The Kroxigor form one of the core species of the Lizardmen race, created by the Old Ones as strong and obedient construction workers, labourers and in times of war, powerful warriors. In all practicality, Kroxigors are essentially a larger and far more powerful relative of the Saurus. They are hulking creatures, their bodies consisting of slabs of rock-hard muscle and their massive jaws bristling with razor-sharp teeth. They move in silence, save for the heavy thumping tread of their feet. When enraged, they unleash their only form of speech - a blood-curdling roar that reverberates across the jungle.

Under the guidance of Skink overseers, Kroxigors accomplish many great tasks that would require a great amount of strength to muster, such as hauling and placing the massive stone blocks instrumental in the composition of the ziggurat temples. Perhaps due to the tedium of their labours, the Kroxigor were never intended to be mentally agile. They are extremely simple-minded creatures that require and often desire direction and would instinctively obey all instructions from their smaller kin with an almost alien level of obedience.

Source: Wikipedia

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I never meant to cause you any sorrow

I never meant to cause you any pain

I only wanted one time to see you laughing

I only wanted to see you laughing in the purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain

I only wanted to see you bathing in the purple rain

I never wanted to be your weekend lover

I only wanted to be some kind of friend, hey

Baby, I could never steal you from another

It's such a shame our friendship had to end

Purple rain, purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain

I only wanted to see you underneath the purple rain

Honey, I know, I know, I know times are changin'

It's time we all reach out for something new, that means you too

You say you want a leader, but you can't seem to make up your mind

And I think you better close it and let me guide you to the purple rain

I had this idea for a while of taking an image with water falling from above but catching it in drops using the flash. I had wanted to try using a whole bucket of water for more impact, but the practicality of me doing this on my own was too much so out came the easily available shower head!

This was a real pain too as it was really hard to keep my eyes open as the water was warm and a little irritating, but i had to keep it warm as it is freezing today! On another note i have no idea why it says it was taken in january, my uploads today have been coming in only in half with the rest of the image just being half grey pixels, im hoping the moisture didnt get into the camera and cause problems, im gonna have to take a look and pray there's nothing wrong and this was just a blip. Fingers crossed.... :(

The Venice carnival is thought to have started in 1162, when Venetians spontaneously gathered to celebrate a military victory in Saint Mark's Square. During the Renaissance it became an official festival, the masks allowing revellers to forget everyday worries and the city's rigidly hierarchical class system, and indulge for the carnival period.

Abandoned for decades after it was outlawed under Austrian rule, it was resurrected in 1980 as part of a government effort to promote the region's culture and history.

It is now one of the most famous carnival celebrations in the world, with around 3 million visitors flocking the canal-covered city each spring to watch or join in the festivities.

The ornately decorated masks have become synonymous with the city, though originally the masks were simply made, worn simply for practicality. In centuries gone by, maskmakers were esteemed members of society, with their own guild and governed by separate laws, while laws also regulated the periods of the year in which people were allowed to wear masks.

This was taken from the 360 restaurant at the top of the CN Tower, Toronto, Canada.

Defining the Toronto skyline at 553.33m (1,815ft5in), the CN Tower is Canada’s most recognizable and celebrated icon. The CN Tower is an internationally renowned architectural triumph, an engineering Wonder of the Modern World, world-class entertainment and dining destination and a must see for anyone visiting Toronto. Each year, over 1.5 million people visit Canada’s National Tower to take in the breathtaking views and enjoy all the CN Tower has to offer.

After 40 months of construction, the CN Tower was opened to the public on June 26, 1976 and it was well on its way to becoming the country’s most celebrated landmark. It is the centre of telecommunications for Toronto serving over 16 Canadian television and FM radio stations, the workplace of over 500 people throughout the year, and an internationally renowned tourism destination.

Although the CN Tower inspires a sense of pride and inspiration for Canadians and a sense of awe for foreign tourists, its origins are rooted in practicality. The 1960s ushered in an unprecedented construction boom in Toronto transforming a skyline characterized by relatively low buildings into one dotted with skyscrapers. These buildings caused serious communications problems for existing transmission towers, which were simply not high enough to broadcast over the new buildings. Signals bounced off the buildings creating poor television and radio reception for residents. With its microwave receptors at 338 m (1,109 ft.) and at the 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches) antenna, the CN Tower swiftly solved the communications problems with room to spare and as a result, people living in the Toronto area now enjoy some of the clearest reception in North America.

The CN Tower was built in 1976 by Canadian National who wanted to demonstrate the strength of Canadian industry by building a tower taller than any other in the world. Building the CN Tower was a vast and ambitious project that involved 1,537 workers who worked 24 hours a day, five days a week for 40 months to completion.

Tower construction crews moved in on February 6, 1973, and started to remove over 56 metric tonnes of earth and shale for the foundation. Once the foundation was ready, work began on the CN Tower’s 335 m (1,100ft.) concrete shaft, a hexagonal core with three curved support arms. This involved pouring concrete into a massive mold or “slipform”. As the concrete hardened, the slipform, supported by a ring of climbing jacks powered by hydraulic pressure, moved upwards, gradually decreasing in size to produce the CN Tower’s gracefully tapered contour.

Eight months later, the CN Tower’s concrete shaft was the tallest structure in Toronto and by February 1974, it was the tallest in Canada. In August 1974, work began on the seven-story tower sphere that would eventually house the observation decks and revolving restaurant. The CN Tower approached completion in March 1975, when Olga, the giant Sikorsky helicopter flew into the city to lift the 44 pieces of the antenna into place. The CN Tower was finished on April 2, 1975, and opened to the public June 26, 1976.

When the 44th and final piece of the CN Tower’s antenna was bolted into place April 2, 1975, the CN Tower joined the ranks of 17 other great structures that had previously held the title of World’s Tallest Free-Standing Structure, a record the Tower would hold for an incredible 34+ years. Ross McWhirter, editor of the Guinness Book of World Records, was on hand to record the milestone for history and since then, the CN Tower has received numerous mentions in the famous book including most recently the World’s Highest Wine Cellar.

In 1995, the CN Tower was classified as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The CN Tower shares this designation with the Itaipu Dam on the Brazil/Paraguay border, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, the Panama Canal, the Chunnel under the English Channel, the North Sea Protection Works off the European coast, and the Empire State Building.

Since the Tower opened, Canadians and tourists from around the world have made the trip to Toronto to celebrate this marvel of civil engineering. Besides serving as telecommunications hub, the Tower also has a revolving restaurant called 360 and you can also walk around the outside of the Tower, attached by a harness to it, undertaking, what they call, the Edgewalk.

I have retained at least some of the body profile to show the lineage between the original and rebuilt versions, but this particular iteration was built solely for practicality rather than aesthetics and so looks a little less visually exciting as a consequence.

Isle of Skye

Those boots allowed me to safely climb all over the rocks and hills without worry of slipping. It's all about practicality in that kind of terrain.

The patchwork cushion covers add some pop of color and practicality. Hmmm ... our slipcovers have slipcovers?

Passengers gather on the platform as a Northern Central passenger train arrives at Hanover Junction, Pennsylvania on its way south to Baltimore. On the point today is York 17, a 4-4-0 American Standard Locomotive, the likes of which were ubiquitous from the 1850s through the end of the century.

Of course, York 17 is not an original piece. She is a replica, built by David Kloke of Elgin, IL, in 2013 for the newly formed Northern Central Railway, then doing business as "Steam into History." The York was built from plans and patterns developed by O'Connor Engineering in the 1970s, for the construction of the Jupiter and 119 replicas for the Golden Spike National Historical Park. The York is essentially a heavily modified version of the 119, which was a product of the Rogers Locomotive Works in Patterson, NJ. The York differs from the 119 in that she was built with a Yankee-style balloon stack and represents a wood-burner, whereas the 119 burned coal. Additionally, other modifications were made to make this engine more suitable for tourist operations, such as the addition of knuckle-style couplers, an incandescent headlamp and injectors on both sides of the cab. The York also sports a rear-facing box headlamp on the back of the tender, for reverse operations. And for safety and practicality, this engine burns waste motor oil instead of wood. Oil is far easier to load and poses a much lower risk of lineside fires.

This Compact Firearm is made for Devastating attacks! The Practicality of this weapon comes from the versatility of it. It can be loaded with almost anything that is showed down in it's Barrel, making it a favourable weapon for those who can't provide a constant supply of a given ammunition.

For someone like me, who has set himself the task to visit and document photographically as many as possible of those wonderful Romanesque churches and monasteries, a trip to Normandy is both cause for despair and for enchanted amazement. Despair, because the Norman architect, at the time of the Romanesque which coincided with the conquest of Britain by Duke William in 1066 and the tremendous influx of power and riches that ensued, that architect is above all focused on efficiency in the projection of power and majesty. For that architect, the absolute must, the beginning and the end of church building, is the wall. Sculpture doesn’t matter. When it exists at all, it is often relegated to simple modillions under the cornice that supports the roof. The bare wall, perfectly aligned and appareled, reigns as the undisputed king of Norman Romanesque. He who likes to smile and wonder at the ingenuity and inventiveness of Mediæval sculptors, is most of the time sorely disappointed by the utter lack of adornment of those great and tall Norman churches, next to which the barest Cistercian sanctuaries look positively alive and overflowing under the comparatively unbridled abundance of rinceaux, human figures and assorted creatures.

No sculpture to speak of, then, is the norm in Normandy. But on the other hand, the masterfulness of the architects and masons turns the job of putting one stone on top of another into a veritable art: it is here, in Normandy, that was first experimented the very innovation that would bring about the end of the Romanesque: the voûte d’ogives, the rib vaulting from which the whole world of Gothic derives. It is in Normandy that it was first imagined and implemented, even as the 11th century hadn’t yet come to a close. We will see where, and how.

My photographic tour of Lower Normandy had to begin, of course, by the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen. Now that we have covered those, I would like to show you a few other Romanesque churches, much less well-known, yet fully worthy of our interest.

The first documentary source I consulted when I was preparing this trip was, as usual, the Normandie romane book published by Zodiaque —both volumes, as Romanesque Normandy is so rich that two books were needed to properly cover it. Unfortunately, and owing to some of those unforeseen circumstances that so often intrude upon our lives, I do not have those books with me at the moment. Therefore, I am not able to use the valuable material they hold to compose my captions; still, I will do my best in their absence... with my apologies. I hope the books will be sent back to me by whoever I made the mistake to leave them with, so that I won’t have to buy new copies.

Contrary to abbey and priory churches, which were often built in quiet and peaceful (not to say lonely) locales, away from the hustle and bustle of villages and towns (even if such cores of human activity often ended up growing from scratch around them!), parochial churches were usually erected in a village or very close by.

Dedicated to Saint Peter and listed as a Historic Landmark on the very first list drawn up in 1840 by Minister Prosper Mérimée (which says a lot about its architectural and artistic value, even by 19th century standards), the church of Thaon was built in a lonely vale because the parish, at the time, did not include a village per se, but was rather a collection of scattered hamlets: the church was built more or less in the middle. Tradition has been upheld up to present day: the church is still alone, with only one mill built nearby to benefit from the driving force of the current of River Mue —although, if truth be told, I have to admit that, with the concept of practicality emerging in the 19th century, a new church was consecrated in 1840 smack in the center of what had in the meantime become the most important of those hamlets of old: Thaon. Saint Peter was henceforth known as “the Old Church”.

Archæological digs carried out between 1998 and 2011 have shown that the locale was used during the Antiquity as a fanum, probably in connection with a nearby ford that allowed for crossing the river. A small necropolis developed during the 300s and 400s, then a first paleo-Christian edifice was built during the 600s, replaced by a new one in the next century. A first Romanesque church was erected around 1050–80, of which only the bell tower remains today. It is the oldest part of the second Romanesque church, the one we can still admire today, which was built in 1130–50 as an extension of the older church in all directions: the nave was extended by two rows to the West, a wider and much deeper choir was built with a flat apse and aisles were added. It is surrounded by more than 400 tombs from the 7th to the 18th century, which have been excavated and studied by archæologists.

During the Romanesque Age, the land was owned by the powerful barons of Creully, who possessed large tracts of land in Lower Normandy; this probably accounts for the architectural quality of the old church, which was placed under the direct patronage of the chapter of canons of the Bayeux Cathedral. This monument has come to us practically intact, except for the aforementioned aisles that were razed around 1720, probably because the terrain had become marshier and threatened the stability of the entire building. Around the same time, the floor level was raised to help fight dampness, of which the inside still exhibits many traces.

This is the whole extent of the southern elevation. This photo faithfully shows exactly how the old church looks like, including the parts that are leaning, slanting or bulging. As you can see, none of it is very straight nowadays, owing to old age, but primarily, as it seems, to the instability of the terrain.

I’m glad you folks are setting down, because this is going tp be a long one. Apparently many here in Yosemite don’t know there’s a pandemic going or what is meant by social distancing. But, you see, they didn’t acknowledge the Norovirus outbreak over the Christmas/New Year, this pass season. Or, the Hantavirus outbreak in 2017. Or, the extreme overcrowding on the buses last year; guest were making human chains to stop them.

Yosemite National Park didn’t actually close until 3;00 pm, March 12, 2020, for the Pandemic. Until then, we had guest visiting from all over the world and many from Asia. I’ve been here a little over 11 years and interact with guest daily, as do many that I work with. I often ask guest where there are from. During the winter months we get a lot of guest from Asian countries.

During the Hantavirus outbreak; people died because of poor sanitation. Those in charge at the time; continued to rent out the infected tent/cabins. They knew they had a Hantavirus problem, but continued to rent out the cabins without informing the guest, of possible contamination (all for profits). Even when guest repeatedly complained of mice and feces. People died and no one was held accountable. There are links throughout my photostream and it’s easily researched. Just a minute; I’ve got to close my window. Those involved in Yosemite’s Mobbing Community are smoking outside, upwind of it again. This is what they do during a respiratory pandemic and mandatory social distancing, among many other appalling acts.

The Shuttle mess was caused from the lack of maintenance. The shuttle drivers were so fed up, they stormed to the Superintendent's office and demanded they be repaired. Many quit, one a retired Law Enforcement Officer. . I spent a day off, back then, on the shuttles to see how bad it really was. To start; I had to wait for a second bus, because the first one was too full. On the second bus, I was able to squeeze to the back. At the next stop; there was a big line of people waiting to get on an already full shuttle. As a few people were trying to get off the back; a group stormed them trying to get in; causing a woman stepping off the bus to trip in the curb, smash her face on the concrete at full force. It looks like she broke a couple teeth, her nose and lip. She sat up, while blood gushing from her face. People quickly helped her until paramedics arrived. I was so packed in the back of the bus, I couldn’t get off.

The Norovirus outbreak, was over this last Christmas and New Year holidays. Norovirus is spread through contaminated feces (poop). There were a couple confirmed cases and up to 200 unconfirmed. During this outbreak; we had a women’s bathroom that didn’t have working faucets at the sinks. When I went into work on 12-26-19, there was a sign on the mirror; saying out of order. This indoor public bathroom facilitated two dinning facilities. The sinks were not repaired until 1-5-20. Women eating at these facilities were washing their hands at the water filling stations. This was in our dinning facilities; women changing babies, using the bathroom and unable to wash with soap and water. Apparently we didn’t have the parts. Rather than make a 2 hour drive to Merced or 2 hr 20 to Fresno, someone decided to order the faucets. The sinks were not repaired until 1-5-20. I was off on the 24th and 25th of December. They were out for 12-13 days, during holiday weekends and a Norovirus outbreak. No one here will admit it, no one is held accountable, Department of Health covered it up.

It’s kind of like the water station; that could have electrocuted guest and children, all summer long. I addressed it repeatedly, unplugged it daily, to have it plugged back in. I even witnessed a young boy using his finger to trigger sensor, for the water flow. While his little sister stood there holding his arm with one hand and a pinched, out of code electrical cord, with the other. It’s wasn’t repaired, until I sent picture after picture to the NPS Regional Office. The retaliation I received over that was epic.

Now here we are during a respiratory Pandemic and I have coworkers, managers right in my face. I’m talking a foot or two. This is done, along with coughing, fake coughing and all kinds of skits pertaining to Covid19 symptoms; performed by managers and associates. These skits are just triggers, trying to get me to quit or act out. On 3-22-20, I was leaving work. I left from the back of our building and walked to and across the front of the building. As I came around the corner; an NPS Law Enforcement Officer walk out the front door; being held open for him by a supervisor. I was walking clear to the right, to keep my distance. This officer stepped out of the building, started walking towards me, he pretended to look at something in the palm of his hand. He kept walking further to his left, to a point, I was almost walking into a row of outside tables, to avoid him. That wasn’t enough, I had to almost stop, as he brushed pass me. Again, this was just an act (trigger), to get me to act out, or instill fear.

In my department; I have the most seniority. I was cut back to 16 hours a week. Employees that were hired within a year, were given way more hours than me. When I questioned it; I was sharply told “You’re lucky to even have a job” I stood my ground and was then told “I’ll just take hours from someone else”, trying use guilt. I took this job here as a janitor, because I wanted something with minimal stress. I raised my daughter as a single parent, served almost 10 years in the Army, sold a successful business I owned and became a District Manager for a company, before this. I love the outdoors and nature, but here I am; in the most stressful job I’ve ever had. That's even before the Pandemic.

There are many here in Yosemite that are a credit to this great park, but they are stifled by the incompetence, waste, fraud and cover-up that truly goes on here. Let anyone expose the truth and they will be mobbed, harassed, bullied and retaliated against, beyond belief. Truly, very few believe what’s going on here. Even when you have the evidence to prove it. I’ve given it to; two Superintends, an acting Super, now we have another acting Superintend. I’ve driven to San Franasicso, NPS Regional Office, presented evidence to two Special Investigators (what a waste), I’ve sent pictures, evidence, letters, complaints to two NPS Regional Directors and two acting Directors, drove five hours each way to Congressman McClintock’s office (another waste). After driving to McClintock’s office; the clerk almost wouldn’t let me in. I told him I drove five hours; he let me in after a practicality begged. I explained I what was going on in Yosemite, he said there was no one ther for me to talk with. He said I would have to call to make an appointment and tried to make me feel privileged for even being let through the front door (they keep it locked). After several calls, I spoke with his assistant; she too, tried to make me feel I should have felt privileged for being let in the door, after driving five hours. I didn’t get an appointment, or a returned phone call. I’ve sent certified, return receipt letters to Pelosi, Feinstein, Secretary of the Interior and our Over-site Committee. Not one resounded. And, look what they are doing now; selling off their stock and commodities, playing the blame game.

If I go public with the detailed evidence I have, I lose my job, my union pension and I’m 7 months from retirement, at 62. Even with the hate, harassment and retaliation; I put pride in my work, my appearance, the facility I clean and this wonderful park.

I stepped out for some exercise and pictures today. I was stalked and mobbed by housing staff, the woman across the hall in room 3, room 7, room 9. I came across 7 people in isolated, closed areas; stalking me. A couple exposing me to second hand smoke on the back trail to Mirror Lake and the halfwits waiting for me when I got home. Again, there are great people here and many in LAW Enforcement that are professional and dedicated, but they are overshadowed, by the human trash that actually runs the park. Things here in Yosemite don’t change, unless someone forces a change by exposure. It’s one of the Good-ol-Boy Parks. This is where the incompetent, unethical and amoral, hire and promote like minded individuals. This isn’t about me; it’s about you knowing the truth. Even when the park does open; I’m telling you, there are very few that truly care about your safety. They do want your money.

As I think about the brave men and women in the medical field, tears swell in my eyes; knowing they will someday be forgotten, just like our veterans. Please, please don’t let this happen. Please stay in, wear a mask, keep you distance if you do go out and wash, wash , wash. On that note: if you are in need of gloves for medical use; Sysco has plenty and our shelves are fully stocked. Why hasn't Sysco and the company I work for stepped up. My company is to busy sending out PR about how they are improving customer and employee relations, while bragging about how they can weather events like this because they don't have to pay their employees, when they're not working.

Thank you for visiting my phototream and not the park. My name is Rick Pineiro, if you want the truth about Yosemite, or our government; just ask me.

Part fastback coupe, part two-door sedan, the 1949 Buick Super Sedanet, Model 56-S, offered style and practicality in one package. Buick promised, "Here the long sweeping lines of a Coupe hide the surprising roominess that highlights Buick for '49. Swing those doors wide open—step in and stretch out in comfort that most sedans can't match."

The sedanet body style wasn't new—Buick had created one since before World War II, but GM's oldest division offered an all-new design on the revised GM C-body platform. Sharing its lines with the larger Roadmaster Sedanet, Model 76-S, the Super rode on a 121-inch wheelbase, 5 inches shorter than the Roadmaster's. Overall length measured 209.5 inches, again 5 inches shorter than the Roadmaster. Still, accommodated by wide doors, six adults could occupy the roomy interior, which was as big as a sedan inside.

The design updates vaulted Buick into the fray of the all-new styles that consumers clamored for following the war. Ned Nickles, Buick's head of design from 1947 until 1959, led the team that gave Buick new life in 1949. Doing away with curvy fenders that swept down from the front and low along the doors until the lines reached the rear quarter panels, Buick's stylists gave the division a look that started with a fender nearly as high as the hood, and it followed a horizontal line back, just below the greenhouse.

Nickles was also responsible for perhaps the most lasting part of the 1949 redesign. He modified his own 1948 Buick by punching four small portholes on either fender, each fitted with a small light bulb connected to a spark plug wire. The lights fired off individually with each cylinder. Buick president Harlow Curtice liked the look (sans lights) and ordered portholes punched into the fenders of the Super and Roadmaster models for 1949, which were already well along the design phase.

The chrome-ringed "Venti-Ports" (later just VentiPorts) became a signature design feature that continues to this day on certain models and has been copied by many other manufacturers, domestic and foreign. Buick also used the Venti- Ports to distinguish between models. While the Special had none in 1949, the redesigned Super had three on each side, and the Roadmaster four on each side, giving the top-level Buick range the most.

Venti-Ports were technically functional in 1950, allowing hot air to pass between the warm engine bay. By 1951, the portholes were closed, rendering the design flourish 100-percent decorative. Curiously, in 1949, Buick designers put the Venti- Ports on the fenders, but in 1950 they were on the sides of the hood, and back to the fenders again in 1951.

While other car companies were releasing OHV V-8 engines, Buick soldiered on with its Fireball straight-eight, aka "Dynaflash." Buick's claim to fame from its founding had been its "valve-in-head" (OHV) engines, during an era when almost every competitor had an L-head (side-valve) engine. For 1949, Buick made the Fireball in two displacements: 248 cubic inches in the Special and Super models, and 320-cu.in. in the Roadmaster.

The Super's 248-cu.in. straight-eight featured a 6.6:1 compression ratio, which was slightly higher than the version in the Special. In Super guise, the engine received a 115-horsepower rating, 5 more than in the Special. Buick replaced the 248 during 1950 with a 263-cu.in. straight-eight that would last until 1953, when the first "Nailhead" V-8 debuted in the Roadmaster. By 1954, the Dynaflash Eight was out of production.

Buick instituted a host of minor refinements for 1949 with the goal of making its cars quieter and smoother, as well as easier to drive. The company introduced synthetic engine rubber mounts for isolating engine vibrations, marketing these as "Hi- Poised Engine Mountings." It also offered a foot-operated parking brake and a streamlined fuse panel behind the dashboard.

In the 1949 Super, a three-speed manual transmission was standard, but buyers could also opt for the Dynaflow automatic, which was standard in the Roadmaster. Perhaps the biggest and most influential development out of Buick in the immediate postwar years, the Dynaflow changed the way we drive. As the first mass-produced, commercially available automatic transmission with a torque converter, the Dynaflow allowed for more care-free driving and opened the experience of getting behind the wheel to a whole new group of people who may never have learned how to properly shift a car.

The Dynaflow was markedly different from the four-speed Hydra-Matic used by Oldsmobile and Cadillac. Perhaps one commonality between the two transmissions came in the form of both being "battle tested," as both the Hydra-Matic and a torque-converter- based Torqmatic were used in World War II tanks.

The two-speeds in the Dynaflow should not be confused as automatically shifted. In regular use, the Dynaflow started out in the high gear, with power from the engine "converted" to the transmission's output by a five-element torque converter that included two turbines and two stators. The Dynaflow's torque converter, fed by an engine-powered external oil pump, functioned by feeding oil in the spinning converter across a series of turbines, the shape and size of the blades directly related to the converter's function. At low speeds, the converter could increase output by a factor of 2.25:1, while at higher engine speeds it acted as a 1:1 ratio. Low gear, which was a more traditional planetary gear, was engaged only manually by the driver, with no clutch required.

Though Dynaflow negatively affected fuel efficiency and driveline responsiveness, its design greatly appealed to customers, so much so, that by 1950, some 85 percent of Buick buyers opted for this shiftless transmission. And Buick sales in 1949 reached new heights when approximately 400,000 customers drove home in new Supers, Specials, and Roadmasters, on the strength of Dynaflow as much as the new designs.

by Terry Shea

10/23/2018

Source: Hemmings

BUICK CLUB OF AMERICA

P.O. Box 360775

Columbus, Ohio 43236-0775

www.buickclub.org

  ___________________________________________

Andy’s story

Some might remember Andy from the Shell station in Hickory Corners. That would have been right around the summer of 1940. Although war was raging in Europe, many Americans turned a blind eye to events some four thousand miles away. On December 7, 1941 everything changed for Americans. Our lives were suddenly thrown into a boiling cauldron when, Imperial Japan mercilessly attacked American military bases on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Andy felt it was his duty to volunteer. After completing 8 week basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky Andy was assigned to Ft. Lewis, Washington for AIT (Advanced Infantry Training). He along with thousands of other young men were on the road to fulfilling the increasing demand for combat soldiers. After completing 16 weeks training at Ft. Lewis, Andy was considered ready for deployment to a combat unit in the Pacific theater, men desperately needed to fill the depleting ranks. He soon found himself in a here to fore unknown place called, Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. A chaotic place rife with danger and death.

It was on the eleventh day in the jungles of Guadalcanal that Andy received a serious but not fatal wound to his right thigh, miraculously missing his femoral artery but resulting in a fracture to his right femur bone. Much to his joy Andy saw a friend with whom he’d had a conversation the night before. He wore a triumphant look of satisfaction, shook hands with Andy and grinned as stretcher bearers carried Andy away with a bloody bandage around his thigh. God or chance—depending on one’s faith— had spared his life and lifted his burden of further fear and terror in combat by awarding him a “million-dollar wound”. Andy had done his duty. The war was over for him. He was in pain, but he was lucky. Many others hadn’t been as lucky the last couple of days.

Thankfully, the medics were able to get Andy to an aid station in fairly rapid time, however, Andy would endure many painful treatments and a long arduous healing process over the next many months and even into the coming years. After being honorably discharged from the Army, Andy came home but by this time his parents had moved from Michigan to a small town in Illinois. Not being one to sit around despite continuing pain in his leg, his first priority was to find a job. A friend mentioned to him that Herb Brewster might be selling his gas station in Odell, just outside of town on Route 66. Well Andy had money saved up, he was a good mechanic and he had certainly enjoyed his days working at the Shell station in Michigan so the possibility of owning and running his own station was right up his alley. He wasn’t sure if he could still handle the type of work he was doing before the war with his “bum leg” but he sure as heck wanted to give it a shot. Long and short, Andy met with old Herb, made an offer and it became a done deal.

So now we see Andy with the usual smile on his face, greeting customers and doing well despite having to walk with a slight limp. For the heavy work, he hired a young kid in town who turned out to be a cracker jack mechanic and a good all ‘around worker. And by the way, Andy also met a sweet, pretty brown eyed gal and there’s talk around town that the two of them are fixin’ to get hitched.

Well folks this pretty well sums up Andy’s life today and what the future holds is, God willing, a long and happy one.

…………..and hope ya’all enjoy and have a long happy life.

(Sure as Hell beats the news on TV & the Internet these days………… )

Have Unequal - IVY outfit

A fresh and bold look: a patterned shirt with rolled-up sleeves meets a modern and sensual denim corset. Oversized cargo pants, embellished with matching inserts and contrasting details, add character and practicality. An outfit that blends femininity and street style, perfect for those who love to stand out with style and grit.

Ivy outfit by Have Unequal is composed by pants and shirt with corset. Fatpack comes with a rich color hud with solid or patterned colors. It is available for LaraX, Legacy, Lively, Nhuma, Perky, PetiteX, Reborn and Waifus.

Now at UBER event:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Uber/195/194/19

Inworld Store:

maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Bellavista/67/10/24

More outfit details on my BLOG:

www.suggestions-by-tilly-opaline.com/blog/2708183_have-un...

The second generation Continental GTC seen in Worcester, UK. A very good looking car, it combines luxury with high performances and practicality, it can be used as a daily car too, a more fancy daily car!

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

A UNESCO site.

From the Inn’s website:

The Inn’s foundation is the creative genius of architect Robert C. Reamer, combined with the business savvy of hotelier Harry W. Child. Constructed between June 1903 and June 1904, the builders used raw materials harvested from the local area. Adapting sixteenth-century technology they produced a modern wilderness log cabin with electricity, steam heat, and indoor plumbing.

There was risk – borrowing money from a railroad, inviting wealthy railroad travelers to engage in a multi-day stagecoach tour to marvel at the wonders of Yellowstone, and offering a rustic hostelry at the end of the day. The design drew inspiration from nature, but departed from the norms of the time. From its five-hundred ton massive rhyolite chimney to the whimsical tree house at its 76½ foot peak, the Inn both charms and welcomes.

A few years after it opened railroads and early automobilists embraced the idea to “See America First” – a campaign that successfully turned the tourist tide from Europe to our nation’s scenic wonders. The Inn’s first addition, known as the East Wing (1913-1914), grew out of this increasing interest. Its plain exterior and more generic plaster-walled interior, also the work of R. C. Reamer, reflect the practicality and speed in which rooms were added.

Soon the gasoline-burners replaced the horse-drawn stages. The independence-loving automobilists embraced the privacy of cabins, and the park’s lodges grew in popularity. But five railroads still served Yellowstone. So the park’s transportation company, also under H. W. Child, motorized. Child again engaged Reamer to adapt the Inn with a new auto-centered front entrance and more additional guest rooms (West Wing, 1927).

Adapting to increased visitation was not the only thing the Inn has endured in its 116 years. The ups and downs of tourist numbers during both World Wars and the Great Depression meant temporary closures. Physical threats from the 1959 Hebgen Lake Earthquake, the 1988 fire season, and dozens of harsh winters and heavy snow-loading have all been met. In the 1950s, and again in the 1970s, human decisions threatened the Inn’s future.

Since 1979, within the existing partnership between government ownership/oversight and concessioner financial commitments, the Inn has undergone three major periods of restoration/renovation – 1979-1988, 1992-1995, and 2004-2012. These included fire safety upgrades, two complete kitchen remodels, addition of bathrooms to guestrooms (except the original Old House), exterior re-shingling and re-roofing, and seismic stabilization. These necessary upgrades insure that we will enjoy this National Historic Landmark for decades to come.

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

My Light Wedge 2 had lasted 11 seasons in Colorado and Utah, but now it was failing. A delaminating fly and failing zippers made me balance practicality with sentimental loyalty--I decided that this would be the last camp site for this one.

The tent is to the right, nestled in the box elder trees, on the bank of the Green River in Rainbow Park. I had been awakened repeatedly by elk bugling in the night, and dawn was heralded by geese flying up and down the river. A beaver was heard gnawing wood at night, and the stars were fantastic.

Two tents will replace it--the Big Agnes Frying Pan 2 and the Half Dome 2+.

Here's a ground-level view of the Northern Central Railway's pretty 4-4-0 American Standard "York 17" and her train as they charge south through the Pennsylvania countryside just over a quarter mile south of the former Glatfelter Station, in the town of Seven Valleys, Pennsylvania.

In this view, you can see how finely detailed this Kloke replica really is. The vast majority of folks who see it are likely convinced it is a relic of the Civil War. To those with a little railroad knowledge however, there are some obvious features on this locomotive and her train that are clearly not correct for the 1860 period, and of course, these are concessions that had to be made to produce a modernized locomotive and rolling stock that are capable of safe, daily operation under current Federal Railroad Administration rules. First and foremost, she is equipped with knuckle-type couplers. A true period locomotive would have a link-and-pin couplers and a large draw-bar lying on the pilot. You can also see an air hose below the front coupler and if you look carefully, there is an air pump on the fireman's side running board. This train has air brakes, which were not even invented until a few years after the Civil War. And although she appears to have cross-head water pumps, a close inspection would show that these are fakes and that York has steam-powered injectors to put water in the boiler. The lack of a wood-pile on the tender is a clue that York isn't burning wood like most engines of that era. She is, in fact, an oil-burner, which is a basic concession to safety and practicality. Last but not least, the arched-roof coaches, which do have the basic look of 1860s passenger cars, are also clearly built on flat-car frames with freight trucks underneath.

Still, to the average John Q. Public, this is a very handsome train with a historic look to it and one that is quite unique among tourist railroads in the US.

TP right to our booth! Click here. Come try a full demo and test the HUD in person if you like! Bonus MOD/COPY pushpin poster inside. There's also a never-before-seen gift free at the event booth!

AUDREY. Meet Audrey, a teenager unlike any other! She's a junior at Blackwood Pointe, but she's not your typical high school student. Audrey has the gift of second sight - she sees visions that give her insight into the future. But that's not the only thing that sets her apart. Audrey loves to express herself through her fashion choices, and she has a particular fondness for 60s mod style. She's not afraid to mix and match patterns and colors, and she always manages to look chic and trendy. But don't let her love of fashion fool you - Audrey is also a skilled mechanic. She loves nothing more than getting her hands dirty fixing cars, and she's just as comfortable in a pair of overalls as she is in a dress. With her unique blend of femininity and practicality, Audrey is a force to be reckoned with!

"The Secret Door" is a collectible fashion doll series for Second Life, made exclusively by BEENICORN's Dollmania. Over 30 dolls are planned for the line, starting with the originals: Homecoming Edition.

Each doll has a customizable skintone, collectable packaging and a special rose emblem stand in their own special color. When displayed together, the stands present a spectrum of beautiful colors! The doll comes in both decor and hold versions.

SECRET: if you press the button on the back of your doll (by left-click), you can make them say a series of special phrases. This button also activates our Magic Phrase technology for future playsets (like the Blackwood Pointe Academy playset, coming 2023).

The first four dolls in the line are Audrey, Charlie, Raen and Aine. If you want to learn more about the series and vote on the next doll in the Secret Door line, click here to visit the Dollmania website.

luluo3o.neocities.org/dollmania

DAY 7

It is just one after the other of interesting looking men, huh, Pikemen that is!

I spot the reflections in the shiny steel.

Pikemen wear steel half-armour of back and breast plates with tassets and a morion (steel helmet).

The weight is about 18 lbs (8.16 KG). They are armed with swords and pikes.

The latter would originally have been 18 feet long but for reasons of practicality 12-foot pikes are used today.

I wish you a day full of beauty and thank you for your visit, Magda, (*_*)

For more of my other work or if you want to PURCHASE (ONLY PLACE TO BUY OUR IMAGES!), VIEW THE NEW PORTFOLIOS AND LATEST NEWS HERE on our website: www.indigo2photography.com

IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

Burg, Pikemen,portrait, moustache, armour,reflection, uniform, soldier, plumes,Brugge, Belgium, Flanders, horizontal,colour, Nikon D7200, magda indigo

For someone like me, who has set himself the task to visit and document photographically as many as possible of those wonderful Romanesque churches and monasteries, a trip to Normandy is both cause for despair and for enchanted amazement. Despair, because the Norman architect, at the time of the Romanesque which coincided with the conquest of Britain by Duke William in 1066 and the tremendous influx of power and riches that ensued, that architect is above all focused on efficiency in the projection of power and majesty. For that architect, the absolute must, the beginning and the end of church building, is the wall. Sculpture doesn’t matter. When it exists at all, it is often relegated to simple modillions under the cornice that supports the roof. The bare wall, perfectly aligned and appareled, reigns as the undisputed king of Norman Romanesque. He who likes to smile and wonder at the ingenuity and inventiveness of Mediæval sculptors, is most of the time sorely disappointed by the utter lack of adornment of those great and tall Norman churches, next to which the barest Cistercian sanctuaries look positively alive and overflowing under the comparatively unbridled abundance of rinceaux, human figures and assorted creatures.

No sculpture to speak of, then, is the norm in Normandy. But on the other hand, the masterfulness of the architects and masons turns the job of putting one stone on top of another into a veritable art: it is here, in Normandy, that was first experimented the very innovation that would bring about the end of the Romanesque: the voûte d’ogives, the rib vaulting from which the whole world of Gothic derives. It is in Normandy that it was first imagined and implemented, even as the 11th century hadn’t yet come to a close. We will see where, and how.

My photographic tour of Lower Normandy had to begin, of course, by the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen. Now that we have covered those, I would like to show you a few other Romanesque churches, much less well-known, yet fully worthy of our interest.

The first documentary source I consulted when I was preparing this trip was, as usual, the Normandie romane book published by Zodiaque —both volumes, as Romanesque Normandy is so rich that two books were needed to properly cover it. Unfortunately, and owing to some of those unforeseen circumstances that so often intrude upon our lives, I do not have those books with me at the moment. Therefore, I am not able to use the valuable material they hold to compose my captions; still, I will do my best in their absence... with my apologies. I hope the books will be sent back to me by whoever I made the mistake to leave them with, so that I won’t have to buy new copies.

•• Contrary to abbey and priory churches, which were often built in quiet and peaceful (not to say lonely) locales, away from the hustle and bustle of villages and towns (even if such cores of human activity often ended up growing from scratch around them!), parochial churches were usually erected in a village or very close by.

Dedicated to Saint Peter and listed as a Historic Landmark on the very first list drawn up in 1840 by Minister Prosper Mérimée (which says a lot about its architectural and artistic value, even by 19th century standards), the church of Thaon was built in a lonely vale because the parish, at the time, did not include a village per se, but was rather a collection of scattered hamlets: the church was built more or less in the middle. Tradition has been upheld up to present day: the church is still alone, with only one mill built nearby to benefit from the driving force of the current of River Mue —although, if truth be told, I have to admit that, with the concept of practicality emerging in the 19th century, a new church was consecrated in 1840 smack in the center of what had in the meantime become the most important of those hamlets of old: Thaon. Saint Peter was henceforth known as “the Old Church”.

Archæological digs carried out between 1998 and 2011 have shown that the locale was used during the Antiquity as a fanum, probably in connection with a nearby ford that allowed for crossing the river. A small necropolis developed during the 300s and 400s, then a first paleo-Christian edifice was built during the 600s, replaced by a new one in the next century. A first Romanesque church was erected around 1050–80, of which only the bell tower remains today. It is the oldest part of the second Romanesque church, the one we can still admire today, which was built in 1130–50 as an extension of the older church in all directions: the nave was extended by two rows to the West, a wider and much deeper choir was built with a flat apse and aisles were added. It is surrounded by more than 400 tombs from the 7th to the 18th century, which have been excavated and studied by archæologists.

During the Romanesque Age, the land was owned by the powerful barons of Creully, who possessed large tracts of land in Lower Normandy; this probably accounts for the architectural quality of the old church, which was placed under the direct patronage of the chapter of canons of the Bayeux Cathedral. This monument has come to us practically intact, except for the aforementioned aisles that were razed around 1720, probably because the terrain had become marshier and threatened the stability of the entire building. Around the same time, the floor level was raised to help fight dampness, of which the inside still exhibits many traces.

One last photo of this charming masterpiece of the Romanesque, standing silently in its quiet and bucolic setting. The local village has acquired all the land, pastures and woods around the church, so that quality setting can be preserved.

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

The complex retractable hardtop on a 1959 Ford Skyliner. Ford introduced the Fairlane 500 Skyliner in the United States in 1957. A total of 48,394 were built from 1957 to 1959. The retractable top was noted for its complexity and usually decent reliability in the pre-transistor era. Its mechanism contained 10 power relays, 10 limit switches, four lock motors, three drive motors, eight circuit breakers, as well as 610 feet (190 m) of electrical wire which could raise or lower the top in about 40 seconds. The Skyliner was a halo car with little luggage space (i.e., practicality), and cost twice that of a baseline Ford sedan. This Skyliner was on display at the annual Langford BC Show and Shine.

"The new Koenigsegg Agera RS has its focus set firmly on the track but is still perfect for regular use on the road. It uses advanced technology developed during our exclusive Koenigsegg One:1 program, while maintaining all the functionality of previous S and R models. Such practicalities include a usable luggage compartment and a detachable hardtop that can be stowed internally for top-down motoring at any time..."

Source: Koenigsegg

Photographed at Brands Hatch Circuit during Supercar Siege - a car show like no other.

Organizers: "We pride ourselves in running a family friendly event where guests get to experience cars that are truly special, be they classic, sports cars or hyper-cars."

____________________________________________________

Marcin Wojciechowski Photography

Marcinek_55 Instagram

I am a Gemini - twins, one person, two identities:

Both your creative and aesthetic senses are high right now, so it should be no surprise that artistic pursuits very much appeal to you right now.

Gemini

- Boredom is your worst enemy (dress up)

- Observation is your second nature (noticing what well dressed women wear)

- You are known to be chatty (can we talk about femininity, please)

- Practicality isn’t your strong suit (aha, most men’s clothing is practical)

- You enjoy creativity (what shoes go with that blouse and that sweater?)

- You tend to be indecisive (boy day or girl day?)

- You possess a great deal of enthusiasm (I believe I will be accepted for both sides of who I am)

- Independence comes naturally to you (I will dress, especially with on my own)

- Anxiety is an old friend of yours (how will I get through a day without dressing?)

- You’ve had a couple of identity crises! (Duh, I am a man who prefers dressing and feeling like a woman! ’Nuff said!)

The streets of Kaesong, like everywhere else I visited in North Korea are filled primarily with people and bicycles. You might notice dead center of the intersection, there's one traffic control officer to manage the onslaught of traffic, aka, that bus in the distance. Even with public transport, the practicality of getting around is largely walking or biking.

Read the rest of this entry at the Aisle Seat Please blog.

Sure! The brightly coloured houses of Burano in Italy are famous for their charm and practicality. Fishermen painted them in vivid hues to spot their homes easily in foggy conditions. Today, the colours are regulated by local authorities to preserve the island's unique aesthetic. It's like walking through a real-life postcard!

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

This picture is #41 in the 100 Strangers Project - Round 3

Meet Abel and Honor.

Met this amazing young couple Abel and Honor this weekend just as I was heading home after a futile day walking around my favorite hangout spot in Bethesda hoping to find the next cool stranger.

As soon as I saw them walking in my direction in the distance my eyes lit up as I knew these would be great candidates as long as they accepted. My only hesitation was if they were old enough - turns out they were. Luckily they were open to the portraits and while Abel went to bring in his motorcycle, we started doing some pictures of Honor, before Abel joined us.

Needless to say, both are very good-looking dynamic young people and of course, look terrific together as well. Honor is a student of structural engineering while Abel is finishing his studies as a mechanical engineer. They share a common love for riding motorcycles, which was part of their appeal and cool personalities. Abel also loves photography while Honor enjoyed horse riding. The young man also works in a machine shop taking on a variety of projects, creating parts and assemblies for all sorts of research - biology, fluid mechanics, anthropology, etc.

Honor's favorite quality of herself was her kind-hearted emphatic nature which came across in our interactions as well. Abel on the other hand takes pride in his practicality, as well as finding hands-on solutions and fixing things that are broken (including rebuilding motorcycles).

I was truly impressed with how well they came across in only those few minutes, respectful, courteous, and with good heads on their young shoulders. Undoubtedly they were a pleasure to photograph, exuding great energy, confidence, and a happy vibe.

Thank you Abel and Honor for your time and trust and wishing you all the very best for the future.

Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by other photographers at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page

For my other pictures on this project: 100 Strangers - Round 2.

For pictures from my prior attempt at 100 Strangers: 100 Strangers - Round 1.

Kind of a vintage vibe here.

I saw someone at work years ago wearing something like this Tommy Hilfiger dress. I liked it immediately, perhaps given its simplicity and practicality. Not even a belt seems necessary here. Pairing it with nude pumps seemed to make better sense than patent black pumps, which was a consideration.

A note on what we now call office administrators, among many other well-earned titles. These folks are the glue of the work space and often bear great burden given the range of people one must contend with, from Type-A, often inhuman personalities that tend to shoot up the management tree to the inexperienced and trouble-making new guys. I'm thankful to them for helping me navigate the executive suite, reimbursements, time cards, expense reports, and other nit-noid things that otherwise can derail my day.

Also, I'd like to thank you all for your kind words and inspiring comments. It is very much appreciated :)

Dress: Tommy Hilfiger

Shoes: Bandolino

Hosiery: Cecilia de Rafael

Trans Am Totem, installed in 2015 is coming down. The 5 cars are gone and the old growth cedar log base is being prepped for removal.

The work is being restored and stored until a new permanent location is chosen.

The piece is a Vancouver Biennale (2014-2016) installation at the intersection of Vancouver’s Quebec Street and Pacific Boulevard.

Trans Am Totem was created by artists Marcus Bowcott and Helene Aspinall for the two-year public art exhibition and later made a permanent city public art piece with a $250,000 donation from Vancouver philanthropists Chip & Shannon Wilson (Lululemon).

On the Biennale’s website, Bowcott described his piece in the following way: “The automobile holds a unique position in our culture. It’s a manufactured want and symbol of extremes; practicality and luxury, necessity and waste. We can see this in the muscular Trans Am, the comfortable BMW, and the workhorse Civic. Trans Am Totem also questions the cycle of production and consumption.”

From top to bottom, the vehicles are a Pontiac Trans Am, BMW 7 Series, Honda Civic, Volkswagen Golf Mk1 Cabriolet, and Mercedez-Benz, all donated by a local scrapyard.

Interesting sight at Waterloo on 29 September 2023 as we see 33029 (nearest) and 33207 top and tailing inspection saloon 999506 on 2Z04 to North Pole International. This had started at Southall and was, apparently, to determine the practicality of diverting IETs into Waterloo and/or Euston in connection with future blockades of the GWML.

Yet another phone camera shot for practicality, sorry. This time it's one of fellow flickrite 'national bus is best's fleet of, erm, well, Leyland Nationals which also lives at the same barn as the Barton Reliance in the previous posting. WDL 880R, whilst in no way local to North Staffordshire will make a welcome addition to our circle of friends preserved fleet when restoration is completed.

Delivered in July 2021 and never used. The ultimate "White Elephant" 50 tonne Zephir Road-Rail shunter "Carlisle No.1" (wks no. 2927/2021) registered as on-track plant with the number 70 997 9 114-4 sits in Carlisle Kingmoor Yard's C&W Compound. It has been moved from out of the weeds onto the concrete hard standing in readiness to be collected by a heavy plant road transporter for removal to Knottingley Depot.

DB Cargo bought six of these top of the range Lok30.520 models for use at locations with a Network Rail LDC (Local Distribution Centre), the idea being to release six class 66's back to mainline use as work has picked up post pandemic. Although very capable for wagon placement in workshops and terminals they were never going to be ideal for making up trains in a railway shunting yard. There was no thought given to basic practicalities like the fact the cab only faces one way, no AAR auto-coupler, the use of UIC buffers which have no compression, let alone the requirement to be placed over a pit once a fortnight as part of warranty maintenance. In the end it was the drivers union "ASLE&F" that decided they were so non compliant as a shunting engine they were in effect blacked by the union. They could have been re-deployed to more suitable locations where one or two staff at terminals could have been trained to operate them as after all they aren't registered as locomotives. They would be ideal for use where a block train is placed for unloading and thus release the mainline loco but instead all six have simply languished out of use for 20 months now.

At last someone within DB UK has bit the bullet and accepted the inevitable and sort to find work for these expensive machines. The Carlisle Zephir is one of two out of the six delivered fitted with an OHL safety cage. It is going to Knottingley for use placing stock in the C&W shed for maintenance while the one currently at Oxford Hinksey LDC is destined for Stoke Wagon Works. That leaves four to find gainful employment, they are currently located at Toton, Hoo, Doncaster and Westbury.

Justin Hills always loved the beautiful lines and flow of the XK 120 but felt some minor improvements could be made to the overall appearance of this beautiful car. He now feels that his Jaguar XK 120 is a true representation of what he thinks the original designer would have first sketched, before practicality and cost had to be included into the design. Justin's design is now receiving a written endorsement form Jaguar designer, Ian Cullim himself ! The car is currently on display at Jaguar Design Studio headquarters, as visual inspiration for the Jaguar design team. One-off custom coachwork + V12 engine.

Class XV : Special Display

Zoute Concours d'Elegance

The Royal Zoute Golf Club

Zoute Grand Prix 2019

Knokke - Zoute

België - Belgium

October 2019

== In Character ==

Basic Information:

Name: Kengo Kurosawa

Gender: Male

Age: 25

Occupation: Sushi Chef at an izakaya, recently graduated in Economics

Appearance: Tall and athletic, with sharp asiatic features, dark hair, and piercing eyes. Typically seen in casual yet stylish attire, blending practicality with urban fashion. During work, wears traditional sushi chef attire.

Personal History:

Kengo Kurosawa is a fourth-generation Japanese American, born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Despite his Japanese name and features, he grew up fully immersed in American culture with little connection to his heritage. His family has been in the U.S. for generations, and any cultural ties to Japan have long since faded.

Personality:

Kengo is ambitious and pragmatic, willing to bend the rules if it means achieving his goals. He is intelligent, resourceful, and has a keen eye for opportunities. His easy-going demeanor at the izakaya masks a more serious and calculating mind. He is loyal to those he cares about, particularly his girlfriend.

W Gash & Son's ex London Routemaster RM21 (WLT757) on Lombard Street, Newark, Nottinghamshire in April 1989. Behind is Gash's LO5 (TVO981G), a Plaxton C41F bodied Leyland Leopard.

In the immediate de-regulation era, British towns and cites were fascinating places to visit in regard to the transport scene. The variety of buses and operators competing against each other was quite bewildering. In the market town of Newark in Nottinghamshire the same applied. W Gash & Sons, a long established local independent operator found themselves battling against the much larger and well resourced 'Lincolnshire Road Car Company' (LRRC). This was a battle that Gash's could not sustain, and in 1989, following maintenance failings, the company was bought out by the LRRC.

More likely for their novelty value than for practicality, Gash's purchased three former London Transport, AEC Routemaster buses in 1986 for use on local routes. These were; ALD990B, ALM65B, and WLT757. The three Routemasters were numbered RM19-21 by Gash's:

ALD990B - RM19 (formerly RM1990)

ALM65B - RM20 (formerly RM2065)

WLT757 - RM21 (formerly RM757)

Of the three, WLT757 was the only one to receive Gash's livery. ALD990B was repainted red by Gash's, having Go-Gash applied between decks. ALM65B remained in its acquired condition aside of its fleetname and fleet number.

On the demise of W. Gash & Sons in 1989, all three Routemasters were sold by LRRC to The East Yorkshire Motor Company for further service.

A brief history for RM757 (WLT 757) follows. This is summarised from a more comprehensive history for this bus to be found on 'Ian's Bus Stop' website. www.busspotter.com/RM/RM7g07.html

4/61 Into with LTE and used on service 269 (West Green)

11/61 On closure of West Green, bus goes onto work from several garages, including - Poplar, Hanwell, Stamford Hill

12/65 SF to Aldenham overhaul

12/65 To Willesden with body B759

9/68 To Aldenham for repaint.

9/68 To West Ham

10/68 To Edmonton

4/71 Into store

12/72 Aldenham for overhaul - receives body B749

12/73 SF into store

1975 SF

10/77 SF to Aldenham overhaul

1/83 CS from o/h (Chiswick experimental): body B779

1/83 Overall ad for British Airways - never used in service

2/83 WL transfer: red (Walworth)

8/86 Withdrawn and to store at AEC Southall

1986 Purchased by Gash, Newark and numbered RM21

7/89 Sold to East Yorkshire - Scarborough & District

1993 Reregistered as NVS 855 by EYMS and painted blue

1995 Withdrawn by EYMS and sold

1996 Puchased by Harrogate Eagles Venture Scout Unit

10/02 In use as a playbus in Monnickendam, Netherlands - not registered as a motor vehicle with authorities.

4/16 Extant in Holland, but in a poor state.

2017 with Mart Leek, De Rijp, Holland (preservation?)

The Flatiron Building, originally the Fuller Building, is a triangular 22-story, 285-foot-tall (86.9 m) steel-framed landmarked building located at 175 Fifth Avenue in the eponymous Flatiron District neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Dinkelberg, it was one of the tallest buildings in the city upon its 1902 completion, at 20 floors high, and one of only two "skyscrapers" north of 14th Street – the other being the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, one block east. The building sits on a triangular block formed by Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and East 22nd Street – where the building's 87-foot (27 m) back end is located – with East 23rd Street grazing the triangle's northern (uptown) peak. As with numerous other wedge-shaped buildings, the name "Flatiron" derives from its resemblance to a cast-iron clothes iron.

The building, which has been called "one of the world's most iconic skyscrapers and a quintessential symbol of New York City", anchors the south (downtown) end of Madison Square and the north (uptown) end of the Ladies' Mile Historic District. The neighborhood around it is called the Flatiron District after its signature building, which has become an icon of New York City. The Flatiron Building was designated a New York City landmark in 1966, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

In 1901, the Newhouse family sold "Eno's flatiron" for about $2 million to Cumberland Realty Company, an investment partnership created by Harry S. Black, CEO of the Fuller Company. The Fuller Company was the first true general contractor that dealt with all aspects of building construction except design, and they specialized in building skyscrapers. Black intended to construct a new headquarters building on the site, despite the recent deterioration of the surrounding neighborhood. Black engaged Burnham to design the building, which would be Burnham's first in New York City, would also be the first skyscraper north of 14th Street. It was to be named the Fuller Building after George A. Fuller, founder of the Fuller Company and "father of the skyscraper", who had died two years earlier. However, locals persisted in calling it "The Flatiron", a name which has since been made official.

Once construction of the building began, it proceeded at a very fast pace. The steel was so meticulously pre-cut that the frame went up at the rate of a floor each week. By February 1902 the frame was complete, and by mid-May the building was half-covered by terra-cotta tiling. The building was completed in June 1902, after a year of construction.

The Flatiron Building was not the first building of its triangular ground-plan: aside from a possibly unique triangular Roman temple built on a similarly constricted site in the city of Verulamium, Britannia; Casa Saccabarozzi, Turin, Italy (1840); Bridge House, Leeds, England (1875); the Maryland Inn in Annapolis (1782); the Granger Block in Syracuse, New York (1869); I.O.O.F. Centennial Building (18760) in Alpena, Michigan; the Phelan Building in San Francisco (1881); the Gooderham Building of Toronto (1892); and the English-American Building in Atlanta (1897) predate it. All, however, are smaller than their New York counterpart.

Two features were added to the Flatiron Building following its completion. The "cowcatcher" retail space at the front of the building was added in order to maximize the use of the building's lot and produce some retail income. Harry Black had insisted on the space, despite objections from Burnham. Another addition to the building not in the original plan was the penthouse, which was constructed after the rest of the building had been completed to be used as artists' studios, and was quickly rented out to artists such as Louis Fancher, many of whom contributed to the pulp magazines which were produced in the offices below.

The Flatiron Building became an icon of New York City, and the public response to it was enthusiastic, but the critical response to it at the time was not completely positive, and what praise it garnered was often for the cleverness of the engineering involved. Montgomery Schuyler, editor of Architectural Record, said that its "awkwardness [is] entirely undisguised, and without even an attempt to disguise them, if they have not even been aggravated by the treatment. ... The treatment of the tip is an additional and it seems wanton aggravation of the inherent awkwardness of the situation." He praised the surface of the building, and the detailing of the terra-cotta work, but criticized the practicality of the large number of windows in the building: "[The tenant] can, perhaps, find wall space within for one roll top desk without overlapping the windows, with light close in front of him and close behind him and close on one side of him. But suppose he needed a bookcase? Undoubtedly he has a highly eligible place from which to view processions. But for the transaction of business?"

When the building was first constructed, it received mixed feedback. The most known criticism received was known as "Burnham's Folly". This criticism, focused on the structure of the building, was made on the grounds that the "combination of triangular shape and height would cause the building to fall down." Critics believed that the building created a dangerous wind-tunnel at the intersection of the two streets, and could possibly knock the building down. The building's shape was blamed for the 1903 death of a bicycle messenger, who was blown into the street and run over by a car. However, the building's structure was meant to accommodate four times the typical wind loads in order to stabilize and retain the building's iconic triangular shape.

The Flatiron was to attract the attention of numerous artists. It was the subject of one of Edward Steichen's atmospheric photographs, taken on a wet wintry late afternoon in 1904, as well as a memorable image by Alfred Stieglitz taken the year before, to which Steichen was paying homage. Stieglitz reflected on the dynamic symbolism of the building, noting upon seeing it one day during a snowstorm that "... it appeared to be moving toward me like the bow of a monster ocean steamer – a picture of a new America still in the making," and remarked that what the Parthenon was to Athens, the Flatiron was to New York. When Stieglitz's photograph was published in Camera Work, his friend Sadakichi Hartmann, a writer, painter and photographer, accompanied it with an essay on the building: "A curious creation, no doubt, but can it be called beautiful? Beauty is a very abstract idea ... Why should the time not arrive when the majority without hesitation will pronounce the 'Flat-iron' a thing of beauty?"

A 1919 image of the 165th Infantry Regiment passing through Madison Square's Victory Arch. The Flatiron Building is in the background.

After the end of World War I, the 165th Infantry Regiment passes through the Victory Arch in Madison Square, with the Flatiron Building in the background (1919).

Besides Stieglitz and Steichen, photographers such as Alvin Langdon Coburn, Jessie Tarbox Beals, painters of the Ashcan School like John Sloan, Everett Shinn and Ernest Lawson, as well as Paul Cornoyer and Childe Hassam, lithographer Joseph Pennell, illustrator John Edward Jackson as well the French Cubist Albert Gleizes all took the Flatiron as the subject of their work. But decades after it was completed, others still could not come to terms with the building. Sculptor William Ordway Partridge remarked that it was "a disgrace to our city, an outrage to our sense of the artistic, and a menace to life".

The Fuller Company originally took the 19th floor of the building for its headquarters. In 1910, Harry Black moved the company to Francis Kimball's Trinity Building at 111 Broadway, where its parent company, U.S. Realty, had its offices. U.S. Realty moved its offices back to the Flatiron in 1916, and left permanently for the Fuller Building on 57th Street in 1929.

The Flatiron's other original tenants included publishers (magazine publishing pioneer Frank Munsey, American Architect and Building News and a vanity publisher), an insurance company (the Equitable Life Assurance Society), small businesses (a patent medicine company, Western Specialty Manufacturing Company and Whitehead & Hoag, who made celluloid novelties), music publishers (overflow from "Tin Pan Alley" up on 28th Street), a landscape architect, the Imperial Russian Consulate, the Bohemian Guides Society, the Roebling Construction Company, owned by the sons of Tammany Hall boss Richard Croker, and the crime syndicate, Murder, Inc.

The retail space in the building's "cowcatcher" at the "prow" was leased by United Cigar Stores, and the building's vast cellar, which extended into the vaults that went more than 20 feet (6.1 m) under the surrounding streets, was occupied by the Flatiron Restaurant, which could seat 1,500 patrons and was open from breakfast through late supper for those taking in a performance at one of the many theatres which lined Broadway between 14th and 23rd Streets.

In 1911, the building introduced a restaurant/club in the basement. It was among the first of its kind that allowed a black jazz band to perform, thus introducing ragtime to affluent New Yorkers.

Even before construction on the Flatiron Building had begun, the area around Madison Square had started to deteriorate somewhat. After U.S. Realty constructed the New York Hippodrome, Madison Square Garden was no longer the venue of choice, and survived largely by staging boxing matches. The base of the Flatiron became a cruising spot for gay men, including some male prostitutes. Nonetheless, in 1911 the Flatiron Restaurant was bought by Louis Bustanoby, of the well-known Café des Beaux-Arts, and converted into a trendy 400-seat French restaurant, Taverne Louis. As an innovation to attract customers away from another restaurant opened by his brothers, Bustanoby hired a black musical group, Louis Mitchell and his Southern Symphony Quintette, to play dance tunes at the Taverne and the Café. Irving Berlin heard the group at the Taverne and suggested that they should try to get work in London, which they did. The Taverne's openness was also indicated by its welcoming a gay clientele, unusual for a restaurant of its type at the time. The Taverne was forced to close due to the effects of Prohibition on the restaurant business.

In October 1925, Harry S. Black, in need of cash for his U.S. Realty Company, sold the Flatiron Building to a syndicate set up by Lewis Rosenbaum, who also owned assorted other notable buildings around the U.S. The price was $2 million, which equaled Black's cost for buying the lot and erecting the Flatiron. The syndicate defaulted on its mortgage in 1933, and was taken over by the lender, Equitable Life Assurance Company after failing to sell it at auction. To attract tenants, Equitable did some modernization of the building, including replacing the original cast-iron birdcage elevators, which had cabs covered in rubber tiling and were originally built by Hecla Iron Works, but the hydraulic power system was not replaced. By the mid-1940s, the building was fully rented.

When the U.S. entered World War I, the Federal government instituted a "Wake Up America!" campaign, and the United Cigar store in the Flatiron's cowcatcher donated its space to the U.S. Navy for use as a recruiting center. Liberty Bonds were sold outside on sidewalk stands. By the mid-1940s, the cigar store had been replaced with a Walgreens drug store. During the 1940s, the building was dominated by clothing and toy companies.

Equitable sold the building in 1946 to the Flatiron Associates, an investor group headed by Harry Helmsley, whose firm, Dwight-Helmsley (which would later become Helmsley-Spear) managed the property. The new owners made some superficial changes, such as adding a dropped ceiling to the lobby, and, later, replacing the original mahogany-panelled entrances with revolving doors.

In 1959, St. Martin's Press moved into the building, and gradually its parent company, Macmillan, rented other offices as they became available, until by 2004, all 21 floors of the Flatiron Building's office space was rented by Macmillan. During its tenancy, Macmillan renovated some of the Flatiron Building's floors. for its imprints such as Tor/Forge, Picador and Henry Holt and Company. Macmillan, which is owned by Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck of Stuttgart, Germany, wrote about the building:

The Flatiron's interior is known for having its strangely-shaped offices with walls that cut through at an angle on their way to the skyscraper's famous point. These "point" offices are the most coveted and feature amazing northern views that look directly upon another famous Manhattan landmark, the Empire State Building.

Because the Helmsley/Flatiron Associates ownership structure was a tenancy-in-common, in which all partners have to agree on any action, as opposed to a straightforward partnership, it was difficult to get permission for necessary repairs and improvements to be done, and the building declined during the Helmsley/Flatiron Associates era. The facade of the Flatiron Building was restored in 1991 by the firm of Hurley & Farinella. Helmsley-Spear stopped managing the building in 1997, when some of the investors sold their 52% of the building to Newmark Knight-Frank, a large real estate firm, which took over management of the property. Shortly afterwards, Helmsley's widow, Leona Helmsley, sold her share as well. Newmark made significant improvements to the property, including installing new electric elevators, replacing the antiquated hydraulic ones, which were the last hydraulic elevators in New York City.

During a 2005 restoration of the Flatiron Building a 15-story vertical advertising banner covered the facade of the building. The advertisement elicited protests from many New York City residents, prompting the New York City Department of Buildings to step in and force the building's owners to remove it.

In January 2009, Italian real estate investment firm Sorgente Group, based in Rome, bought a majority stake in the Flatiron Building, with plans to turn it into a luxury hotel. The firm's Historic and Trophy Buildings Fund owns a number of prestigious buildings in France and Italy, and was involved in buying, and then selling, a stake in the Chrysler Building in Midtown New York. The value of the 22-story Flatiron Building, which is already zoned by the city to allow it to become a hotel, was estimated to be $190 million.

In July 2017, Macmillan announced it was consolidating its New York offices to the Equitable Building at 120 Broadway. By June 2019, Macmillan had left the building, and all 21 office floors were vacant. Following Macmillan's departure, the owners of the Flatiron Building, the family-owned GFP Real Estate, planned to use the absence of tenants to upgrade the interior of the building. GFP planned to install a central air and heating system, strip away all interior partitions – leaving triangular open floors – put in a new sprinkler system and a second staircase, and upgrade the elevators. The lobby would also be renovated. The cost would be $60–80 million and the project was estimated to take a year. The owners were interested in renting the entire building to a single tenant, hiring a high-profile real estate agency to find a suitable tenant. The executive director of the ownership company said: "The building was born as a commercial property, and we want to keep it as such." As of November 2020, the building is empty, and the full renovation is expected to take at least until 2022.

Coupe Utility vehicles—better known as “utes”—merge the practicality of a pickup bed with the comfort of a sedan. Despite the fact that they’re an endangered species even in the land down under, the birthplace of the ute, they remain an integral part of Australian national identity and motoring heritage. Many performance models like this one were built over the years, and they became Australia’s contribution to muscle car culture in the 1970s.

Thank you to The Brothers Brick and the Lego Car Blog for their very kind posts about this build! This project received the "Staff Favorite" award at Brickfair Virginia 2022. More photos available in the build album.

©2022 Chris Elliott, All Rights Reserved.

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For someone like me, who has set himself the task to visit and document photographically as many as possible of those wonderful Romanesque churches and monasteries, a trip to Normandy is both cause for despair and for enchanted amazement. Despair, because the Norman architect, at the time of the Romanesque which coincided with the conquest of Britain by Duke William in 1066 and the tremendous influx of power and riches that ensued, that architect is above all focused on efficiency in the projection of power and majesty. For that architect, the absolute must, the beginning and the end of church building, is the wall. Sculpture doesn’t matter. When it exists at all, it is often relegated to simple modillions under the cornice that supports the roof. The bare wall, perfectly aligned and appareled, reigns as the undisputed king of Norman Romanesque. He who likes to smile and wonder at the ingenuity and inventiveness of Mediæval sculptors, is most of the time sorely disappointed by the utter lack of adornment of those great and tall Norman churches, next to which the barest Cistercian sanctuaries look positively alive and overflowing under the comparatively unbridled abundance of rinceaux, human figures and assorted creatures.

No sculpture to speak of, then, is the norm in Normandy. But on the other hand, the masterfulness of the architects and masons turns the job of putting one stone on top of another into a veritable art: it is here, in Normandy, that was first experimented the very innovation that would bring about the end of the Romanesque: the voûte d’ogives, the rib vaulting from which the whole world of Gothic derives. It is in Normandy that it was first imagined and implemented, even as the 11th century hadn’t yet come to a close. We will see where, and how.

My photographic tour of Lower Normandy had to begin, of course, by the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen. Now that we have covered those, I would like to show you a few other Romanesque churches, much less well-known, yet fully worthy of our interest.

The first documentary source I consulted when I was preparing this trip was, as usual, the Normandie romane book published by Zodiaque —both volumes, as Romanesque Normandy is so rich that two books were needed to properly cover it. Unfortunately, and owing to some of those unforeseen circumstances that so often intrude upon our lives, I do not have those books with me at the moment. Therefore, I am not able to use the valuable material they hold to compose my captions; still, I will do my best in their absence... with my apologies. I hope the books will be sent back to me by whoever I made the mistake to leave them with, so that I won’t have to buy new copies.

Contrary to abbey and priory churches, which were often built in quiet and peaceful (not to say lonely) locales, away from the hustle and bustle of villages and towns (even if such cores of human activity often ended up growing from scratch around them!), parochial churches were usually erected in a village or very close by.

Dedicated to Saint Peter and listed as a Historic Landmark on the very first list drawn up in 1840 by Minister Prosper Mérimée (which says a lot about its architectural and artistic value, even by 19th century standards), the church of Thaon was built in a lonely vale because the parish, at the time, did not include a village per se, but was rather a collection of scattered hamlets: the church was built more or less in the middle. Tradition has been upheld up to present day: the church is still alone, with only one mill built nearby to benefit from the driving force of the current of River Mue —although, if truth be told, I have to admit that, with the concept of practicality emerging in the 19th century, a new church was consecrated in 1840 smack in the center of what had in the meantime become the most important of those hamlets of old: Thaon. Saint Peter was henceforth known as “the Old Church”.

Archæological digs carried out between 1998 and 2011 have shown that the locale was used during the Antiquity as a fanum, probably in connection with a nearby ford that allowed for crossing the river. A small necropolis developed during the 300s and 400s, then a first paleo-Christian edifice was built during the 600s, replaced by a new one in the next century. A first Romanesque church was erected around 1050–80, of which only the bell tower remains today. It is the oldest part of the second Romanesque church, the one we can still admire today, which was built in 1130–50 as an extension of the older church in all directions: the nave was extended by two rows to the West, a wider and much deeper choir was built with a flat apse and aisles were added. It is surrounded by more than 400 tombs from the 7th to the 18th century, which have been excavated and studied by archæologists.

During the Romanesque Age, the land was owned by the powerful barons of Creully, who possessed large tracts of land in Lower Normandy; this probably accounts for the architectural quality of the old church, which was placed under the direct patronage of the chapter of canons of the Bayeux Cathedral. This monument has come to us practically intact, except for the aforementioned aisles that were razed around 1720, probably because the terrain had become marshier and threatened the stability of the entire building. Around the same time, the floor level was raised to help fight dampness, of which the inside still exhibits many traces.

Being a product of the “First Romanesque Art”, the 11th century church, of which the bell tower is the only visible remnant, was probably more decorated than the early 12th century church that succeeded it. One century before, there was not at all this disdain for sculpture and ornamentation that seems to have sprung in Normandy around the time, or in the wake, of the Conquest.

For what it’s worth, the lovely arches, slim columns and little capitals we see here are a pleasure to behold.

The World Solar Challenge (WSC), or the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge since 2013, tied to the sponsorship of Bridgestone Corporation is the world's most well-known solar-powered car race event. A biennial road race covering 3,022 km (1,878 mi) through the Australian Outback, from Darwin, Northern Territory, to Adelaide, South Australia, created to foster the development of experimental, solar-powered vehicles.

The race attracts teams from around the world, most of which are fielded by universities or corporations, although some are fielded by high schools. The race has a 32-year history spanning fourteen races, with the inaugural event taking place in 1987. Initially held once every three years, the event became biennial from the turn of the century.

Since 2001 the World Solar Challenge was won seven times out of nine efforts by the Nuna team and cars of the Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands, with only the Tokai Challenger, built by the Tokai University of Japan able to take the crown in 2009 and 2011.

Starting in 2007, the WSC has been raced in multiple classes. After the German team of Bochum University of Applied Sciences competed with a four-wheeled, multi-seat car, the BoCruiser (in 2009), in 2013 a radically new "Cruiser Class" was introduced, racing and stimulating the technological development of practically usable, and ideally road-legal, multi-seater solar vehicles. Since its inception, Solar Team Eindhoven's four- and five-seat Stella solar cars from Eindhoven University of Technology (Netherlands) won the Cruiser Class in all three races so far.

Remarkable technological progress has been achieved since the GM led, highly experimental, single-seat Sunraycer prototype first won the WSC with an average speed of 66.9 km/h (41.6 mph). Once competing cars became steadily more capable to match or exceed legal maximum speeds on the Australian highway, the race rules were consistently made more demanding and challenging — for instance after Honda's Dream car first won the race with an average speed exceeding 55 mph (88.5 km/h) in 1996. In 2005 the Dutch Nuna team were the first to beat an average speed of 100 km/h (62 mph).

The 2017 Cruiser class winner, the five-seat Stella Vie vehicle, was able to carry an average of 3.4 occupants at an average speed of 69 km/h (43 mph). Like its two predecessors, the 2017 Stella Vie vehicle was successfully road registered by the Dutch team, further emphasizing the great progress in real world compliance and practicality that has been achieved.

The World Solar Challenge held its 30th anniversary event on October 8–15, 2017.

The 2019 World Solar Challenge will take place from 13 to 20 October. 53 teams from 24 countries have entered the competition. The same 3 classes, Challenger (30 teams), Cruiser (23 teams) and Adventure will be featured.

PLEASE, NO invitations or self promotions, THEY WILL BE DELETED. My photos are FREE to use, just give me credit and it would be nice if you let me know, thanks.

Montreal began experimenting with one-man streetcars in 1925. After these tests, the MTC concluded that this type of vehicle could be put into service on certain routes outside peak hours. Consequently and after completing a sketch for a lightweight one-man vehicle, fifty units were ordered from Canadian Car and Foundry in 1925. Painted in light-beige colour with a red band, a scheme that ultimately depicted all MTC vehicles of this type, two additional orders were made from the same company in 1928 and 1929 which brought the series to 105 vehicles. These streetcars were a success because of their practicality due to their low weight (about 17,200 kilograms) and were among the last urban cars to be in service on the streets of Montreal until August 10, 1959.

The MTC 1959 streetcar is part of the second series of one-man cars commissioned from Canadian Car and Foundry in 1928. It was completely restored between 2002 and 2004 by museum volunteers and is used every summer to transport visitors to the museum's outdoor site.

All the information used with the pictures was taken from information at the Canadian Railway Museum Site.

www.exporail.org/en/collections/our-collection/

On a pretty late summer morning, the Greenfield Village's Detroit & Lima Northern Locomotive #7 takes the shuttle train through the Firestone Farm District, en route to a stop at the village entrance, just a few hundred yards ahead.

Rail enthusiasts who visit Greenfield Village sometimes ask why open, tourist cars are used to haul passengers, instead of period-correct coaches. While the railroaders would clearly like to have a more authentic train, the answer to the question is really a matter of practicality. There are not a lot of historic, wooden coaches available that would be a good match for the locomotives here and the cost to restore (or build new) and maintain such coaches would be considerable. The harsh winters of Southern Michigan would pretty much dictate that such equipment be stored indoors and facilities to do that don't currently exist. In addition, Greenfield Village operates primarily during the summer months, when the temperatures at mid-day are often 90 degrees or more, which would be uncomfortable for visitors in standard coaches. These cars are built much like the old, J. G. Brill "Breezer" trolleys, providing a nice, cool ride on hot days. Lastly, standard coaches have a center aisle and don't accommodate nearly as many guests as tourist cars with bench seats. These open-air cars can board and de-train passengers from every row simultaneously, making for shorter stops and allowing large groups to sit together.

It should also noted that these tourist cars are not rebuilt freight cars, but rather, were purpose-built for Greenfield Village by a well-known, in-region railroad contractor. They are steel cars with air-brakes and are fully capable of spending the winters outdoors without significant problem.

For someone like me, who has set himself the task to visit and document photographically as many as possible of those wonderful Romanesque churches and monasteries, a trip to Normandy is both cause for despair and for enchanted amazement. Despair, because the Norman architect, at the time of the Romanesque which coincided with the conquest of Britain by Duke William in 1066 and the tremendous influx of power and riches that ensued, that architect is above all focused on efficiency in the projection of power and majesty. For that architect, the absolute must, the beginning and the end of church building, is the wall. Sculpture doesn’t matter. When it exists at all, it is often relegated to simple modillions under the cornice that supports the roof. The bare wall, perfectly aligned and appareled, reigns as the undisputed king of Norman Romanesque. He who likes to smile and wonder at the ingenuity and inventiveness of Mediæval sculptors, is most of the time sorely disappointed by the utter lack of adornment of those great and tall Norman churches, next to which the barest Cistercian sanctuaries look positively alive and overflowing under the comparatively unbridled abundance of rinceaux, human figures and assorted creatures.

No sculpture to speak of, then, is the norm in Normandy. But on the other hand, the masterfulness of the architects and masons turns the job of putting one stone on top of another into a veritable art: it is here, in Normandy, that was first experimented the very innovation that would bring about the end of the Romanesque: the voûte d’ogives, the rib vaulting from which the whole world of Gothic derives. It is in Normandy that it was first imagined and implemented, even as the 11th century hadn’t yet come to a close. We will see where, and how.

My photographic tour of Lower Normandy had to begin, of course, by the Abbaye aux Hommes and the Abbaye aux Dames in Caen. Now that we have covered those, I would like to show you a few other Romanesque churches, much less well-known, yet fully worthy of our interest.

The first documentary source I consulted when I was preparing this trip was, as usual, the Normandie romane book published by Zodiaque —both volumes, as Romanesque Normandy is so rich that two books were needed to properly cover it. Unfortunately, and owing to some of those unforeseen circumstances that so often intrude upon our lives, I do not have those books with me at the moment. Therefore, I am not able to use the valuable material they hold to compose my captions; still, I will do my best in their absence... with my apologies. I hope the books will be sent back to me by whoever I made the mistake to leave them with, so that I won’t have to buy new copies.

Contrary to abbey and priory churches, which were often built in quiet and peaceful (not to say lonely) locales, away from the hustle and bustle of villages and towns (even if such cores of human activity often ended up growing from scratch around them!), parochial churches were usually erected in a village or very close by.

Dedicated to Saint Peter and listed as a Historic Landmark on the very first list drawn up in 1840 by Minister Prosper Mérimée (which says a lot about its architectural and artistic value, even by 19th century standards), the church of Thaon was built in a lonely vale because the parish, at the time, did not include a village per se, but was rather a collection of scattered hamlets: the church was built more or less in the middle. Tradition has been upheld up to present day: the church is still alone, with only one mill built nearby to benefit from the driving force of the current of River Mue —although, if truth be told, I have to admit that, with the concept of practicality emerging in the 19th century, a new church was consecrated in 1840 smack in the center of what had in the meantime become the most important of those hamlets of old: Thaon. Saint Peter was henceforth known as “the Old Church”.

Archæological digs carried out between 1998 and 2011 have shown that the locale was used during the Antiquity as a fanum, probably in connection with a nearby ford that allowed for crossing the river. A small necropolis developed during the 300s and 400s, then a first paleo-Christian edifice was built during the 600s, replaced by a new one in the next century. A first Romanesque church was erected around 1050–80, of which only the bell tower remains today. It is the oldest part of the second Romanesque church, the one we can still admire today, which was built in 1130–50 as an extension of the older church in all directions: the nave was extended by two rows to the West, a wider and much deeper choir was built with a flat apse and aisles were added. It is surrounded by more than 400 tombs from the 7th to the 18th century, which have been excavated and studied by archæologists.

During the Romanesque Age, the land was owned by the powerful barons of Creully, who possessed large tracts of land in Lower Normandy; this probably accounts for the architectural quality of the old church, which was placed under the direct patronage of the chapter of canons of the Bayeux Cathedral. This monument has come to us practically intact, except for the aforementioned aisles that were razed around 1720, probably because the terrain had become marshier and threatened the stability of the entire building. Around the same time, the floor level was raised to help fight dampness, of which the inside still exhibits many traces.

More sculpted capitals in the nave. As you can see, essentially floral motifs. What strikes me is that there is obvious talent and skill in the execution, but they look somehow unfinished, a bit rough or crude, as if a master had set a fine example to begin with, but students had failed to follow in his footsteps...

This of course must be connected to the fact that this is a Normandy church, and we know that around 1100, the emphasis in Normandy was not on sculpture and decoration... Even if this church has little to do with façades harmoniques and the major abbey churches in Caen, even if its walls are very decorated and rather reminiscent of Saintonge and Poitou churches, still the disdain of Normans for sculpted decoration at that point in time may explain what we see here.

Farnborough Hall is a Grade I listed country house in the village of Farnborough, Warwickshire, close to the Oxfordshire town of Banbury. The house was built in the late 17th Century for William Holbech, and remodelled c.1745-1750 for William Holbech the younger, probably by Sanderson Miller.

The parkland is a rare surviving example of the ferme ornée (ornamental farm) style of landscaping. It combined agricultural practicality with fashionable design: farm buildings were ornamental, yet suited for their purpose, and could be features within the landscape. Sanderson Miller, a contemporary of Capability Brown, remodelled the parkland at the request of William Holbech II.

One of the most significant introductions to the garden design was the 1200m long Terrace Walk, which was constructed on an existing slope and has 26 viewing points along it. Closest to the Hall is the Game Larder overlooking St Botolph's Church, Farnborough; this is followed by the Ionic Temple and Oval Pavilion. At the end of the Terrace Walk, is the 18m high Obelisk, which overlooks the Warmington Valley. The Obelisk was first recorded by a visitor in 1746. It was rebuilt in 1828 after it collapsed in 1823.

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Montreal began experimenting with one-man streetcars in 1925. After these tests, the MTC concluded that this type of vehicle could be put into service on certain routes outside peak hours. Consequently and after completing a sketch for a lightweight one-man vehicle, fifty units were ordered from Canadian Car and Foundry in 1925. Painted in light-beige colour with a red band, a scheme that ultimately depicted all MTC vehicles of this type, two additional orders were made from the same company in 1928 and 1929 which brought the series to 105 vehicles. These streetcars were a success because of their practicality due to their low weight (about 17,200 kilograms) and were among the last urban cars to be in service on the streets of Montreal until August 10, 1959.

The MTC 1959 streetcar is part of the second series of one-man cars commissioned from Canadian Car and Foundry in 1928. It was completely restored between 2002 and 2004 by museum volunteers and is used every summer to transport visitors to the museum's outdoor site.

All the information used with the pictures was taken from information at the Canadian Railway Museum Site.

www.exporail.org/en/collections/our-collection/

A fabulous woman to fill a heart with joy and a smart, intelligent friend with good humor, wise ways, full of compassion, love, joy, tears, laughter, sensuality and practicality. Three cheers.