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Kavitha Gopalan | Blogs-Mobodexter
Kavitha Gopalan
IOT is revolutionizing various industries and we cannot ignore the huge transformation it can bring to the health care industry. IOT combined with the analytics and cloud can provide unprecedented capabilities in healthcare – virtual healthcare, predictive diagnostics,... blogs.mobodexter.com/healthcare-transformation-through-iot/
Predicting Failure Leads to Success on Forbes’ Most Promising Company List
VEXTEC Corporation .Alumni and co-founders of VexTec, Robert Tryon Animesh Dey. Vanderbilt Photo / Daniel Dubois
Read more: www.vanderbilt.edu/magazines/vanderbilt-engineering/2010/...
This appears to be a plinth for the mounting of a "Predictor"; a heavy tripod based device to facilitate more efficient targeting of incoming aircraft. The British Army's new Bofors guns were intended as low-altitude anti-aircraft weapons. However, existing gunnery control systems were inadequate for the purpose; the range was too far to "guess" the lead, but at the same time close enough that the angle could change faster that the gunners could turn the traversal handles.
The Predictor solved the problem by doing all of the calculations mechanically through a complex system of gears. Inputs to its calculations included wind speed, gravity, ballistics of the gun and the rounds it fired, angle to the target in azimuth and altitude, and a user-input estimated speed. Some of these inputs were fed in via dials, which turned gearing inside the Predictor to calculate the range (from the change in angle and estimated speed) and direction of motion. The "output" of the device drove hydraulic servo-motors attached to the traversal and elevation gears of the otherwise unmodified Bofors gun, allowing it to follow the Predictor's indications automatically without manual intervention.
There are pictures of these machines and more information about their function on this site and wikipedia.
Click here for an aerial view of where this picture was taken.
On the 4th & 5th October 2016, leading international thinkers in the areas of Data, Predictive Models, Technology and Decision making gathered at the RDS, Dublin, for Predict 2016. The speakers, many of whom I managed to photograph, discussed the latest progress in Predictive Modelling and its future – from Data to Software and Hardware technology, plus Predictive Modelling methods and the best examples of Data-driven Decision-making.
The organisers kindly invited me to the Predict event at the RDS but as I arrived a bit early I took few backstage or behind the scenes shots. In case your are interested I used a Sony A7RM2 coupled with a Sony 29-135 full frame lens. The lens does attract a lot of attention which does allow me to to have interesting people … volunteers, students from Brazil, photographers etc. Of course my lens did not attract as mush attention as the two cars [especially the DeLorean DMC-12. DMC-12s were primarily intended for the American market. All production models were therefore left-hand drive. Evidence survives from as early as April 1981, however, which indicates that the DeLorean Motor Company was aware of the need to produce a right-hand drive version to supply to world markets such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. My contacts in Belfast claim that 16 right-hand drive factory-authorised DeLoreans were produced.
Witch Doctor Practicing Black Magic In His House, Predicting The Winner Of The Race, Maulidi Festival, Lamu Kenya
Lamu is a small town on Lamu Island, in kenya, near the Somalia border.
Lamu town is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site as it was one of the original Swahili settlements along coastal East Africa.
The town's history is marked by a Portuguese invasion then the Omani domination, like in Zanzibar. The streets of Lamu are very narrow, so there are no cars, only donkeys to carry everything!
© Eric Lafforgue
Bernard Marr is a bestselling author, keynote speaker, strategic performance consultant, and analytics, KPI & Big Data guru.
He helps companies to better manage, measure, report and analyse performance. His leading-edge work with major companies, organisations and governments across the globe makes him an acclaimed and award-winning keynote speaker, researcher, consultant and teacher. Bernard is acknowledged by the CEO Journal as one of today's leading business brains.
He has written a number of seminal books and over 200 high profile reports and articles on enterprise performance. This includes the best-sellers 'Key Performance Indicators', 'The Intelligent Company', 'More with Less', 'Managing and Delivering Performance' and 'Strategic Performance Management', a number of Gartner Reports and the world's largest research studies on the topic. His expert comments regularly feature in high-profile publications including The Times, The Financial Times, Financial Management, the CFO Magazine and the Wall Street Journal.
He has worked with and advised many of the world's best-known organisations including Accenture, Astra Zeneca, Bank of England, Barclays, BP, DHL, Fujitsu, Gartner, HSBC, Mars, Ministry of Defence, Microsoft, Oracle, The Home Office, NHS, Orange, Tetley, T-Mobile, Toyota, Royal Air Force, SAP and Shell, among many others.
He currently focuses on helping clients to:
- create strategic performance frameworks
- develop relevant and meaningful KPIs and metrics
- develop business analytics and 'big data' strategies
- develop management dashboards and reporting solutions
- train and coach teams to become 'high performance organisations'
- align people management practices with strategic performance objectives
- understand the emerging trends of big data analytics
His engagements range from executive awareness and training sessions to the design and implementation of corporate performance management and reporting approaches. Bernard can be contacted at bernard.marr@ap-institute.com
BOOKS BY BERNARD MARR amzn.to/2dqqCbT
NOOSA/QLD (12th March, 2012): DAY two of the 21st annual Noosa Festival Of Surfing sponsored by Global Surf Industries dawned clear and bright and, despite the Gold Coast and Brisbane suffering more heavy rains, barely a sprinkle touched the shores of Laguna Bay.
As with the opening day, the waves were modest, but a predicted build throughout the week held hopes of event organizers and contestants high throughout the day.
The day’s proceedings were divided between four events; the Sunshine Coast Airport Amateur Men’s SUP, the eagerly anticipated inaugural Laguna Bay Longboards Logger Pro, The Men’s Open Amateur sponsored by Classic Malibu and the Old Guys Rule Men’s 60+ age division.
The standup paddleboarders began the proceedings with aplomb, the added volume of their boards aptly suited to the softer conditions. Local surfer and Australian longboard champion, Jackson Close, showed his diversity, out-performing his adversaries in both his round one and round two heats held across the day. Having paddled his way to victory in yesterday’s five-kilometre Sunshine Coast Airport SUP race, Lincoln Dews took a more agile approach in the waves, easily throwing his board through some very impressive manoeuvres, but just forfeiting the heat win.
Across the globe, trends in longboarding have been veering significantly towards a more traditional approach, both in surfing and in equipment. For the first year, the Noosa Festival of Surfing truly embraced the resurgence with the addition of a logger event this year.
The noserider division has always been a favourite at the festival, and the Logger Pro, sponsored by local surfboard manufacturers, Laguna Bay Longboards, proved equally as popular and well justified its inclusion in the proceedings.
Some outstanding surfing by the likes of Nic Jones (Maroochydore, QLD), Geoff Fanning (Noosa Heads, QLD) and another local, Alex Bullpit, impressed the spectators, but the first round was dominated by the Japanese contingent.
Satshumi Suzuki and Yuta Sezuta were just two of the team of the Rising Sun delicately dancing up and down their traditional-style boards, noseriding through impossible sections and riding through to the beach for excellent scores and a very strong finishing result.
Local shaper and superb exponent of the old school, both in the water and in the shaping bay, Thomas Bexon, surfed phenomenally on one of his own exquisite creations, making hanging ten, reverse walks to the tail and tight pivoting turns look deceptively easy and graceful despite his adequate frame.
The Classic Malibu Men’s Open kicked off under crystal-clear skies, the sun warming the beaches and encouraging spectators to flock to the shoreline. Usually a high-performance event, featuring lightweight, highly refined surfboards, the Men’s Open this year saw a scattering of boards, from the more conventional three-finned boards seen in this division to the heavy single-fins that several of the competitors had also used in the Logger.
As the tide diminished, so too did the waves, although not enough to alter venue arrangements, and those Opens competitors opting for the traditional equipment could definitely be seen to have the edge. Nic Jones again outshone, using his single-fin despite his usual penchant and forte on performance equipment.
Rounds two and three of the Sunshine Coast Airport Amateur Men’s SUP offered very little in swell, but Jackson Close again proved his renown, using his paddle not only to gain speed through his rides but also to pivot and lever his way through some extraordinary turns.
Wrapping up aquatic activities were the sexagenarians, proving that they are still as young inside as any of the festival’s competitors and still oozing talents in the waves, even putting many of their more youthful peers to shame.
But, as with all coming days throughout the festival, activities weren’t sparse after the beautiful hinterland sunset.
Presentations ensued at the beach bar before Peter Howe and Tim Gaze once again took to the stage, providing the soundtrack for the Summer&Salt fashion show, the brand’s unique line of surf and swimwear being modeled on the sand at First Point.
Continuing proceedings, a gamut of cinematic delights entertained the crowd, Jack McCoy personally presenting a preview to his latest creation, “A Deeper Shade Of Blue”, McCoy showing with his exceptional footage exactly why he has developed such high renown in the industry.
Local band and festival regulars, the Band Of Frequencies performed a live soundtrack to some unique George Greenough footage and, wrapping up the night, “Sons Of Beaches ‘72” premiered, a movie looking at the Australian team’s groundbreaking part in the 1972 World Championships in San Diego. As a highlight to the film, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, a member of that original team and a legendary surfer, was joined by Hawaiian, Larry Bertlemann in presenting the timeless and historical documentation of that phenomenal event of 40 years ago.
The action will restart tomorrow at 7:00 sharp
NOOSA/QLD (12th March, 2012): DAY two of the 21st annual Noosa Festival Of Surfing sponsored by Global Surf Industries dawned clear and bright and, despite the Gold Coast and Brisbane suffering more heavy rains, barely a sprinkle touched the shores of Laguna Bay.
As with the opening day, the waves were modest, but a predicted build throughout the week held hopes of event organizers and contestants high throughout the day.
The day’s proceedings were divided between four events; the Sunshine Coast Airport Amateur Men’s SUP, the eagerly anticipated inaugural Laguna Bay Longboards Logger Pro, The Men’s Open Amateur sponsored by Classic Malibu and the Old Guys Rule Men’s 60+ age division.
The standup paddleboarders began the proceedings with aplomb, the added volume of their boards aptly suited to the softer conditions. Local surfer and Australian longboard champion, Jackson Close, showed his diversity, out-performing his adversaries in both his round one and round two heats held across the day. Having paddled his way to victory in yesterday’s five-kilometre Sunshine Coast Airport SUP race, Lincoln Dews took a more agile approach in the waves, easily throwing his board through some very impressive manoeuvres, but just forfeiting the heat win.
Across the globe, trends in longboarding have been veering significantly towards a more traditional approach, both in surfing and in equipment. For the first year, the Noosa Festival of Surfing truly embraced the resurgence with the addition of a logger event this year.
The noserider division has always been a favourite at the festival, and the Logger Pro, sponsored by local surfboard manufacturers, Laguna Bay Longboards, proved equally as popular and well justified its inclusion in the proceedings.
Some outstanding surfing by the likes of Nic Jones (Maroochydore, QLD), Geoff Fanning (Noosa Heads, QLD) and another local, Alex Bullpit, impressed the spectators, but the first round was dominated by the Japanese contingent.
Satshumi Suzuki and Yuta Sezuta were just two of the team of the Rising Sun delicately dancing up and down their traditional-style boards, noseriding through impossible sections and riding through to the beach for excellent scores and a very strong finishing result.
Local shaper and superb exponent of the old school, both in the water and in the shaping bay, Thomas Bexon, surfed phenomenally on one of his own exquisite creations, making hanging ten, reverse walks to the tail and tight pivoting turns look deceptively easy and graceful despite his adequate frame.
The Classic Malibu Men’s Open kicked off under crystal-clear skies, the sun warming the beaches and encouraging spectators to flock to the shoreline. Usually a high-performance event, featuring lightweight, highly refined surfboards, the Men’s Open this year saw a scattering of boards, from the more conventional three-finned boards seen in this division to the heavy single-fins that several of the competitors had also used in the Logger.
As the tide diminished, so too did the waves, although not enough to alter venue arrangements, and those Opens competitors opting for the traditional equipment could definitely be seen to have the edge. Nic Jones again outshone, using his single-fin despite his usual penchant and forte on performance equipment.
Rounds two and three of the Sunshine Coast Airport Amateur Men’s SUP offered very little in swell, but Jackson Close again proved his renown, using his paddle not only to gain speed through his rides but also to pivot and lever his way through some extraordinary turns.
Wrapping up aquatic activities were the sexagenarians, proving that they are still as young inside as any of the festival’s competitors and still oozing talents in the waves, even putting many of their more youthful peers to shame.
But, as with all coming days throughout the festival, activities weren’t sparse after the beautiful hinterland sunset.
Presentations ensued at the beach bar before Peter Howe and Tim Gaze once again took to the stage, providing the soundtrack for the Summer&Salt fashion show, the brand’s unique line of surf and swimwear being modeled on the sand at First Point.
Continuing proceedings, a gamut of cinematic delights entertained the crowd, Jack McCoy personally presenting a preview to his latest creation, “A Deeper Shade Of Blue”, McCoy showing with his exceptional footage exactly why he has developed such high renown in the industry.
Local band and festival regulars, the Band Of Frequencies performed a live soundtrack to some unique George Greenough footage and, wrapping up the night, “Sons Of Beaches ‘72” premiered, a movie looking at the Australian team’s groundbreaking part in the 1972 World Championships in San Diego. As a highlight to the film, Wayne ‘Rabbit’ Bartholomew, a member of that original team and a legendary surfer, was joined by Hawaiian, Larry Bertlemann in presenting the timeless and historical documentation of that phenomenal event of 40 years ago.
The action will restart tomorrow at 7:00 sharp
As I mentioned earlier , I have a little device that I misnamed a focus predictor.
The basic problem is this : you can only focus on the target before the pellet hits. After the pellet hits, the target becomes larger as the debris expands outwards.
What was in focus is now out of focus.
The focus predictor is a spring loaded slide that mounts to the bottom of the camera. It allows me to pre-focus my camera so that the expanding debris from the shot target will be in focus.
Before I worked up this little widget, I had to use the lens focus ring to back off the focus. This was not accurate or repeatable, so I would miss focus on lots of otherwise good pictures.
With the focus predictor, my ratio of keepers is much higher.
It made me happy.
Cheers.
The world has long relied on the U.N. to predict the future of human fertility and thus the projection of a world population reaching 11.7 billion before leveling off in 2100. But these two Canadian authors, one the CEO of a social and opinion research firm and one a journalist tell a compelling story of the factors that may foretell a dramatically different story of population collapse or peak humans to borrow from other resource trajectories. These indices predict a peak of 9 billion by 2040 to 2060 and then a steadily diminishing population which will impact economic growth and create challenges having to do with how cultures view immigration and racial purity.
Urbanization, education of women, technology and of course birth control are the chief reasons for the lowering of fertility globally. But also a desire for a more personally fulfilling life rather than one devoted to family and clan. The authors give us a fascinating overview of trends from the street as they travel around the world talking to women in representative countries such as Korea, Kenya, Brazil. All leading to the same conclusion. Women think having 2 children is enough.
Influencing factors in Western nations and the U.S. are familiar to us. High student debt has a direct correlation to the fertility rate in the U.S. and one not really being talked about as does bad economic times as was seen during the Great Recession. India currently has a high birth rate of 2.5 down from the 5.9 of the ‘50s as the government instilled into the culture the “We Two, Our Two” program of a complete family having only 2 children quite successfully. And as more women are educated and want to do more with their lives they are less likely to have more than two babies. Voluntary sterilization is also prevalent in India. Africa too may see a drop in birthrate as more girls are educated. And sterilization is often used in Brazil too.
Having presented a convincing case that the entire world’s population is heading for a below replacement fertility rate, the authors then turn to the discussion of immigration as the hope for the future of countries that aim to thrive. Asian countries with their built in cultural aversion to foreigners can expect their economies to stagnate as Japan is now. China does not permit immigration and Russia has trouble persuading anyone to come. Europe has some growing pains with all the displaced migrants from chaotic situations in Syria, Yemen and Libya to handle. Refugees are being passed around from country to country tending to become ghettoized where they settle. Canada has been the most successful at integrating refugees through private sponsorship and by selecting for skill level. Skill level is an important part of immigrant success. Relying on compassion alone does not help the host country as Sweden discovered when refugees flooded the country. In Canada refugees are only 10% of overall immigration.
A chapter on Canada’s immigration history is instructional in showing how the country went from being anti-immigration to being pro immigration to the point of losing a national identity.
The U.S. continues to be the most welcoming and desirable destination for immigrants despite current politics and would do well to keep being a welcoming country given that white millennials have had the lowest fertility rate at 0.95 of any previous generation. And Latino and Black fertility rates are dropping too in large part due to fewer teen pregnancy and more Black and Latina women becoming college educated.
As populations age there will be a need for young people to provide the labor to take care of this aging population and fill in as the workforce. The authors are also of the opinion that young people are the source of innovation as proven by the age of inventors past and CEOs of tech though I would question if their innovations were necessarily of benefit to the world when maturity is the more advantageous when it comes to innovations that take time to perfect. Still the smart phone in the back pocket is a window to the world and a source of empowerment that has led to declining birthrates as it has promoted the idea of self fulfillment over loyalty to clan. Meanwhile the authors do agree that the earth will likely benefit from a diminishing population becoming cleaner and less impacted by 9 billion people instead of the nearly 12 billion predicted.
Books that compare social trends from country to country are illuminating studies of the impact not only of culture and history, but of governments, media, popular culture and technology. A book about population is even more interesting to me as it addresses the status of women overall and how fertility rests on the choices women have. But the chief reason this book is so timely for the American reader is because of the perspective a diminishing population gives on immigration in these anti-immigrant era. For in order to keep our status as innovators and leaders of the world, indeed to keep America Great, we need to embrace immigration and accept that the future of America will also be browner and more mixed race.
Took a recent trip to london to try out my new 50mm lens (75mm once placed upon the 450D). Was pretty difficult working around the crop factor but i manger to photograph a few candid shots. Tried to make this as eye catching as possible by using a shallow depth of field while making the composition staggered and compacted as possible. Wish the text was slightly more bold, but i feel i'm starting to get my street photography mojo back :) bring it on 2011!
Side Note: Decided to add this to Instruction No.15 Street Photography Now Project
"Wander aimlessly most of the time" - Melanie Einzig
I Feel it fits the bill as the photograph was taken whilst i was wondering around aimlessly in portobello.
1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Alloy Gullwing
$5,010,000 USD | Sold
From Sotheby's:
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Alan Kay (born 1940), Computer Scientist
In 1954, decades of incremental technological development, design, and success on the racetrack by Mercedes-Benz—inventor of the automobile and the dominant brand in automotive innovation—culminated with the launch of the most iconic car of all time, the 300 SL “Gullwing.” Instantly changing the game, it shifted the paradigm in automotive design and performance forever.
After names such as Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio, racing heroes indelibly etched into the automotive history books, had achieved unprecedented success in competition with the 300 SLR (W196S), Rudolf Uhlenhaut’s engineering brilliance saw these pure racecars take production form in the 300 SL “Gullwing” Coupe of 1954. The 300 SL was a fully road-legal production car, yes, but it was also so much more than that: Beneath its shapely skin was an Uhlenhaut-designed, racing-style tubular chassis, and its styling fundamentals would be closely mirrored in the gullwinged 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut Coupe,” which recently became the most valuable car in history after a $150 million RM Sotheby’s sale.
As the fastest production car in the world upon its debut, the 300 SL clearly had Silver Arrow dominance in its DNA. In sum, the Gullwing was an exquisite reflection of Mercedes-Benz’s position at the pinnacle of the automotive space in the mid-1950s, exceeding all that Ferrari, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, and Aston Martin could throw at them.
More than 60 years later, it is for good reason that “Gullwing”’ is a name that resonates with everyone, not simply car collectors. It transcends generations, connects old with new, and is both classic and sporty. It can be found in lyrics of hip-hop songs, Hollywood cinema, and even Andy Warhol pop-culture contemporary art. DeLorean’s futuristic car pulled the Gullwing doors in the 1980s—as did Tesla in the 2020s with their Model X. All serves as recognition of the incredible, outsized impact of the Gullwing, a car that was only ever owned by the fortunate few.
BRED FOR COMPETITION
In the 1950s, as in the modern era, Mercedes-Benz understood that its clients valued exclusivity, so they limited Gullwing production to 1,371 standard cars. For dedicated racers, as well as those sophisticated enthusiasts who wanted the almost unattainable, the factory minted an additional 29 competition-bred special-order cars with a lightweight alloy body, a more powerful engine, and other bespoke options. These were the 300 SL Alloy Gullwings: The 300 SL variants most directly linked to the world-beating 300 SLRs, and cars that—even in comparison to their already desirable steel-bodied counterparts—have long been the ultimate prizes for the world’s top collectors.
Distinctive in many ways from their standard steel-bodied brethren, these incredibly rare and historically significant Alloy coupes thrived at fulfilling the purpose for which they were built. All the most important race victories achieved by the 300 SL were, in fact, secured by one of these lightweight competition versions of the model (in addition to “secret” works entries and prototypes). Works-supported drivers secured no fewer than 50 important victories in sports car races across Europe and North America between 1954 and 1957. Notable triumphs include the Nürburgring 1000 KM, Tour d’Europe, Mille Miglia, Coppa d’Oro, Acropolis Rally, and Liège–Rome–Liège (as well as multiple SCCA and European Rally championships).
CHASSIS NUMBER 5500786
This rare 300 SL Alloy example was ordered new by Rene Wasserman, an industrialist and sports car enthusiast living in Basel, Switzerland. Research confirms that it is the 21st of those 24 alloy-bodied cars scheduled for production during the 1955 calendar year (although it was actually completed before car number 20). The car’s factory build sheet, a copy of which is on file, notes that Wasserman ordered his new alloy Gullwing with a plethora of special options, including special high-gloss white paint (DB 50), a red leather interior (1079), two-pieces of matching luggage, sports suspension, sealed-beam headlights with separate parking lights, 3.64 ratio rear axle, Rudge wheels and instruments in English, and the Sonderteile (“special parts”) engine with an impressive 215-horsepower output—surely making it one of the most well-specified Gullwings built.
The car was completed on 5 October 1955, and rather than having it delivered to Switzerland, Wasserman picked up the car himself in late November and drove his new 300 SL back home. While it is not known when Wasserman sold the car, by the early 1960s it had been exported to the United States, where its second owner was Jerome Seavey of Chicago, Illinois, followed by John K. Scattergood III, a principal at Blenheim Motors, located in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.
THE SENATOR’S GULLWING
This 300 SL remained in Pennsylvania with its next owner, Keystone State politician and enthusiast Senator Theodore Newell Wood. Along with representing the 20th District of Luzerne, Susquehanna, Pike, Wayne, and Wyoming counties in the Pennsylvania State Senate, Senator Wood enjoyed sports car racing in his spare time and served as the president of the Hill Climb Association. He also founded the Brynfan Tyddyn Road Races, which were held from 1952 to 1956, with the last year featuring Carroll Shelby as a driver. The SCCA even gave Senator Wood a free lifetime membership for his efforts in sponsorship and participation in racing in the Northeast.
After passing through the hands of Bill Kontes and Joe Marchetti, the 300 SL was acquired by Leslie Barth in 1983. Barth kept the car until 1989. In its next ownership, with Swedish businessman and collector Hans Thulin, it was consigned to Kienle Automobiltechnik in Stuttgart, Germany. One of the world’s foremost facilities, Kienle is known for their restorations of Mercedes-Benzes, and 300 SLs in particular. The car was sold to a German collector, who in turn commissioned Kienle to perform a full restoration. Notably, damage to alloy-bodied 300 SLs is remarkably common, as the aluminum is notoriously thin and can quite literally bend under the pressure of an ill-placed hand. Furthermore, the bodies are known to deteriorate at the mounting points, where aluminum meets steel. As a result, almost all lightweight examples have been reskinned or repaired at some point, and on this particular car, any parts of the body that were irreparable were replaced.
Upon completion, the car was repainted in traditional Mercedes-Benz Silver-Grey Metallic (DB 180) and retrimmed in its original interior color of red leather (1079). As is to be expected, the quality of the workmanship is absolutely superb, with the tremendous attention to mechanical detail and factory-correctness befitting a Kienle restoration.
After passing through a collector in Switzerland, the car was acquired by its current custodian. The Gullwing has been preserved in immaculate condition ever since, with its odometer displaying 2,607 kilometers (~1,620 miles) at time of cataloguing, presumably accrued since Kienle’s restoration. As a result of its limited road use, a recent inspection indicates that to bring the car back to its peak performance level, a light mechanical servicing would be in order. The inspection further revealed the car retains its numbers-matching chassis, engine, gearbox, rear axle, steering box, and front axles.
Undeniably exclusive, this spectacular 300 SL features all of the highly desirable options and accessories one would want on an Alloy Gullwing, including the more powerful Sonderteile engine, sports suspension, Rudge knock-off wheels, special-order upholstery, and a two-piece luggage set executed in matching red leather.
The 300 SLRs have long been regarded by the collector community as being the world’s most valuable cars. This was proved to be true in May 2022 when RM Sotheby’s sold the 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut Coupe” for nearly $150 million. As a special production counterpart, the 300 SL Alloy Gullwing represents the “holy grail” of all Gullwings—and as one of only 29 cars built, this example will instantly become the centerpiece of any truly great collection.
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Kristina and I headed over to RM Sotheby's at the Monterey Conference Center to view some glorious cars at their auction preview.
- - -
Had a blast with our auto-enthusiast friend and neighbor, Fred, at Monterey Car Week 2022.
A commercial postcard produced by Valentine's. Dating from the interwar years. No message on reverse.
The huge three-story underground operations centre.
This site was originally built in the 1940's as RAF Barnton Quarry and its' purpose was to disseminate information obtained from Radar stations throughout Scotland - in the defence against the Nazis.
Advances in radar technology rendered it effectively redundant in a fairly short time.
In the 1950's the bunker as we now know it was constructed, partly underground to be part of the UK's defence in the Cold War. It was located in a discrete location in a suburb of Edinburgh but was unknown to the locals.
Many rooms formed part of the complex but by far the biggest was the three-story operations centre.
The bunker had a staff of 100-150 personnel at that time and operated until it became a "Regional Seat of Government" (RSG) where, in time of crisis, political and military staff would be tasked with dealing with the aftermath of a nuclear attack.
Vital information on where nuclear fallout existed or was predicted came from the Royal Observer Corps (of which I was a member) who manned a network of very small underground cells and a few larger regional centres to gather and collate such information.
In 1963 the secret of "Regional Seats of Government" became widely known and the complex became untenable. It lay empty for years and was badly damaged by vandals.
Eventually, in recent times, a dedicated group of volunteers have been working on the immense task of slowly restoring the bunker complex to show visitors what it was like.
Such work is ongoing and will take a long time to complete. Conducted tours are available from www.barntonbunker.com/
Due to the predicted adverse weather conditions we decided to make the trip to Sand, Sea & Spray on the Saturday morning rather than the Friday night. I'm still not sure if this was a good decision or not. After an early start and a gruelling journey we arrived in an overcast Blackpool and finally managed to make our way to our painting location for about 2pm. We got to work straight away as it wasn't too wet or windy at that point. That was probably the first of our catalogue of mistakes. About 20 minutes later we had our first sustained downpour with accompanying wind which made a mockery of our attempts to paint the wall blue with masonry paint as it was dripping all over our painting and off the wall.
Not to be outdone by the weather we went to work on a second wall in our next brief window of opportunity whilst hopefully waiting for the other wall to dry before the rain closed in again and we had to retire to the safety of the car. By the end of the second 'little shower' the area was pretty much deserted but we soldiered on intent on getting it all finished. I won't bore you with our tireless struggle against our implements and the weather but suffice it to say it was tough. Paint was spilled. Stencils were ripped. Words were exchanged. We had to make the best of the situation.
With Elton John as our backing music (he was playing on the promenade) we proceeded with a hastily thought out rearrangement of our original plan which would, we hoped, gives us a decent result. After a little further work we finally managed to reach completion. Regardless of the inclement weather we still managed to have a good time and get our work done which, I think, was something to be proud of. It's just a shame that the UK weather in June isn't very dependable as well we remember from our various trips to Glastonbury (which brings on a nostalgic feeling as it would be on next weekend if it were taking place this year...)
Cheers
id-iom
Having predicted I was more likely to see a Solo on the 400 than a Pegasus Dart, I duly saw... a Pegasus Dart on the route.
Stagecoach Hants & Surrey 33190 (LK07 CBO) is seen here at Guildford bus station, on a minor diversion through the main part of the bus station: due to congestion on Commercial Road, the service was using stand A rather than its usual stand 21.
Tomorrow (11th November 2004) sees the tenth anniversary of date of first registration of the five Arriva (ex-)park and ride Volvos, which of course introduced this oak leaf livery style to the town.
Apart from when bright pink, it is a fantastic livery.
Friary bus station, Guildford, Surrey.
Predictive Cruise Control, combined with GPS, can help drivers obtain even better fuel economy. The Driver Shift Aid and the Driver Reward System can also contribute to improved fuel economy. On hilly or mountainous terrain, the system slightly increases the speed of the truck as it approaches a hill, then feathers off the throttle automatically when the truck is about to crest the hill.
Horizontal slice (depth 600-900м) of 3D GeoSEIS volumetric model of geodynamical zones at oil-gas bearing areas (NW Ukraine) is created by 3D GeoSEIS Tomography processing decoding and transformation of satelite image, geophysical fields and geological maps. the colored symbols show commercial hydrocarbon deposit and occurrences.
Using 4D GeoSEIS software for multifactor volumetric (structural-geodynamic, geophysical, geochemical and mineralogical) modeling we offer:
Multifactor volumetric structural-geodynamic models “4D GeoSEISM” with exact ranging and forecasting of mineral deposits, low-amplitude tectonics, geophysical anomalies and geologic properties of deep structures, using volumetric interpretation methods of multispectral satellite images for cost-effective geological prospecting.
During 15 years the great number of volumetric structural-geodynamic, geological, geophysical models of ore deposits (Fe-Ti, Cu, Au, Hg, Ni-Cu-Co) and oil-gas deposits (Namibia, Kalimantan, Urals, Ukraine, Timor, Uzbekistan) are created.
Integration of the mineralogical and geochemical data, geophysical maps and multispectral satellite images (Hyperion, ASTER, LANDSAT-7ETM and others) in multifactor volumetric structural-geodynamic models.
4D GeoSEIS software for computer processing of the ASTER and Landsat7ETM images have been used to create the volumetric structural-geodynamic models of the NW Namibia & SE Angola territory to discriminate the high potential concentration of mineral resources based on limited field data in order to aid exploration for new copper and titaniferous magnetite mineralization. The strategy adopted to facilitate this predictive modeling is to develop understanding and testing of a “4D GeoSEIS Model” through research. They allowed calculating the potential resources of commercially important concentration of copper and titaniferous magnetite ores. Several points of Fe-Ti-Cu mineralization predicted by the 4D GeoSEISM had been confirmed by field observations.
1. "Our habits predict the future.", 2. "I'm thankful for every moment.", 3. "The power from God keeps us young.", 4. Smiling in the sunshine comforts the soul., 5. "If you want to be rich, be kind.", 6. Find a new friend... they are your treasures., 7. "Weave in faith and God will find the thread.", 8. Water is nature's mirror.,
9. Happy Holidays from our home to yours..., 10. Was my photo debut a success? Was it? I'm such a handsome looking duck!, 11. Celebrate!, 12. The Wind, 13. Hearty laughter..., 14. Spirit, 15. Blossoms..., 16. The Wisdom to Laugh,
17. A choice..., 18. Goodness..., 19. "Love the people whom fate brings you together, but do so with all of your heart.", 20. "When quince blossoms bloom and say "Hello Spring!", 21. "Love doesn't make the world go round, but it makes the ride worthwhile.", 22. "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly.", 23. "The measure of God's love is that He loves without measure.", 24. "Nature is my medicine.",
25. The bonds that unite families and friends are not forged for a little while, they are for eternity. ...", 26. Create a moment of joy!, 27. Hugs are contagious!, 28. Moments..., 29. Standing alone with thoughts of my own, 30. Megumi's moment, 31. Christmas angel memories, 32. The little things in life...,
33. Megumi - a young profile, 34. lake view, 35. "By associating with the cat, one only risks becoming richer.", 36. "One of the meanings of an iris flower is love.", 37. WALTZ OF THE BUTTERFLIES, 38. "Last night, I dreamed about a smile.", 39. "Bloom where you're planted.", 40. A Happy Valentine's Day Teatime!,
41. "One is nearer God's Heart in a garden", 42. "Learn to use your imagination.", 43. "Today and everyday, remember to share hugs where ever you go.", 44. This seems only like yesterday..., 45. "One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home.", 46. "I asked God for the chance to find things that I might enjoy life.", 47. "The Lord teaches us to believe in ourselves.", 48. "I love Spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.",
49. "Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him.", 50. Have a great Flag Day!, 51. "God is the friend of silence.", 52. "Let us always meet each other with a smile.", 53. "There are few things in the life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.", 54. "When you smile, you discover the beauty within yourself.", 55. To my flickr friends..., 56. "♥ May your day be filled with SMILES ♥",
57. "The God of love my shepherd is.", 58. “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.”, 59. “Beauty without virtue is like a rose without scent.”, 60. "One day, while I was walking around, I bumped into some friends saying "Hello!", 61. You posses the inner strength to make your dreams come true., 62. "It is in their eyes that their magic resides.", 63. Thanks for laughing along with me., 64. Why me?,
65. Megumi - catnip content..., 66. "The end to perfect summer day at the beach is watching the sunset.", 67. "Nature is a volume of which God s the author.", 68. "Kindness gives birth to kindness.", 69. Happy Mother's Day, 70. "Begin tomorrow with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense.", 71. "You are full of promise.", 72. "A friend hears the song in my heart."
Created with fd's Flickr Toys
Octopus predicted right! Karmen Smolnikar says:
Did you hear? Legendary German octopus predicted Spain will win...
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/europe/10521867.stm
Spain against Holland on Sunday!
A new LEGO custom minifigure from Dark Fantasy theme that I have included into my collection.
I am glad to show you the Dark Predictor.
Magic Rope Staff and Bone Stick in hands. Star Robe, Rag Cloak and Royal Rune Headdress covering the body.
Video with Dark Predictor's parameters is available from – HERE
My latest Lego Custom Minifigures:
– Dark Wizard (Army of Darkness)
– Ragmar, Elder Witch (Princess Helena Story)
– Two Headed Ogre (World of Warcraft)
– Baba Yaga, Witch (Russian Folk Tales)
I've already customized hundreds of LEGO minifigures from the Lego Dark Fantasy Direction.
Your subscription is the best motivation for me to upload more custom LEGO minifigures!
Thank you for your attention, Friends!
Remote Sensing/ Fire Weather Support Program:
-RAWS (Remote Automated Weather Stations) are self-contained, portable and permanent, solar powered weather stations that provide timely local weather data used primarily in fire management.
-Approximately 2,500 RAWS around the country feed data into NIFC’s system. NIFC maintains about 1,800 RAWS units annually.
-Most RAWS are seen by human eyes only once per year, when they get annual maintenance.
-RAWS data transmitted to Boise, Idaho via GOES satellite 22,300 miles above the earth.
-Program has 50 portable RAWS units that can be deployed to any incident to augment on-site forecasts.
-RAWS are typically both satellite and tone activated —meaning a firefighter can punch up a tone on his/her handheld radio to hear current weather data.
-Weather data are critical to predicting fire behavior, which is critical to effective fire management of all kinds (suppression, prescribed burning, AMR, etc.)
PI: Parviz Moin, Stanford University
This project aims to demonstrate that LES of complex geometries at flight Reynolds numbers is possible with today’s large-scale computers, which is a crucial step toward extended use of LES in transportation and power industries.
This image illustrates detailed simulation inside a flow control device. The main jet oscillates between the upper and lower outputs (separated by a triangular block in this cross-section); contours of streamwise velocity are shown. Actual aircraft will have dozens of these ports installed along the tail and wings for control.
Image credit: J. Kim, Center for Turbulence Research, Stanford University
Scientific discipline: Engineering
This research used resources of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility at Argonne National Laboratory.
On the 4th & 5th October 2016, leading international thinkers in the areas of Data, Predictive Models, Technology and Decision making gathered at the RDS, Dublin, for Predict 2016. The speakers, many of whom I managed to photograph, discussed the latest progress in Predictive Modelling and its future – from Data to Software and Hardware technology, plus Predictive Modelling methods and the best examples of Data-driven Decision-making.
The organisers kindly invited me to the Predict event at the RDS but as I arrived a bit early I took few backstage or behind the scenes shots. In case your are interested I used a Sony A7RM2 coupled with a Sony 29-135 full frame lens. The lens does attract a lot of attention which does allow me to to have interesting people … volunteers, students from Brazil, photographers etc. Of course my lens did not attract as mush attention as the two cars [especially the DeLorean DMC-12. DMC-12s were primarily intended for the American market. All production models were therefore left-hand drive. Evidence survives from as early as April 1981, however, which indicates that the DeLorean Motor Company was aware of the need to produce a right-hand drive version to supply to world markets such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. My contacts in Belfast claim that 16 right-hand drive factory-authorised DeLoreans were produced.
As predicted, that tenacious spider living on our clothesline rebuilt the web overnight after I inadvertently walked right into it yesterday while distracted. Unfortunately, not long after taking this photo, I ducked under the web to try to get a photo of the spider (which was blurry and small because I wasn't using the macro) - I must have caught a strand of web on my back and managed to completely unravel the web yet again. I have tormented this poor little spider enough - luckily for it I am back at work tomorrow and the web created over night has a better chance of survival!!
Back 1n August of 2018 1 had predicted that Lomography would come out with a new Lomochrome film and they did. But this is very different from the one that 1 had predicted. 1ts called Lomochrome Metropolis and its already met its funding goal on kickstarter. They say it will be Available in 35 mm, 120, 110 and 16mm......eventually. Probably. Anyway on this episode 1 discuss my personal feelings about this new film.
watch it here
And check out my merch page for images of my photography and designs printed on all kinds of items. www.redbubble.com/people/1CONOCLA5T/shop?asc=u
PI: Misun Min, Argonne National Laboratory
Quasi-periodic scattering solutions at oblique incidence on the gratings with square- and sawtooth-shaped interfaces, computed with NekCEM (top); Vortices profile for flows past a hemisphere, computed with NekLBM (bottom).
Image Credit: Paul Fischer, Misun Min, Argonne National Laboratory; Taehun Lee, City College of New York; Yin He, Purdue University; David Nicholls, University of Illinois at Chicago
Scientific Discipline: Energy Technologies
This research used resources of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility at Argonne National Laboratory.
Weather reports predict the so called "Beast From The East" is due to revisit the UK over the next few days, today the 16th of March 2018 I visited Collieston Bay, its the first time I have witnessed the impact unusual weather has had on the area, it really was exhilarating and offered great photo opportunities.
Collieston is a small former fishing village on the North Sea coast in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The village lies just north of the Sands of Forvie Special Protection Area, between Cruden Bay and Newburgh.
The earliest recorded history of Collieston is of the arrival of St Ternan, a Columban monk on a mission to convert the local picts to Christianity. There is, however, evidence that people lived here during much earlier times.
Collieston was established as a fishing village by the 16th century, and it provides the first safe harbour in over fifteen miles of beachesand dunes stretching north from Aberdeen.
Fishing for herring, haddock, whiting and codflourished in the 17th century and 18th century and was the foundation of Collieston's economy. The village became known for 'Collieston Speldings', salted and sun-dried haddock and whiting, a popular delicacy throughout Britain. As drift netting developed during the mid 19th century, the fishing began to decline and the focus of the industry shifted to places like Peterhead because the harbour at Collieston was too small to safely accommodate the larger boats needed.
The numerous sea caves in the nearby cliffs, and small coves with shingle beaches provided ideal terrain for smugglers. In the late 18th century it was estimated by the Excise that up to 8000 gallons of foreign spirits were being illegally landed in the area every month. In 1798, the notorious village smuggler, Phillip Kennedy, was killed by a blow from an exciseman's cutlass. His grave and tombstone still stands in the village graveyard.
A ship from the Spanish Armada, the Santa Caterina, carrying arms for the Earl of Erroll is said to have sunk just off the rocky point of St Catherine's Dub in 1594. In retaliation for the Earl's involvement in the Catholic plot against him, James VI blew up the Earl's castle which stood on the cliffs, a mile north of Collieston. The Earl went on to rebuild Slains Castle, six miles further up the coast, in 1597.
Collieston is now mainly a commuter village serving Aberdeen, and is largely given over to tourists during the summer months.
Don’t go to Richmond Park on a predicted “Met Office Heat Wave” weekend in March!
You won’t be able to park
5 million people who probably live within walking distance will drive their enormous Range Rovers, Audis, Mercs, BMW’s and other prestige car marques to the park
20 million twats on bicycles think they own the roads and tracks
10 million designer dog owners will let their little test tube creations shite everywhere
If you do find somewhere to park then you will return to your car to find some *anker of a BMW owner has completely blocked you!
The only sounds you will hear will be that of vast jumbo jets on their approach run to Heathrow
A million green parrots squawking from every tree
When you do find some deer to photograph you will them come across some pissed up Eastern European (10.30 in the morning) chasing them with a can of beer in his hand.
The park is dead! Countless decaying fallen trees, no sign of any life what so ever!
Apart from that it was a great day out!
Nikon D7100 shooting RAW captures huge files…worked the mega high speed SD cards to death today…never buy slow cards again! Ultra Fast is the only way to go…even if it does break the bank !
Richmond Park is the largest Royal Park in London covering an area of 2,500 acres. From its heights there is an uninterrupted view of St Paul's Cathedral, 12 miles away.
Richmond Park has changed little over the centuries and although it is surrounded by human habitation, the varied landscape of hills, woodland gardens and grasslands set among ancient trees abound in wild life.
The royal connections to this park probably go back further than any of the others, beginning with Edward (1272-1307), when the area was known as the Manor of Sheen. The name was changed to Richmond during Henry VII's reign. In 1625 Charles I brought his court to Richmond Palace to escape the plague in London and turned it into a park for red and fallow deer. His decision, in 1637, to enclose the land was not popular with the local residents, but he did allow pedestrians the right of way. To this day the walls remain, although they have been partially rebuilt and reinforced.
In 1847 Pembroke Lodge became the home of the then Prime Minister, Lord John Russell and was later the childhood home of his grandson, Bertrand Russell.
It is now a popular restaurant with glorious views across the Thames Valley.
The Isabella Plantation is a stunning woodland garden which was created after World War II from an existing woodland, and is organically run, resulting in a rich flora and fauna.
Richmond Park has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a National Nature Reserve.
In early 2010, i predicted the moral trepidation about strategic default would largely be gone from the American psyche. People are beginning to look at their homes as their other investments, and when the numbers favor waling away, they do so. People are opting to get out of the rat trap of... at Loan modifications and principal reductions fail to prevent future delinquency
Visit the OC Housing News, and read the OC Housing News blog. Learn why you should use a home guide. Meet the Akason Realty Consulting home guides and housing market analysts, and read our real estate agent testimonials. Discover why you should register with the OC Housing News and how to use the OC Housing News. Utilize the advanced property search, or the MLS map search.
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Also read Renter News, SD Housing News, Housing Bubble News & Information, Housing Market Forecast US, Housing Market News & Information, Real Estate Ruin, USA Housing News, California Real Estate News, Housing Market News, USA Foreclosure News, Mortgage and Foreclosure News, Mortgage Refinance News, Real Estate Loan News, Debt Default News, Ponzi Debt, Loan Modification and Default News, Mortgage News Clips, and Fay Mortgage News.
As predicted by the ICU staff my weight is expected to expand and contract so the MB belt is too short to wear. In the morning I challenged myself to solve the linkage of MAC’s kind gift to me. I was only several minutes into making my fingers sore and my ability to figure what clicks when and why when my day nurse and asked what I was trying to master. She offered to take a quick look and after having removed a clear plastic protector flap on one side that MAC had noted, flipped one side and like a snake charmer playing music at a bizarre, she had immediately had success. We tried the belt around but with the IV weight gain that was impossible. As an aside, my protective lads below were a filled with fluid that they felt like a basketball about to explode. It’s apparently a common unpleasant side or in my case a frontal effect. I felt as if I was sitting on a long flight to Asia in a seat shaped like a funnel. Thankfully I was not anywhere to be the first male to note that symptom so they were very patient and understanding. I was truly expecting for a seam to burst in a fountain of red like in an old Japanese samurai movie.
Hello again folks, and welcome to another entry into the journal, as it were. It's now the beginning of March 2020 and we are about two months away from what I predict will be the "Endgame" for MCU Widow Fans, the solo Black Widow movie. If you've been keeping up, you'll probably know I'm kind of a fan myself, and as such would naturally keep abreast of any merch pickups.
Strangely, as of this point, my usual import brands haven't announced anything from the upcoming Widow or Wonder Woman movies. The Marvel Legends line of course was doing figures for the Widow movie, and they looked decent in previews, so I preordered almost all of them, with the Deluxe version coming in from EB Games as scheduled on March 1, 2020. As luck would have it, the figure just as I was finished up another bunch of photos, so I got right to it.
The Deluxe edition of the Black Widow figure costs $10 more than the standard one, coming in at $39.99 CAD. Natasha is garbed in her striking white outfit, and comes with far more accessories than the standard edition, and I need a copy of the standard version to compare headsculpts. Contents are as follows:
- Figure
- Three pairs of hands (closed fist, pistol gripping, melee weapon gripping)
- Pair of pistols
- Pair of sickles
- Widow Bite attack effect
- Various ground explosion effects
- Base with arm
I don't know how accurate it is, but it appears that this particular white suit is effectively a redeco of the black and grey suit of the standard edition.
As expected, Natasha is built on the standard female Marvel Legends body, which is not my thing but it does make writing this article much shorter. For reasons unknown, it appears the chest collapse joint used on the Lighting Pink Ranger still seems to be limited to that figure, and I'm going to guess the rest of the female Ranger cast. So yeah.. limited ankles, limited wrists, no waist, and ugly knee joints make their return here. Nothing spectacular posing wise, but it gets the job mostly done.
The overall presentation of Widow, to me, much better than most of the other female figures I've seen. A big part of it is, ironically, there's less paint on the body. In fact, I think it's limited to the little specs of red and silver, along with the black on her back. Everything else is a separate piece and even then the painting in is minimal, with the most paint probably on her face. While it's not perfect, the masking work and quality of the paint apps themselves appear to be better than my last few check ins.
Furthermore, it appears that the neck on this Widow isn't as long as other figures and that the gaps in her thighs, the ones that normally turn me off, are masked by the holsters. Yes, that doesn't help when the figure is posed, but at least when she's standing Nat looks like a million bucks.
Of course, there's the head itself, or more accurately, the face because the hair perfectly functional, has decent detailing, and is coloured right..end of story. The most recent iteration of the Scarlett Johansson head was on the Infinity War Widow which... didn't look great. Then there was the apparently much improved Endgame one which I wouldn't know about, seeing how we never got it in Canada, and I never got around to going to Target. Well, I'm happy to say that for a mass release Hasbro toy, they did a great job on this figure. It's a pretty good resemblance to the actor, with face printing technology taking care of the painting of the eyes and lips. From the usual arms length distance, these paint apps are sharp and crisp, and far better than what could be accomplished by hand on something this small.. or at least accomplished by the fine, fine people at Hasbro.
The base was an interesting addition.. needed for sure if you want to do all sort of aerial posing. It's a decent quality, and has the Hasbro logo on the base of the arm. The arm is kind of big, if I'm being honest, but it does get the job done. The random explosion effects are.. kind of random if you ask me. Maybe they'll make an appearance in the upcoming GI Joe line or someting.
Build quality is about the same as the rest of the Legends, with softer than I'd like joints, though fortunately it appears packaging didn't warp them. The body itself is alright.. it appears they've moved towards the same plastics used on the Transformers figures now, which is a strange combination of matte finish, and kind of a rubbery feeling. Suit detailing came out decently, so I guess at least from a functionality perspective it's fine. There are some mould lines on the fists that should have been taken off by QC, but I am happy to say that the effects themselves came out quite nicely.
That about wraps it up here - Natasha is just like all the other Legends figures, so you know what to expect, and you either love or hate the tech behind it. But, as stated, and it bears repeating, it appears the combination of improved QC and simplicity of finish has resulted in a very crisp, clean looking figure that I would still keep even if a better quality figure were available down the road (though to be fair, I'd keep it anyway because I'm a hoarder). The face is a very pleasant surprise, and I feel that the face alone is worth the price of entry.
Time to head out for the day - keep an eye open for more Black Widow merch in the months ahead.
The Museum of London is at London Wall EC2 in the City of London.
The museum has exhibits on the history of London from the stone age to the modern age. Well worth the visit. Wanted to go here last year, but ended up going to the Docklands museum instead (as I saw Canary Wharf in my London book). No mistake this time, as we knew that this one could be accessed from St Paul's.
We spent around 4 hours or so having a look around the museum, including having something to eat / drink in the two Italian cafes they have here!
War, Plague & Fire
1550s - 1660s
A book - Predicting the Great Fire, 1651.
It predicted the Great Fire in a book called Monarchy, or No Monarchy
Model of a timber-framed house from Friday Street, 1410.
Les prédictions technologies, médias, télécommunications de Deloitte Canada à Montréal ont eu lieu le 19 janvier 2011
Hello again folks, and welcome to another entry into the journal, as it were. It's now the beginning of March 2020 and we are about two months away from what I predict will be the "Endgame" for MCU Widow Fans, the solo Black Widow movie. If you've been keeping up, you'll probably know I'm kind of a fan myself, and as such would naturally keep abreast of any merch pickups.
Strangely, as of this point, my usual import brands haven't announced anything from the upcoming Widow or Wonder Woman movies. The Marvel Legends line of course was doing figures for the Widow movie, and they looked decent in previews, so I preordered almost all of them, with the Deluxe version coming in from EB Games as scheduled on March 1, 2020. As luck would have it, the figure just as I was finished up another bunch of photos, so I got right to it.
The Deluxe edition of the Black Widow figure costs $10 more than the standard one, coming in at $39.99 CAD. Natasha is garbed in her striking white outfit, and comes with far more accessories than the standard edition, and I need a copy of the standard version to compare headsculpts. Contents are as follows:
- Figure
- Three pairs of hands (closed fist, pistol gripping, melee weapon gripping)
- Pair of pistols
- Pair of sickles
- Widow Bite attack effect
- Various ground explosion effects
- Base with arm
I don't know how accurate it is, but it appears that this particular white suit is effectively a redeco of the black and grey suit of the standard edition.
As expected, Natasha is built on the standard female Marvel Legends body, which is not my thing but it does make writing this article much shorter. For reasons unknown, it appears the chest collapse joint used on the Lighting Pink Ranger still seems to be limited to that figure, and I'm going to guess the rest of the female Ranger cast. So yeah.. limited ankles, limited wrists, no waist, and ugly knee joints make their return here. Nothing spectacular posing wise, but it gets the job mostly done.
The overall presentation of Widow, to me, much better than most of the other female figures I've seen. A big part of it is, ironically, there's less paint on the body. In fact, I think it's limited to the little specs of red and silver, along with the black on her back. Everything else is a separate piece and even then the painting in is minimal, with the most paint probably on her face. While it's not perfect, the masking work and quality of the paint apps themselves appear to be better than my last few check ins.
Furthermore, it appears that the neck on this Widow isn't as long as other figures and that the gaps in her thighs, the ones that normally turn me off, are masked by the holsters. Yes, that doesn't help when the figure is posed, but at least when she's standing Nat looks like a million bucks.
Of course, there's the head itself, or more accurately, the face because the hair perfectly functional, has decent detailing, and is coloured right..end of story. The most recent iteration of the Scarlett Johansson head was on the Infinity War Widow which... didn't look great. Then there was the apparently much improved Endgame one which I wouldn't know about, seeing how we never got it in Canada, and I never got around to going to Target. Well, I'm happy to say that for a mass release Hasbro toy, they did a great job on this figure. It's a pretty good resemblance to the actor, with face printing technology taking care of the painting of the eyes and lips. From the usual arms length distance, these paint apps are sharp and crisp, and far better than what could be accomplished by hand on something this small.. or at least accomplished by the fine, fine people at Hasbro.
The base was an interesting addition.. needed for sure if you want to do all sort of aerial posing. It's a decent quality, and has the Hasbro logo on the base of the arm. The arm is kind of big, if I'm being honest, but it does get the job done. The random explosion effects are.. kind of random if you ask me. Maybe they'll make an appearance in the upcoming GI Joe line or someting.
Build quality is about the same as the rest of the Legends, with softer than I'd like joints, though fortunately it appears packaging didn't warp them. The body itself is alright.. it appears they've moved towards the same plastics used on the Transformers figures now, which is a strange combination of matte finish, and kind of a rubbery feeling. Suit detailing came out decently, so I guess at least from a functionality perspective it's fine. There are some mould lines on the fists that should have been taken off by QC, but I am happy to say that the effects themselves came out quite nicely.
That about wraps it up here - Natasha is just like all the other Legends figures, so you know what to expect, and you either love or hate the tech behind it. But, as stated, and it bears repeating, it appears the combination of improved QC and simplicity of finish has resulted in a very crisp, clean looking figure that I would still keep even if a better quality figure were available down the road (though to be fair, I'd keep it anyway because I'm a hoarder). The face is a very pleasant surprise, and I feel that the face alone is worth the price of entry.
Time to head out for the day - keep an eye open for more Black Widow merch in the months ahead.
The badlands of stanene: Stanene is softer and consequently much more rippled than its cousins graphene and silicene.
Image Credit: Mathew Cherukara, Badri Narayanan and Subramanian Sankaranarayanan/Argonne National Laboratory.
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As predicted by the ICU staff my weight is expected to expand and contract so the MB belt is too short to wear. In the morning I challenged myself to solve the linkage of MAC’s kind gift to me. I was only several minutes into making my fingers sore and my ability to figure what clicks when and why when my day nurse and asked what I was trying to master. She offered to take a quick look and after having removed a clear plastic protector flap on one side that MAC had noted, flipped one side and like a snake charmer playing music at a bizarre, she had immediately had success. We tried the belt around but with the IV weight gain that was impossible. As an aside, my protective lads below were a filled with fluid that they felt like a basketball about to explode. It’s apparently a common unpleasant side or in my case a frontal effect. I felt as if I was sitting on a long flight to Asia in a seat shaped like a funnel. Thankfully I was not anywhere to be the first male to note that symptom so they were very patient and understanding. I was truly expecting for a seam to burst in a fountain of red like in an old Japanese samurai movie.
The forecast was predicting a 94% chance of a sweat pant-wearing,
no-showering-style Easter, likely lacking the usual Easter-style
fixin's (as that would have required a trip in the car to the grocery
store). In fact, the Easter bunny didn't even get her shit together
until just before noon, for the poor 3-year-old in the house ("Oh,
look, he must have come while you were intent on that Sponge-Bob
episode, Noel"....Well, actually she never really asked *why* the
basket of overflowing chocolate appeared...she's not one to look a
chocolate gift-horse in the mouth.)
But despite the best statistical method prediction analysis you could
buy, the odds were proved wrong. The neighbor called in the
mid-morning (OK, way before any adult without a 3-year-old would ever
conceive of waking up on a Sunday, but, mid-morning for me) and kindly
asked us over for Easter dinner at 1 pm.
So we did it. We went over for dinner with the neighbors that reside
on either side of our house (the food was a collaborative effort,
well, except for my help). There were kids jumping/playing video
games, men planted on couches, women in the kitchen, and dogs roaming
for scraps and licking the unsuspecting child: it was the usual
holiday setup. We watched movies, ate food, had conversation, ate more
food, bundled up leftovers to eat later, and zoned out. We had the
Easter favs: a ham, some smelly lamb, and potatoes, followed up with
pie and ice cream and sprinkled all over with chocolate Easter eggs.
The thing that I really hadn't planned on however, was the dinner
conversation. It started our harmless enough, with the discussion of
an upcoming holiday to FL and the newest renovations on the respective
houses. But suddenly it veered and before I new what had happened,
the conversation had drifted into an area that had never graced my
ears at a dinner table, much less for a religious holiday. Yay,
Jesus...wanna bang? Swinging became the hot topic, and I don't mean
at a playground. Everything from the other neighbors on the street
that were already engaged, to the future possibilities-involving said
dinner mates. I could tell from some reactions that I was glad *not*
to have a visual in my mind of the other neighbors who were already at
it. And for those too young to fully comprehend the discussion at
hand, an unabridged dictionary was procured to clearly define
"swinging." Yow, it was gross. I'm not sure how my stomach didn't
just immediately reject it's contents, in hindsight. But, in some ways
it was a very educational experience. Curtains for my windows stepped
up in priority from "cute decoration accessory" to "goddamn
imperative." Bye now....gotta hit the closest Bed, Bath, and
Beyond.....