View allAll Photos Tagged scale(s)
North Chapel. Large Baroque Monument Reaching from Floor to Ceiling,
On a scale more fitting for Westminster Abbey! Probably by John Nost. Central Pedestal, surmounted by an Urn,Drapes held up by two Putti. Sir John Banks stands on the left , bewigged in a semi Roman costume, a pensive Lady Banks, opposite him, and son, Caleb lying between them, propped up on a cushion, also bewigged and in Roman costume.
THE BANKS MONUMENT IN THE NORTH CHAPEL, 1700
MEMORIAE SACRUM
HINC FELICEM EXPECTANT RESURRECTIOREM
JOHANNES BANKS DE AYLESFORD IN COMITATU CANTII BARONETT
UXOR ETIAM EJUS ELIZABETHA, JOHANNIS DETHICK MILITIS
COMITATU NORFOLCIAE OBIN PRAETORIS LONDINENSIS FILIA
NECON FILIUS UTRIUS QUE COMMUNIS CALEB BANKS
MARITUS QUIDEM SED LIBERIS ORBATUS
HIC PRAETEREA NATI SUNT LIBERI QUATUAR
MARTHA,ELIZABETHA ET MARIAM, MARTHA ET JOHANNES EXTINCTUS
QUORUM ALTERA NEMPE ELIZABETHA NUPTA FUIT
HENEAGIO FINCH, HENEAGII COMITIS NOTTINGHAMIAE
SUMUA ANGLIAE CONCELARII FILIO NATU SECUNDO
AUS PICIIS SERENISSIMAE REGINAE ANNAE BARONI DE GERNSEY
MARIA VERO JOHANI SAVILL, JOHANNIS DE METHLEY
IN COMITATU EBORACENSI ARMIGERI FILIO PRIMOGENITO
EXUVIAS DEPOSUERUNT
CALEB BANKS SEPBRIS 13 ANO 1696 AETATIS 37
ELIZABETHA OCTBRIS 21 ANO 1696 AETATUS 59
JOHANNES OCTBRIS 18 ANO 1699 AETATIS 72
Sir John Banks, Baronet, died 1699, born in Maidstone 1627, the son of a prosperous Woollen Draper and former Mayor, he was a Merchant and Financier, he was also a Member of Parliament.
1644 He entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
1652 Was part of a business supplying the Navy. This activity brought him into contact with Samuel Pepys, who became a friend.
1654 Married Elizabeth Dethick, daughter of John Dethick, a wealthy London Merchant, who was Lord Mayor in 1655, and knighted by Cromwell in 1656. Soon after, Banks became involved in the East India Company and the Levant Company.
1654 – 59 M. P. for Maidstone
1662 Made a Baronet by Charles 11
In the 1660's Banks prospered supplying the Navy, particularly during the Anglo – Dutch wars.
1668 Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
1669 Became a Director of the East India Company, and was Governor of the Company in 1672 – 4, and in 1683. He was also involved in the Royal African Company, of which he was a deputy Governor in 1674 – 6.
1670's bought a large, new house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and carried out much rebuilding on Aylesford Friary, which he had bought earlier.
1679 – 1690 M. P. for Rochester
1690 – 1694 M. P. for Queenborough
1695 – 1698 M. P. for Maidstone.
Banks seemed very skilled at smoothly adjusting to changing political fortunes, from Republic to Restoration and the changes after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, lending money regardless of political colour.
His income during the latter part of his life was about £5,000 per annum; his estate was worth about £180,000. He was the first and last Baronet. Most of his wealth passed to daughter Elizabeth and her husband Heneage Finch, who became the first Earl of Aylesford in 1714.
Sir John Banks long P.C.C. Will is dated 22nd November 1697
There is an Indenture, dated 22nd June 1680, between John Banks of the 1st part, Henry Thornhill of the 2nd part, John Knatchbull and Edward Rudge of the 3rd part, concerning his real and personal estate, the Rectory and Parsonage of Northfleet, the glebeland, houses, barns, buildings and tithes of the said Rectory, purchased from Sir John Sydley of St. Cleere, this property to his cousin John Banks for life.
His Mansion in Aylesford (Friars) and lands called Great Buckland, North Buckland, and properties in Westbere in Maidstone, Hartlip, Burham. Bredhurst, Mears Court, and properties in Aylesford, Ditton, Newhithe, Burham, Maidstone, Boxley, Detling, Bearsted, Rainham, Bredhurst, Borden, Newington, Bobbing, Milton , Rodmersham, Kingsdown, Milsted, Newenden, Hunton, Linton, Farleigh, Marden, Headcorn, , and 2 houses called Homeplace and Ouldhouse, with land in Minster and Borough of Ossenden in Kent, houses and land in Iwade, and other land and property on the Isle of Sheppey; including those held on lease from the Hospital of St. Katherine; also the Advowson of the Rectory of Ditton and fee farm rents, all this to daughter Elizabeth and her husband Heneage Finch, for ever; in default of heirs, then to to his daughter Mary and her husband John Savile, in default of heirs, to his "own right heirs".
If Elizabeth dies in Banks lifetime, above to Heneage Finch, for life, after Finch dies to Elizabeth's children in specified order. If Mary dies as above, then legacy passes in same manner.
The Fleet and Fishery at Newenden, held on lease from the Crown, to daughter and son in law Elizabeth and John, also leaseholds held of Dean and Chapter of Rochester, at Marden. Out of latter an annuities of £300 to daughter Elizabeth,
and £100 to cousin John Banks, £10 to cousin Mary Hunt, to cousin Elizabeth Bishopp, £10 to cousin Stephen Grigby, £10 to cousin Thomas Grigby, £10 to Samuel Read, £10 to Rebecca Mee.
His house in Lincoln s Inn Fields, and properties in the Isle of Thanet, in New and Old Romney, Lydd and elsewhere in Romney Marsh; his farm rents in Essex, Stafford and Derby to the Saviles, same terms as earlier legacy.
Live and dead stock to the Finches and Saviles.
Personal estate, in Aylesford house to the Finches, in Lincolns Inn Fields to the Saviles.
East India stock, silver plate, money, debts shared equally between Finches and Saviles.
Property in Hinxhill, former inheritance of uncle John Banks, father of cousin John, to the Finches and Saviles, equally.
His executors are to build 6 houses near his mansion in Maidstone for 6 poor parishioners of Maidstone. Each to have ground room with chimney, and a "little buttery", and one upper room with chimney, also a small individual plot behind each house. The cost from personal estate; also £60 per annum towards maintenance of the poor people and repairs, equally dived among the 6. Residents who are not "orderly and sober" can be removed; the Saviles are to make rules and give preference to his former servants.
Lands in Isle of Thanet, leased from Dean and Chapter of Canterbury, and from Queen's College, Cambridge,to cousins, John Rudge and Samuel Read, in trust, rents to be distributed as Mary Savile directs. If Mary dies in Banks lifetime then to John Savile, for life; after he dies to his 1st son to reach 21 years, if no son then to daughter.
Desires to be buried at Aylesford, with wife, son and other children. If he does not make vault in his lifetime in chancel, where wife and son are buried, executors to make one on same ground and lay him with his wife and children, and repair that end of chancel, if needed for the security of the vault. Executors to put up monument, cost not to exceed £400.
To his sister -------- ? £50. To late servant, James Sherbourne and to each servant in family at time of his death, £50.
£50 to put out apprentice 6 poor children living in Aylesford. £40 paid to Mayor of Maidstone to distribute to poor of the town.
The Manor of Rushenden and land near Queenborough, on lease from St. Katherine's Hospital, to the Finches, they to keep lease going for their eldest son, then to his male issue.
Land and property in Bonnington near Romney Marsh to the Saviles, same condition as above.
Land in Isle of Sheppey called South Marsh to the Finches.
Finches and Saviles are joint executors.
Witnesses: Richard Hoare, John Lily and Henry Hoare
Codicil dated 7th October 1699
To the Finches Manor of Wormseale? in parishes of Bobbing and Newington, purchased from Henry Eve, and land in Maidstone, purchased from Thomas Selby.
To the Saviles all land in Romney Marsh near Lydd, purchased from -------- Lee.
Witnesses: John Rudge, James Sherbourne and Martin Tomkins
Proved 11th December 1699
An empty moment on the beach at Aquinnah, on Martha's Vineyard, August 2014. The tiny woman next to the boulder should give you a sense of scale, if you can see her.
Evening light breaks through monsoonal storm clouds to illuminate the otherworldly sandstone formations of White Pocket, Arizona. A lone figure gives a clue to the scale of these monoliths.
*WORKSHOP ANNOUNCEMENT*
Consider joining Alex Mody and myself for three days and two nights of sunrise, sunset, nighttime photography, and fully-outfitted camping on this remote desert plateau, featuring the world's most interesting, unique, and otherworldly sandstone formations in October 2016:
I always enjoy building N scale city buildings but every now and then I buy some made by other people. I was so happy to get this model at a really great price from a guy named Paul. His work is really quite amazing. I've bought a few from him but this is one of my favorites. It's a collection of a couple of Lunde Studios buildings and a DPM building. Really well built, weathered and detailed. I thought I'd share some photos of it on Facebook tonight. I'm so happy with this model. It's definitely one of my favorites that I own.
I also hope that everyone has a great Thanksgiving this weekend. 😃
Nikon D3S + Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G.
Handheld. Edited in Lightroom CC + VSCO.
From Shanghai. China.
Press "L" to view large scale.
SCALE 1:592.5
WE ALL KNOW STAR WARS AND THIS ICONIC MODELS NONE MORE SO THAN THE ISD. THIS IS NO EXCEPTION, JUST ANOTHER STAR DESTROYER....
SOME FACTS BEHIND THIS BUILD
THE BRIDGE SECTION I SAW ON THE INTERNET AS A L.D.D. ( LEGO DIGITAL DESIGN ) AND IT WAS SUPERIMPOSED ONTO A STUDIO MODEL OF A STAR DESTROYER, THAT SPARKED MY INTEREST.
SOMETIME LATER I SAW A 5 FOOT LEGO STAR DESTROYER WITH SOME VERY NICE TURBO LASER CANONS ON IT.
I TOOK A FEW IMAGES OF BOTH OFF THE INTERNET AND JUST BY LOOKING I MANAGED TO CONSTRUCT MY OWN REAL LEGO REPLICA.
THE BRIDGE DICTATED THE SIZE OF THE STAR DESTROYER AND MY LEGO ELEMENTS DICTATED THE SHAPE.
IT UNDERWENT MANY STRUCTURAL SHAPE TRIALS AND '5' REBUILDS TO GET IT TO STAY INTACT AND LOOK RIGHT. IT IS UNDER GREAT STRESS SITTING ON ITS STAND SHOWING A VERY CLEAR CURVE ( BEND ) ALONG THE LENGTH OF THE VESSEL. MOST OF ALL IT HAD TO FIT IN MY VEHICLE FOR TRANSPORT TO HOPEFULLY GO ON DISPLAY THROUGH OUT 2021 AROUND TASMANIA.
IT IS FAR FROM PERFECT BUT IT CERTAINLY CONSUMED MANY 10'S OF THOUSAND PARTS.
SIZE OF THIS STAR DESTROYER
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT
2700MM X 1690MM X 880MM
106.29 INCHES X 64.56 INCHES X 34.64 INCHES
338 STUDS X 206 STUDS X 110 STUDS
TOOK 10 MONTHS TO CONSTRUCT, DECONSTRUCT AND RECONSTRUCT AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN.
AN ESTIMATE OF ELEMENTS USED IS APPROXIMATELY 139,729,40 AN ACCURATE CAN BE DONE WHEN I DISMANTLE IT AT THE END OF 2021.
AROUND THE STAR DESTROYER THERE ARE SCENES FROM ROGUE ONE, A NEW HOPE, THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK AND RETURN OF THE JEDI.`
Beer and bread making was described in several scale models found in graves. In the foreground of the scale model is a man his knees grinding grain against a saddle-shaped grindstone and behind him another kneading bread dough. The one behind it may also crumble the bread into a beer bowl, as the processes look the same. There has probably been a small bread oven in front of the seated person, which he has loosened with a fan.
Provenance Asyut
Old Kingdom
S. 14375/3 Museo Egizio
Egypt of Glory exhibition, Amos Rex Art Museum, Helsinki
From the collection of Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy
9.10.2020-21.3.2021
An Air Force Lockheed Martin F-22 "Raptor" assigned to the 3rd Wing flies over Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Feb. 27, 2018. The Lockheed Martin F-22 "Raptor" is the U.S. Air Force’s premium fifth-generation fighter asset.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Lockheed Martin F-22 "Raptor" is a fifth-generation, single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). The result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, the aircraft was designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, but also has ground attack, electronic warfare, and signal intelligence capabilities. The prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, built most of the F-22's airframe and weapons systems and conducted final assembly, while Boeing provided the wings, aft fuselage, avionics integration, and training systems.
The aircraft was variously designated F-22 and F/A-22 before it formally entered service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Despite its protracted development and various operational issues, USAF officials consider the F-22 a critical component of the service's tactical air power. Its combination of stealth, aerodynamic performance, and situational awareness enable unprecedented air combat capabilities.
Service officials had originally planned to buy a total of 750 ATFs. In 2009, the program was cut to 187 operational production aircraft due to high costs, a lack of clear air-to-air missions due to delays in Russian and Chinese fighter programs, a ban on exports, and development of the more versatile F-35. The last F-22 was delivered in 2012.
Development
Origins
In 1981, the U.S. Air Force identified a requirement for an Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) to replace the F-15 "Eagle" and F-16 "Fighting Falcon". Code named "Senior Sky", this air-superiority fighter program was influenced by emerging worldwide threats, including new developments in Soviet air defense systems and the proliferation of the Su-27 "Flanker"- and MiG-29 "Fulcrum"-class of fighter aircraft. It would take advantage of the new technologies in fighter design on the horizon, including composite materials, lightweight alloys, advanced flight control systems, more powerful propulsion systems, and most importantly, stealth technology. In 1983, the ATF concept development team became the System Program Office (SPO) and managed the program at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The demonstration and validation (Dem/Val) request for proposals (RFP) was issued in September 1985, with requirements placing strong emphasis on stealth and supercruise. Of the seven bidding companies, Lockheed and Northrop were selected on 31 October 1986. Lockheed teamed with Boeing and General Dynamics while Northrop teamed with McDonnell Douglas, and the two contractor teams undertook a 50-month Dem/Val phase, culminating in the flight test of two technology demonstrator prototypes, the YF-22 and the YF-23, respectively.
Dem/Val was focused on risk reduction and technology development plans over specific aircraft designs. Contractors made extensive use of analytical and empirical methods, including computational fluid dynamics, wind-tunnel testing, and radar cross-section calculations and pole testing; the Lockheed team would conduct nearly 18,000 hours of wind-tunnel testing. Avionics development was marked by extensive testing and prototyping and supported by ground and flying laboratories. During Dem/Val, the SPO used the results of performance and cost trade studies conducted by contractor teams to adjust ATF requirements and delete ones that were significant weight and cost drivers while having marginal value. The short takeoff and landing (STOL) requirement was relaxed in order to delete thrust-reversers, saving substantial weight. As avionics was a major cost driver, side-looking radars were deleted, and the dedicated infra-red search and track (IRST) system was downgraded from multi-color to single color and then deleted as well. However, space and cooling provisions were retained to allow for future addition of these components. The ejection seat requirement was downgraded from a fresh design to the existing McDonnell Douglas ACES II. Despite efforts by the contractor teams to rein in weight, the takeoff gross weight estimate was increased from 50,000 lb (22,700 kg) to 60,000 lb (27,200 kg), resulting in engine thrust requirement increasing from 30,000 lbf (133 kN) to 35,000 lbf (156 kN) class.
Each team produced two prototype air vehicles for Dem/Val, one for each of the two engine options. The YF-22 had its maiden flight on 29 September 1990 and in flight tests achieved up to Mach 1.58 in supercruise. After the Dem/Val flight test of the prototypes, on 23 April 1991, Secretary of the USAF Donald Rice announced the Lockheed team as the winner of the ATF competition. The YF-23 design was considered stealthier and faster, while the YF-22, with its thrust vectoring nozzles, was more maneuverable as well as less expensive and risky. The aviation press speculated that the Lockheed team's design was also more adaptable to the U.S. Navy's Navalized Advanced Tactical Fighter (NATF), but by 1992, the Navy had abandoned NATF.
Production and procurement
As the program moved to full-scale development, or the Engineering & Manufacturing Development (EMD) stage, the production version had notable differences from the YF-22, despite having a broadly similar shape. The swept-back angle of the leading edge was decreased from 48° to 42°, while the vertical stabilizers were shifted rearward and decreased in area by 20%. To improve pilot visibility, the canopy was moved forward 7 inches (18 cm), and the engine intakes moved rearward 14 inches (36 cm). The shapes of the wing and stabilator trailing edges were refined to improve aerodynamics, strength, and stealth characteristics. Increasing weight during development caused slight reductions in range and maneuver performance.
Prime contractor Lockheed Martin Aeronautics manufactured the majority of the airframe and performed final assembly at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta, Georgia; program partner Boeing Defense, Space & Security provided additional airframe components as well as avionics integration and training systems. The first F-22, an EMD aircraft with tail number 4001, was unveiled at Marietta, Georgia, on 9 April 1997, and first flew on 7 September 1997. Production, with the first lot awarded in September 2000, supported over 1,000 subcontractors and suppliers from 46 states and up to 95,000 jobs, and spanned 15 years at a peak rate of roughly two airplanes per month. In 2006, the F-22 development team won the Collier Trophy, American aviation's most prestigious award. Due to the aircraft's advanced nature, contractors have been targeted by cyberattacks and technology theft.
The USAF originally envisioned ordering 750 ATFs at a total program cost of $44.3 billion and procurement cost of $26.2 billion in fiscal year (FY) 1985 dollars, with production beginning in 1994. The 1990 Major Aircraft Review led by Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney reduced this to 648 aircraft beginning in 1996. By 1997, funding instability had further cut the total to 339, which was again reduced to 277 by 2003. In 2004, the Department of Defense (DoD) further reduced this to 183 operational aircraft, despite the USAF's preference for 381. A multi-year procurement plan was implemented in 2006 to save $15 billion, with total program cost projected to be $62 billion for 183 F-22s distributed to seven combat squadrons. In 2008, Congress passed a defense spending bill that raised the total orders for production aircraft to 187.
The first two F-22s built were EMD aircraft in the Block 1.0 configuration for initial flight testing, while the third was a Block 2.0 aircraft built to represent the internal structure of production airframes and enabled it to test full flight loads. Six more EMD aircraft were built in the Block 10 configuration for development and upgrade testing, with the last two considered essentially production quality jets. Production for operational squadrons consisted of 37 Block 20 training aircraft and 149 Block 30/35 combat aircraft; one of the Block 35 aircraft is dedicated to flight sciences at Edwards Air Force Base.
The numerous new technologies in the F-22 resulted in substantial cost overruns and delays. Many capabilities were deferred to post-service upgrades, reducing the initial cost but increasing total program cost. As production wound down in 2011, the total program cost is estimated to be about $67.3 billion, with $32.4 billion spent on Research, Development, Test and Evaluation (RDT&E) and $34.9 billion on procurement and military construction (MILCON) in then year dollars. The incremental cost for an additional F-22 was estimated at about $138 million in 2009.
Ban on exports
The F-22 cannot be exported under US federal law to protect its stealth technology and other high-tech features. Customers for U.S. fighters are acquiring earlier designs such as the F-15 "Eagle" and F-16 "Fighting Falcon" or the newer F-35 "Lightning II", which contains technology from the F-22 but was designed to be cheaper, more flexible, and available for export. In September 2006, Congress upheld the ban on foreign F-22 sales. Despite the ban, the 2010 defense authorization bill included provisions requiring the DoD to prepare a report on the costs and feasibility for an F-22 export variant, and another report on the effect of F-22 export sales on U.S. aerospace industry.
Some Australian politicians and defense commentators proposed that Australia should attempt to purchase F-22s instead of the planned F-35s, citing the F-22's known capabilities and F-35's delays and developmental uncertainties. However, the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) determined that the F-22 was unable to perform the F-35's strike and close air support roles. The Japanese government also showed interest in the F-22 for its Replacement-Fighter program. The Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) would reportedly require fewer fighters for its mission if it obtained the F-22, thus reducing engineering and staffing costs. However, in 2009 it was reported that acquiring the F-22 would require increases to the Japanese government's defense budget beyond the historical 1 percent of its GDP. With the end of F-22 production, Japan chose the F-35 in December 2011. Israel also expressed interest, but eventually chose the F-35 because of the F-22's price and unavailability.
Production termination
Throughout the 2000s, the need for F-22s was debated, due to rising costs and the lack of relevant adversaries. In 2006, Comptroller General of the United States David Walker found that "the DoD has not demonstrated the need" for more investment in the F-22, and further opposition to the program was expressed by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon R. England, Senator John McCain, and Chairman of U.S. Senate Committee on Armed Services Senator John Warner. The F-22 program lost influential supporters in 2008 after the forced resignations of Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force General T. Michael Moseley.
In November 2008, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stated that the F-22 was not relevant in post-Cold War conflicts such as irregular warfare operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in April 2009, under the new Obama Administration, he called for ending production in FY2011, leaving the USAF with 187 production aircraft. In July, General James Cartwright, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated to the Senate Committee on Armed Services his reasons for supporting termination of F-22 production. They included shifting resources to the multirole F-35 to allow proliferation of fifth-generation fighters for three service branches and preserving the F/A-18 production line to maintain the military's electronic warfare (EW) capabilities in the Boeing EA-18G "Growler". Issues with the F-22's reliability and availability also raised concerns. After President Obama threatened to veto further production, the Senate voted in July 2009 in favor of ending production and the House subsequently agreed to abide by the 187 production aircraft cap. Gates stated that the decision was taken in light of the F-35's capabilities, and in 2010, he set the F-22 requirement to 187 aircraft by lowering the number of major regional conflict preparations from two to one.
In 2010, USAF initiated a study to determine the costs of retaining F-22 tooling for a future Service Life Extension Program (SLEP). A RAND Corporation paper from this study estimated that restarting production and building an additional 75 F-22s would cost $17 billion, resulting in $227 million per aircraft, or $54 million higher than the flyaway cost. Lockheed Martin stated that restarting the production line itself would cost about $200 million. Production tooling and associated documentation were subsequently stored at the Sierra Army Depot, allowing the retained tooling to support the fleet life cycle. There were reports that attempts to retrieve this tooling found empty containers, but a subsequent audit found that the tooling was stored as expected.
Russian and Chinese fighter developments have fueled concern, and in 2009, General John Corley, head of Air Combat Command, stated that a fleet of 187 F-22s would be inadequate, but Secretary Gates dismissed General Corley's concern. In 2011, Gates explained that Chinese fifth-generation fighter developments had been accounted for when the number of F-22s was set, and that the U.S. would have a considerable advantage in stealth aircraft in 2025, even with F-35 delays. In December 2011, the 195th and final F-22 was completed out of 8 test EMD and 187 operational aircraft produced; the aircraft was delivered to the USAF on 2 May 2012.
In April 2016, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee proposed legislation that would direct the Air Force to conduct a cost study and assessment associated with resuming production of the F-22. Since the production halt directed in 2009 by then Defense Secretary Gates, lawmakers and the Pentagon noted that air warfare systems of Russia and China were catching up to those of the U.S. Lockheed Martin has proposed upgrading the Block 20 training aircraft into combat-coded Block 30/35 versions as a way to increase numbers available for deployment. On 9 June 2017, the Air Force submitted their report to Congress stating they had no plans to restart the F-22 production line due to economic and operational issues; it estimated it would cost approximately $50 billion to procure 194 additional F-22s at a cost of $206–$216 million per aircraft, including approximately $9.9 billion for non-recurring start-up costs and $40.4 billion for aircraft procurement costs.
Upgrades
The first aircraft with combat-capable Block 3.0 software flew in 2001. Increment 2, the first upgrade program, was implemented in 2005 for Block 20 aircraft onward and enabled the employment of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM). Certification of the improved AN/APG-77(V)1 radar was completed in March 2007, and airframes from production Lot 5 onward are fitted with this radar, which incorporates air-to-ground modes. Increment 3.1 for Block 30 aircraft onward provided improved ground-attack capability through synthetic aperture radar mapping and radio emitter direction finding, electronic attack and Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) integration; testing began in 2009 and the first upgraded aircraft was delivered in 2011. To address oxygen deprivation issues, F-22s were fitted with an automatic backup oxygen system (ABOS) and modified life support system starting in 2012.
Increment 3.2 for Block 35 aircraft is a two-part upgrade process; 3.2A focuses on electronic warfare, communications and identification, while 3.2B includes geolocation improvements and a new stores management system to show the correct symbols for the AIM-9X and AIM-120D. To enable two-way communication with other platforms, the F-22 can use the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node (BACN) as a gateway. The planned Multifunction Advanced Data Link (MADL) integration was cut due to development delays and lack of proliferation among USAF platforms. The F-22 fleet is planned to start receiving Increment 3.2B as well as a software upgrade for cryptography capabilities and avionics stability in May 2019. A Multifunctional Information Distribution System-Joint (MIDS-J) radio that replaces the current Link-16 receive-only box is expected to be operational by 2020. Subsequent upgrades are also focusing on having an open architecture to enable faster future enhancements.
In 2024, funding is projected to begin for the F-22 mid-life upgrade (MLU), which is expected to include new sensors and antennas, hardware refresh, cockpit improvements, and a helmet mounted display and cuing system. Other enhancements being developed include IRST functionality for the AN/AAR-56 Missile Launch Detector (MLD) and more durable stealth coating based on the F-35's.
The F-22 was designed for a service life of 8,000 flight hours, with a $350 million "structures retrofit program". Investigations are being made for upgrades to extend their useful lives further. In the long term, the F-22 is expected to be superseded by a sixth-generation jet fighter to be fielded in the 2030s.
Design
Overview
The F-22 "Raptor" is a fifth-generation fighter that is considered fourth generation in stealth aircraft technology by the USAF. It is the first operational aircraft to combine supercruise, supermaneuverability, stealth, and sensor fusion in a single weapons platform. The F-22 has four empennage surfaces, retractable tricycle landing gear, and clipped delta wings with reverse trailing edge sweep and leading edge extensions running to the upper outboard corner of the inlets. Flight control surfaces include leading-edge flaps, flaperons, ailerons, rudders on the canted vertical stabilizers, and all-moving horizontal tails (stabilators); for speed brake function, the ailerons deflect up, flaperons down, and rudders outwards to increase drag.
The aircraft's dual Pratt & Whitney F119-PW-100 augmented turbofan engines are closely spaced and incorporate pitch-axis thrust vectoring nozzles with a range of ±20 degrees; each engine has maximum thrust in the 35,000 lbf (156 kN) class. The F-22's thrust-to-weight ratio at typical combat weight is nearly at unity in maximum military power and 1.25 in full afterburner. Maximum speed without external stores is approximately Mach 1.8 at military power and greater than Mach 2 with afterburners.
The F-22's high cruise speed and operating altitude over prior fighters improve the effectiveness of its sensors and weapon systems, and increase survivability against ground defenses such as surface-to-air missiles. The aircraft is among only a few that can supercruise, or sustain supersonic flight without using fuel-inefficient afterburners; it can intercept targets which subsonic aircraft would lack the speed to pursue and an afterburner-dependent aircraft would lack the fuel to reach. The F-22's thrust and aerodynamics enable regular combat speeds of Mach 1.5 at 50,000 feet (15,000 m). The use of internal weapons bays permits the aircraft to maintain comparatively higher performance over most other combat-configured fighters due to a lack of aerodynamic drag from external stores. The aircraft's structure contains a significant amount of high-strength materials to withstand stress and heat of sustained supersonic flight. Respectively, titanium alloys and composites comprise 39% and 24% of the structural weight.
The F-22's aerodynamics, relaxed stability, and powerful thrust-vectoring engines give it excellent maneuverability and energy potential across its flight envelope. The airplane has excellent high alpha (angle of attack) characteristics, capable of flying at trimmed alpha of over 60° while maintaining roll control and performing maneuvers such as the Herbst maneuver (J-turn) and Pugachev's Cobra. The flight control system and full-authority digital engine control (FADEC) make the aircraft highly departure resistant and controllable, thus giving the pilot carefree handling.
Stealth
The F-22 was designed to be highly difficult to detect and track by radar. Measures to reduce radar cross-section (RCS) include airframe shaping such as alignment of edges, fixed-geometry serpentine inlets and curved vanes that prevent line-of-sight of the engine faces and turbines from any exterior view, use of radar-absorbent material (RAM), and attention to detail such as hinges and pilot helmets that could provide a radar return. The F-22 was also designed to have decreased radio emissions, infrared signature and acoustic signature as well as reduced visibility to the naked eye. The aircraft's flat thrust-vectoring nozzles reduce infrared emissions of the exhaust plume to mitigate the threat of infrared homing ("heat seeking") surface-to-air or air-to-air missiles. Additional measures to reduce the infrared signature include special topcoat and active cooling of leading edges to manage the heat buildup from supersonic flight.
Compared to previous stealth designs like the F-117, the F-22 is less reliant on RAM, which are maintenance-intensive and susceptible to adverse weather conditions. Unlike the B-2, which requires climate-controlled hangars, the F-22 can undergo repairs on the flight line or in a normal hangar. The F-22 has a Signature Assessment System which delivers warnings when the radar signature is degraded and necessitates repair. While the F-22's exact RCS is classified, in 2009 Lockheed Martin released information indicating that from certain angles the aircraft has an RCS of 0.0001 m² or −40 dBsm – equivalent to the radar reflection of a "steel marble". Effectively maintaining the stealth features can decrease the F-22's mission capable rate to 62–70%.
The effectiveness of the stealth characteristics is difficult to gauge. The RCS value is a restrictive measurement of the aircraft's frontal or side area from the perspective of a static radar. When an aircraft maneuvers it exposes a completely different set of angles and surface area, potentially increasing radar observability. Furthermore, the F-22's stealth contouring and radar absorbent materials are chiefly effective against high-frequency radars, usually found on other aircraft. The effects of Rayleigh scattering and resonance mean that low-frequency radars such as weather radars and early-warning radars are more likely to detect the F-22 due to its physical size. However, such radars are also conspicuous, susceptible to clutter, and have low precision. Additionally, while faint or fleeting radar contacts make defenders aware that a stealth aircraft is present, reliably vectoring interception to attack the aircraft is much more challenging. According to the USAF an F-22 surprised an Iranian F-4 "Phantom II" that was attempting to intercept an American UAV, despite Iran's assertion of having military VHF radar coverage over the Persian Gulf.
My dear husband gave me a gift of several lovely musical instruments and a set of chairs to go with them. My plan has been to create individual sculptures to which I can add the head of lps petite Blythes. I finally came up with a reasonable armature out of 3mm craft wire and disassembled a few Polly Pocket dolls for moveable limbs.
Since I already had the beginnings of a seated model, I chose the James McNeil Whistler painting "Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's mother," aka Whistler's Mother.
Of course there will always be issues with scale with Blythe dolls because of the big heads, but in this case I had another issue to contend with as Whistler himself took liberties with his mother's proportions. One critic suggested that she would have to be built like an NBA player. I had to give my model a leg extension to give me the lap I needed. A pair of Polly Pocket boots are mounted to the free standing foot stool.
I wasn't too worried about fabric or sewing as this was going to be a temporary setup. The music room dolls will have nice black skirts with shiny green tops. For this doll I used a black knee high compression stocking and did more sculpting than sewing. I had a nice selection of lace to play with but the shape of her head and hair were a bit awkward.
The biggest problem was that my armature had not allowed for any neck room, a problem that will need to be addressed for the musicians. I didn't have time to do any major adjusting and worked with what I had. The same with my other materials.
The drapes were fun. I used a piece of tissue from a floral bouquet and pleated it. After pleating and figuring out what would be needed, I opened it up and did some freehand designs with metallic paint pens using his painting as a guide. Once I let the pleats fall back into place everything hung nicely.
The most fun part of the project was reading about Whistler. He was quite a character and like many artists, quite full of himself. One quote from Oscar Wilde said, “Mr. Whistler always spelt art, and I believe still spells it, with a capital ‘I,'”
When Whistler was asked why he had been born in Lowell, Massachusetts, he replied that he wanted to be close to his mother. :)
You may not be able to see Whistler's ubiquitous signature butterfly with a stinger in the top right corner of his curtains. I decided to add my cryptic signature by spelling my name backwards in the painting on the wall.
He named most of his paintings with musical notation, so I have followed suit by naming my portrait Impromptu Study of Scale in the Style of James Abbott McNeill Whistler
In order to get the right light I inverted one nesting table on top of another.
Well, my school's cumulative final period is officially over, and my M1919s came in the mail two days ago. So, without further ado, I proudly present to you (finally as the time allowed) my Higgins torpedo boat of the United States Navy from World War II! Man, this was such a ride. Agreeably it's very slightly short of how it should be scaled in 1:35th, and I do need to order some proper propellers for the thing... but man, for refusing to go to Bricklink this whole process, I think it turned out pretty nicely! It's equipped with two rooms (well three if you count the white door in the bunk room that leads to the tiny bathroom LOL), one equipped with living space and the other being the sunken bridge. Of course, I have torpedo canisters on there, simulated primarily large wheel inserts, along with some two by two round plates/bricks. As for the gunnery, the M1919s are in their proper place, and I even approximated a heavy anti-aircraft gun at the stern. The hull itself is actually very sturdy and approximated with slopes at its bow. Speaking of which, the red underside, holding a lot of the boat together, has three simulated driveshafts with their propellers (again, still need to order some actual specified boat propellers that LEGO molds as one element), and two rudders surrounding them for steering of course. All in all, this was just a phenomenal build. I thank all the people who have contributed with constructive criticism and compliments on its previous posts depicting its progress, and tried to meet as many demands as possible, while, however, refusing to order from Bricklink! Man, what a challenge... but I think I am satisfied with it for now. It might go into a big airfield display I plan on doing at some point down the line, hint hint (:. Anyways, that's pretty much it for my Higgins PT-Boat... I'll be working on a lot of LEGO now that school has quieted down. Peace out!
View large.
Special NOTE: On Feb. 8, 2012 I attached a comment, readable & easily discoverable on Page 2 of the comments below, that details the vast corporatist scheme, fronted by Jeb Bush, financed in part with hundreds of millions from Rupert Murdoch (FOX nooze), to privatize American public education & reduce it to 'virtual' schools - not to improve anything (as national & international educational research studies clearly show), but rather to become the final recipients of the taxes people pay so that they can skim huge profits off of the top while providing grotesquely inferior services & lots of lying propaganda to keep the public bamboozled. I beg everyone to read the report.
The McGuffey's Ecclectic Spelling Book was published in 1879.
Raymond Cyrus Hoiles (1878-1970) founded Freedom Communications, a newspaper publishing & broadcasting company that has never hesitated to shape the news to fit right wing ideology. When Hoiles was alive & roaring I lived in Orange County, California, home of the equally right wing Walt Disney & Walter Knott, & was frequently compelled to suffer people who agreed with Hoiles' constantly editorialized insistence that public education was a form of theft & communism that must at once be got rid of. Hoiles was motivated by his fundamentalist Christian persuasions, & quite serious. We should restrain our laughter at the abysmal stupidity of his example, because in many ways he & people like him won & are still winning control of public education. - To introduce the article below, I'll say a little about the Christian strategy.
For many years Orange County's teachers worked under a Draconian ruling that forbade the teaching of values. There is no way around the fact, however, that the statement, "Values may not be taught," is itself a value statement belonging to a class of propositions known as Epimenidean Paradoxes. A comparably illustrative sentence would be, "This is not a sentence." Or, a favorite of the best hypnotists, used when addressing a resistant subject, "Do not obey any instruction which I give you."
What, then, was intended by those who created the paradoxical Orange County law? Well, if any teacher dared to say or imply something that would be disagreeable to any person whose beliefs began & ended with church, flag & free-for-all capitalism, then that teacher could be charged with teaching values & be suspended. One family friend, a young man teaching at an elementary school in Anaheim, was charged, hounded, publicly disgraced, threatened with death & discharged from his post, immediately after which he died from a heart attack. The case was depicted in Life Magazine. His only crime was that he was Jewish. His wife, also a teacher, remained bereft & embittered the rest of her long life.
These people became increasingly invisible over time, largely by devising ever more clever ways for gaining control of both education policy & the public dialogue about education.
Ralph Reed, working for Pat Robertson & the Christian Coalition, devised the "stealth agenda" to place fundamentalists in every local school board in America. The plan helped select & fund candidates, who in accord with Reed's instructions never mentioned their religion or religious connections when campaigning for office. In 1983 Reed rigged an election at his university - he got started early, in other words. Recently we learned that Mr. Reed & Jack Abramoff were associate crooks. The revelation forced Reed to abandon his run to become the lieutenant governor of Georgia. Mr. Reed will not disappear, however. He remains a darling of the far Christian right, & owns Century Strategies, a dirty-tricks political consulting & lobbying organization. In 1999 Karl Rove got reed a nice contract with Enron, which was paying Reed $30,000 per month. And guess who recently went to Georgia to try to save poor Reed? Rudy Giuliani, who has the hots to be the next U.S. president & is pandering to the Christians so he can be their new burning Bush.
Stealthiness did not go away when the Christian Coalition folded & Reed went off on his own to rig elections for big bucks. Rather, the stealth moved into policy matters. For instance, all the phony propaganda claiming religious & private education is more successful, creating the excuse to promote vouchers (for which the motives are both religious & racist). Or, most recently, Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, which was sought by the Christians not because they believed all the testing of students would lead to improved education, but rather because they wanted teachers to be made too busy preparing students for endless tests about facts to find time to do the great evil thing, which is the teaching of concepts. Teaching concepts leads to teaching logic, scientific & other academic methodologies which by their nature instill respect for critical - read, skeptical - thinking. Dogmatists, advertisers & con men have equal cause to fear skepticism.
-------------------------
From: Truthdig.com
Taking Back Our Schools--and Fixing Them
Full text with links: www.truthdig.com/report/item/20060425_taking_back_our_sch...
Posted on Apr. 25, 2006
By Wellford Wilms
The recent news reported in The New York Times that schools are throwing out science, social studies and art to make time for drilling students in remedial math and reading is a sign of things gone terribly wrong. Former New York State Commissioner of Education Thomas Sobol told the Times that narrowing education to just math and reading would be akin to restricting violin students to playing scales day after day. “They’d lose their zest for music.” But most schools that serve poor populations, like those in Cuero, Texas, are squeezed to meet federal math and reading standards. Cuero Superintendent Henry Lind told the paper, “When you have so many hours per day and you’re behind in some area that’s being hammered on, you have to work on that.”
But by the looks of things, hammering students for higher test scores isn’t making much of a difference. Most students have already lost their zest for learning. How do we know? In Los Angeles, upwards of 50% of Latino and African American students never finish high school. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
I’ve been a professor of education at UCLA for more than 25 years and am convinced that despite the fads that come and go, nothing has put a dent in the public schools’ failure to educate inner-city children. In fact, things are getting worse. But I am also convinced that we’ve been looking in the wrong places for solutions. My own research across a wide array of organizations—corporations, trade unions, public schools, colleges, teacher unions and police agencies—suggests another way of looking at the problem and that solutions will come from a new direction.
This essay is a proposition—one that I hope will spark a lively debate among Truthdig readers and inform policy leaders. Future essays will examine Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s campaign to take over the public schools, analyze whether teacher unions can be a force for productive change, and expose promising ways to rebuild public investment in the schools.
Let’s start with Jonathan Kozol’s new book, “The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America.” It is a scathing indictment of American social policy that banned racial segregation in public schools in 1955 and then turned a blind eye to its implementation. Today, Kozol says, schools are more segregated than ever. But he fails to explain why resegregation has occurred. Because Kozol overlooks the root causes of the problem, his solutions—spending more money on dysfunctional schools and wishing for a social mandate to desegregate the schools—miss the point.
To be sure the problems are undeniable. Kozol examines the appalling condition of big-city schools. In school after school we see children who are brimming with potential but who are walled off from the larger society and abandoned by the schools. Most middle-class white Americans simply cannot comprehend the horrid schools that Kozol describes. Ceilings fall in, toilets are filthy, libraries, music and arts have been stripped away. Teachers in these schools, who are paid 40% less than teachers in the suburbs, are forced to teach “scripted” lessons that are written for children who are deemed incapable of learning.
It is all part of the latest reform pushed by the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind initiative, a reform aimed at the singular pursuit of increasing test scores. Learning has been stripped of its intrinsic meaning and reduced to simplistic steps—“Authentic Writing,” “Active Listening,” “Accountable Talk”—that hamper teachers in teaching anything but how to take a test. Behind it all is an attempt to impose control, much as mass production techniques were used a century ago, to standardize instruction to fit new immigrants to the system.
Meanwhile, millions of children are failing. In nearly half of the high schools in America’s 100 largest districts, fewer than 50% of students graduate in four years. Most of these students are from poor Latino and African-American families. And from 1993 to 2000 the number of failing schools has mushroomed by 75%. Mayor Villaraigosa calls Los Angeles’ high dropout rates “numbers that should put a chill down your spine.”
The reasons, Kozol argues, are lack of money and racial discrimination that produce inferior and segregated schools. No doubt this is partly true. We have tried to desegregate the schools for a half-century and failed. Middle-class white parents have voted for individual freedom with their feet, enrolling their children in private schools, leaving the public schools more segregated than ever. The same is true for middle-class black families. Gail Foster, an educator who has studied black independent schools, was quoted in 2004 in The New York Times as saying: “Many of the most empowered parents and families are removing their children. What’s left, in even working-class communities, are schools filled with the least empowered families. Families with the least parent involvement to offer, families with the least help with homework to offer. There’s been a continual outflow for at least 10 years, and it isn’t stopping now.”
More money is not the answer either. Kozol points to wide disparities in educational expenditures ranging from $11,700 per student in New York City to $22,000 in suburban Manhasset. Disturbing as that is, study after study shows that equalizing money does not necessarily equalize learning.
In 1966, sociologist James Coleman conducted the most extensive study ever made of desegregating education and found that what mattered most in students’ learning was the economic status of their peers rather than the racial makeup of the school. He also found that school funding was not closely related to students’ achievement—their families’ economic status was far more predictive. Coleman’s findings were controversial and led to a bitter debate, but they have been replicated many times. Daniel Patrick Moynihan summed it up best when he commented shortly after Coleman’s groundbreaking study, “We should begin to see that the underlying reality is not race but social class.”
Since social class matters because money follows privilege, and since desegregation will take generations to eradicate, what can be done now? Are poor children doomed to attend grossly inadequate schools? Surely not. We must find ways to remove the influences that have crippled the schools. Money must be diverted from bloated bureaucracies that snuff out innovation. Instead it must go directly to schools where principals and teachers can influence what is taught and what children learn, and help bring parents back into the fold. Otherwise, it is going down a rat hole.
Parents have a significant role to play in their children’s education, but their voices have been largely silenced. Over the last 40 years, we have witnessed the decline of civic involvement and the growing dominance of self-interest over the greater good, a social deterioration that sociologist Robert Putnam calls “hollowing out” in his 2000 book “Bowling Alone.” One result, as the old saying goes, is that “the rich get richer” and the poor fall ever further behind in crumbling schools.
Over the last 25 years, education in general has been taken from ordinary citizens and teachers by politicians, administrators, union leaders, publishers, test makers, consultants, university professors, hardware and software developers and the media, each playing its part in keeping alive the illusion of reform. All in all, this $1-trillion industry has replaced the common interest, and no one, it seems, can muster the will to rein it in.
Local control is only a dim memory. Decisions now come from the top—from the federal and state governments, school boards and high-level administrators who have little knowledge of what goes on in the classroom. Teachers are left out of these decisions, carrying on the best they can, safe in the assumption that the newest fad, like those before it, will blow over. Parents are all but forgotten.
While command-and-control management may seem to produce results in the short run, it strips schools of the capacity to develop the stable leadership that is necessary to sustain success. Principals are besieged with demands from district offices and from the educational fads that emanate from publishers and university researchers. Many principals know that they put their careers in peril unless they do what their bosses want. One elementary school principal told me, “District directives undermine our own abilities to think for ourselves, to believe in what we see and know.” When schools discover something that works, it is rarely sustained because they lack authority or stable leadership.
In 1969 when I worked for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, I monitored the schools in impoverished Ocean Hill-Brownsville in New York City. The local school board hired a charismatic superintendent, who fired incompetent teachers and hired young and idealistic ones. The firings set the local board at odds with the huge teachers’ union, which demanded due process for the fired teachers. The superintendent, Rhody McCoy, was convinced that good teachers had to respect the children they taught. He put it in plain words: “If you’re convinced that this kid is doomed by nature or by something else to lead a shrunken and curtailed life, then you’re basically incompetent to teach that child.” The experiment worked. Observing classrooms left no doubt in my mind that students were learning. Eager first-graders sat attentively on the floor in semicircles shouting out answers to fraction problems and reading aloud. The schools buzzed with excitement as parent helpers streamed in and out of classrooms. But in a bitter power struggle the board seized authority and the experiment ended.
Years later, in 1985, Deborah Meier, a passionate educator who founded Harlem’s Central Park East Secondary School, achieved stunning successes that led the school to be celebrated as a model alternative school in Time magazine. But it could not be sustained beyond Meier’s unique leadership. Today, 10 years after Meier left, a respected children’s advocacy group, Insideschools and Advocates for Children, reports that the Harlem school “…has fallen on hard times in recent years with rapid staff turnover, low staff morale and uneven discipline.”
In risk-averse environments like public schools, few principals will stick out their necks, because they don’t want to buck the bosses downtown. Courageous and visionary principals like Rhody McCoy and Deborah Meier keep coming. But charismatic leadership is no match for heavy-handed district management, which always wins out.
Take Foshay Learning Center in Los Angeles, for example. In 1989, Howard Lappin took over a failing middle school. With the help of teachers and an infusion of money, Lappin wrested control from the district and transformed Foshay. The school expanded into a K-12 “learning center” and became largely autonomous of the district’s bureaucratic requirements. Teachers and administrators decided who would be hired and what would be taught. Foshay succeeded, and in 2000 its high school was selected by Newsweek as one of the 100 best in America. But in 2001 Lappin retired, and his unique leadership was lost. Today Foshay is being threatened with sanctions by the district and the county because gains in students’ test scores have stalled. As the school has fallen under the district’s “one-size-fits all” bureaucratic requirements, the impact has been to undermine the once vibrant teacher leadership that made the school so enviable.
The problem with public education is not with the teachers, or with the children, but the way we organize the schools. Probably the greatest casualties are teachers themselves, who are forced to accept decisions by authorities about teaching that they know to be nonsense. One professor interviewed by Kozol said that forcing an absurdity on teachers teaches something: acquiescence. For example, in study after study, teachers report that relying on test scores as sole marks of student achievement and teaching scripted lessons destroy students’ natural love of learning. And such practices also erode teachers’ professional authority, which is fundamental to student learning.
Why is it so hard to foster the only kind of reform that really works, which is right in the schoolhouse? Because politicians, school board members and administrators are under intense pressure to produce immediate results, i.e., higher and higher test scores—a goal that is pursued through directives from districts with little input of principals, teachers and parents. Superintendents serve at the pleasure of school boards, and most board members are elected or appointed and have limited terms of office. As test scores have become the measure of educational quality, everyone is under immense pressure to show fast results or be turned out.
No wonder that school boards hire superintendents who promise to deliver quick results. But few do. Superintendents last on average only three or four years. Many are thwarted by outmoded bureaucracies that were designed a century ago using top-down control practiced in American industry to mass-produce learning. Within these organizations, power has quietly accumulated, making them all but impervious to outside influence. Sid Thompson, former superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, told me: “Trying to change the district is like trying to change the direction of a fast-moving freight train. You might knock it off course for a moment, but before you know it it’s rattling right down the tracks again.”
Frustration and suspicion about who might emerge from the shadows to sabotage their plans often lead superintendents to jealously guard their power. In 2002, Day Higuchi, then president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the Los Angeles teacher union, had high hopes for working with the school district’s new “can-do” superintendent, Roy Romer. Higuchi hoped that Romer would endorse a new union initiative called Lesson Study, a plan to help teachers work collectively to improve classroom lessons. At a breakfast meeting that I attended, Higuchi presented Romer with an invitation to work with the union to develop and spread Lesson Study across the district. When Higuchi finished, Romer flipped over his paper placemat and with a red felt pen drew a box with an S in it. “That’s me,” he said. Beneath he drew 11 boxes with smaller s’s in them, representing the 11 local superintendents, and below that, a number of small boxes with roofs, representing schools and teachers. Then, pulling his face near to Higuchi’s, he drew bold red arrows pointing downward from the top. Romer jabbed his pen in the air to accentuate each word: “You cannot usurp my authority to manage this district!” It was a dumbfounding moment, one that revealed the true underside of the use of power. Here was a chance for a new superintendent to forge a small but significant step with the union, but Romer, who recently announced his resignation, explained that he was “in a hurry.” He clearly had little time for ideas that were at odds with his own. In the end his refusal to work with the union undermined the possibility of creating a broader base of power that could transcend self-interest.
Nor are the unions exempt from self-interest. A few years ago I helped establish a national group of union presidents called TURN (Teacher Union Reform Network) who were dedicated to remaking their unions as forces to improve education. One way was to cooperate with administrators and encourage teachers to use their classroom know-how to redesign teaching at the schoolhouse. But hostility and mistrust run deep. The union leaders became nervous, fearing that fellow unionists would attack them for “collaborating” with the enemy and that if the effort to collaborate failed they would share the blame. Don Watley, president of the New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees, commented: “It’s like the Normandy landing. We’ve got the best troops in the world. We’ve got the best officers in the world. And we’ve got the best equipment in the world. But at 0800 when we hit the beach half of us are going to get killed!” Sadly, in the years to come, the ingrained mistrust, and the unpredictable dance of union politics, prevented these unionists from becoming a positive force in educational reform. Instead, they have been reduced to stockpiling power, much as the Soviets and Americans stockpiled nuclear weapons during the Cold War, to oppose any hostile moves the other side might make.
So what can be done to break the standoff between teacher unions and districts? How can teachers’ professional authority be restored? How can parents be awakened and brought back into the fold? Experience shows that it can be done. Schools such as Harlem’s Central Park East Secondary, Los Angeles’ Foshay Learning Center, those in Ocean Hill-Brownsville, and many others attest to the fact that schools can be made into safe places where children learn. Sustaining them is the hard part.
There is little doubt that trying to build good schools with command-and-control management doesn’t work. School boards, superintendents and union officials need to clear the obstacles—unnecessary bureaucratic requirements and outmoded work rules—to make innovation at the schoolhouse possible. These top-level educational leaders also must make resources available to support new ways of teaching. Jonathan Kozol has it right. Teaching is the only reform that counts and it can be done only at the schoolhouse by teachers, principals, parents and students working together.
Turning school districts upside down will also mean turning a century of top-down management on its head. But where is such bold leadership to be found? One promising place is among big-city mayors. But they must resist trying to take over the schools, as they did in New York, Chicago and Boston with mixed results at best. Instead, popular mayors could use their influence and visibility to tell the truth about the condition of education and to build a popular consensus about how change must occur.
In the next essay I am going to examine what mayors can do. Waiting for the schools to be saved by someone else is nonsense. Only concerted local action offers a chance. Doubters should recall Margaret Mead’s observation: “Never doubt that a small group of concerned people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
A Progressive Journal of News and Opinion. Editor, Robert Scheer. Publisher, Zuade Kaufman.
Copyright © 2006 Truthdig, L.L.C. All rights reserved.
###
There's lots to do at this time of year and Santa's little helper is getting busy...
Nayumi wears Liv doll stripy top and green jacket, Barbie My Scene red mini skirt, Integrity Toys fishnets, arm warmers from Ny Face Erin, 1/6 scale ankle boots bought on AliExpress. The sled is from a ‘dollar store’ (QD last year for those in the UK) and her presents are thrift store finds.
Watch in wonder as your guide, Tang Dynasty poet Li Bai, takes you on an immersive tour through the sights and sounds of China. You’ll float down the Haungpu River to Shanghai and see historic Nanjing Road. Witness the gentle, fluid movements of tai chi and the agile acrobatics of the Peking Opera Company. Scale the hauntingly beautiful Huangshan mountain range into the mythical Sea of Clouds, the inspiration of poets and painters for centuries. Follow the Yangtze River to the water-bound city of Suzhou, dubbed “the Venice of the East” by Marco Polo. Visit a busy night market in Xinjiang Province and trek across the Gobi Desert on the ancient Silk Road and enter the vast Forbidden City.
disneyworld.disney.go.com/attractions/epcot/reflections-o...
All this and beautiful design in and around the Reflections of China Pavillion with the World Showcase at Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (EPCOT) that includes this magnificent Chinese Dragon made entirely of flowers and plants.
Three bracketed photos were taken with a handheld Nikon D7200 and combined with Photomatix Pro to create this HDR image. Additional adjustments were made in Photoshop CS6.
"For I know the plans I have for you", declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." ~Jeremiah 29:11
The best way to view my photostream is through Flickriver with the following link: www.flickriver.com/photos/photojourney57/
A 1956 date places the Revell ad right in the thick of the company’s early push into mainstream popularity. By then, Revell had released high-profile military aircraft kits, and 1956 was also the year they introduced their iconic 1:48 scale series—so that Scorpion was likely part of their big lineup.
That was also a pivotal time for Revell’s marketing strategy. They were emphasizing authenticity and educational value, tapping into a patriotic fascination with American military technology. And having Woolworth’s distribute the kits gave them wide exposure during a period when parents, kids, and even model aviation buffs were swept up in Cold War-era enthusiasm for flight and engineering.
The bold “SCORPION” headline and the price points are pure mid-'50s Woolworth magic. This ad is doing double duty: selling a product and a dream. The dramatic aircraft illustrations, military jargon like “Sunday Punch of the Air Force,” and the descriptions ("no carving or drilling required!") are textbook Revell—marketing scale kits not just as toys but as authentic experiences of American air power.
The price range—79 to 98 cents—aligns well with 1956 kit pricing, and the lineup is telling: the B-52 Stratofortress was brand new to the U.S. Air Force then, the Thunderstreak was cutting-edge, and the Korean War–era rescue helicopter provided a recent real-world tie-in. This curated range wasn’t random—it was crafted to echo the era’s spirit of jet-age dominance and Cold War readiness.
Woolworth’s placement at the bottom suggests wide availability—“most stores”—which really underscores how Revell was chasing mass accessibility without diluting prestige. And honestly, this ad from Woolworth’s does more than sell model kits—it captures a moment when childhood wonder and geopolitical tension were neatly boxed in cellophane. The ad captures that sweet spot when aviation modeling was a badge of curiosity, craftsmanship, and patriotism.
[Sources: OldModelKits.com, Worthpoint.com, and ClickAmericana.com]
Mirror's Edge: Catalyst
• WBG for custom resolution
• ReShade
• HattiWatti's Cinematic Tools for free camera, DOF, Tonemap, Resolution Scale, FOV, Timestop and HUD removal
Got mine today. Scale reproduction of the world's most valuable coin - the 1794 Flowing Hair Dollar . The 1794 'Flowing Hair' Silver Dollar is the most famous and valuable coin in the world, fetching $10,016,875 at auction in January 2013. Issued in 1794, It was the first ever US dollar coin to be minted at the very first mint in Philadelphia.
For the first time ever, The London Mint Office put the world's most valuable coin on public display in the UK and to mark this milestone event, a limited number of 9,999 scale reproductions have been issued.
A reproduction of the world's most valuable coin
Layered in pure silver and featuring the original 'Flowing Hair' Dollar design motifs, the commemorative is a limited edition.
A custom X-Wing at minifig scale.
There's a bit of a story with this one!
I was trying to make a T70 X-Wing at what I felt was true minifig scale. As the new canopy was something I wanted to work with, I used this to set the scale of the model. I tried angling it so that it better resembled the ship itself, but wasn't satisfied with the result, so I instead decided to use that to set the angle of the nose, as the nose and canopy share the same lines. I was then trying to fit a mini technic mechanism for the wings, but this was taking up too much space. Then I couldn't get the curved shape of the engines in a style that looked good, no matter what SNOT techniques I tried. The model sat on the shelf for nearly a year with repeat tinkering and me getting increasingly frustrated. It was then I had a revelation: I create and build these models to have fun, so instead of getting worked up about it not working, have fun again! So, this resulted in an X-Wing that is not like any movie X-Wing, and will probably divide opinions, but I finally enjoyed building and finishing it. So here it is, I hope you like it.
Here is a little something that I threw together today. Duke and Min's was a real roadside drive in from my childhood (about 5...or was it 50 years ago?) They never had anything quite so fancy but when ice cream cones were 10¢, we didn't seem to mind.
The featured players are a Danbury Mint 1948 Buick and 1948 Chevy, two of my favorites.
1/24 scale diecast model cars, building and billboard.
Lilium bulbiferum, common names orange lily, fire lily, Jimmy's Bane, tiger lily and St. John's Lily, is a herbaceous European lily with underground bulbs, belonging to the Liliaceae.
The Latin name bulbiferum of this species, meaning "bearing bulbs", refers to the secondary bulbs on the stem of the nominal subspecies.
Description
Lilium bulbiferum reaches on average 20–90 centimetres (7.9–35.4 in) of height, with a maximum of 120 centimetres (47 in). The bulbs are ovoid, with whitish large and pointed scales and can reach about 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) of diameter. The stem is erect, the leaves are lanceolate, up to 10 centimeters long. The inflorescence has one to five short-haired flowers. They are hermaphroditic and scentless, have six upright tepals, the outer are slightly narrower than the inner ones. The flowers can reach 4–6 centimeters in length and are bright yellow-orange with reddish-brown dots. The stamens are erect, about half as long as the tepals, with red anthers. The style is orange, 35 millimetres (1.4 in) of height. The flowering period extends from May through July.
There are two varieties, L. b. var. croceum (Chaix) Baker in the western part of the range, and L. b. var. bulbiferum in its eastern part. Only the last one always produces secondary aerial bulbs (bulbils) in the axils of the upper leaves. These bulbils fall to the ground and mature after two to three years. When manually separated from the stem they can easily be used for propagating the plant.
The dwarf plants from the Maritime Alps, formerly described as var. chaixii (Elwes) Stoker, and the large plants from the region of Naples, formerly described as var. giganteum N. Terracc., are now considered as local variants of var. croceum.
Distribution and habitat
L. bulbiferum is widely distributed in much of Europe from Spain to Finland and Ukraine. It grows in mountain meadows and on hillsides. They prefer calcareous soils in warm, sunny places, but also grow on slightly acid soils. They can be found at an altitude of 500–1,900 metres (1,600–6,200 ft) above sea level.
In culture
The orange lily has long been recognised as a symbol of the Orange Order in Northern Ireland.
Toxicity
Cats are extremely sensitive to lily toxicity and ingestion is often fatal; households and gardens which are visited by cats are strongly advised against keeping this plant or placing dried flowers where a cat may brush against them and become dusted with pollen which they then consume while cleaning. Suspected cases require urgent veterinary attention. Rapid treatment with activated charcoal or induced vomiting can reduce the amount of toxin absorbed (this is time-sensitive so in some cases veterinarians may advise doing it at home), and large amounts of fluid by IV can reduce damage to kidneys to increase the chances of survival
1:6 scale science classroom
I have a bunch of other stuff to use for a science classroom diorama, but this was a fairly quick set up to show Skipper and her friends in their new outfits. I did just make the walls today from a Playmobile toy box my son got for Christmas. This teacher needs an Interactive White Board in addition to her chalkboard. She has been requesting one for about 5 years, but is still waiting! (Haha...I finally got one last year).
Teacher's desk: vintage, looks very similar to the vintage Mattel Modern wooden stuff. Sold as a Horseman desk, but I've never seen anything like it.
Chalkboard: made from card stock, white gel pen
Desks: Mattel, 1990s. I have about 6 more somewhere.
Walls and floor: scrapbook paper
Body model: my son's, from Amazon
Cage: my son's Matchbox toy, eraser rat
Blue books, blue notebooks, IPads, flag on chalkboard, from new Barbie school accessory set (Walmart). I bought 3.
Cabinet and white table: Mattel repainted
Starfish - real
Microscope: Barbie curvy scientist
Laptop and goggles: Barbie 2018 Lab set
Red pencil box, coffee, binders in cabinet, lotion magnifying lens: Rement
Composition books: Barbie and 1:12 dollhouse
Books and plants in cabinet: made by me
Lab coat: Barbie scientist
Plants, terrarium, pencils, books in cabinet: made by me
The Aloha Bricks Team presents you this highly detailed Lego model of both Perseverance and the helicopter Ingenuity.
At 1/16 scale, this model measuring almost 20cm long and made from 707 common Lego bricks (218 unique items).
The complete booklet building guide (297 pages .pdf) includes:
- The story of the original Mars mission rover
- And about our collaborative design in Lego bricks
- Building Instructions
- Two Brick-lists: .xml (for Bricklink) et .pdf
- Decal's Sheet
- Bricklink Brick-List Tutorial
This building guide is currently available at: rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-87682/Aloha.Bricks/nasa-persever...
Or by email request here: aloha.bricks@gmail.com
An attempt by Ritter Mek Works to mass produce an anti-Heshrac maverick frame based on the Gryphon. Costs proved too high and the special materials that went into the frame's construction too limited. Still, six were constructed. Five remain in the hands of Ritter for use in their private forces. One was sold to a mercenary corps at a ludicrous price. These frame are none the less invaluable as the wings project homing energy bolts that make Heshrac manifestations vulnerable to conventional weapons for a short time.
Made for Mobile Frame Zero. Specifically a new setting called Mobile Frame Zero: Crisis Forged.
Part of Bristol Light Festival 2024
Immerse yourself in Pulse, a 40-metre-long audio-visual installation made up of more than 14,000 individual LEDs. Step inside enormous rings of light and experience a new perspective on Bristol. This is Loop collaborated with audio artist Dan Bibby to create the soundscape for this piece.
This is Loop is the collaborative artistic partnership of artists Harriet Lumby and Alan Hayes. Based at their Somerset studio they have established a reputation for creating large scale experiential installations utilising reflections and illusion at the intersection of technology, science and art. Their playful sculptures invite audiences to be immersed by choreographed audio-visual journeys.
Artist: This Is Loop
Lloyd's Amphitheater. Bristol
Please do not use my photos without permission. Feel free to contact me if you have a request.
The 1964 - 1965 New York World's Fair was in Flushing Meadows, Queens. The grounds are now Corona Park.
There are a few traces of the fair left.
The Unisphere was the symbol of the Fair.
The Unisphere is 12 stories tall. With me as a scale, you can see your big the Unisphere is.
Rare and exotic species ~ albino babies about one foot long
Summer 2016 ~ in captivity ~ Saint Augustine Alligator Farm
Florida's North East Coast ~ Saint Augustine, Florida U.S.A.
(one more photo in the comments)
*****************************************************************
These rare and mystical creatures from the Louisiana bayou
will captivate your imagination. Go ahead, take a long look.
Legend has it that those who gaze upon these beautiful
reptiles will receive good fortune.
ESA’s Proba-V minisatellite captures the rare sight of standing water in the arid south Australian outback.
Lake Frome, one of the whitest salt lakes in the southern hemisphere is visible to the right. Unusually, this 12 February image shows it filled with brackish water that has flowed down the creeks in the area, which are typically dry.
Covering most of this 100-m spatial resolution image are the ranges and gorges of Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park, haven to many rare and endangered plants and animals.
Launched in 2013, Proba-V is a miniaturised ESA satellite tasked with a full-scale mission: to map land cover and vegetation growth across the entire planet every two days.
Its main imager’s continent-spanning 2250 km swath collects light in the blue, red, near-infrared and mid-infrared wavebands – at 300 m spatial resolution and down to 100 m resolution in its central field of view.
VITO, the Flemish institute for technological research, processes and then distributes Proba-V data to users. VITO has a produced an online gallery highlighting some of the mission’s most striking images so far, including views of storms, fires and deforestation.
Credit: ESA/VITO
TRAPPIST-1 b: We give it a one (M-dwarf) star review; it lacks atmosphere. ⭐
Webb measured the dayside temperature of rocky exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b and found it to be about 450 degrees F (227 degrees C), suggesting it has no significant atmosphere. This marks the first detection of any form of light — in this case, heat energy — emitted by a rocky planet that’s as small and cool as those in our solar system.
As a refresher, TRAPPIST-1 b is the innermost of 7 rocky planets (found in 2017) orbiting the M dwarf star TRAPPIST-1. M dwarf stars are intriguing because they are 10 times as common and 2 times more likely to have rocky planets than stars like our Sun.
These new Webb results give us important clues about TRAPPIST-1 b’s 3 siblings in the habitable zone (whose conditions could support liquid water on their surfaces) as well as other M-dwarf systems. It's a key step to figuring out if planets around M-dwarf stars can sustain atmospheres needed to support life, with a promise of more science to come.
Read more: www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2023/nasa-s-webb-measures-th...
This image: Comparison of the dayside temperature of TRAPPIST-1 b as measured using Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to computer models showing what the temperature would be under various conditions. The models take into account the known properties of the system, including the temperature of the star and the planet’s orbital distance. The temperature of the dayside of Mercury is also shown for reference.
The dayside brightness of TRAPPIST-1 b at 15 microns corresponds to a temperature of about 500 kelvins (roughly 450 degrees Fahrenheit). This is consistent with the temperature assuming the planet is tidally locked (one side facing the star at all times), with a dark-colored surface, no atmosphere, and no redistribution of heat from the dayside to the nightside.
If the heat energy from the star were distributed evenly around the planet (for example, by a circulating carbon dioxide-free atmosphere), the temperature at 15 microns would be 400 kelvins (260 degrees Fahrenheit). If the atmosphere had a substantial amount of carbon dioxide, it would emit even less 15-micron light and would appear to be even cooler.
Although TRAPPIST-1 b is hot by Earth standards, it is cooler than the dayside of Mercury, which consists of bare rock and no significant atmosphere. Mercury receives about 1.6 times more energy from the Sun than TRAPPIST-1 b does from its star.
Credits:
ILLUSTRATION: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI)
SCIENCE: Thomas P. Greene (NASA Ames), Taylor Bell (BAERI), Elsa Ducrot (CEA), Pierre-Olivier Lagage (CEA)
Image description: Infographic titled, “Rocky Exoplanet TRAPPIST-1 b Dayside Temperature Comparison, MIRI F1500W” showing five planets plotted along a horizontal temperature scale: Earth, TRAPPIST-1 b, Mercury, and two different models of TRAPPIST-1 b. The temperature scale is labeled in kelvins and degrees Fahrenheit, and ranges from 0 kelvins (negative 459 degrees Fahrenheit) at the left to 800 kelvins (980 degrees Fahrenheit at the right). The planets are plotted along the temperature scale at the following temperatures: Earth Measured at 290 kelvins (60 degrees Fahrenheit); TRAPPIST-1 b Measured at about 500 kelvins and 445 degrees Fahrenheit; “Mercury Measured” at 700 kelvins (800 degrees Fahrenheit). TRAPPIST-1 b Model with atmosphere is plotted at 400 kelvins (260 degrees Fahrenheit); TRAPPIST-1 b Model with no atmosphere is plotted at about 510 kelvins and 455 degrees Fahrenheit. TRAPPIST-1 b Measured is plotted at almost the same temperature as TRAPPIST-1 b Model with no atmosphere.
I've been sitting on these test shots for a while anticipating I'd have finished the sticker job. Looks like it'll be a little while longer before it's done, so here are a few more views of this build for now.
1/24-ish "Speed Champions"-plus scale. 10s x 24s. Full modular design: monocoque chassis with separate mono-turbo, hot-side-up diesel V6 driveline and removable body panels.
That's it. My X-wing is finally done. The photo session, however, is not. X-wings are supposed to fly, right? Tomorrow I'll upload the second batch of photos.
About the model: I call it minifig scale, although if you compare ship's length to minifig's height it turns out the pilot is 5 feet tall. Not much but acceptable, he doesn't have to be a stormtrooper ;).
The model features 12 LED lights which of course are not original LEGO product but aside from electric installation - there are no modified parts, just pure LEGO. There are 4 red LEDS in the engines, 4 white in frontal part of wings (as seen on Dagobah), 3 yellow in landing gear bays (Dagobah) and 1 white inside the cockpit.. Another 10 lights (this time original LEGO 9V light bricks) are located around the model, Yavin-style ;).
Inside the rear part of the model there is a simple, crank-operated mechanism for opening the wings. It works with the display stand, to be featured tomorrow, when I reconfigure the model to flight position ;) .
And that's pretty much it - if you have any questions, just shoot.
Oh, I forgot: there are 4 small decals borrowed from old MPC/Ertl models. Stickers are LEGO.
Here's an old favorite galaxy that I'm glad to have had the chance to process some new observations for. This is also known as the Black Eye galaxy, and is among the most striking galaxies that Hubble has looked at. Previously a Hubble Heritage image release, new imagery is around 2.5 times the resolution of the old WF/PC2 imagery. That means more refined details are visible, especially If you are able to zoom all the way in. In fact, the texture of the individual stars forming even the smooth, redder, non star-forming parts the galaxy are now revealed. If you do zoom in, don't mistake that grainy, noisy texture as actual noise. Those are stars!
I went ahead and did use some old WFPC2 data just to show glowing hydrogen gas. This usually works well without lowering the image quality, despite the disparity in resolution.
Data from the following proposals were used to create this image:
PHANGS-HST: Linking Stars and Gas throughout the Scales of Star Formation
The Smallest Nuclear Black Holes
Red: WFC3/UVIS F814W+WFPC2 F656N
Green: WFC3/UVIS F555W
Blue: WFC3/UVIS F438W+F336W+F275W
North is 142.85° clockwise from up.
I never realized how many interesting buildings and views there are in the town I live in until I seriously started to scout around for backgrounds.
The one thing I have to do is wait until the shops close so there aren't any cars or trucks mixing in with the Elgin Park vibe.
Usually early in the morning or on the weekends is the best time.
The Holidays, though, are great because everyone leaves town so the streets tend to be empty.
When I was young, I would purposely take walks by way of short cuts and back alleys to avoid seeing people. It gave me the impression that I was the only person around.
But I must add here, I liked the fact that I could walk by an open window and hear a radio or a muted conversation, or off in the distance I could hear a train rolling by.
How interesting that decades later I would be photographing such scenes.
I know, I know, perhaps I should see a therapist. Actually I did but there were no inroads made on this particular subject.
Just think, if there were, Elgin Park might not exist!
Now that's a scary thought.
Here is the completed image:
Scimitar (Sith Infiltrator)
A midi scale build of the Sith Infiltrator. Another one of my personal favourite starships from Star Wars.
I made a similar design years ago, but I've updated it some more. Still using the Lowell sphere build for the spherical cockpit area.
This moc can fit a minifigure, though it's a bit of a pain to put in due to the structure.
I present to you my new UCS scaled Galen Marek / Starkiller's Rogue Shadow! Another large one, tried to implement more snot than I usually do. I think it came out well! It's a big improvement on my first attempt, both structurally and aesthetically!
Instructions available:
rebrickable.com/mocs/MOC-145344/Bruxxy/starkillers-rogue-...
Starkiller figure by firestartoys, Rancor design by Brick Sheepa!
Dimensions: 47cm wide, 54cm long and 18cm tall (34cm tall with wings in landing mode)
Pieces: 3105
Hi everyone!
I´m happy that I can present my newest creation! It´s the next piece of my minifig scaled RC collection. This time I decided to build a Flixbus. After Flixbus bought the rivalry Eurolines, it became maybe the cheapest way for poor students from Hungary (or not only from Hungary) to travel across Europe. At least for me it was the perfect method at that time! Hope you like it!
Unfortunately the last time I travelled somewhere by a Flixbus was in August 2019. But hopefully it will change in the near future!
Flixbus came often in the middle of the night, just as the Knight Bus did in Harry Potter. That´s why it stands on the destination screen :)
Before you start reading about the boring technical facts and irritating things during the building period, please watch the video!
It took approx 4 months long to build the bus. It´s not the first tiny RC I build. Despite of it I can´t say it didn´t challenge me. Yes, I´m speaking about the lettering and arrows on the sides. Maybe you still remember of the Milka Truck. That lettering has only vertical or horizontal building techniques. That´s why it was possible to do the lettering on each side only 1 stud deep. It was important, because it allowed to put the battery box (the biggest and most inflexible element) between the two walls and staying with the width in 6 studs at the same time. But “FLIXBUS” is more difficult. It is also not always possible to have stud connections (for example letter X, or the diagonal arrows). In this case the letters have to have inside some bigger parts on them, which simply doesn’t allow them to fall out. It means it stays only a two-stud wide space in the middle. That’s enough for the technic chassis, but not for the batteries. And also not for the motors… So only the half of the lengths stayed for the functional parts.
For the steering and propulsion I stole the method from the Milka truck (with vertical motors), where they´ve already proven, that they work really well. The only possible (long enough) space for the battery box was at the back. Fortunately right above the driven wheels. They need the weight on them to increase the friction between the tires and the street. Another positive feature is, that the Sbrick is small enough to be above the letters, so I didn´t have to make the whole bus longer.
Another part of the challenge was to create the diagonal white lines on the front. There was almost nothing inside, which they could be attached to. The reason is, that the moving parts of the steering are there, so it´s simply impossible to put there any other parts without disablement of the steering. Other reason is, that the upside-down parts of the front have already used the space there. At the end I decided to use the rubber bands, without being irritated by the fact, that it´s possible to see them outside, too.
The bus has three axles. The third one is again an axle with some kind of fake suspension. It is just hanging there and doesn´t hold anything, so in theory it can never happen, that the driven wheels leave the ground. Please notice the detail that there are brackets instead of plates on the top of the third mudguards. It creates a bit bigger space in the mudguard for the wheels with the fake suspension. It means, that the bus can win against bigger obstructions.
All in all I really enjoyed working on the bus. Hope you like the result, too! Thanks for watching and reading!
Built by the Public Works Department for a princely £7,000.00, the Mount Buffalo Chalet was opened in 1910 by the Victorian State Government as Australia’s first ski lodge, and it quickly became a popular destination within the alpine region. Initially leased to private enterprise as a guest house, The Chalet was taken over by Victorian Railways in October 1924. Described as the “last word in luxury”, The Chalet featured large sitting rooms, ample fireplaces, a smoking room, well ventilated rooms of capacious size and hot and cold baths. They offered holiday packages with train services running to Porpunkah railway station and then a connecting Hoys Roadlines service. It was a very popular destination for newlyweds as the perfect place for a honeymoon, and over the years traditions began to emerge such as an elegant dress code within The Chalet, a dinner gong to announce dinner, costume parties and grand balls in The Chalet’s ballroom.
Originally intended to be built in granite, cost blowouts of £3,000.00 meant that instead The Chalet was built of timber. To this day, it is still the largest timber construction in Victoria. It was designed in the fashionable Arts and Crafts style of the period. Reminiscent in style to northern European Chalet architecture, the Mt Buffalo Chalet is built on a coursed random rubble plinth, with a series of hipped and gabled corrugated iron roofs. Originally designed as a symmetrical, gabled roof building, early additions were carried out in a similar style and continued the symmetry of the front facade. The second storey addition to the central wing altered the appearance of the building, however the bungalow character was retained. Slender rough cast render chimneys with tapering tops and random coursed rubble bases, a decorative barge board over the main entry, decorative timber brackets supporting timber shingled gable ends, exposed rafters and double hung, paned windows are all typical architectural details of the Arts and Crafts Movement. It was constructed over a thirty year period during which time extensions, extra wings and outbuildings were added and removed with the changing times and its tourism demands. Improvements were made soon after construction and these included a golf links in 1911, a north wing addition in 1912 and a south wing and billiard room in 1914. Heating and lighting in The Chalet was improved and upgraded in 1919. Between 1921 and 1922, an addition to the south wing increased bedroom and bathroom facilities. The billiard room was moved to the front of the house and the terraced garden, with rubble granite retaining walls, was laid out at the front of The Chalet. The present dining room, the kitchen and billiard room wings were constructed in 1925, and the original dining room was converted to a ballroom, with a stage. Balustrading along the front of the building was removed and large windows inserted to provide uninterrupted views. Between 1937 and 1938 major alterations were made with the extension of the south wing and a second storey added to the central wing of the building. At this time the provisions for two hundred guests at The Chalet was noted as more than equalling the best Melbourne hotels. Internally, some remnants of decoration remain, reflecting various stages of The Chalet’s development, and these can be viewed through The Chalet’s large windows, where several suites, the lounge and the dining room are all set up to display what the accommodation was like. The formal terraced gardens built around the Mount Buffalo Chalet were seen as a civilising image within the context of the wild and relatively harsh Australian landscape. The key built features if the gardens seen today remain intact. The garden’s shape and form remain largely unchanged from when they were created including the stonewalling, terracing, central set of stairs and exposed bedrock.
The Mount Buffalo Chalet is lovingly sometimes referred to as the “Grand Old Lady”. If nothing else, she is a unique survivor of the earliest days of recreational skiing in Australia. It was included on the Victorian Heritage Register in 1992 and is maintained today as a time capsule to show what life was like when tourism was done on a grand scale.
A different take on a past post.
Neat thing to contemplate...
The Ericsson Globe Arena, known locally as "Globen" is the largest hemispherical building on Earth and took two and a half years to build. Shaped like a large white ball, it has a diameter of 110 metres (361 feet) and an inner height of 85 metres (279 feet). The volume of the building is 605,000 cubic metres (21,188,800 cubic feet). It has a seating capacity of 16,000 spectators for shows and concerts, and 13,850 for ice hockey.
It also represents the Sun in the Sweden Solar System; the world's largest permanent scale model of the Solar System. The Sun with the inner planets are found in Stockholm, but the outer planets are situated northward in other cities along the Baltic Sea. The system was started by Nils Brenning and Gösta Gahm and is on the scale of 1:20 million.
And yes, we did ride in one of those gondolas to the very top of the "sun".
It's going to take another week to finish the upholstery, but I was curious to see how they would look in place. Well worth the efforts I think.
Actually it's a frog on a honey fungus (Armillaria mellea), Wentwood Forest, Gwent.
synonyms: Armillaire couleur de miel, Boot-lace Fungus, Hallimasch, Honey Fungus, Tête de meduse
location: North America, Europe
edibility: Edible
fungus colour: Red or redish or pink, Brown, Grey to beige, Orange
normal size: 5-15cm
cap type: Convex to shield shaped
stem type: Ring on stem, Bulbous base of stem
spore colour: White, cream or yellowish
habitat: Grows in woods, Grows on the ground, Grows on wood
Armillaria mellea (Vahl. ex Fr.) Kummer syn. Clitocybe mellea (Vahl. ex Fr.) Ricken Hallimasch, Armillaire couleur de miel, Tête de meduse, Honey Fungus or Boot-lace Fungus Cap 3–12cm across, very variable, convex then flattened and centrally depressed or wavy, yellow ochre, tawny, to dark brown, often with an olivaceous tinge, covered in darker fibrillose scales especially at the centre. Stem 60–150×5–15mm, often tapering towards the base, yellowish becoming reddish-brown at the base, initially with a thick whitish to yellow cottony ring. Flesh white. Taste astringent, smell strong. Gills white at first then yellowish becoming pinkish-brown and often darker spotted with age. Spore print pale cream. Spores elliptic, 8–9 x 5–6µ. Habitat in dense clusters on or around trunks or stumps of deciduous and coniferous trees and Hazel. Season summer to early winter. Very common. Edible when cooked but should only be eaten in small amounts as some forms are known to cause stomach upsets. Distribution, America and Europe.
The fungus spreads by long black cords called rhizomorphs resembling bootlaces which can be found beneath the bark of infected trees, on roots or in the soil where they can travel large distances to infect other trees. This is one of the most dangerous parasites of trees, causing an intensive white rot and ultimately death; there is no cure and the fungus is responsible for large losses of timber each year.
info by Roger Phillips:
Ah, it's a very British/ European/ Hong Kong and Singapore thing that many people (mostly boys and men, but they are girls and ladies too) are bus enthusiasts. I'm one of those nerds and I'm a minor one compared with many who know buses much better than me.
Metro-Cammell Weymann (MCW) Metrobus (Super Metrobus), 12-meter, non-aircon, dual-door, triaxle double-decker in China Motor Bus (a Hong Kong bus operator) livery. (ABC Models product ID: 000803)
Mostly such models are built to a very high precision in 1:76 scale, which is also known as the OO-scale -- the British model railway scale. Continental Europe tends to use the 1:87 HO-scale.
San Francesco alle Scale.
Analogica eseguita con con Zenza Bronica SQ-B, Zenzanon S 50 mm f3.5, pellicola fomapan 100 e filtro rosso. Sviluppo con Bellini Hydrofen 1+39. Scansione da pellicola con Epson v600.
80's IT GIRL Bo Derek, star of Blake Edwards hit "10" is repainted and restyled by Noel Cruz for www.myfarrah.com.
Bo Derek continues to act and is an animal rights activist. You can see her official web site at www.officialboderek.com.
From IMDB: She is a member of the California Horse Racing Board. Named envoy to Fight Animal Trafficking by the United States State Department. Has her own pampering pet care product company: "Bo Derek's Bless the Beasts", products in the range include numerous nourishing dog shampoos and conditioners, fragrances and fur polish.
Graphic Layout & web sites ncruz.com & myfarrah.com by www.stevemckinnis.com.
.
A page spread towards the beginning of trying to get a sense of scale a new book on Tim Lowly's art. On the left is a quote from a letter to Tim from his friend, the Swiss artist Stephan Jon Tramér. This was a particularly significant observation that helped Tim clarify what was to become an ongoing direction for much of his work - and the focus of this book. On the right is the recent painting Bower.
This book was published by North Park University in conjunction with Tim Lowly's exhibition at the Washington Pavilion of Arts and Science Visual Arts Center. The book includes insightful texts by Karen Halvorsen Schreck, Riva Lehrer, Henry Luttikhuizen, Sherrie Lowly, Kelly VanderBrug and project editor Kevin Hamilton.
The 160 page, 10.5"x 9" book is extensively illustrated with over 70 color and 25 black and white illustrations.
You can purchase the book at the following links;
via Amazon
via the CIVA on-line store
via Koplin Del Rio Gallery's new on-line store: KDR Atelier
You can read more about the book on the CIVA blog
Jaguar S type 3.4 (1964-68) Engine 3442 cc straight six Production 9830 (for the 3.4 plus 15,070 for the 3.8)
Registration Number SYT 110 F (London)
JAGUAR SET
www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/sets/72157623671588245...
A sort of cross between the Mark 2 front end and the Mark 10 twin fuel tanks, rear suspension and roof line. Improved handling and an all synchro-mesh box. The Jaguar S type was launched in 1963, technically more sophisticated than the Jaguar Mark 2, offering buyers a more luxurious alternative to the Mark 2 but without the size and expense of the Mark X. The S-Type sold alongside the Mark 2, as well as the Jaguar 420 following its release in 1966.
The car used a mid-scale version of the Mark X independent rear suspension to replace the Mark 2's live rear axle and featured longer rear bodywork, among other styling and interior changes. The S-Type was available with either 3.4 or 3.8-litre XK engines but only in twin carburettor form because the triple carburettor setup would not fit into what was essentially still the Mark 2 engine bay
Diolch am olygfa anhygoel, 65,182,986
oblogaeth y Lloegr honno dros y Mynyddoedd
Thanks for a stonking 65,182,986 views
Shot 06.05.2018 at Catton Hall Car Show, Catton Hall, Walton on Trent, Derbyshire Ref 133-492
Did a few things for Nerida's 'Mermaid Room' yesterday ...
I bought the Re-ment set 'Mermaid Room' a few years ago and set it all up for Nerida in the basement of BlytheTowers. But a few things remained to be done ...
There were so many things in the Re-ment set - an extra table was needed and Nerida had been using a spare table from the 1:12 scale does' house - but it was a dark brown / timber. It clashed with all the pastel colours ... so I painted it light blue.
The 'light fitting' was an actual piece of ?soft coral? (I don't know what it was really but perhaps a tree coral?) that I found washed up on Corrimal beach in January 2022 (a few days after there had been a big tsunami in the pacific ocean). When I found the coral it was a very bright orange colour - but it faded to a grey / beige very quickly. Partly in memory of its original colour I wanted to give it an orange tone ... so I mixed a little orange paint into some pearlescent acrylic - for a nice 'coral' colour.
In the side photo of the coral drying - behind are 2 shells getting a piece of wood glued on ... I'm not sure what these oyster shells are on Nerida's wall (art? a TV screen? ??)
I also added a lot of fantasy sea-world stickers to the walls and floor of the room. Nerida is a little girl mermaid and little girls like stickers.