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Warm and cozy knit stockings for your elfin feet! Great for those long, cold days and nights making toys in Santa's workshop! On sale for a limited time at Santa's Sale Shack!
*Legs not included.
For FGR: Ads for Nonexistent Products.
For GTWL theme Holidays!
3-Inch Ordnance Rifle
•Fires 10 lb. projectiles
•Lightest and strongest rifled tube
•Weight: 1,726 pounds
•Range: up to 1,830 yards
•Approximate number at Antietam:
Confederate: 40, Union: 9
Model 1861 3-inch Ordnance Rifle
Unquestionably the best rifled gun of its day was the 3-inch Ordnance Rifle. Originally called "Griffin Guns," after their designer, John Griffen, the Ordnance Rifles were often mistakenly called "Rodman Guns" because of their superficial resemblance to the large Rodman coastal defense smoothbores. In fact, however, there was no connection.
Wrought iron was expensive and had been difficult to work with, which explains why it wasn't successfully developed earlier for artillery. But in 1854, Griffen modified a procedure then being used in the production of wrought iron for lighthouse construction.
The new technique resulted in an enormously strong gun tube. When first tested in 1856, the Griffen Gun amazed the representatives of the Ordnance Department. Griffen himself challenged them to burst the piece. After more than 500 rounds with increasing charges and loads, they finally succeeded only by firing it with a charge of seven pounds of powder and a load of 13 shot which completely filled up the bore!
The bursting problem was solved. What plagued the Parrott was virtually nonexistent in the wrought iron gun. Only one Ordnance Rifle is known to have burst during the entire Civil War (a gun in a Pennsylvania battery burst at the muzzle - the safest place for a gun to burst if it must do so) while firing double canister during the Battle of the Wilderness.
The "3-inch wrought iron rifle" had a slightly greater effective range than the Parrott and compared favorably even with the British Whitworth for accuracy. "The Yankee three-inch rifle was a dead shot at any distance under a mile," said one admiring Confederate gunner and it was quite effective at a mile and a half.
On top of all of this, the gun was a hundred pounds lighter than the Parrott (800 lbs to the Parrott's 900) which made it highly mobile. For just this reason, it was the preferred weapon of the Horse Artillery (that is, those batteries working with cavalry and therefore requiring maximum mobility).
The Ordnance Rifle, not to put too fine a point on it, was a nearly perfect field piece. The absolute epitome of muzzle-loading artillery, it remained the primary rifled field gun in the U. S. inventory well into the 1880's when it finally gave way to steel breechloaders. About a thousand of these remarkable guns were produced for the Union army. Lacking the technology, the Confederates did not produce them.
In summary, then, there were but seven pieces of artillery which did the bulk of the cannoneer's work during the Civil War. These were the Model 1841 6-pdr and 12-pdr guns, the Model 1841 12-pdr and 24-pdr howitzers, the Model 1857 Light 12pdr gun-howitzer, the Model 1861/ 1863 Parrott (which, for our purposes, can be considered as a single type), and the Model 1861 Ordnance Rifle.
The last two of these, in particular, demonstrate the tremendous advancement in artillery made during the four years of the war. The leap from smoothbores to rifles was the first necessary step in the development of modern artillery.
Indeed, the gap between even the best of the smoothbores and the least effective of the rifles serves to illustrate the old truism that our great l9th century bloodletting was, at one and the same time, the last 18th century war and the first 20th century war.
Antietam Battlefield-Sharpsburg Md
OMG the honking.
I hope the chaos and NOISINESS of the streets in the old quarter are clear in this 30-second video. The honking just never ever ever quits. There are no lights. There are no crosswalks. You just . . . go.
The basic premise of driving in Ha Noi seems to be defensive to the extreme--no one trusts any other driver on the road, so you honk continuously to inform everyone that you're there. And then you basically just say a prayer and jump into the fray. See that guy who crosses on the diagonal at the beginning? He barely looks around.
I have a bunch more videos to share--ones where we cross the street! Also notice just how freaking CLOSE the scooters and people get to me. I'm in the street, sure (there's nowhere else to be--sidewalks are practically nonexistent or covered with scooters or vendors), but I'm against the parked scooters.
Akron-Canton Regional Airport (CAK) is a commercial Class C airport located in the city of Green, in southern Summit County, Ohio (a very small portion of both runways extend into Stark County,) roughly 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Akron, 10 nautical miles (19 km) northwest of Canton, and 10 nautical miles (19 km) northeast of Massillon. The airport is jointly operated by Summit County and Stark County.
The airport has two runways - 7,601, and 8,204 feet (2,317 and 2,501 m) long, both 150 feet (46 m) wide.
In 2005, 1.43 million passengers flew through Akron-Canton, three times the number ten years earlier. It is one of the fastest-growing airports in the Midwest, and attracts passengers from the Akron/Canton area and Cleveland metropolitan area. The number of passengers who use the airport has grown every year since 1995 except 2001 (because of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks which slowed air travel nationwide).
The airport markets itself as "A better way to go", noting the ease of the Akron-Canton Airport in comparison to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport some 40 miles (64 km) north. The airport essentially serves as a secondary "reliever" airport for Northeast Ohio. Although much of the growth is commercial, over 75% of traffic is general aviation, which is all but nonexistent at nearby Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akron-Canton_Regional_Airport
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_...
Wharfinger building area, Eureka waterfront, Humboldt County, CA. Juvenile Heermann's have been almost nonexistent in CA this year, according to Alvaro Jaramillo (see this message: digest.sialia.com/?rm=message;id=905162) so it was good to see this bird today.
Barn is located in Mendon Ponds Park, at the intersection of Clover St and Pond Rd, Mendon, NY (near Rochester)... next to the Nature Center.
Mendon Ponds Park is owned and very poorly maintained by the County of Monroe, NY.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary property is rapidly deteriorating due to an egregious lack of care. Trails are not cleared of debris... signs are useless. Park maintenance is essentially nonexistent. They do have a marketing department. Seriously, the taxpayers are paying the salaries of a county parks marketing department.
Email Mendon Ponds Park complaints to: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
This is one of two Cambodian Buddhist temples in NYC, the other being Wat Jotanaram in the Bronx. I was surprised to find this temple sitting at the end of a block of large Victorian houses; in fact, the temple itself resides in one of those houses. Take a look!
The two gentlemen on the right were standing outside when I passed by. We struck up a halting conversation built on their modest English and my nonexistent Khmer. They invited me inside to see the sanctuary and meet the temple's monk (the gentleman on the left, in case you couldn't tell). Before I knew it, the conversation had turned toward my singlehood; the idea of fixing me up with a Cambodian girl was proposed and roundly lauded by my new friends.
However, before I had a chance to unwittingly and irrevocably signal my matrimonial intentions with an absentminded gesture, like in some bad movie, the clock struck four: it was time to pray. For the next forty-five minutes, the five of us (there was one older woman, as well) sat on the floor in the same asymmetrical pose that the fellow on the right is holding in this picture (occasionally switching legs), with hands raised, palm-to-palm, at chest level. My companions sang what was essentially one continuous chant, which sounded something like this. Even for a total outsider, it was quite entrancing at times.
Before I left, they invited me to attend their three-day-long Khmer New Year's celebration in April. As it happens, I will be out of town for those very same three days. But hey, there's always next year — and I'll still be walking then, after all!
While sis was bargaining with a hat vendor for a good deal, I strike a "conversation" with this man with my close to nonexistent Spanish. He showed me he was reading an old Western novel. He pointed and complimented on my beautiful "teeth" which I realized maybe he meant my smile. When I asked if I can take picture of him, he gladly put a cigar in his mouth and looked straight into the camera. Most Cubans were really happy to have their pictures taken and weren't shy in front of the camera. I hope they never change.
2015 was such an overwhelming year for me in terms of Bratz. After a year without Bratz dolls, I was on the edge of my seat with anticipation about what MGA was concocting for my big headed friends. Considering how obsessed I've been with Bratz since I was eleven years old, I'm surprised I didn't have a complete melt down about Bratz being temporarily discontinued. Somehow, I managed to keep it together, but as it got closer to their relaunch date, I was rather frenzied. It was especially hard to stay calm when there were all sorts of leaked pictures floating around the internet of the secretive 2015 Bratz. On the day that Bratz returned to stores in July 2015, my sister and I made a point of going out to track down some of the new dolls. Usually, I'm the last person to care about newly released dolls. For me, what compels me to a doll type or line is seeing it in person over a period of time. That's why I'm usually the last person on the bandwagon so to speak. Maybe I'm that way because I grew up with mostly second hand dolls, or ones from stores like KB Toys, which carried out of date things. Or maybe I'm that way because the "power of persuasion" is strong with me...meaning the more I see something, the more it gets stuck in my head. But this Bratz relaunch was different for me.
Ever since the day that my friend brought her Bratz dolls over my house, during the fall of 2002, I have been magnetically attracted to them. All my favorite dolls whom I had loved and reveled over for years suddenly seemed inferior. Bratz became my number one obsession, even though I wouldn't say I had an absurd number of them growing up (I had eighteen to be exact). What really has cemented Bratz dolls at the top of my doll pyramid, right alongside American Girls, has been what they have come to mean to me as an adult collector. My last year with my father when he was alive was spent celebrating Bratz. Dad took me all over creation tracking down dolls like On the Mic Thad and 2010 Party Cloe. He spent countless hours searching Craigslist for hauls of Bratz, and then driving me out to buy them. Together we plotted and planned how we could cram the most Bratz dolls in my modestly sized room. Most of all, I will never forget the way Dad's face lit up whenever he saw how happy a Bratz doll made me, and all the jokes he made about their ridiculous proportions. For me, this Bratz relaunch dug deep into my heart. It was not just an important moment in doll history, but also in my own life. I know that if Dad were still alive, he would have taken me out the day the Bratz returned, and bought me a few. That's what ultimately drew me to the stores the day they officially relaunched.
My sister and I were actually the first people to ask about the new Bratz at our local Toys 'R' Us. The employees had not even remembered to put the dolls out. That meant we got first dibs on all the new lines. I already had solidified the plan that I was going to buy at least #SelfieSnaps Jade, since I had fallen in love with her leaked photos on the internet. While the employees were setting up the meager display, one of them handed me Jade. After all the dolls had been arranged, my sister and I must have spent at least a half an hour brooding over what other dolls to get. I wanted them all--the Hello My Name Is ladies, the #FierceFitness gals, and the #SelfieSnaps Bratz, who were the main reason I ventured out that day. But obviously I had to make a more reasonable, less greedy selection. I thought about only returning home with Sasha and Jade, but I knew that it would kill me if I left Cloe and Yasmin behind. After all, for over a year, I desperately longed to see their familiar faces in the toy aisles, and my new 2015 line would feel empty without Yasmin and Cloe (especially considering Yasmin has always been my favorite character). And so that day, Yasmin, Cloe, Sasha, and Jade all found their way to the register, and into my heart.
Words cannot describe how amazing the relaunch was (despite being poorly received by most people)! These dolls are more than I ever could have imagined. In many ways, they have revived what I always loved about Bratz. Their proportions are even more exaggerated. Their new 2015 heads are supersized versions of the original 2001 mold. Their shoes are the most ginormous things ever--they put the old Bratz boyz shoes to shame. The quality and care that these clothes were styled with blew me away. The fabrics and details take me back to 2002, when I first played with my friend's Xpress It! Yasmin doll on my basement floor. In other ways, these new Bratz are completely unexpected, and have ventured into uncharted territories for Bratz. While some of the 2015 ideas are classic, such as #SnowKissed and Sleepover Party (both of which are much loved throwbacks to their Bratz predecessors), others like #SelfieSnaps speak to an entirely new generation of Bratz fanatics. They reference a culture that was nonexistent back in 2001 when the Bratz first emerged onto shelves.
Ultimately, this combination of the old and new has defined this 2015 generation of Bratz as the "Brattiest" of them all. They make their ancestors look a little less "Bratty" if you ask me. I mean, their large heads literally crowd out the old dolls' much more diminutive looking heads on my display. MGA truly delivered what they promised in my opinion. These 2015 Bratz retained what most of us have come to love about Bratz over the years. Instead of conforming Bratz to the standards set by more conventional fashion dolls, these ladies embraced what made them famous, while at the same time breathing new life into the line which was once clinging on for dear life. Although it was a short lived, this era of Bratz will always hold a special place in my heart, and I for one will not forget it!
Bosnia was the biggest culture shock that I have experienced. Upon exiting the plane in Sarajevo, the public transit was the least convenient of any city we've been too. Nonexistent from the airport. This led us to stubbornly walking for a good distance, then happening upon this nice little restaurant.
Acting like the bratty kids from the U.S. that we are, we didn't bother learning any languages beyond our own for this trip. Most Bosnians do not know English. This was the first time we experienced that. There is also an incredible amount of evidence from the civil war that tore it apart. Over 20 years ago.
This led us to try a beer on the menu we haven't seen yet. Happened to be non-alcoholic.
So here we are acting bratty and sad because our beer isn't what we liked, while there is a guy missing an arm in the frame.
Aleksandra Pavlovic moved to Berlin this year to work as a freelance artist after several years studying at three different universities. She chose to portray her impression of Berlin using a ruby/mandarin striped Kolo Newbury photo album.
Aleksandra on her Berlin-themed Kolo book:
"It is Berlin through my eyes, through eyes of an immigrant, a newcomer, a new citizen, and my personal emotions towards it. I depict my impression with life, joy and euphoria of the fall of the wall, crossed boundaries and social life after the fall. The wall is no more, yet will never be forgotten, it is remembered in the daily celebration of freedom.
The physical wall is gone, however, as an artist, I still question; what other walls are there? Are there blurred or invisible walls between the people in this great city, between long time inhabitants and those coming more recently, between the various nationalities and cultures in Berlin, between the generations? Or are the invisible walls nonexistent?"
koloist.com/index.php/2009/12/23/through-eyes-of-an-immig...
Suspended Animation Classic #536 First published April 4, 1999 (#14) (Dates are approximate)
Comics Legend Frank King
By Michael Vance
Frank King created Gasoline Alley as a single-panel comic 'strip' in 1918. The cartoonist focused on the country's obsession with automobiles until Alley evolved into a family oriented strip when Skeezix, an orphaned baby was left on Walt Wallet's doorstep in 1921. Even among family strips, it was almost unique in its use of "realistic time" as opposed to condensed, lengthened or nonexistent time used in most fiction. Frank King's characters aged.
King was born in 1883 and began as a cartoonist at the Minneapolis Times newspaper in 1901. After several unsuccessful strips created in Chicago, King launched Bobby Make-Believe in 1915 and then his masterpiece, Gasoline Alley.
King's quiet and reality-based storylines and simple, design oriented art are among the best in the history of comic strips. His distinctive characters and often emotional storytelling gained the cartoonist a large and dedicated adult audience as his cast aged, and one generation replaced another, in Alley.
"Skeezix" was the baby word with which the orphan named himself after his adoption by Uncle Walt. As the most popular character in Alley, Skeezix is also an excellent example Of the strip's real-time approach to its continuity. Popular characters seldom age in strips, and almost never die. But Skeezix grew up, married, took over Uncle Walt's business, had his own children, and eventually attended Uncle Walt's funeral.
Today's popular For Better or Worse comic strip owes much of its storytelling style to both Skeezix and Frank King.
King died in 1969, but Alley was continued under different cartoonists.
Comic book appearances included: Gasoline Alley (1929, Reilly & Leo Publishers), Gasoline Alley (1959, Star Publications), Popular Comics (1936--'48, Dell), and Super Comics (1938-'49, Dell, #117 all Alley). An excellent selection was published in the Smithsonian Collection of Newspaper Comics.
King's work is highly recommended. Some older comics are expensive and difficult to locate. Price guides or comics dealers help. Comics shops, conventions, mail order companies and trade journals are best sources. Prices vary; shop around.
Niches at the McCormick Elementary School in Wichita Kansas. The niches stored water buckets for the students. Since indoor plumbing or electricity in 1890 when the school opened, was nonexistent a bucket of fresh drinking water was placed in the niches.
McCormick was built in 1889-1890 and was designed by architects Proudfoot and Bird. It was added to in 1930 and in 1950. It closed in 1992 due to declining enrollment and is now home to the McCormick School Museum.
National Register #78001288. Added in 1978.
Dark was falling fast as I shot this; anyone who's lived in the tropics is familiar with nonexistent twilights. I was just able to get the tripod set up before it was too dark to get a decent exposure. The way the temple was perched on the edge of the mountain appealed to me. The ocean is directly to the right, but I couldn't get it in the shot because of some pretty thick jungle.
It's another image from my day in Kaib, taken right around the corner from this shot, though considerably later in the day.
Viewing it large on black will undoubtedly reveal the image's flaws. :)
One of the exhibits showing life in the concentration camp, in topics from food and clothing to medical care (basically nonexistent).
The F-16N grew out of a requirement by the US Navy for an advanced adversary dissimilar fighter trainer to replace aging A-4E/F Skyhawks. Using the Block 30 F-16C/D as a basis, the F-16N was downgraded, as it was not anticipated to ever see actual combat. The APG-68 radar was replaced with the APG-66, the internal structure was strengthened to better handle the stress of low-level manuevering, and while the F-16N can carry Sidewinders, it is not equipped to fire or drop any other ordnance, and the M61 Vulcan gatling cannon is removed.
18 F-16Ns and four two-seat TF-16Ns were delivered beginning in 1987 to Top Gun, the US Navy’s fighter training school. With the temporary reduction in aggressor squadrons during the mid-1990s and due to wing cracking, the F-16N force was retired in 1995, though the Navy has since bought ex-Pakistani F-16C/Ds as aggressors.
F-16N BuNo 163277 entered service with VF-126 (appropriately nicknamed "Bandits") at NAS Miramar, California in 1989, flying as an adversary for Top Gun. When VF-126 was disestablished in 1994, it was assigned directly to the Naval Fighter Weapons School (the actual name for Top Gun), also at Miramar. It was retired in 1995 and donated to the Palm Springs Air Museum in 1997.
Of the two F-16Ns we saw on our May 2021 California trip, both were painted in this Swedish-style splinter camouflage. The Navy was inspired by the Saab Viggen's camouflage, and though it never intended to go to war with Sweden, it was applied on a few of the F-16Ns for evaluation. 163277 has faded in the California sun, to the point where its NFWS markings are virtually nonexistent; PSAM very likely intends to refinish the aircraft in the near future.
"Agoutis have five front and three hind toes; the first toe is very small. The tail is very short or nonexistent and hairless. Agoutis may grow to be up to 60 cm (24 in) in length and 4 kg (8.8 lb) in weight. Most species are brown on their backs and whitish or buff on their bellies; the fur may have a glossy appearance and then glimmers in an orange colour. Reports differ as to whether they are diurnal or nocturnal animals.... They can live for as long as 20 years, a remarkably long time for a rodent
In the wild, they are shy animals and flee from humans, while in captivity they may become trusting. In Trinidad, they are renowned for being very fast runners, able to keep hunting dogs occupied with chasing them for hours." From Wikipedia.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_agouti
This photo was taken on 20 March 2017, but I also saw and photographed these rather strange animals every day that we were staying at the Asa Wright Nature Centre on the island of Trinidad. They like to hang around the Asa Wright building, finding food, and then they seem to disappear into the forest for most of the day. Many of my photos of them came out blurry for some reason, but this one worked OK.
This is a video that I found on YouTube, taken by Rigdon Currie and Trish Johnson, at many of the same places we visited on Trinidad and Tobago. Not my video, but it made me feel like I was right there still. Posting the link here again, so that I won't lose it.
I also came across the following 27-minute YouTube video of the flora and fauna of Trinidad, filmed by John Patrick Smith in February 2015.
This adventure was only the second holiday of any kind, anywhere, that I have had in something like 30 or 35 years! The other holiday was a wonderful, one-week trip with my great friends from England, Linda and Tony, when we went down south to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons in September 2012. I have had maybe half a dozen weekends away, including to Waterton National Park, which have helped keep me going.
Six birding/photographer friends and I decided that we would take this exciting trip together (from 12-21 March 2017), spending the first two or three days on the island of Tobago and then the rest of the time at the Asa Wright Nature Centre on the nearby, much larger island of Trinidad. We decided to take a complete package, so everything was included - flights (we were so very lucky to get Black Friday prices, which were 50% off!), accommodation at both places, all our food, and the various walks and day trips that we could chose from. Two of my friends, Anne B. and Brenda, saw to all the planning of flights and accommodations, which was so very much appreciated by the rest of us. I could never have done all this myself!
What a time we had, seeing so many beautiful and interesting things - and, of course, everything was a lifer for me. Some of these friends had visited Costa Rica before, so may have been familiar with a few of the birds. There was a lot more to see on Trinidad, so we were glad that we chose Tobago to visit first and then spend a longer time at Asa Wright. It was wonderful to be right by the sea, though, at the Blue Waters Inn on the island of Tobago. Just gorgeous.
The Asa Wright Nature Centre, on Trinidad, is such an amazing place! We stayed in cabins up or down hill from the main building. Really, one doesn't need to travel away from the Centre for birding, as so many different species visit the Hummingbird feeders that are right by the huge, open veranda, and the trees of the rain forest high up a mountainous road. The drive up and down this narrow, twisting, pot-holed road was an adventure in itself! Never would I ever do this drive myself - we had a guide who drove us everywhere in a van/small bus. I had read many accounts of this road, lol! There was enough room for two vehicles to pass each other, and the honking of horns was almost continuous - either to warn any vehicle that might be coming fast around the next bend or as a sign that drivers knew each other. The drive along this road, from the coast to Asa Wright, took just over an hour each way.
Even after a few weeks, I still miss the great food that was provided every single day at Asa Wright and even the Rum Punch that appeared each evening. I never drink at all, so I wasn't sure if I would even try the Punch - glad I did, though, as it was delicious and refreshing. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were all served buffet-style, with a great variety of dishes from which to choose. To me, pure luxury. So very, very grateful to have been invited to be part of this amazing adventure.
What's this wet stuff falling from the sky tonight?! It's raining in California at last! The 1st potent storm of the season finally gives the state a good soaking, including SoCal where rain was virtually nonexistent so far this season. I miss driving in the rain! Right after I was done with work, I went straight to observe the rainy weather. Due to all this rain, localized flooding was possible in flood-prone areas. Surely, we are having a weather pattern that was completely opposite of last month's epic dryness. Is it now safe to say that California's rainy season is finally here?
(Video footage taken from around San Jose, CA on Monday evening, January 8, 2018)
Weather update/forecast:
A powerful storm had battered California with heavy rain, mountain snow & gusty winds. A connection of subtropical moisture was present and had helped aid in bringing heavy rain to parts of the state. Heavy rain fell around NorCal Monday and into early Tuesday morning with approximately 3.50 inches of rain around San Francisco & Sacramento. While rainfall was forecast to be more sporadic over NorCal for the duration of the storm, heavy rain was more intense in Central/SoCal into Tuesday night. T-storms with small hail & lightning weren't out of the question as the low pressure system itself drifted inland with the added atmospheric instability. Gusty winds have continued to kick up along the coast and over the mountains as the storm drifted inland. Sporadic power outages were possible... This widespread rainfall had put a dent in the state's precipitation deficits, as well as put an end to the wildfire season at last. Looking ahead, more rain was on the horizon. Is the state's rainy season finally starting to kick in despite a slow start? Fingers crossed...
Alternatives to Investor-State Arbitration in a Multipolar World
By Markus Wagner
The session entitled “Alternatives to Investor-State Arbitration in a Multipolar World” and convened by Jason Yackee addressed potential reforms and improvements to international investment law.
Céline Lévesque from the University of Ottawa spoke about the possibility to make greater use of ADR in international investment law, specifically from the perspective of states. Her remarks focused on how states could – even at a relatively late stage of a dispute – avert the costly and time-consuming process of investment arbitration, involving disputes ranging from what would be perceived to be meritorious or unmeritorious claims. Such settlements are themselves not without costs (economic and political) and legal obstacles, but recent statistics show that the number of settlements is increasing. Even with respect to unmeritorious claims, there may be multiple opportunities for states to avoid drawn-out processes and avoid unnecessary costs, either by curbing the dispute in its entirety or at least by limiting the scope of the dispute (this could be achieved by a neutral assessment early on in the process). Professor Lévesque suggested that treaties should be adjusted to reflect these options.
Cliff Minjiao Chi, Associate Professor of International Law from Xiamen University Law School / China, discussed the opportunities to make use of domestic institutions for purposes of international investment law. While this opportunity is dependent on the underlying bilateral investment treaty (BIT), a number of reasons militate in favor of using domestic institutions. The first generation of China’s BITs allowed for both international and domestic dispute resolution. China’s current BITs allow for a broader use of international investment arbitration, while still retaining the opportunity for domestic dispute resolution, either through the court system or through administrative procedures. Some of these BITs make mandatory the exhaustion of administrative review procedures before being able to pursue arbitration on the international level.
Andrea K. Bjorklund (UC-Davis School of Law) addressed the opportunity that state to state arbitration may offer an alternative to the current investor-state arbitration system. Although the US – Australia BIT has famously adopted such a system, this has not developed into a larger trend. Nevertheless, if such a system were to be implemented more widely a number of questions arise. If such a system were to be implemented, such questions include who the state would act for (whether it asserts its own rights, the rights of the investor, some shared right), who would be responsible for compensation, what the remedies would be (prospective such as the remedies in place at the WTO or retrospective such as compensation) and who would be the beneficiary of such remedies, i.e. the investor or the state. Whatever the result of these questions, such a parallel mode of dispute settlement would thus require rules as to how parallel proceedings would complement each other.
Barry Appleton, founder and partner of Appleton & Associates International Lawyers, analyzed the opportunity of an appellate mechanism in international investment law, similar to the system of the WTO. Barry Appleton pointed out that this would require a fundamental amendment of the current system with its fragmented nature. Stepping back from this current debate however, Appleton addressed what he perceives to be the real challenge. In his view, the real problem arises not from the result of investor-state arbitration, but rather from an improper interpretation of international investment law (by taking account of the applicable rules of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties or the ILC Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts) and the lack of a minimum standard of qualification for international arbitrators.
The subsequent discussion centered on the nature of international investment law, whether there should be a “fork in the road” provision, mechanisms to improve the quality of the arbitrators and counsel and the interface between international investment law and other fields, such as international trade law and international finance.
The panel brought to light challenges for devising alternatives to the current system of international investment arbitration with its focus on dispute settlement between a state and an investor. As the panelists and the discussion made clear, the likelihood of the current system becoming displaced is slim to nonexistent. However, it also became apparent that the current system does not reflect the panoply of issues surrounding international investment law.
Markus Wagner is Associate Professor at the University of Miami School of Law and focuses his research in international economic law and the law of armed conflict. His latest publications include Conceptualizing the Shapeshifting Nature of Investment Law(yers) and Autonomy in the Battlespace: Independently Operating Weapon Systems and the Law of Armed Conflict.
Furman describes the origins of wage stagnation.
Since the 1970s, the typical U.S. worker has experienced either a minimal or nonexistent increase in wages. What can and should be done to promote the economic growth that will lead to higher earnings for more American workers? How do we ensure that these gains are broadly shared, resulting in robust wage growth for as many workers as possible?
On September 26, The Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a forum on wage growth in The United States. The forum began with introductory remarks by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, and a fireside chat with Jason Furman, professor of practice, Harvard Kennedy School, and Lawrence Mishel, president, Economic Policy Institute. The fireside chat was moderated by Catherine Rampell, opinion writer, The Washington Post. A panel discussion will follow the fireside chat, featuring panelists including: Jared Bernstein, senior fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Robert Greenstein, founder and president, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Heidi Shierholz; senior economist and director of policy, Economic Policy Institute; the panel was moderated by Jay Shambaugh, director, The Hamilton Project.
In conjunction with this event, The Hamilton Project released a new framing paper exploring wage trends and the economic forces that underlie them.
Photo credit: Ralph Alswang
I've been working on this off and on for the last couple years and decided it was about time I finish it. What really drove me to finish it was that G-System Qubeley I did while back.
It came with a LED to light up the (nonexistent on the kit) eyes and I decided that it didn't look right and the LED didn't really fit in the Qubeley's head. But a quick test fit and some surgery inside the Gogg's head and tah-dah! Perfect! So I started finishing this build that had been an off and on thing (I was showing the Gogg's hands to a friend at my 36th birthday party- I'm 38 as I'm writing this. lol).
Paint is a bunch of custom-mixed Gunze stuff (I think they released a dedicated Gogg set, but I missed it). Weathering is oils and powders. And decals are by the always wonderful Samuel. Base groundwork is made with Sculptamold. The Gogg is HEAVY so I wanted to show the wet ground bulging around it as it sinks down after coming ashore (it's an amphibious MS).
While the other shots are better lit, they don't represent how the Gogg's mono eye looks under normal lighting. As a result, the mono eye doesn't appear as large and fuzzy as it does in the anime and games. So here are shots that show the Gogg in normal lighting with the mono eye looking big and menacing-- as it should be.
Rampell, who moderated the chat, poses questions to the panelists.
Since the 1970s, the typical U.S. worker has experienced either a minimal or nonexistent increase in wages. What can and should be done to promote the economic growth that will lead to higher earnings for more American workers? How do we ensure that these gains are broadly shared, resulting in robust wage growth for as many workers as possible?
On September 26, The Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a forum on wage growth in The United States. The forum began with introductory remarks by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, and a fireside chat with Jason Furman, professor of practice, Harvard Kennedy School, and Lawrence Mishel, president, Economic Policy Institute. The fireside chat was moderated by Catherine Rampell, opinion writer, The Washington Post. A panel discussion will follow the fireside chat, featuring panelists including: Jared Bernstein, senior fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Robert Greenstein, founder and president, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Heidi Shierholz; senior economist and director of policy, Economic Policy Institute; the panel was moderated by Jay Shambaugh, director, The Hamilton Project.
In conjunction with this event, The Hamilton Project released a new framing paper exploring wage trends and the economic forces that underlie them.
Photo credit: Ralph Alswang
I've been working on this off and on for the last couple years and decided it was about time I finish it. What really drove me to finish it was that G-System Qubeley I did while back.
It came with a LED to light up the (nonexistent on the kit) eyes and I decided that it didn't look right and the LED didn't really fit in the Qubeley's head. But a quick test fit and some surgery inside the Gogg's head and tah-dah! Perfect! So I started finishing this build that had been an off and on thing (I was showing the Gogg's hands to a friend at my 36th birthday party- I'm 38 as I'm writing this. lol).
Paint is a bunch of custom-mixed Gunze stuff (I think they released a dedicated Gogg set, but I missed it). Weathering is oils and powders. And decals are by the always wonderful Samuel. Base groundwork is made with Sculptamold. The Gogg is HEAVY so I wanted to show the wet ground bulging around it as it sinks down after coming ashore (it's an amphibious MS).
While the other shots are better lit, they don't represent how the Gogg's mono eye looks under normal lighting. As a result, the mono eye doesn't appear as large and fuzzy as it does in the anime and games. So here are shots that show the Gogg in normal lighting with the mono eye looking big and menacing-- as it should be.
The final portion of the program, "Roundtable on Wage Stagnation: How Should We Address It?", included (left to right) Jay Shambaugh, the director of The Hamilton Project, Robert Greenstein, the founder and president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Heidi Shierholz, a senior economist and the director of policy at the Economic Policy Institute, and Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Since the 1970s, the typical U.S. worker has experienced either a minimal or nonexistent increase in wages. What can and should be done to promote the economic growth that will lead to higher earnings for more American workers? How do we ensure that these gains are broadly shared, resulting in robust wage growth for as many workers as possible?
On September 26, The Hamilton Project at Brookings hosted a forum on wage growth in The United States. The forum began with introductory remarks by former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin, and a fireside chat with Jason Furman, professor of practice, Harvard Kennedy School, and Lawrence Mishel, president, Economic Policy Institute. The fireside chat was moderated by Catherine Rampell, opinion writer, The Washington Post. A panel discussion will follow the fireside chat, featuring panelists including: Jared Bernstein, senior fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Robert Greenstein, founder and president, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; and Heidi Shierholz; senior economist and director of policy, Economic Policy Institute; the panel was moderated by Jay Shambaugh, director, The Hamilton Project.
In conjunction with this event, The Hamilton Project released a new framing paper exploring wage trends and the economic forces that underlie them.
Photo credit: Ralph Alswang
In the middle of the street directing nonexistent traffic. Sporting some casual Friday wear.
Blazer: Apt 9 via Kohls
Shirt: Old Navy
Jeans: Lucky
Belt: Hot Topic
Boots: Guess
Cheesy Grin: Me via Husband
We stopped in a resort town on a lake for a refreshment break and washrooms. Public washrooms were nonexistent on this trip which was a surprise. We had to go into coffee shops and bakeries to use theirs. It was considered bad form to use their facilities without buying their products. It was a somewhat fattening experience. Luckily we were cycling every day to work some of it off. This was an ice cream stop. Another little detail; it was common for the men's urinal to be in the entryway to the men's and women's stalls. It was a bit of an adjustment to answer "nature's call" while women were walking past behind me.
-is my obsession lately.
I am weighing the options of going to college for photography.... or teaching (grade school teaching specifically).
i'm in a complete predicament.
i worry that my talent for photography is nonexistent and my passion for it will not last me through the years. This comes from uncertainty.
On the other hand, i absolutely love photography. it just comes so naturally to me, its something i rarely have to think about, and i believe that attending a quality school can enhance my talent and possibly open new doors and abilities and maybe even my creativity.
what do i do?!
also, i am looking for groups to join here on Flickr. any suggestions? :)
Madanpura is distinguished at a distance only by its tall 5 story buildings. These buildings are as all buildings in Banaras, made of brick. Densely constructed, hardly 5 feet separate each of these towers. The thin alleys which weave through Madanpura are like the dark forest floors of tropical rain forests, hardly any light pierces through the thick canopy of brick and concrete above. The smells of tea brewing and chicken roasting compete with those of the cow excrement and human waste which line the gutters. General stores line the more frequented passageways and cobweb powerlines entangle just above the covered heads of residents. The terraces are a world apart. From on top of one of Manadpura’s chimney-like buildings one can see nearly all of Banaras. The rooftops are full of children and adolescents flying kites, silk-dyers drying their day’s work, and residents simply taking a break from the hustle below. The rooftops are vermillion and saffron, the brilliant blue and gold of sarees baking in the sun. Re-bar pokes out of concrete foundation and staircases continue unfinished to nonexistent floors. As the family grows, so too will these buildings. The outline of a mosque is seen in the background, and another 20 or so exist unobserved below. My second informant Nassir--a weaver who operates a small saree factory--points to a building with a child on top and tells me that it is his. He tells me that he lives there with his family and the families of his four brothers, almost 50 people all in total. Then he points to the house adjacent; “this is the house my nephew will marry into”. Then the house next to that, “and this is where my cousin lives”. This continues until Nassir has mapped out nearly every building in our view, all containing relatives and relatives of relatives.
024
Fortune Global Forum 2018
October 16th, 2018
Toronto, Canada
3:30 PM
THE NEW GLOBAL CONSUMER: DOING BUSINESS IN A DIGITAL ECONOMY
The digital economy is no longer part of the economy. It is the economy. How can traditional brick-and-mortar firms reinvent themselves, their supply chains, and their marketplaces to avoid the fate of brands once thought of as everlasting but which are now nonexistent? And how are new platforms – from e-commerce to shared services – rewriting the rules of the game? A conversation on how businesses can manage expectations for digitally empowered customers, and how technology is being used to enhance the customer experience.
Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid al Futtaim
Andrea Stairs, General Manager, Canada and Latin America, eBay
Ning Tang, Founder and CEO, CreditEase
Moderator: Phil Wahba, Senior Writer, Fortune
Photograph by Stuart Isett/Fortune
A Photo A Day For A Year
Day 05
I'm not exactly happy with this photo, but it's the best I could do on a night when inspiration was just nonexistent for me. This was a thirty second exposure in the large cornfield that is my back yard. Normally, I'd have stayed out longer to achieve a better shot, but to be honest, I'm just drained and it was so ridiculously cold outside.
A Butcher Shop
A shop in the small village of Kaş (on the southwestern Mediterranean coast) cutting meat to make kabobs. I had a very funny and great time with these guys trying to explain in my nonexistent Turkish that I wanted two kilos of lamb for that evenings dinner. When they heard the word "kebab" they smiled immediately and went about cutting it into small pieces and wrapped it all up. I bought some fantastic spice rub down the street and we all had a great time that evening eating grilled kebabs over an open fire right on the shore of the sea.
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www.fluidr.com/photos/lesyeuxheureux
All rights reserved - Copyright © les yeux heureux
All rights reserved - Copyright © Christopher Casilli
For more information www.flickr.com/people/lesyeuxheureux/
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Do not reproduce, copy, edit, publish, transmit or upload this image in any way without my expressed written permission.
Thanks!
Barn is located in Mendon Ponds Park, at the intersection of Clover St and Pond Rd, Mendon, NY. Monroe County Sheriff Mounted Division was started in 1938.
Mendon Ponds Park is owned and very poorly maintained by the County of Monroe, NY.
Unfortunately, this extraordinary property is rapidly deteriorating due to an egregious lack of care. Trails are not cleared of debris... signs are useless. Park maintenance is essentially nonexistent. They do have a marketing department. Seriously, the taxpayers are paying the salaries of a county parks marketing department.
Email Mendon Ponds Park complaints to: countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
See Cupcakes Take the Cake for more cupcake photos, news, and information.
More later because the Chelsea wifi is horrible to nonexistent so I
have no clue if these are sending. The Oreo crumb was far and away the
best.
Walker Evans. Bud Fields and His Family. (Image). _Photographs for the Farm Security Administration_. Hale County, Alabama: Da Capo Press, Summer 1936, 327.
This is a picture of a family of subsistence farmers during 1936 of the Great Depression. Subsistence farming differs from farming greatly ,for its main purpose is self- sufficiency rather than farming for a profit. It is a method of farming where whole families only plant enough food to feed the themselves. Some Crops are sold for profit, but not enough money is rendered to live off of the money made. The idea of participating in the marketplace is nonexistent.
Families of substance farming usually live in a self-made house which is typically very, very small. These houses contain holes in the walls,covered in dirt, and are not well made. As well as food, the family also produces for themselves clothes, house furnishing, and farming implements. Virtually everything they need. These families live very poor and in terms of a social class, they are on the level of poverty.
For families that live this way life is extremely difficult. It is a constant struggle to produce enough food to feed a family. Also, subsistence farmers have no education. So for these families, it is an unbroken cycle of poverty. With no education and practically no other skills besides farming, these people can do nothing else but continue on in poverty. This was common place during the Great Depression. Most lower-class families didn’t have many options when it came to surviving and had to do what they could. Especially when no jobs could be found.
This picture hold a special place for me, for my grandfather and his family were subsistence farmers. They grew up in a tiny shack covered in dirt in Mississippi. My grandmother told me the first time she saw the house she was in shock. For my family the cycle of poverty was broken through education; however, sadly, this option was not available for people of the 1930s. Families had to make due with what they could, even if that ment poverity.
Sources:
Ford, Lacey K. “Self-Sufficiency, Cotton, and Economic Development: The Task of Economic History”. Vol. 45, No. 2,. June 1985. (JSTOR). Accessed 25 July 2007.
Musson, A.E. “The Journal of Economic History”. June 1959. Vol. 19, No. 2 pp. 199-228 (JSTOR), Accessed 25 July 2007.
Waters, Tony._ The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: life beneath the level of the marketplace._ Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2007
Fore more information visit:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subsistence_agriculture
I miss driving in the rain! It's raining in California at last! The 1st potent storm of the season finally gives the state a good soaking, including SoCal where rain was virtually nonexistent so far this season... Right after I was done with work, I went straight to observe the rainy weather. Due to all this rain, localized flooding was possible in flood-prone areas. Surely, we are having a weather pattern that was completely opposite of last month's epic dryness. Is it now safe to say that California's rainy season is finally here?
(Video footage taken from around San Jose, CA on Monday evening, January 8, 2018)
Weather update/forecast:
A powerful storm had battered California with heavy rain, mountain snow & gusty winds. A connection of subtropical moisture was present and had helped aid in bringing heavy rain to parts of the state. Heavy rain fell around NorCal Monday and into early Tuesday morning with approximately 3.50 inches of rain around San Francisco & Sacramento. While rainfall was forecast to be more sporadic over NorCal for the duration of the storm, heavy rain was more intense in Central/SoCal into Tuesday night. T-storms with small hail & lightning weren't out of the question as the low pressure system itself drifted inland with the added atmospheric instability. Gusty winds have continued to kick up along the coast and over the mountains as the storm drifted inland. Sporadic power outages were possible... This widespread rainfall had put a dent in the state's precipitation deficits, as well as put an end to the wildfire season at last. Looking ahead, more rain was on the horizon. Is the state's rainy season finally starting to kick in despite a slow start? Fingers crossed...
Sorrrrrry I've been nonexistent for the past forever! It was spring break and I haven't really had any inspiration! I went to Portland for five days, and lemme tell ya! Rain sucks! I thought I'd like to live in Portland but after five days, I was missing Bend like no other!! :)
But I gotta give Portland one thing: Its Gorgeous! The buildings, the oldness! Gahhh I got some good shots and I can't wait to upload them!
On another note, I got this senior necklace!! It's super cute and I will love it foreva! Hope you like it as much as I do :)
As Allied forces closed in on Japan in 1945, the Japanese found themselves in increasingly desperate straits; the kamikaze was the most visible sign of this desperation. With the American landings on Okinawa, the Imperial Japanese Army realized that the Home Islands were next. Along with the Imperial Japanese Navy, they intended to unleash a horde of kamikaze attacks that would so unnerve the Americans that some sort of ceasefire or negotiated settlement would result. Part of this plan included the Nakajima Ki-115 Tsurugi (Sabre).
By 1945, Japan was nearly out of experienced pilots, and were increasingly forced to use nearly untrained men--mostly college-age students--who were long on patriotic fervor but short on skill. The Japanese were also running out of aircraft, many of which had already been expended in kamikaze attacks in the Philippines and Okinawa. The Ki-115 was designed solely for the kamikaze mission. It was designed to be built quickly and with what little materials the Japanese had left: mostly wood and steel. The landing gear was there only for taxiing and takeoff; it would be jettisoned after leaving the ground, as there was to be no return trip. A universal engine mount was incorporated into the design so that the Tsurugi could use whatever engines were still available--American B-29 bombing raids had devastated the Japanese aviation industry by this time. No defensive armament was included: the Tsurugi was intended solely to be flown into an enemy target, and the only weapon was to be a heavy bomb carried beneath the aircraft.
The first prototype Ki-115 flew in March 1945, and Japanese test pilots were not pleased with it: even as an aircraft purposely built to be suicidal, it was poor stuff. Visibility from the cockpit was nearly nonexistent, especially over the long nose. Taking off was problematic, and in the hands of anything besides one of the few experienced pilots the Japanese had left, the Tsurugi would be more likely to kill its pilot long before the pilot had a chance to kill themselves. The service understood that most of the projected 8000 Ki-115s would never reach their targets, but even if only ten percent made it, it would cause horrific damage to an American landing force.
Production began on the Ki-115 with the promise that upgraded versions with better handling would be produced, but the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki ended the war before any Tsurugis were used in combat. About 105 were built, and all fell into the hands of the Americans after Japan's surrender. Nearly all were scrapped, as there was no interest in an aircraft intended for suicide, and only two (or possibly one) are known to survive.
Assuming that there is only one Ki-115 left, this is it. It was found by American forces at the Nakajima factory at Iwate and shipped back to the United States, but never flown, and was placed in storage at the Smithsonian's Silver Hill storage facility for eventual display in the National Air and Space Museum. The NASM decided that it was unlikely that the aircraft would ever be restored or that the Smithsonian would ever have room for it to be displayed, so it was loaned to the Pima Air and Space Museum in 2012.
Because of the Tsurugi's wood and light steel construction, Pima decided not to attempt to restore it, for fear that it would simply fall apart; it is displayed in unrestored form. Faint hints of IJAAF markings can still be seen, besides the hinomaru national insignia: the yellow wing leading edges were a hallmark of IJAAF aircraft. At some point during its journey from Japan to the US, the engine mount was damaged; as a result, the engine is not actually attached to the aircraft.
A docent I talked to after taking this picture claimed that this is the same Ki-115 that was displayed as a gate guard in front of Yokota Air Base, Japan during the 1950s. This is unlikely, as Pima's own guidebook mentions that this is the Ki-115 owned by the Smithsonian, which was brought back at the end of the war. The fate of the Yokota Ki-115 is unknown, but it is thought to be owned by a Japanese museum. Given that I thought that no Ki-115s survived to present, seeing any of them was a huge surprise.
I've been working on this off and on for the last couple years and decided it was about time I finish it. What really drove me to finish it was that G-System Qubeley I did while back.
It came with a LED to light up the (nonexistent on the kit) eyes and I decided that it didn't look right and the LED didn't really fit in the Qubeley's head. But a quick test fit and some surgery inside the Gogg's head and tah-dah! Perfect! So I started finishing this build that had been an off and on thing (I was showing the Gogg's hands to a friend at my 36th birthday party- I'm 38 as I'm writing this. lol).
Paint is a bunch of custom-mixed Gunze stuff (I think they released a dedicated Gogg set, but I missed it). Weathering is oils and powders. And decals are by the always wonderful Samuel. Base groundwork is made with Sculptamold. The Gogg is HEAVY so I wanted to show the wet ground bulging around it as it sinks down after coming ashore (it's an amphibious MS).
While the other shots are better lit, they don't represent how the Gogg's mono eye looks under normal lighting. As a result, the mono eye doesn't appear as large and fuzzy as it does in the anime and games. So here are shots that show the Gogg in normal lighting with the mono eye looking big and menacing-- as it should be.