin DB2 and the Lancia Aurelia, that was the most memorable and numerous of all Z-102 bodies.The Z102 entered production with a 2.5 (2472cc) litre engine as used in the prototypes, though later there were variants with 2.8 (2816cc), and 3.2 (3178cc) litre DOHC desmodromic 32-valve V8 360 hp (270 kW) engines with multiple carburetors or optional supercharger. Horsepower ranged from 175 to 360, and, transferred through a five-speed gearbox and gear-driven camshaft, the fastest could reach 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), exceeding Ferrari autos, thus making it the world's fastest production car at the time.The base model had an 120 mph (192 km/h) top speed. The main beams of the car's frame had large lightening holes, and the wheel wells under the body were used as stressed members.This rear-wheel-drive car had its transmission in the rear, connected to the differential (making it a transaxle). But it was unusually located behind the differential within a reverse A-frame whose apex was at the rear of the chassis. A fuel tank was situated on each side of the transmission.The rear suspension was of the De Dion type, with the unusual feature that, to restrain the tube from side-to-side movement, its tube had a small wheel at its midpoint that rolled in a vertical channel on the front of the differential (which in a De Dion system is bolted to the chassis) instead of using a Watts linkage or a Panhard rod.However, the cars were heavy and brutish to drive and competition success was virtually nonexistent. Because the cars were built on a cost-no-object basis, this caused financial difficulty in the company. A simplified and cheaper version, the Z-103 with 3.9, 4.5 and 4.7 litre engines, was put into production, but to no avail, and the Z-102 was discontinued after 1958. Just 86 cars were produced, and out of these, only 28 cabriolets were built.Racing and elegance contests.The Pegasos raced in several competitions, but with no real success. In the 1953 Le Mans trials, driver Juan Jover was seriously injured after crashing at more than 200 km/h. They competed also in the 1954 Carrera Panamericana, driven by Joaquin Palacio, with increasingly promising results in the first stages, but again an accident prevented an excellent final position. Furthermore, on September 25, 1953, in Jabbeke (Belgium), a Z-102 Touring BS/2.8 (the old Barchetta used at Le Mans, 2.8 litre single supercharger), driven by Celso Fernández, broke four official R.A.C.B. (Royal Automobile Club de Belgique) worldwide records (fastest of them, 243.079 km/h (= 151.042 mph) average in the flying-start kilometer), previously owned by a Jaguar XK120. The original Z-102 BSS/2.5 Bisiluro Especial Competición (2.5 litre twin supercharged) meant to take on the records couldn't be used because of a blown engine. Pegasos achieved much better results in several Concours d'Elegance contests. A Pegaso Z-102 coupé by Saoutchick, owned by Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza, was in this respect the epitome of coachwork sophistication, as it had seats upholstered with leopard skin and controls in gold, and in such a finish it won the 1953 Enghien-les-Bains (France) Grand Prix d'Elegance.
Ponderosa Canyon is so named because of the huge Ponderosa Pines on the canyon floor.
In the slick rock sandstone of the White Cliffs the soil is thin or nonexistent and plants cannot easily take hold. The lack of plants causes this region to endure intense erosion with each rainstorm forming deep canyons, rounded domes and pointed nipples.
Where the roots of trees and plants can get established they help stabilize the soil and rock underneath. This is evident in the Grey Cliffs, the sequence of rock that lies above the White Cliffs. The Grey Cliffs are made of rock that consists of a combination of sand, shale, and clay. This combination produces better soils allowing dense vegetation, which better protects the rock underneath by absorbing some of the rainfall and preventing flash floods.
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
Reklama-mural nieistniejących Zakładów Przemysłu Dziewiarskiego im. Pawła Findera w Łodzi,
Mural-advert of nonexistent Paweł Finder Knitting Factory in Łódź,
@ al. Unii Lubelskiej, Łódź.
Markets are so colorful, so busy, so full of EVERYTHING - it's hard to choose just one small detail and draw things from one side of one stall.
These sacks are HUGE (and probably very heavy-) and people were very particular about which type of rice they wanted.
(The names were also in Thai, but I just drew the English names - my written Thai being somewhat nonexistent.)
Pred Koncert u Vijecnici _ Before Concert in Vijecnica,
Sarajevo String Quartet before Concert in Vijecnica with Zubin Mehta,
Performance by the Sarajevo Symphony Orchestra and Chorus at the ruins of the Sarajevo National Library,
OPUS: Pogledaj Dom Svoj Andjele;
From Grand OPUS; Sarajevo City of Light,
SARAJEVO WAR 1994;
BOSNIA in Tragic WAR,
POETIC Beauty and Strength of the Human Spirit,
Set among the ruins of the Vijecnica, On June 19, 1994,
“Mozart: The Requiem from Sarajevo.”
Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, Zubin Mehta, José Carreras…
During the years of terror cast upon Bosnia and my city of Sarajevo, photography remained my only medium of artistic expression. My painting conditions were nonexistent, (shortage of materials, time and peace). My photographs were captured while walking between steps. Each step representing life or death… In this town of sorrows, agony surrounded by walls of hatred and evil, I encountered the most extraordinary beings in this world. They are genuine people, without hatred; people who survive inside the walls of a besieged city, without electricity, fuel, food, water, etc. Sarajevo became the massacred city where every new day is awaited as a miracle; awaited with patience and disbelief that you are still alive. There was a light that continued to glow from this destroyed city and its people; they had not lost their spirit. Exhibitions and concerts were still being attended by people who shed the tears of happiness, knowing that they couldn’t kill the art. A horrifying beauty was born.
Intensely preoccupied with exploring light at edge of shadow,
Observation of physical and psychological reality, Symbolism,
Picture is based on light and darkness counterpoints, with elements of Chiaroscuro. acutely observed realism brought a new level of emotional intensity,
Strong, dramatic expression, City Life and Street Scenes,
Perception beyond the Veil, including the veil of religion; POETIC TransRealism;
‘The true light came to the world and resided in the world,
And the world did not understand it,’
Mirza Ajanovic POETIC Photography,
When I Lived There - 1/00 - 4/00
Who I Lived With - Just myself.
When It Felt Like Home - It didn't. It was a really cool space that I wanted to like, but living here I realized I really need defined rooms and coziness, not just a big open space with a concrete floor. I never felt safe or comfortable, always exposed and annoyed.
Current Status - Still standing.
For three months before moving here, after leaving California, I lived first with my friend and her family, and then in a Residence Inn. Technically those two places should have their own pages in this series but it's just too depressing to remember and contemplate.
This "loft" apartment taught me that industrial buildings are not meant to be lived in. Soundproofing was nonexistent; I was able to hear, very clearly, the guy upstairs sneeze, pee, talk on the phone, have sex... The industrial-size heating system was so loud when it was on that I couldn't carry on a conversation. One of my friends said that this place was like some fictional bad-guy's hangout, but the romance of this notion was totally negated by the realities of living there. The fictional bad-guy does not have to listen to his neighbor pissing in the toilet.
Update 6/6/10 - pix of the interior
1/100 Elyn Kshatriya
1/100 Elyn Gatling Guns x 4
Custom decals laid out by Dade W. Bell and printed by Samuel.
Custom mixed paint scheme with 12 layers of paint for both candy purple colors.
Paints are Gaia, Gunze, Vallejo, and Citadel.
This project took FOREVER and I frankly stopped keeping track of the hours once I hit 150. This is mainly due to all of the paint layers required to give the proper shading and depth I was after. Plus the fact that I'm a slow builder. lol Note that I also went with my concept of painting the frame in a lighter color than the armor. We often see MS frames painted in dark and/ or metallic colors, but I thought it would look much more interesting if the frame was a light color contrasted with the darker "candy purple" armor (kinda like my Ple Qubeley). Also note how I went farther with the idea of making the finish matte. I think this adds an interesting appearance to the candy surface and is actually more realistic and less toy-like than the usual gloss finish seen on candy colors (contrast with my Ple Qubeley...).
The pictures truly don't do the real thing justice and I'll try to take better photos (and a video) with my D5100 outside when it cools down in the fall... Until then, I think these pics will suffice.
With this project done, I'm done building Kshatriyas. Too much of my life has been taken up with these things and it's time to move on. Still, I'm the "Ple Guy" so I had to at least make this one. ;-) (Wink) As for how Ple could end up piloting the Kshatriya, below is the story file I created to go on the base when I have a custom label printed later...
An Alternate Timeline...
In the original events of ZZ Gundam, Elpeo Ple sacrificed herself to protect Judau Ashta from the Psycho Gundam Mk-II piloted by her clone, Ple Two. However, in this alternate timeline, Glemy Toto’s attempts to clone Ple failed... and as a result, Ple didn’t die at the hands of her now-nonexistent clone. Thus, the “butterfly effect” of the changed timeline allowed Ple to survive the First Neo-Zeon War.
With the First Neo Zeon War over, Ple headed to Jupiter with Judau and Roux, but eventually grew bored with her relatively peaceful life (not to mention her “third-wheel” status with her friends), and decided to return to the Earth Sphere. During the long voyage home, she was disappointed to find that she missed the events of the Second Neo-Zeon War (Char’s Counterattack), and vowed to never miss out on any further action.
So when Ple heard about Full Frontal’s group of Neo-Zeon remnants, The Sleeves, she joined them without hesitation (and received the customized purple Kshatriya for her personal MS). This was because of a longing for excitement more than any kind of belief in Neo-Zeon ideology, and the battlefield was once again filled with the giddy shout of, “Purupurupurupuru!”. However, she quickly switched sides when she discovered that Frontal was merely using her as a “test” against the Unicorn Gundam’s NT-D system (her ability to defeat her own NT-D-controlled funnels and fight the Unicorn to a standstill is a significant departure from the original timeline).
Being a natural Newtype and not subject to the side-effects of the Cyber-Newtype process (complicated by the horrible events of childhood), Ple was able to avoid most of the unfortunate, and ultimately fatal, events that befell her clone, Marida Cruz (Ple Twelve), in the original timeline. As a result, she and the Kshatriya were able to survive the Third Neo-Zeon war relatively unharmed... a feat for which she rewarded herself with a nice, long bubble bath.
MOD traffic on the Birmingham to Bristol line is almost nonexistent, so it was worth going out for this, routed via Selly Oak due to engineering works near Fenny Compton. DB Cargo Class 66 66125 is seen cruising through Northfield with the 12:17 (7 late) Fenny Compton M.O.D. to Marchwood M.O.D.
66s 110 and 104 (I think) passed through on a Scours Lane Jn to Bescot engineers train just as I got here, so no pic.
When I made this image of a southbound on the CN Bessemer Subdivision in October 2012 I wasn't thrilled about the crossing gate arm being in the shot. So I never processed or posted it.
More than a decade later my opinion changed. Motive power consists of solid Bessemer & Lake Erie locomotives are rare to nonexistent now, particularly on the original B&LE. So now despite the crossing gate I've decided this photo is worthy after all.
The train is crossing KO Road north of Greenville, Pennsylvania.
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
Qingdao is China’s premier “beer” city, as the country’s most famous brew – Tsingtao – was founded and continues to be brewed here. (For those who do come to the city, Tsingtao makes a decent dark beer – Yuan Jiang – that is quite hard to get outside of the city.) I guess the easiest comparison I can make would be to say that Qingdao is the same to beer culture here as St. Louis and Milwaukee are in the United States; a town famous for a mass-produced beer.
The Tsingtao brewery and museum (slightly underwhelming, according to my Lonely Planet guidebook) is located on Dengzhou Lu a bit north of Zhongshan Park. Dengzhou Lu is also famously known as Pijiu Jie (Beer Street). During the day, it’s easy to see the nightlife potential. At night, almost every establishment along this stretch of Dengzhou Lu (probably about a half kilometer to a one kilometer long) is a restaurant that opens up with the focus on drinking beer – almost always Tsingtao. (Curiously, in coming by here at night, the taxi took me past Hongjiu Jie – Red Wine Street. It looked quite a bit less subdued as wine culture here is, well, nonexistent. I didn’t have a chance to get back and look around there. Having drunk Chinese wine before…I don’t think I’m missing too much.)
I’ve lived in China for almost three years now; about two years in Shanghai and one year in Tianjin. Shandong province is the province that’s on the sea between the two cities. (From Shanghai to Tianjin by train is around 5 hours; by plane, 2 hours.) Qingdao, probably the most well-known city in Shandong, is a charming city, to say the least. In my opinion, it’s exceptionally photogenic – with very nice beaches, great architecture, good geography/topography, and terrific food.
Qingdao also happens to be known for the most famous of Chinese beers (Tsingtao), which is actually a company started by the Germans. (For what it’s worth, Chinese beers are quite watery and Tsingtao is somewhat like the Budweiser of Chinese beers. That being said, I’m happy to drink an ice cold Tsingtao on a hot summer day whereas I wouldn’t say the same thing about a Budweiser.
So what to make of Qingdao then? Before colonial powers swept in and started chopping up China piecemeal, Qingdao was basically a sleepy fishing village. During the Ming dynasty, a battery was built here. In 1898, the Germans seized control of Qingdao when two missionaries were killed. (Personally, it seems alarming to me that a country could lose a city because two foreigners happened to be killed – and China sure lost a lot that way during the 19th century. I guess that’s the downside to outmoded military technology; the Europeans and Americans basically plundered China…) At any rate, Qingdao was ceded to the Germans for 99 years, but that didn’t last long, thanks to World War I.
During the 15-20 years that the Germans did have control of the town, they managed to build a handful of churches (still standing) and missionaries, in addition to the aforementioned Qingdao brewery. Because of that, a lot of the European architecture has a heavy German influence and there are still a few random signs of German heritage around town.
From the Germans, Qingdao didn’t land directly with the Chinese. It spent 8 years under Japanese control (1914-1922) before being returned to the Kuomintang (aka General Chiang Kai-Shek’s clan). The Japanese took control once again in 1938 (as they swept through northeast China and across half the country) before losing it for the last time in 1945 at the end of World War II. Since then, it’s been in Chinese hands. (Brief history courtesy of Lonely Planet.)
Contemporary Qingdao certainly makes its way as a tourist destination – and it’s a fine one at that. The population (per my LP from 2011) lists it at 1.73 million. The city has a few areas that are quite appealing to tourists: the Old Town (the heart of the city) off the beach and just east of the railway station downtown, Badaguan (which means “eight passes”) is a hilly area with a lot of nice residential architecture to the east of the Old Town. Other than that, there are a lot of parks, a beer street, churches, and a 40 km. scenic walk (which, obviously, most people do not cover from end to end) along the shore which goes by all of the beaches in the area.
All in all, Qingdao is the type of town that, if you get the chance to visit, I think you would find yourself thinking it would be great to return again and again.
Sorry for the ugly watermark...I seem to mostly find my car photos on forums and stuff. :-/
**Strange - it shows up very bright on my laptop screen but almost nonexistent on my work monitor...so the apology comment is for those of you that see it brightly. ;)
I cut the right gauge off because it has a big glowing square where the digital mileage meter is and it distracted from these. I'll take one of all three when it isn't pitch black out so I can do a shorter exposure.
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
The nonexistent subway station and suburb Kymlinge seen from a hot air balloon in late summer 2003. Kymlinge was originally planned to lie between Kista and Solna but it was never built. However, the subway station was constructed "just in case" along the line and can be seen as the open field. Note the rectangle of rocks in the upper half, marking where the stairways would have exited.
(1 in a multiple picture set)
I zoomed in even more from the last photo and found this amazing example of plant adaptation, or maybe I should say 'plant tenacity.' I was amazed that these bristlecone pine trees could grow down in this canyon wear water is so scarce and good soil almost nonexistent.
By the way, these junipers were mistaken for cedars by the Mormon pioneers who named the canyon. They thought that these trees were cedars.
大正湯
The Taishou era (大正) was 1912-1926.
There are more bathhouses with the same name in Hakodate and Sapporo, but they don't seem to be related. The one in Hakodate was founded in the Taisho era.
The large "ゆ" means 湯, hot water.
The vending machine is convenient, as well as the recycling bin (streetside trashcans are just about nonexistent).
Happy birthday to my wonderful friend Lindsey Reynolds! Took this photo in honor of her first French birthday (my French is a bit rusty/nonexistent)! The lucky girl is in France studying abroad for law school! Wish I could be there with you! (in France, not law school)
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
Suspended Animation Classic #331
Originally published April 30, 1995 (#18)
(Dates are approximate)
Big Bang Comics; Hermes Versus The Eyeball Kid
By Michael Vance
“Now, for the first time ever, the greatest heroes of all times must unite to defeat the evil mastermind who threatens the very existence of two worlds” in Big Bang Comics’ “The Criss-Cross Crisis”.
Well, maybe not for the first time, since The Knights of Justice, The Round Table of America, and the Whiz Kids (all super teams) are a wonderful homage to DC Comics heroes from the 1950s and earlier.
Inside this pastiche are two parallel Earths. A portal between both has been opened, and collision threatens. Heroes who believe in truth, justice and the American Way must seal the portal.
In the 1950s, characterization meant a name, costume, and powers. Plot was king. Art was straightforward and uncluttered, lacking the visual dynamics of today. Adventure was everywhere, and comic books were fun.
Then came “Big Bang Comics: Untitled”. In the real world, the change of artistic styles from the 1950s to the 1990s was slow. This stylistic change between issue three and four of “Big Bang” is startling.
Here, The Round Table of America is decommissioned, their headquarters converted into a museum. A super-villain held in stasis there escapes, vowing revenge. The rest of this issue is clenched fists, power bursts, and broken teeth.
Characterization is still two dimensional, plot is almost nonexistent, and the art is cluttered, confusing, and full of visual pyrotechnics. The fist is king, and comic books are ‘realistic’, grim, and gritty.
If different is better, then these adventures of The Round Table must be fantastic, right?!
They are just different.
These old and new stylistic issues are recommended for their respective old and new audiences.
“Big Band Comics” #s 3 & 4/32 pages and 24 pages, $1.95 each from Caliber Press/writers: Chris Ecker and Gary S. Carlson; artists: (#3) Steve Adams, (#4) Bart Schmitz/available in comics shops and by mail.
MINIVIEW: “Hermes Versus The Eyeball Kid”. Outrageous, wildly creative adventures as Hermes and assorted old gods reenter today’s world. Recommended.
1/100 Elyn Kshatriya
1/100 Elyn Gatling Guns x 4
Custom decals laid out by Dade W. Bell and printed by Samuel.
Custom mixed paint scheme with 12 layers of paint for both candy purple colors.
Paints are Gaia, Gunze, Vallejo, and Citadel.
This project took FOREVER and I frankly stopped keeping track of the hours once I hit 150. This is mainly due to all of the paint layers required to give the proper shading and depth I was after. Plus the fact that I'm a slow builder. lol Note that I also went with my concept of painting the frame in a lighter color than the armor. We often see MS frames painted in dark and/ or metallic colors, but I thought it would look much more interesting if the frame was a light color contrasted with the darker "candy purple" armor (kinda like my Ple Qubeley). Also note how I went farther with the idea of making the finish matte. I think this adds an interesting appearance to the candy surface and is actually more realistic and less toy-like than the usual gloss finish seen on candy colors (contrast with my Ple Qubeley...).
The pictures truly don't do the real thing justice and I'll try to take better photos (and a video) with my D5100 outside when it cools down in the fall... Until then, I think these pics will suffice.
With this project done, I'm done building Kshatriyas. Too much of my life has been taken up with these things and it's time to move on. Still, I'm the "Ple Guy" so I had to at least make this one. ;-) (Wink) As for how Ple could end up piloting the Kshatriya, below is the story file I created to go on the base when I have a custom label printed later...
An Alternate Timeline...
In the original events of ZZ Gundam, Elpeo Ple sacrificed herself to protect Judau Ashta from the Psycho Gundam Mk-II piloted by her clone, Ple Two. However, in this alternate timeline, Glemy Toto’s attempts to clone Ple failed... and as a result, Ple didn’t die at the hands of her now-nonexistent clone. Thus, the “butterfly effect” of the changed timeline allowed Ple to survive the First Neo-Zeon War.
With the First Neo Zeon War over, Ple headed to Jupiter with Judau and Roux, but eventually grew bored with her relatively peaceful life (not to mention her “third-wheel” status with her friends), and decided to return to the Earth Sphere. During the long voyage home, she was disappointed to find that she missed the events of the Second Neo-Zeon War (Char’s Counterattack), and vowed to never miss out on any further action.
So when Ple heard about Full Frontal’s group of Neo-Zeon remnants, The Sleeves, she joined them without hesitation (and received the customized purple Kshatriya for her personal MS). This was because of a longing for excitement more than any kind of belief in Neo-Zeon ideology, and the battlefield was once again filled with the giddy shout of, “Purupurupurupuru!”. However, she quickly switched sides when she discovered that Frontal was merely using her as a “test” against the Unicorn Gundam’s NT-D system (her ability to defeat her own NT-D-controlled funnels and fight the Unicorn to a standstill is a significant departure from the original timeline).
Being a natural Newtype and not subject to the side-effects of the Cyber-Newtype process (complicated by the horrible events of childhood), Ple was able to avoid most of the unfortunate, and ultimately fatal, events that befell her clone, Marida Cruz (Ple Twelve), in the original timeline. As a result, she and the Kshatriya were able to survive the Third Neo-Zeon war relatively unharmed... a feat for which she rewarded herself with a nice, long bubble bath.
“If a lover is wretched who invokes kisses of which he knows not the flavour, a thousand times more wretched is he who has had a taste of the flavour and then had it denied him.”
Italo Calvino, The Nonexistent Knight
Over the last hundred years, some decades have seen huge schools of sardines flourish off the Central California coast; during other decades, the small fish have been virtually nonexistent. These changes may be symptomatic of long-term (50-year) cycles that affect the entire Pacific Ocean.
Spaceship Earth, the iconic and symbolic structure of Epcot, opened with the park in Future World in 1982. The 18-storym 180-foot tall geosphere, whose design was conceived by Wallace Floyd Design Group and completed by Simpson Gumpertz & Heger Inc., is derived from the Class 2 geodesic polyhedron. Each face of the polyhedron is divided into three isosceles triangles to form each point—with, in theory, 11,520 triangles forming 3,840 points (some are nonexistent due to supports and doors). The 15,520,000 pound sphere, with a circumference of 518.1 feet and a diameter of 165 feet, is raised 18-feet off the ground by three pylons sunk more than 120-feet into the ground.
Inside the sphere, guests take a 15-minute dark Omnimover ride in a "time machine" to learn how advancements in communication have helped create the future. Narrators have included Lawrence Dobkin, Walter Cronkite, Jeremy Irons and now Dame Judi Dench.
1/100 Elyn Kshatriya
1/100 Elyn Gatling Guns x 4
Custom decals laid out by Dade W. Bell and printed by Samuel.
Custom mixed paint scheme with 12 layers of paint for both candy purple colors.
Paints are Gaia, Gunze, Vallejo, and Citadel.
This project took FOREVER and I frankly stopped keeping track of the hours once I hit 150. This is mainly due to all of the paint layers required to give the proper shading and depth I was after. Plus the fact that I'm a slow builder. lol Note that I also went with my concept of painting the frame in a lighter color than the armor. We often see MS frames painted in dark and/ or metallic colors, but I thought it would look much more interesting if the frame was a light color contrasted with the darker "candy purple" armor (kinda like my Ple Qubeley). Also note how I went farther with the idea of making the finish matte. I think this adds an interesting appearance to the candy surface and is actually more realistic and less toy-like than the usual gloss finish seen on candy colors (contrast with my Ple Qubeley...).
The pictures truly don't do the real thing justice and I'll try to take better photos (and a video) with my D5100 outside when it cools down in the fall... Until then, I think these pics will suffice.
With this project done, I'm done building Kshatriyas. Too much of my life has been taken up with these things and it's time to move on. Still, I'm the "Ple Guy" so I had to at least make this one. ;-) (Wink) As for how Ple could end up piloting the Kshatriya, below is the story file I created to go on the base when I have a custom label printed later...
An Alternate Timeline...
In the original events of ZZ Gundam, Elpeo Ple sacrificed herself to protect Judau Ashta from the Psycho Gundam Mk-II piloted by her clone, Ple Two. However, in this alternate timeline, Glemy Toto’s attempts to clone Ple failed... and as a result, Ple didn’t die at the hands of her now-nonexistent clone. Thus, the “butterfly effect” of the changed timeline allowed Ple to survive the First Neo-Zeon War.
With the First Neo Zeon War over, Ple headed to Jupiter with Judau and Roux, but eventually grew bored with her relatively peaceful life (not to mention her “third-wheel” status with her friends), and decided to return to the Earth Sphere. During the long voyage home, she was disappointed to find that she missed the events of the Second Neo-Zeon War (Char’s Counterattack), and vowed to never miss out on any further action.
So when Ple heard about Full Frontal’s group of Neo-Zeon remnants, The Sleeves, she joined them without hesitation (and received the customized purple Kshatriya for her personal MS). This was because of a longing for excitement more than any kind of belief in Neo-Zeon ideology, and the battlefield was once again filled with the giddy shout of, “Purupurupurupuru!”. However, she quickly switched sides when she discovered that Frontal was merely using her as a “test” against the Unicorn Gundam’s NT-D system (her ability to defeat her own NT-D-controlled funnels and fight the Unicorn to a standstill is a significant departure from the original timeline).
Being a natural Newtype and not subject to the side-effects of the Cyber-Newtype process (complicated by the horrible events of childhood), Ple was able to avoid most of the unfortunate, and ultimately fatal, events that befell her clone, Marida Cruz (Ple Twelve), in the original timeline. As a result, she and the Kshatriya were able to survive the Third Neo-Zeon war relatively unharmed... a feat for which she rewarded herself with a nice, long bubble bath.
A radioactive fossil Transformer, though hilariously based on the (as we now know) nonexistent Dracorex. It's a juvenile Pachycephalosaurus.
1993 Suède Sweden Svezia
Escapade en train à Blåhammaren, dans le nord de la Suède, près de la frontier norvégienne.
Il est conseillé de savoir lire une carte et utiliser la boussole, car les sentiers ne sont pas bien marqués et on ne rencontre quasi personne ... le temps peut aussi changer brusquement : en qq minutes on passé de l'été à l'hiver avec de la neige (meme en plein mois de juillet).
Week-end close to the Norwegian border, in the north of Sweden, at Blåhammaren.
It is recommended to be able to read a map and use a compass because the paths are almost nonexistent ... the weather can also change within minutes going from Summer into Winter (with snow mid of July).
Camminata vicina al confine con la Norvegia, a Blåhammaren (2 giorni).
Saper leggere una mappa e utilizzare una bussola è d'obbligo perché i sentieri non si vedono bene. E non c'è molta gente da incontrare ! Subito il meteo può anche cambiare da estate a inverno con neve a metà luglio !
Thailand:
Thai immigration to America was nearly nonexistent before 1960, when U.S. armed forces began arriving in Thailand during the Vietnam war. After interacting with Americans, Thais became more aware of the possibility for immigration to the United States. By the 1970s, some 5,000 Thais had emigrated to this country, at a ratio of three women to every man. The largest concentration of Thai immigrants can be found in Los Angeles, Houston and New York City. These new immigrants consisted of professionals, especially medical doctors and nurses, business entrepreneurs, and wives of men in the U.S. Air Force who had either been stationed in Thailand or had spent their vacations there while on active duty in Southeast Asia.
According U.S. Census 2000, the greatest numbers of Thais are in California (most in Los Angeles area), some 36,525. Texas with 7,384 (primarily Houston and Dallas) and New York, with a Thai population of 6,658 (most in New York City) have the second and third largest Thai populations, respectively.
Product: Fanta Grape, Product of Thailand
Store: Battambanc Market II: 229 E Kingsbridge Road, Bronx, NY
Neighborhood: Fordham Road ( D Train, Kingsbridge Road)
This was my first time actually plane watching at Miami International Airport (MIA). I checked some spotter websites to find some good locations. They recommended The Holes as being an "official" site so we checked it out. I was pretty disappointed; there was a lot of construction going on and parking was nonexistent. My wife dropped me off. The area is totally exposed. Even though it was December it was pretty hot - no shade, no place to sit, no other people around. The holes are actually pretty small so it's hard to get a lens through the hole. Arrivals were almost impossible to shoot but you could see planes taxiing by for takeoff. After an hour I was cooking so we bagged it. We then went to the area close to the El Dorado furniture store. Much better. There were a bunch of spotters from around the world there. It was a great atmosphere. Nicely shaded, safe, close to some stores and a lot of good traffic to watch. I saw a bunch of planes from airlines I had not seen before, including some airlines I had not heard of. Some of the planes didn't show up on Flight Radar 24 so they were very pleasant surprises. All in all a very good day and I'd love to go back there!
I took these photos in December 2019.
New to Alameda so had to give them a try. Not the best burger one can get in town, although not awful, either. But the patty was way too dry for me and the BBQ sauce was all but nonexistent. The batter on the onion strings and the fried pickles is the same and it was quite salty. I like salty so the onion strings were fine for me but would be too much for many people. The salty pickles plus salty batter was over the top even for this salt-lover. I thought the Smashfries (with olive oil, rosemary and garlic) were REALLY good. I would go back for them.
I am drinking Imperial Beer in Washington Bar, in Limon, Costa Rica. The beer was cold, and good after walking through the city on a hot day. Imperial is the largest selling beer in the country. Draft beer seems to be almost nonexistent in Central America or the Caribbean, at last at places I have seen. Just about every day in Costa Rica is a hot day.
Barnes & Noble #2369 (23,736 square feet)
1220 Carl D. Silver Parkway, Central Park, Fredericksburg, VA
Opened November 7th, 2012; originally Borders (1997-fall 2011)
The Fredericksburg Barnes & Noble served as a prototype location at the time of opening in 2012, presumably gutting the space of its' old Borders characteristics, though it's possible that they kept most of the department signage. Knowing that now the store does seem like a bridge between mid-late 2000s location such as Chesterfield, which were usually 25-30,000 square feet and mostly retained the look they'd had since the 90s, and the newest, even more minimalist 12,000 square foot prototype location that opened in Virginia Beach in November. The perimeter of the store has a drop tile ceiling, with a warehouse-style ceiling in the middle that'd end up being the entire ceiling style at Virginia Beach, and overall a more modern approach was taken with the décor instead of the more older fashioned stores. Of prominence is a department up front dedicated to their Nook tablets, though it's apparent that this area is given little attention anymore since a vinyl display was moved into it and the area wasn't staffed. I get the impression that the devices were pretty popular back in 2012, but since then the company doesn't really emphasize them anymore in the now much more completive tablet market, instead focusing more on physical book sales like the old days. Likewise the DVD/CD section was scaled down significantly compared to the physical media heydays of the 2000s, only utilizing a few shelves here instead of a whole separate department, and in the newer VA Beach store those products are completely nonexistent, understandably so. In a way the store serves as a time capsule of sorts showcasing how some things were about eight years ago in 2012, and while that might seem like a long amount of time to some people I for one was still in high school with a slide keyboard phone so that feels like the Neanderthal days to me!
A slightly early Independence Day (Fourth of July) fireworks show over Lake Monona in the heart of the Wisconsin capital.
* Fireworks pictures in a sense are double exposures, at least multiple exposures.
* My ISO was set at 100. Nothing higher is needed or even desirable.
* White balance set to auto because in raw capture it does not matter.
* The technique used (and it's an old one) was to hold the shutter open for 10, 20, or 30 seconds at a time.
* The aperture is adjusted in the opposite direction to keep the exposure uniform. In this case I found that 10 seconds at f/8 worked well. 30 seconds at f/16 captured more bursts, but if the action was very heavy then too many bursts made for a busy, messy picture. I had to keep changing the settings.
* The camera was in full manual mode (otherwise it would change the exposure and focus).
* Because the display was 2 miles away the camera only needed to be focused at infinity.
* Solidly mounted on a sturdy tripod and tripped with an electronic cable release to insure there is no camera movement.
* Vibration reduction turned off (otherwise the VR would "hunt" for nonexistent movement and smear the shot). I nearly forgot this but I made a couple of test exposures early on and realized immediately that they were smeared due to the VR.
* I also turned off the Long Exposure Noise Reduction when I realized that it was doubling the time for the picture to load, and I knew I could minimize any noise in Lightroom. As it turned out little noise reduction was necessary beyond the standard.
* I worked in live view and kept the auto review on for two seconds for each shot to insure that I was getting what I thought I was getting. It’s enormously reassuring!
* With the shutter open for longer periods, more individual bursts are recorded on each frame. You have to shoot a lot of frames and hope to luck out. There is no way to plan it. You open the shutter, the stuff goes up, at the end of the time the shutter closes and you've got what you've got. I think I made about 75 exposures to get 19 that were good. The rest were trashed.
* Despite some 75 extended exposures, live view, and constant instant reviews, the battery at the end of 45 minutes of fireworks still had 60% charge. Turning off the noise reduction undoubtedly helped, plus made the shoot more efficient; no waiting.
Shared by David Greenless
The Old Motor
theoldmotor.com/?p=182834&fbclid=IwAR1nZ7Z9mJSB90lEFg...
Nancy and Vera Drive From Chicago to Denver in an Orient Buckboard
December 23, 2020
By Robert D. Cunningham
The Orient Buckboard was, according to its advertising, the cheapest automobile in the world. Just $375. It was, in essence, ash and hickory planking to comprise a set of floorboards that carried an upholstered bench; a 3-gallon fuel tank feeding a single-cylinder, air-cooled, 4 horsepower engine at the rear; a four-cell battery and a steering tiller. It was an industrial evolution of the Waltham Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts, a bicycle manufacturing business Charles Metz had launched in 1893.
Lead photo: Nancy Teape and her daughter, Vera, piloted their new 1907 Orient Buckboard from Chicago to Denver.
The Orient Buckboard was the first dependable, low-priced automobile for the man of meager means. The company sold nearly 2,500 of them in five years. To bring a Buckboard to life, the owner first poured oil into the engine, and then bent over the rear axle to spin the crank. With little effort, the little buggy bucked and belched a thick cloud of blue smoke. The owner then plopped down on the bench and positioned his feet to operate levers that maneuvered a drive chain to engage the five forward gears. As the contraption sputtered away, its long floorboards flexed on 19-inch elliptical springs, providing unexpected comfort when rolling over rocks, ruts and roots on the primitive—and sometimes nonexistent—roads of the day.
cont:
Wearing a beautiful luxurious fleece. Alpaca not a Llama.
Alpaca (Vicugna pacos) is a domesticated species of South American camelid. It resembles a small llama in superficial appearance.
Alpacas are kept in herds that graze on the level heights of the Andes of Ecuador, southern Peru, northern Bolivia, and northern Chile at an altitude of 3,500 m (11,000 ft) to 5,000 m (16,000 ft) above sea-level, throughout the year. Alpacas are considerably smaller than llamas, and unlike llamas, alpacas were not bred to be beasts of burden but were bred specifically for their fiber. Alpaca fiber is used for making knitted and woven items, much as wool is. The fiber comes in more than 52 natural colors as classified in Peru. In the textile industry, "alpaca" primarily refers to the hair of Peruvian alpacas.
About Alpaca Fleece
Alpaca fleece is the natural fiber harvested from an alpaca. It is light weight or heavy weight, depending on how it is spun. It is soft, durable, luxurious and silky natural fiber. While similar to sheep’s wool, it is warmer, not prickly, and has no lanolin which makes it hypoallergenic. Alpaca is naturally water-repellent. Huacaya, an alpaca that grows soft spongy fiber has natural crimp, thus making a naturally elastic yarn, perfect for knits. Suri has far less crimp and thus is best suited for woven goods, but is wonderfully luxurious as well.
In physical structure, alpaca fiber is somewhat akin to hair, being very glossy. Alpaca fiber is similar to that of merino wool fiber, and alpaca yarns tend to be stronger than wool yarns. The heel hole that appears in wool socks or in elbows of wool sweaters is nonexistent in similar alpaca garments. In processing, slivers lack fiber cohesion and single alpaca rovings lack strength. Blend these together and the durability is increased several times over. More twisting is necessary, especially in Suri, and this can reduce a yarn's softness.
The alpaca has a very fine and light fleece. It does not retain water, is thermal even when wet and can resist the solar radiation effectively. These characteristics guarantee the animals a permanent and appropriate coat to fight against the extreme changes of temperature. This fiber offers the same protection to humans. Alpaca is sustainable as a fiber, and is naturally organic. Alpacas as animals are soft on the environment, making alpaca a truly green textile.
Info re Wiki and Encyclo Brit
I created this video in one night using Windows Movie Maker (which I was forced to use by the professor and hated because it kept crashing).
Not the best footage or editing, but considering my formal training on editing is pretty close to nonexistent, it's not too shabby.
Roundup of my observations reporting on Dorchester, MA.
On December 4, 1826 the Genesee County Board of Supervisors met in Bethany for the purpose of establishing a County Poorhouse. A brick building, originally a stagecoach tavern, located near the corner of the Bethany Center Road and Raymond Road was the site selected, as it represented the geographical center of the county. (Wyoming County wasn’t established until 1841.) In 1828 Genesee County constructed a stone building attached to the Poorhouse for the confinement of lunatics and a repository for paupers committed for misconduct. The insane were also housed at the County Home until 1887 when the Board of Supervisors agreed to send “persons suffering with acute insanity" elsewhere in the state.
The Genesee County Poor Farm aka The County Home, was a self sufficient working farm and woods, spanning over 200 acres, providing food and fuel, thus the actual cost to care for each person was low, about $1.08 per week per resident, back in 1871.
Residents were referred to as inmates (no matter why they were housed there) and those physically able-bodied would work the farm and many actually built and made wares to sell to help offset some of the living expenses. The raising of Holsteins, pigs, draft horses, chickens and ducks, raising vegetable and fruit crops, canning jams, jellies, meats, were all part of the chores, there was a bakery and even a wood shop where coffins were made (for use as needed and for sale to local mortuaries).
The County would bury those who had no family, and records indicate there was once a cemetery located on the property, but the particulars are almost nonexistent. An 1886 Proceeding states “The burying ground we have improved by building a fence in front and grading and leveling the ground as much as could be done without injury to the graves.”
The cemetery for the County Poorhouse has faded away as the stones crumpled, the grass grew and the forest replanted. No one was around to care for those who had so long ago been forgotten. These people, though they were poor, ill and sometime abandoned, do deserve to be remembered. An actual cemetery register or plot map has yet to be discovered.
A memorial site was created in the Genesee County Park and on June 6, 2004 when five headstones, dated from 1887 to 1888, were returned to the County. The Genesee County Historians dedicated a historical marker honoring those who died while living in the County Home from 1827 until the facility was closed in 1974 (residents were relocated to new facilities in Batavia).
Shorebird habitat is nearly nonexistent at Cardinal Marsh this spring due to high water levels. This dunlin (left) & Wilson's phalarope (right) found a tiny spot to search for food on their way to the Far North.
Plumber is coming on Friday to fix plumbing under the sink. Electrician coming one day this week to put up light above nonexistent mirror.
In the rural village of Navala, technology is nonexistent and cameras are extremely rare. These little girls asked me to take their picture and then show it to them on the screen of my digital camera. They were so interested in the pictures that we repeated this process over and over. We giggled with delight every time and enjoyed the game immensely. These girls and their families hosted me during my stay in the village, and taught me how to appreciate every little moment. Although I may have shown them how a camera lens views their home, they truly taught me a new way in which to view the world.