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Energy Saving Trust is a non-profit organisation jointly funded by the British Government and the private sector in order to help fight climate change by promoting the sustainable use of energy, energy conservation and to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the United Kingdom.
I've been asked to take a picture of the 7 regional managers of the Trust after their meeting in the board room on the 19th of December.
The photoshoot took place in a corner the board room. There was not much place to play with as the table and chairs was taking most of the available space. But it was OK as I only needed to take head shots.
The requirements was a portrait of each of the regional managers in front of a panel displaying the Energy Saving Trust's logo and one other with a neutral background.
Lighting info:
I was using 2 SB-600 speedlights shooting thru white brollies. One at the front camera left as the key light and one at the back camera right for the nice and soft rim light.
I could have used the back flash bare but I wanted the rim light to be soft and large. Also by the use of umbrellas, if my lights did reflect on the panel, the specular reflection would be soft instead of a small and bright spot.
I used my Nikon D300 popup flash as a master to wirelessly trigger the SB-600. Both camera and flashes were set on manual control.
Both managers were very tired after traveling across the country and go to different meetings. So I did my best to discuss and make them laugh and smile in order to get the best of them on that day.
View the whole set of photographs here
This is my cousin parading on the occasion of the Hispanic Day.
Este es mi primo desfilando con motivo del Día de la Hispanidad.
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Copyright © 2011 Jorge Tarlea. All rights reserved.
Email jorgetarlea@gmail.com for prints and/or commercial use.
Briefly scrape seeds and solids against the side of the sieve to break up gel and fibers. This makes the end rinse much easier down the line.
RAF MILDENHALL, England -- Steve Perry, 100th Civil Engineer Squadron energy manager, talks to Kieran Blanchard, 11, from Essex, about ideas for saving energy at home during the energy awareness roadshow Oct. 18, 2012. October is Energy Awareness Month and in addition to providing energy-saving ideas and giveaways to base personnel, RAF Mildenhall also hosted an energy awareness symposium when members from RAsF Mildenhall, Lakenheath and Alconbury got together with energy industry representatives to discuss future opportunities to further energy- and water-saving initiatives. (U.S. Air Force photo/Karen Abeyasekere)
I'd heard about this kind of Japanese toilet before, but never saw one. When you flush, some of the water spouts up from the tank so you can wash your hands.
Saving Energy Seattle and Insulation Doctor are energy conservation companies operating in metropolitan Seattle, USA. Our employees are trained in Building Science and we have two BPI Energy Analysts on staff.
Saving Energy Seattle | Insulation Doctor
16219 Military Rd South
Seatac WA 98188
+++ DISCLAIMER +++
Nothing you see here is real, even though the model, the conversion or the presented background story might be based on historical facts. BEWARE!
Some background:
The Douglas A4D/A-4 Skyhawk was a single seat subsonic carrier-capable attack aircraft developed for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps in the early 1950s. The delta winged, single turbojet engine Skyhawk was designed and produced by Douglas Aircraft Company, and later by McDonnell Douglas. The Skyhawk saw active combat on several occasions. The US Navy operated the type as its principal light attack aircraft during the Vietnam War, carrying out some of the first air strikes by the US during the conflict.
The Skyhawk was a conventional post-WWII design, with a low-mounted thick delta wing that held all fuel, tricycle undercarriage, and a single turbojet engine in the rear fuselage. The tail was of cruciform design, with the horizontal stabilizer mounted above the fuselage. Armament consisted of two 20 mm (.79 in caliber) Colt Mark 12 cannons, one in each wing root, originally with 100 rounds per gun, plus a large variety of bombs, rockets, and missiles carried on a hardpoint under the fuselage centerline and hardpoints under each wing (originally one per wing, later two). The short-span delta wing did not require the complexity of wingtip folding, saving an estimated 200 pounds (91 kg). Its spars were machined from a single forging that spanned across both wingtips. The leading-edge slats were designed to drop automatically at the appropriate speed by gravity and air pressure, saving weight and space by omitting actuation motors and switches. Similarly, the main undercarriage did not penetrate the main wing spar, designed so that when retracted only the wheel itself was inside the wing and the undercarriage struts were housed in a fairing below the wing. Thus, the wing structure was lighter with the same overall strength. The rudder was constructed of a single panel reinforced with external ribs. The turbojet engine was accessed for service or replacement by removing the aft section of the fuselage and sliding out the engine, a Wright J65 (an axial-flow turbojet engine produced by Curtiss-Wright under license from Armstrong Siddeley, a development of the Sapphire). This obviated the need for access doors with their hinges and latches further reducing weight and complexity. This is the opposite of what can often happen in aircraft design where a small weight increase in one area leads to a compounding increase in weight in other areas to compensate, creating a demand for more powerful, heavier engines, larger wing, and empennage area, and so on in a vicious circle.
The Skyhawk proved to be a relatively common United States Navy aircraft export. Due to its small size, it could be operated from older, smaller World War II-era aircraft carriers still used by smaller navies during the 1960s. These older ships were often unable to accommodate newer Navy fighters such as the F-4 Phantom II and F-8 Crusader, which were faster and more capable than the A-4, but significantly larger and heavier.
Several variants were developed and produced since the Skyhawk’s maiden flight in 1954, with ever-increasing capabilities and firepower. The initial A4D versions were primarily daytime strike aircraft with nuclear capability (A4D-1 and -2, becoming the A-4A and B in 1962, respectively). In 1959, an updated version introduced radar for all-weather operations, the A4D-2N/A-4C, with AN/APG-53A radar, autopilot, LABS low-altitude bombing system. A whole new Skyhawk generation followed in 1963 with more sophisticated avionics, the A-4E and later the even more capable F, with a more powerful J52 engine, improved avionics with TACAN, Doppler navigation radar, radar altimeter, toss-bombing computer, and AJB-3A low-altitude bombing system, as well as wider range of ordnance options like TV- or laser-guided smart bombs for use during the Vietnam War. The first A-4Es were flown in Vietnam in early 1965, but the A-4Cs continued to be used in the conflict until late 1970, too.
However, their withdrawal from East Asia was not the end of the Charlies’ career. 100 Naval Air Reserve A-4Cs were upgraded and assigned the designation A-4L. The upgrade was designed to bring them up to the standards of Echo and Fox Skyhawks that were then in active fleet service, in the expectation that there could be two Reserve carrier air wings that would be fully combat-ready should the need arise. The respective reorganization of the Naval Air Reserve Force followed the new concept that a reserve force squadron (RESFORON) was to be more compatible with active-duty units, resulting in a seamless support or these and in an increment of their general combat readiness.
Douglas developed a conversion kit that was tested on a single A-4C, and the first Lima was flown on August 21, 1969. Conversions were applied at Douglas’ Long Beach factory to 99 more aircraft, and deliveries already started in December of that year and lasted until 1972. The upgrade included the installation of an uprated J65-W-20 engine with 8400 lb static thrust for takeoff to all A-4Ls, plus additional avionics that brought the A-4C to a status comparable with the then-state-of-the-art A-4F. These had to be fit into a dorsal “hump”, due to the lack of internal space in the A-4C’s nose section, which was already occupied by the AN/APG-53A radar. In addition, the wing lift spoilers that were first introduced on the TA-4F trainer were included in the modification kit, too, which improved landing characteristics a lot. However, the number of weapons pylons remained only at three.
A-4Ls were exclusively operated by Navy Reserve squadrons and Marine Corps Reserves; VA-207 was one of these units, nicknamed the “Golden Chargers”. It was established as Attack Squadron 207 (VA-207) at NAS Jacksonville, Florida on 1 July 1970. The squadron exclusively flew the A-4L Skyhawk and relocated in 1972 to NAS Fort Worth, Texas. There, the Golden Chargers took over further missions beyond their RESFORON role and started to act as adversaries to active-duty Fleet fighter and strike fighter squadrons being trained for deployment, and advanced weapons training (e.g. the deployment of guided weapons).
In May 1972, VA-207’s Limas deployed to NAS Oceana in Virginia to participate in exercise Exotic Dancer V, designed to test multiservice operations under a unified command organization. In February 1980, the squadron and its Skyhawks furthermore participated in a combined NATO forces exercise conducted at NAS Bermuda at St. David's Island in the Atlantic Ocean.
Transitioning to the A-7E Corsair II in 1983, VA-207's primary mission changed to provide contributory support to the fleet, and to be ready to deploy to an aircraft carrier during a crisis as an activated reserve light attack squadron. Many A-4Ls converted from Vietnam War veterans had by that time reached their structural limit and were scrapped, but Limas based on younger airframes that were still in good shape were set aside and offered for sale. Malaysia bought 25 Charlies und 63 Limas, of which forty were reworked to A-4PTM status in 1982 (as a side note, the suffix “PTM” is frequently misinterpreted as “Peculiar To Malaysia”, but actually it is an abbreviation for “Persekutan Tanah Melayu”, meaning Republic of Malaysia). These aircraft received a new bombing computer, body refurbishments and wiring updates, while around the same number of Charlie and Lima airframes were stored for spares. They remained active until 1994.
Following its next transition to the F/A-18 Hornet in October 1996 and becoming VFA-207, the Golden Warriors relocated to NAS Atlanta, Georgia, and it was to be ready to deploy as an activated reserve strike-fighter squadron. However, VFA-207 was deactivated on 30 June 2004 prior to the BRAC-directed closure of NAS Atlanta, and eventually disbanded.
General characteristics:
Crew: 1
Length: 40 ft 1 in (12,24 m)
Wingspan: 27 ft 6 in (8,40 m)
Height: 15 ft (4,58 m)
Wing area: 259 ft² (24.15 m²)
Airfoil: NACA 0008-1.1-25 at the wing root
NACA 0005-0.825-50 at the tip
Empty weight: 9.860 lb (4.476 kg)
Loaded weight: 18,500 lb (8.400 kg)
Max. takeoff weight: 22,500 lb (10.215 kg)
Powerplant:
1× Wright J65-W-20 turbojet, rated at 8400 lb thrust
Performance:
Maximum speed: 637 mph
Cruise speed: 498 mph
Stalling speed: 137 mph
Range: 1,000 miles with 2,025 lbs of stores
1650 miles with two 300-gallon drop tanks
Service ceiling: 40,500 ft.
Rate of climb: 7,950 feet per minute initially
Wing loading: 71.4 lb/ft² (348 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 0.45
g-limit: +8/-3g
Armament:
2× fixed forward firing 0.79 in (20 mm) Colt Mk. 12 machine cannon with 100 RPG
3× hardpoints for a total of up to 8,200 lbs (3.722 kg) of external stores
The kit and its assembly:
I had for a long time the plan to build/create an A-4L, a rather obscure Skyhawk variant that originated from factory conversions of 100 A-4Cs. This turned out to be a tricky plan because there is no OOB kit for an A-4L in 1:72, even a Charlie is hard to get – and it’s a quite unique variant with a characteristic nose. The only (decent) A-4C kit comes from Fujimi, and it was recently re-boxed under the Hobby 2000 label, with new decals by Cartograph and some paint masks. I was lucky to get my hands on a relatively cheap specimen and also had reserved a surplus dorsal avionics hump from a Hasegawa A-4E/F kit, already with a potential A-4L build in mind.
With these ingredients the modifications to turn the Charlie into a Lima were limited. The A-4C was basically built OOB, just using the inner wing pylons, and the camelback hump was, with some light modifications, PSRed into the spine – resulting in the unique, very compact, and chunky silhouette of the A-4L. The only other addition is a pair of AGM-62 Walleye glide bombs, which the A-4L was capable of deploying, thanks to its improved avionics. These were taken from a Hasegawa air-to-ground weapons set. The ventral drop tank came OOB from the Fujimi kit.
Slats, flaps and air brakes were mounted in open/lowered positions, following the options the Fujimi kit offers (even though the flaps had to be cut out individually and modded slightly to fit into the deployed position). Another potential mod would have been the spoilers, as “counterparts” to the flaps, but I eventually left them down/closed, because I was not certain about their interior.
A final word about the Fujimi A-4 kit: it’s quite nice and well detailed, but also has some weak spots. One is the front-end construction; the mould designers wanted to be clever and allow different cockpit sections (from the A/B and the C versions) to be mated with the hull, but together with the air intake duct and the protruding wing roots this creates a messy area that is really hard to assembly without seams and offset. And why the arrester hook was moulded onto one of the fuselage halves instead of being a separate part, which would have been much easier to mount and paint, is beyond me? If you build one, cut it off and glue it back into place after PSR, makes life a LOT easier…
Painting and markings:
It might be a bit disappointing, but the only serious whiffy aspect of this build became the fictional unit and its markings, because I wanted an authentic look for the Lima (and did not want a later operator like Malaysia or something fictional). AFAIK, VA-207 did not exist, but I wanted an aircraft in the USN’s bright hi-viz livery from the Seventies with its colorful unit markings, before everything turned all-grey. Therefore, the basic paint scheme consists of classic Light Gull Grey (FS 36440) over white, with any rudders’ upper surfaces left in anti-nuclear flash white. For an even finish and saving time with the landing gear, all white areas were painted/primed with white from a rattle can, and the grey (I used Humbrol 40 in this case) was later added by brush. To emphasize the A-4L’s radar I gave the aircraft a nose in radome tan (Humbrol 71) with a dirty black tip, even though real Limas had typically their camouflage extended to the nose tip; however, but some early aircraft also had all-black radomes, making their nose look very similar to the contemporary F4Ds’.
After basic painting the kit received an overall light black ink washing to emphasize panel lines and surface details, as well as a very light post-panel-shading treatment to make the aircraft look a bit more “uneven”, but not really worn.
General markings are USN standard, and the A-4C/L retained the unusual position of the large stars-and-bars fuselage roundel under the cockpit, which enhanced the type’s stout look. Thankfully the Hobby 2000 decal sheet provides an extra roundel which contains a “distorted” area that can be wrapped around the refueling probe. This is easily done, because the carrier film is very thin and flexible.
Even though USN reserve units rather carried simple decorations, I wanted to make them colorful on this fictional one. The yellow unit/fin decoration was inspired by the colors of an F-14 from the early Seventies, from the VF-32 “Swordsmen”, and I adapted that for the small A-4L. To make the fin stand out I painted the whole area with a deep yellow (Revell 310); the tail code “AF” was adapted from the other CVWR-20 reserve attack units, which all shared it, and the letters and the sword icon were adapted from a Matchbox F-14 decal sheet.
The rest became standard: white landing gear and respective well, a medium grey (Dark Gull Grey) cockpit and canopy interior. The TV-guided walleye glide bombs were painted in bright blue like training rounds, with bare aluminum fins and a white sensor head – a nice color contrast to the yellow and red on the aircraft. Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final details like position lights were added.
A rather subtle whif, and this one is, concerning the hardware, even a realistic representation of the rather fameless Lima Skyhawk. The bright yellow unit markings add a fresh touch to the standard livery, though, and the bright blue Walleye bombs appear like jewelry under the Scooter’s wings.
Not spectacular, but I can finally erase the A-4L from my project list. 😉
So my bigass goldfish (named Fatass) was acting like a total spaz for a day or 2 and at first we thought he was prolly just up for removal from planet but I asked Bart to take some water to the pet store to get it tested and sure as shit the water had some crap in it or some shit.
Prolly shit. That goldfish is HUGE. He poops for days.
So anyway, this stuff is sposed to clear up the shit and Fatass has been much less of a spaz, so yay!
Good thing, cuz there's no WAY he'd flush down the toilet.
"SAVING MR. BANKS"
L-R Robert Sherman (B.J. Novak), Richard Sherman (Jason Schwartzman), Don DaGradi (Bradley Whitford), P.L. Travers (Emma Thompson) in Disney's "Saving Mr. Banks" .
Ph: François Duhamel
©Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Life Saving Victoria (Microflite) Eurocopter AS-350B-2 Ecureuil c/n 4748, call sign 'Lifesaver 36'. Used for static line rescue and as an observation platform. Based at Avalon Airport, Geelong - Day 1 Avalon 2013 Australian International Airshow. File: VH-LSR_YMAV_20130226_7740
I "fixed" this broken sign in photoshop so you can see the neon in its full working state. - The owner has retired and the store is now closed.
Home energy saving kits are now available to borrow at all Dublin City Public Libraries.
The Home Energy Saving Kits have been developed by Dublin's energy agency Codema and contain six practical tools to help the public save energy at home. The items in the toolkits address three key areas of energy use in the home - space heating, hot water and electricity consumption - and can help identify common problems such as lack of insulation, poor ventilation and the appliances in the home that might be driving up electricity bills.
Note: The historic Life Saving Station was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. These photos are of all that remains.
What is now the Takanassee Beach Club was originally known as U.S. Life-Saving Station #5. It is a rare survivor from the era of frequent shipwrecks, when sand bars, shallow waters, and winter storms made the waters of New Jersey treacherous to the busy coastwise trade. In 1900 New Jersey contained 42 life saving stations situated three and a half miles apart between Sandy Hook and Cape May. From September to May their crews patrolled the beaches nightly looking for ships at peril. From this root the United States Coast Guard grew, but today only a few of the stations survive.
This property still has its three original buildings, and each, only moderately altered, is an architectural gem. The oldest, a handsome stick style building with prominent decorative trusses in each gable, was built in 1878-79 after a model designed for the 1876 Philadelphia centennial exhibition. The second building is shingle style, designed cica 1897 as living quarters for the life-saving crew. The third building from 1903 lies closest to the beach. It is a one-story, shingled boathouse with a tall square lookout tower facing the ocean. All three of the buildings are the only ones in New Jersey. No other location in the United States retains as many original Life-Saving Service buildings.
Deactivated by the Coast Guard in 1928, it subsequently became the Takanassee Beach Club. Today the former U.S. Life-Saving Station #5, is in need of rescue itself. What no northeaster or hurricane accomplished in 135 years, a developer’s bulldozer could soon achieve. The site is under threat of demolition for a proposed townhouse development, although the project is currently on hold pending environmental review. The prospective builder has only offered to move the buildings.
The buildings of Life-Saving Station #5 are irreplaceable survivors of an earlier at the shore. PNJ thinks preserving them at their original sites through some form of adaptive use should be the highest priority, to avoid losing these unique reminders of our maritime heritage.
Assemblyman Sean Kean organized a forum to discuss the future of the Beach Club property. Those interested in the preservation of the property are working with the Assemblyman to try and secure funds from various resources such as the Green Acres to be able to purchase the property.
--Borrowed from:
Waffles with blackberries and lemon ricotta cream. Review at ugonnaeatthat.com/2007/11/21/toronto-i-saw-sloan/.