This week, let the alphabet be your inspiration: find a string of letters. Try a multi-photo gallery to collect images of single characters. Find some beautiful typography, or look for letters hidden in natural forms.
Source: Alphabet | The Daily Post
Lockheed F-117 Stealth
North American F-86D
Mountain Air Cessna
De Havilland Sea Hawk
Hawker Hurricane
B-17 Flying Fortress
Today, let a familiar shape inspire you…I wanted a broad theme that could be simple, fun, and festive, but also complex and introspective. And so, circle it is.
Source: Circle | The Daily Post
Circles, circles, circles…circles everywhere, doing my head in…that’s how it felt when I got to the undercarriage stage of the large scale TSR.2 I was building in 2014. Being a paper model, every shape is transformed into 3D parts from a 2D printed sheet…wheel generally mean lots of circles…
…painstakingly cut out with a circle cutter…
…and laminated…
…layer by layer…
…until something approximating a wheel is formed.
Normally the next stage would be to mount each wheel on a drill and apply a sanding stick to the spinning tread surface to form the necessary tyre profile, colouring the final product with a deep grey. On this project, however, I decided that I had reached a point where I couldn’t continue and still produce a model that would be worthy, so this was deemed a test/recce build with the real thing to occur this year hopefully before the Scale Model Expo in Wellington on ANZAC Weekend…
This is the model’s home, here is the start of my build at the Unofficial Airfix Modellers Forum, followed by my continuation build.
It’s a big build – 82cm long when complete – and generally well designed albeit with some areas for improvement and the scale begs for more detail to the added to the pilot’s cockpit – you can barely see into the WSO’s cockpit as the canopy is not designed to open…
Watch this space for construction to re-commence but I am not looking forward to all those circles again..!
This week, share a photo of something marked by its weight
Source: Weight(less) | The Daily Post
In 2011, I was working at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
Just outside one set of the base gates, is the Air Force Armament Museum.
Just outside the Museum building, is (literally) the Mother OF All Bombs.
The accompanying plaque really says it all…
30 feet long…40.5 inches in diameter…21,600lbs…
Dear RNZAF, please note the second of the recommended delivery platforms…just open the door and tip it out…
Inside the Museum are many of its relatives, large and small, smart and not so smart…
North Otago players celebrate as Bill Pile scores the game-winning try against Australia at the Oamaru Showgrounds in 1962. Photo from ODT files.
By Terry O’Neill.
This year’s North Otago’s sporting prowess is renowned despite the low population of this district . . .
Development of our swimming talent is the success story of 2015. Seventeen local swimmers under coach Narcis Gherca brought home a massive total of 45 medals, set 76 personal best times, and many qualified for the 2016 national age group championships. Take note of swimmers like Micah Hayes, Tandia Gooch, Jasmine Emery, Danny Gilbert, Iessha Mansfield, Tiana Mansfield and Imogen Keeling.
Oamaru rowing club administrator Peter Scott maintains the eighty active rowers on the water this season makes the club in the biggest in its 128th year and comprises School, Club, University and Masters rowers. Most satisfying for him is the great parent support and mingling of all local secondary schools. At last weekend’s regatta Oamaru’s Mark Taylor, Charlie Wallis, Jared Brensell and James Scott were outstanding.
North Otago rugby’s consistency has been the key to significant performances over the last two decades. The playoff systems for initially divisional, and later the Heartland competitions, have been in existencefor nearly two decades.North Otago has made those playoffs on nineteen times since 1997 taking titles on four occasions. 2015 was no exception with Lemi Masoe and Ralph Darling again making the NZ Heartland XV.
The North Otago senior cricket side is currently only one match away from winning the zone four Hawke Cup challenge repeating last season’s effort. This season the team had two outright wins against Otago Country and Southland. And there’s games coming up against South Canterbury (9/10 Jan) in Oamaru and Mid Canterbury(23/24 Jan) in Ashburton.
Winning the Ian Smith Trophy for only the fourth time was the feature of the North Otago mens hockey side this year. On an individual basis Logan Jopson and Jonty Naylor took a further step in their development being selected in the Southern under 18 side. On the club scene Waitaki Boys’ first X1 won the second division South Canterbury title beating Tainui B,3-0 in the final.
Valley Gold won the2015 premier grade netball title beating Waitaki Girls’ Wildfire in a thriller late in August. Wildfire led by four at the end of the first quarter, three at halftime, and two at three-quarter time before Valley Gold stormed back to win 37-35. Jennifer O’Connell was impressive for the Waitaki Girls’. Her ability was further confirmed by her selection for the pathway to podium system developed by Netball New Zealand, one of three from the southern region, and she will play two games for the national development team in the Cook Islands this week.
Football Waitaki caters for over 480 children including teams from Twizel and Omarama. In competition, St Kevin’s U/18 finished second, Waitaki Boys’ U/16, second and Meadowbank U/14s finished fourth. Young players coming through the ranks and heading for senior ranks are Caleb Roberts, Riku Koyama and Tom Prestidge.
The highlight of the basketball season was the performance of the North Otago U/15 team which qualified for the nationals beating Otago in the process. Individually Harry Thorp and Tom Crutchley from Waitaki Boys’ are in Las Vegas with the Mainland Eagles Academy team while Matt Brien of St Kevin’s made the National Secondary Schools A tournament team.
ENDS
Let’s be up front about this…I’m a Mighty Ape addict…each day, I scan the Mighty Ape Daily Deal email and if something looks good, I grab it.
A couple of weeks ago, the Jiffi Nurtiburst blender appeared at a 75% discount for the day, too tidy to walk away from…I already have a small ZIP personal blender but was after something a bit more meat-eater…
Anyway, it was a pretty good deal with lots of bits…and a recipe book…and loving my coffee, the Banana Coffee smoothie immediately caught my eye…healthy (well, it’s got banana’s in it!!) and coffee, how could I go wrong?
It’s been quite cold here, unseasonally so for December…this was the scene just a couple of days ago and it was as cold as it looks…
…so my first attempts at Banoffee the Drink used hot coffee (because it has been so damn cold in the mornings). While pleasant, wasn’t really doing it for me as a morning kickstarter…
The process is fairly simple so it’s difficult to get it wrong…a cup of coffee (I’ve been using Jeds #5), half a cup of milk and two bananas…
…screw the blender base on to the ‘cup’ and clip it on the blender…
…doesn’t need any more than 30 seconds to mix it all together…but, warm, it wasn’t quite punching my buttons…
The weather having turned summery yesterday (about time!!), I left a cup of coffee in the fridge to cool overnight. This morning, I tossed the coffee, some milk (and cream that was looking for a home), and a handful of ice cubes into the mix, spun it up and AWESOMENESS!!!
The cold temperature brings out the flavours a lot more…while the coffee was enough to lit my eyes up, the taste was still dominated by the banana so tomorrow’s variation will reduce the bananas by one to see if the coffee then takes the lead…
Tell us about a time you found out after the fact that you’d been mistaken and you had to eat a serving of humble pie.
Source: Humble Pie | The Daily Post
Once upon a time…
…I thought that coffee bags were one of the greatest solutions to problems that didn’t exist…
…but I love my coffee…
…and I’m always a sucker for a competition, more so if it doesn’t require much else from me than liking or commenting on a Facebook page…
Imagine my surprise to find myself the proud owner of six boxes of Jed’s #5 “bean bags”…extra strong….mmmmm….
Comes in a simple biodegradable box…
Tear-open foil bag…not quite so biodegradeable…but that’s the price of sealed-in flavour…there aren’t actually bean inside but fine ground grounds…
“Bean bag” with a dunky string attached…haven’t broken one so far…the ‘trick’ is apparently to give the bag a little pinch/squeeze once it is saturated to facilitate the transfer of flavour…
All done…ready to go…
I must humbly admit that having now tried these “bean bags”, they are pretty damn useful…rich, full flavour…plunger coffee without the mess…and handy for on the road…
One my free stash runs out, I’ll be adding Jed’s bean bags to the shopping list…
By Terry O’Neill.
West Indian quick ,Joel Garner, calls it a “gimmick”. Former umpire Dickie Bird believes it undermines the authority of the onfield umpire. Pakistan spinner Saeed Ajmal thinks that it exaggerates the ball deviation while the Indian Cricket Board suggests that it is not accurate.
They are referring to the UDRS or the Umpires Decision Review System which came under intense scrutiny after the antics of Nigel Llong in the Adelaide test between Australia and New Zealand a fortnight ago when he allowed Australian batsman Nathan Lyon to continue batting after being obviously caught behind.
Former Australian captain Ian Chappell believes that the captains referrals need modernising as well.
“Instead of limiting the number of referrals and leaving them in the hands of the players, the use of referrals should be at the discretion of the umpires.”
The ICC showed some teeth finally when ,after the game, it announced that Llong’s decision had been wrong. But too little too late for New Zealand.
The UDRS was first tested in an India/Sri Lankla match in 2008 and was officially introduced on 24th November, 2009 at the Back Caps/Pakistan test at the University Oval in Dunedin.It was first used in an ODI in January 2011 on England’s tour of Australia. Initially its use was mandatory, but later optional if both teams agreed.
There are three components in the UDRS,Hawkeye, Eagle Eye and Virtual Eye.The Virtual Eye technology plots the trajectory of the bowled ball, that has been interrupted by the batsman often by the pad and can determine whether the ball would have hit the wicket or not.
The Hot Spot is an infra- red imaging system that illustrates where the ball has been in contact with the bat or the pad. The Snickometer relies on directional microphones to detect small sounds made as the ball hits the bat or pad.It has a success rate of 90-95%.
A fielding team may use the system to dispute a “not out” decision. A batting team can dispute an “out” decision.On field umpires can ask the third umpire for certain close calls(run outs/stumpings), boundary calls and close catch calls.
Under the UDRS only incorrect decisions are reversed. The analysis of the third umpire is within established margins of error or if it is inconclusive the field umpires original decision stands.
When an lbw decision is evaluated and if the the replay demonstrates that the ball has made an impact more than 2.5 metres away from the wickets and travels less than 40 cm before hitting the batsman then any not out decision given by the field umpire stands.
The only time an lbw decision will be reversed in favour of the bowler is if the batsman is 2.5-3.5 metres away from the wicket and the ball travels more than 40cm after pitching before hitting the batsman.Some part of the ball must be hitting the middle stump and the whole ball must be hitting the wickets below the bails. If not the call stands. Sounds easy?
The Power of Touch – Textures are everywhere: The rough edges of a stone wall. The smooth innocence of a baby’s cheek. The sense of touch brings back memories for us. What texture is particularly evocative to you?
Texture…more than meets the eye…
Juicing versus blending….
Juice is smooth and drinkable, like water….blended oozes with pips and bits…
Here’s where the texture goes…
We’ve got our eye on your photos this week. (See what we did there?) This week, take “eye” as your inspiration.
Source: Eye Spy | The Daily Post
When you were 10, what did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now? Are the two connected?
Source: Ballerina Fireman Astronaut Movie Star | The Daily Post
When I was ten, I wanted to be like these guys:
…build this:
…and operate a fleet of these:
When I was ten, I could never understand why people made it all so hard…maybe I inherited some of the 50s/60s ‘build it, then see if it flies’ philosophy ?
When I got a little bit older, I also wanted to have a say in the corporate dress code:
Due to inconvenient science and politics, we’re still waiting on decent alien defence organisation. I decided to join the Air Force. When the recruiter told me that my eyesight wasn’t good enough to fly, he was adroitly elbowed out of the way by his Army colleague. My 24 years in the Army was a great experience – six months after I retired from the Army, the Air Force called and said if I wasn’t doing anything else too critical to world peace, would I like to do a spot of work with them? So I did get to join the Air Force although all my flying involved new release movies and duty-free…
MacChick Academic
Savour, Relax & Enjoy
A home for us all.
Scattered to the Chaos of Life
Don't be bullied
Inspiration through my thoughts, experiences and travels
Indulge- Travel, Adventure, & New Experiences
My random musings and whatnot
Because stress is fattening and life is just too short
Lost and Found: rediscovering books, writing, destinations, childhood memories and more
mixing it up, one great recipe at a time...
I hope you dance....
The World According to Me... 