Don't worry about it - we're all probably the same but everyone is far too polite to mention it


I loved the story behind this. It is at the Golden Gate bridge and the story goes that after September 11 attacks a fence was put around the bridge. Local runners would often use the bridge as a halfway mark and go and touch it and start running back but they couldn't it it anymore so this bloke who worked on the bridge came up with this. There's also a pair of paws there too. LOL

The golden frog of El Valle, Panama. This little creature is just about 2 inches long and unfortunately is highly endangered.

Haha! I have had a suggestion from another member to mark the ones I've already used, so hopefully there will be no more repeats!

You've all wondered I'm sure where those Microwaves in your oven come from. This is a Continuous Wave Magnetron of the type that does supply those nasty nucular energies!

The electrons leave a heater (Location I've marked with a dot in the center as the Heater is part of the cap which I removed to expose the interior). The electrons are forced to cloud around the dot then stream across to the radial vanes which sit at neutral electrical potential. As the electrons cross the gap and through a magnetic field from some external magnets, they pick up a spin at 2,000,000,000 rotations per second rate and give it up when they get to the vanes. If you look between the two lower vanes you can make out the power pick up loop that transmits the power out of the tube and into the oven. The body and vanes are almost pure Copper and the two concentric rings are Silver solder rings which keep the vanes strapped at alternating relative potentials of +/- and also help hold them in place though processses later in the manufacturing cycle which could tend to mis-align the vanes. Different travel lengths/times, amperage and gauss magnetic field strengths will change the power and frequency of each tube (oh yeah, Solid State and IC's haven't completely killed off the vacuum tube. This was one before I opend it.) It really is so pure a copper what you see as the inside bottom is really overhead clouds reflected into the camera when I took the shot outdoors for the best lighting.
Tomorrow I want you all to know what a Crossed Fields Amplifier (CFA) is. The messy mangled structure in the bottom is the cap piece I used to help hold the tube body up to the camera.

Can anyone guess why this type of microwave device was once referred to as a rising sun magnetron?

A friendly little chap....

Although I've been adding photos for them for some time, 2011 is the start of taking areas especially for the library project www.geograph.org.uk which aims for each person to take as many places on the UK and Ireland map as they can. Now I am simply looking at my own, which changes from green to red each time a photo is added to a map square, and as an eternal collector am now plotting trips to cover as wide an area as possible. Today was Walton on Thames, missed as there is absolutely nothing worth taking there. Here is a straight road with a drain which has clearly become blocked.

If I want a red rose for Valentine's Day, I have to grow my own!
I willingly share this one with anyone else who is feeling rose-deprived.

For those of a horticultural persuasion, it's called "Love" and featured in the All American Rose Selection of 1980.
Note the silver-white reverse to the petals.

Bhs, your frog pics are stunning. Beautiful rose, Auntie.

A statue outside Regents Park


Outer Circle statue by satguru, on Flickr

Good news, we can now copy and resize directly from Flickr, no more Photobucket procedures at last!

From a cafe at the top of Mount Epomeo, the tallest point in Ischia - rabbit is their speciality and this sign shows an approving girl rabbit looking on whilst her brother/father/son dances happily in the fire...

Women, eh? (And does this qualify as a Happy Bunny Dance?)

Girl rabbits are smart!

Today's bright sunshine and the fact that some of the snow had melted encouraged Precious to want to go for a longer walk. Note that she has found a dry spot in which to sit! (It was still verrrry cold, by the way, the melting happened yesterday.)

The Golden Altar at the Church of San Jose, Panama City, Rep. of Panama

Henry Morgan missed this when he sacked Old Panama. The Spaniards painted it black as he approached the city.

This evening's dessert. Boston Cream Cupcakes. A little time consuming to make...but well worth it!

I love the golden altar and the story that goes with it!

This is the Australian Coat of Arms - with a difference. Normally the kangaroo and the emu face each other. Legend has it that these animals were chosen to symbolise the nation moving forward - this is based on the common belief that neither animal can move backwards easily.

This particular version is located over the entrance to the GPO (the main, or general post office) in the heart of Perth. The kangaroo is looking back over his shoulder towards Parliament House because the maker of the shield had not been paid for his work so he made the kangaroo look towards those who owed him money.

Lol! Great Stories Mother Goose!
Yum, Bally!!

I am back after 6 days away with no computer access and will now move on to where Copago was or I will get lost. This is a view of San Francisco from the Golden Gate Bridge with a lone yacht in the foreground. Nore New Zealand photos later...

A typical British village green, Watford Heath

A Winter Sea

Satguru, I love the look of the English country-side. I WILL make a trip to Britain someday. It's on my "Bucket List".

This window is not historical, but a recent tribute by her family to my son-in-law's Grandmother. I had the pleasure of knowing her in her last years, and a more warm and motherly person I never met.

Lovely

Love all the pictures! LOL, the kangaroo looking to be paid -- too much!!!



Bridge of the Americas going over the Panama Canal.

I see the troll!