#aeroplane 200

[ilikegoodstories]

Ph. 15 - 16 - 17 - Maria Mandea

°iso Aeroplane 200

[aeroplanestouchthesky]

If I don't play golden fantasia in the next week then What Was The Point

[thunderstruck9]

Felix Bode (British, 2002), Aeroplane Window II, 2024. Oil on canvas, 150 x 200 cm.

[probablybadrpgideas]

OCtober day 16

Our dragon can shapeshift! But I'm making an executive decision that the eyes and scales/hair stay purple and silver respectively, so we can know it's them!

Now, we know they're short, but

Previous traits under the cut

Fantasy, they/them, aroace, mascy femme, short/fat/muscly, purple eyes, silver scales, weaver, dragon, good relationship with parents, from the remnants of an ancient fallen kingdom that once ruled the world, breathes bear mace (capsaicin solution), shapeshifter

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Heinkel Kabine 150, 1956. Ernst Heinkel was a German aircraft engineer who, like Messerschmitt and BMW (who made aero engines) where prevented from making aeroplanes after WW2. Inspired by the Iso Isetta , Heinkel set about making a microcar that would out perform its rivals. His version had a lighter, full monocoque shell and a single cylinder, 4 stroke engine. It was made in German until 1958 when production was transferred to Ireland where it built under license. Poor quality control meant the license was withdrawn and in 1960 production was restarted by  Trojan Cars in the UK where it remained in production (as the Trojan 200) until 1966

[pinturas-gran-guerra-aire]

1918 02 15 Hansa Brandeburg W12 Christiansen 4th victory - Mark Postlethwaite

repost better quality and lighting

Oberleutnant zur See Friedrich Christiansen was leading a three-aeroplane patrol of Hansa-Brandenburg W 12 fighter seaplanes from Zeebrugge naval station on 15 February 1918 when, at 1045 hrs, they sighted a large Allied convoy being escorted by two Felixstowe-based Curtiss H-12B Large America flying boats. The latter both fled, but upon being overtaken at 1100 hrs, one of them made a fight of it until the flying boat was shot down in flames from an altitude of 200 metres near Nord Hinder lightship. Heavy seas prevented the Germans from landing near the wreckage, which turned out to be H-12B N4338. The flying boat's crew, Canadian Fit Lt Claude C Purdy, Ens Albert D Sturtevant, Boy Mech Arthur Hector Stephenson and AMI Sidney James Hollidge, perished. Christiansen and his observer shared the victory with Flgobermt Urban and Ltn z S Ehrhard. Albert Dillon Sturtevant, an officer of the US Naval Reserve, was among the 29 members of the First Yale Unit that had been attached to Royal Naval Air Station Felixstowe since October 1917. The first American of any military branch to die in aerial combat in his own country's service during World War 1, Sturtevant was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross and a US Navy destroyer was later named in his honour

[reptilia2003]

why do you hate pitchfork?

why do I hate pitchfork?

first off, I think music criticism as a whole is kind of odd. I do like being able to hear what other people thought of albums! But the way most criticism is constructed takes something that’s mostly subjective (taste) and tries to make it objective. I understand that ratings make for an easy way to categorize music, but theirs are confusing.

Take for instance this review of the latest little simz album—if you read it, you’ll find they criticize basically nothing. https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/little-simz-no-thank-you/

It gets a 7.7. You can read pitchfork reviews that lavish similar amounts of praise and get 9+, and you can find ones that get 6.5. (Many have noted that they tend to knock female artists for things they don’t knock male artists for.)

taste is subjective, rating albums numerically is hard, and makes no sense a lot of times (looking at you, 5.7 rating for grammy winning album the new abnormal. not that grammys mean anything either but i think this shows that two different groups of “experts” can have wildly different opinions)

I’d say my biggest beef with pitchfork is that it seems to pride itself on being pretentious and inaccessible. (I say this as someone who is kind of pretentious about music! I look at my Last.fm and collect vinyls and listen to a lot of things that people who are Pretentious Music Enjoyers listen to!) I have no problem with big and complicated words being used in criticism—I think it’s actually good, it can help describe things in a way that simpler language can’t. But theirs ends up coming off as arrogant and almost masturbatory. We get it pitchfork—you’re Cool and Smart and Know Things and you’re therefore the Authority about music.

Take the first paragraph from their review of Alvvays’ Blue Rev. what is the point of this meandering treatise on the genre of power pop, besides to assert that they Know Things?

They follow this up with this line. So it turns out that all that stuff they just said about genre is actually unimportant! Great! Thanks for wasting a paragraph on showing off your Understanding of genre.

This attitude also tends to attract a certain type of reader. When they polled readers for their favorite 200 albums of the last 25 years, here’s what they came up with

Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of fantastic albums in this list. But three radiohead albums in the top five says something about your audience. (And I own two of those three on vinyl, so I fully realize I’m also the type of person I’m talking about here. but I think that also makes me more qualified to criticize it.) We go through neutral milk hotel’s in the aeroplane over the sea, sufjan stevens’ illinois, Kanye’s yeezus, Frank ocean’s channel orange, lcd soundsystem’s sound of silver (another one I own), and madvillain’s madvillainy before we get to any album made by a woman (lana del Rey’s Norman fucking rockwell, coming in at #17). This is pitchfork’s audience, and it’s who they cater to and this greatly influences how they think about music.

tldr halsey was right.

[destielshippingnews]

Edvard's Supernatural Guide: 2x15 Tall Tales, Part 1

Spoilers up to 5x08 Changing Channels

This is Supernatural’s second attempt at a ‘comedic’ episode, with 1x17 Hell House being the first. However, given the fact it is a fan favourite and one which many will tell you is hilarious, it may surprise you to learn that it only tickled my funny-bone once or twice. In stark contrast to its intention as amusing, I once again came away from this episode unsettled by the fact that sexual assault of men and boys can be played for laughs so blatantly. I will leave discussion of that for part 2 of this analysis because it will get heavy and unpleasant. Expect discussion of male victims of rape and sexual violence in the context of Supernatural, The Boys, other television shows, and in real life. I will keep the age rating at 15.

First things first: this is once again an episode where a lot is told in retrospect, but unlike 1x06 Skin and 2x12 Nightshifter this does more than tease the viewer with an event in the cold open then wind back the clock 24 hours. Rather this episode lives up to its apt title Tall Tales by having Dean and Sam relate much of the events to Bobby, but their versions of events differ and feature much exaggeration to the point where the viewer is left uncertain exactly what to believe. Men are dying or being repeatedly raped in scenarios taken straight from urban legends: sewergators, alien abduction, and haunted university buildings. The culprit behind this is a figure named The Trickster, who will later be revealed as Archangel Gabriel and Loki’s doppelgänger.

Regarding the overall plot of the show, 2x15 Tall Tales does not do much except introduce Gabriel, though it will be a further 60-something episodes until the viewer learns who ‘The Trickster’ really is. In fact, it has been a fair while since the show had a plot-centric episode and any steam built up has long since dissipated. 22 episodes per year seems long nowadays with the popularity of Game of Thrones and even The Walking Dead, which pack more plot and story into 10-16 episodes than Supernatural does into 22 (except the lamentable mess that is The Walking Dead series 2). The downside of its length, therefore, is the diluted, thinly-spread nature of its storytelling. A fair amount was packed into Supernatural 2x01-2x10, but most of that was related to developing character motivations and themes and included a lot of monster-of-the-week episodes. Of course it is fun to see the characters doing side-quests but I need more story to keep the momentum going. Azazel has plans, but he is taking his sweet time bringing them to fruition and in the meanwhile the brothers are not doing anything to try to discover or foil his plots.

Compare this, if you will, to the conflict between the Scooby Gang and Angel, Spike and Drusilla in Buffy series 2, where the build-up and conflict take centre stage for a lot of the 22 episodes. The conflict even takes the lives of very important characters when least expected, so the threat is always present and threatening. In Supernatural, by contrast, I do not really care about whatever is happening to Sam or what Azazel is plotting because it plays little role. I care that Dean is so broken up with grief and the fear of having to kill his brother, but if this were a novel I would be getting frustrated, and I read ALL of Wise Man’s Fear.

This episode continues Supernatural’s love affair with Neil Gaiman which started in 1x11 Scarecrow. Some people love this but Neverwhere bored me and I could not get past page 200 of American Gods. Coraline, Stardust, and The Graveyard Book pleased me but his stories involving ‘gods’ feel anhedonic and banal to me. I get that some people enjoyed having gods be part of a story with mortals in this manner, but I have little interest in a Norse deity (and it is frequently a Norse deity because they are in vogue) reduced to a man in a suit on an aeroplane, or a figure with the oh-so-clever name of Low Key Lyesmith.

A character who is a deity should act like a deity, not your average Tom, Dick or Harry. If the writer puts no effort into making the characters godlike, the divinity essentially stops being a divinity and becomes any other character. They become banal and dull, with their divinity reduced to a gimmick.

Having said that, it can be done exceedingly well. It is likely not to everybody’s taste, but Joanne M. Harris won a place on my list of favourite authors with her books The Gospel of Loki, Runemarks, Runelights, and The Testament of Loki. Her versions of the Norse gods are very true to the Eddic sources, but with her own spin and flair added for good measure. And it is a VERY good measure; her Norse gods rub shoulders with mortals, but they are not shopworn characters who are gods in name only. Whereas American Gods and Supernatural tear their deities from their mythological context and thereby remove the flavour and character (is Odin still Odin with no Valhalla, Fenrir, or Einherjar?), The Gospel of Loki etc mostly preserve the mythological context and have gods as characters who actually are gods.

Buffy and Angel toyed with gods as characters as well, but whether these gods were actual deities or simply apex demons so powerful and influential their minions believed them to be gods is left unclear. The Celtic mother goddess Danu brought water to the world, and Ogmios the psychopomp escorts the dead to the Otherworld. Lugus is god of the sun and creator of all arts, but whether Glory and Illyria in Buffy and Angelhad either any hand in creating their respective worlds or were close kin of creatures who did is never specified. For that reason, Illyria and Glory work for me where American Gods and Supernatural’s deities do not.

Because actual ‘gods’ being portrayed as only slightly more supernatural than the average monster is not to my tastes, I did not like this episode as much as the general fan base appears to.

Episode 2x15 Tall Tales starts with Dean being a complete douche and irritating the hell out of Sam by listening to music on the radio and eating chicken noisily on the hotel bed. Sam is trying to do research with paper and books because somebody Sam assumes was Dean stole his laptop. Sam’s justification for assuming his brother was to blame was that Dean was supposedly the only other person with access to the room: the door was locked and the hotel does not have chamber maids, supposedly. One has to stop and wonder whether Sam has actually learnt anything at all over the last 37 episodes because any kind of monster or ghost could have crept into their room through an air vent or a window, as could any of the seedy people staying in the seedy hotel have picked their lock and sneaked into their room.

In Sam’s defence (what’s that, me calling Dean a douche and defending Sam?) they have pulled silly pranks on each other in the past, but why would Dean have hidden a vital tool like the laptop? Knowing Sam as I do, it looked very much like wanting a reason to metaphorically kick Dean and seizing the opportunity to do so. His later statement that ‘...I’ve put up with a lot from you, Dean’ gasted my flabbers: I can see that Sam believes that and he clearly has a lot of resentment, anger, and other whiny, self-centred complaints festering, but do let us remember that Dean’s fiendish japes and comments about Sam’s girly hair do not in any way compare to e.g. Sam threatening and almost getting Dean killed in 2x10 Hunted, for example. He really has no right to bitching about ‘putting up with a lot’, so go on Dean: keep being a douche. Sam deserves nothing less than your douchebaggery.

Bobby soon turns up at the door, at once both welcome and unwelcome. As I said when he was introduced in 1x22 Devil’s Trap, I have much more time for him than I do John and I can tell he actually cares for Dean and Sam (if I remember, he even called Dean his favourite at some point), but his crochety attitude grates against me. For one thing, I do not appreciate the 27 and 23 year old protagonists of my story being treated like little boys by a character who has only just been introduced (looking at you, mega-bish Missouri), and for another it gets old fast. On my first watch of this show, I cared little for him and I still do not especially care.

On the other hand, Dean and Sam need more than just Dean and Sam. I love Dean to bits and I would watch Dean eating a sandwich for 40 minutes every week, but I hate their co-dependant abused / narcissistic abuser dynamic with a passion. Judging by the huge drop off in viewership in series 7 when Sera Gamble tried to kill Castiel off, so did a huge part of the audience. Some friends who are just now watching the show for the first time: they have just reached 2x05 Simon Said and have noted that because there is just Dean and Sam, there is little for the writers to do in order to introduce conflict than have Dean and Sam argue. Often there is no apparent need for them to argue and it gets tedious. The show needs more, but even with the eventual introduction of Castiel the show still had to be about the brothers, no matter how much Sam hates Dean or how suffocated Dean is.

Back to Bobby, he sits and listens to Dean and Sam tell their stories, their versions differing in small details usually with the intent of mocking the other. I believe this is the aspect of the episode which people find funny, because men in their mid twenties acting like preteens is amusing or something. Maybe if I were watching this once a week as a casual viewer and not really paying attention it would amuse me more, but the fact the episode uses sexual assault against a man for laughs puts a dampener on the whole experience. If that makes me a buzzkill, then I suppose your buzz deserves to be killed. Whatever the case, Bobby soon works out that a Trickster is behind everything.

You might remember long long ago in the first paragraph that I mentioned the episode tickling my funny-bone once or twice: both occasions were very early on. The first occasion was when Dean’s date said that looking at him was like staring into the sun, and the second came right on the heels of that moment as Sam interrupted him. Dean’s version of Sam is not too much of an exaggeration which is what made it so funny. Jared chose to do the prissy, sissy fag act with effete body language and pursed lips which is not how I see Sam, but other than that his nagging and blah blah blah were pretty accurate to how much of Sam’s whining and bitching sound to me. Sam objected to Dean’s portrayal of him by saying ‘I don’t sound like that, Dean!’ to which Dean replied ‘That’s what you sound like to me” and I must wholeheartedly concur.

Whilst on that subject, this episodes shows and suggests some serious character issues with Sam. On the one hand, he is very concerned with using the proper politically-correct language such as when he corrected Dean for saying ‘Siamese twins’ instead of ‘conjoined twins’, yet he smirked and hid his face from Curtis after finding out Curtis was ‘anal probed’ by aliens. Sam has the proper vocabulary, but like his real life counterpart Eric Kripke (whose writing in e.g The Boys is far less ‘progressive’ than his use of terms like ‘toxic masculinity’ might suggest), Sam is not the ‘sensitive, intelligent’ brother people think he is. More on that in the later discussion, as well as Dean’s reaction.

Further to the point of the brothers’ stories, the young woman whom Dean was drinking with and presumably canvassing for information on the dead professor is very different in both versions. The ‘Starla’ of Dean’s version is a PhD student in folklore and mythology, well-dressed, well-kept, and classy. Dean clearly exaggerated a lot with how into him she was, and his own behaviour in that version induced much cringe, but other than that she was believable. Sam’s ‘Starla’ was much more negative, at least from the perspective of somebody like Sam: much more ‘low rent’ than Dean’s version. Sam seems very quick to perceive Starla as a loose drunk and Dean as a horny slut for being interested in a woman like her… or perhaps the other way around: his estimation of her plummets when he sees she is sexually interested in Dean whom Sam regards as a slut. Yikes. Either way, Sam seems to have an issue with women who enjoy sex.

What the truth is is likely somewhere between, but based on the kind of woman Dean has been seen to pick up and hit on (e.g. the jeweller in 2x12 Nightshifter), I would guess he only exaggerated on his cringy James Bond-smoothness and her staring into the sun line.

The sibling squabbles between Sam and Dean in this episode were also a source of mirth. It was quite droll to see the brothers through each other’s eyes; Dean as the slutty womaniser with no taste and Sam as an uptight ponce who treats Dean like an irritating embarrassment. Both are exaggerations fuelled by irritation, but it’s still an interesting insight into how they see each other.

Not that anybody paying attention needs to be told how they see each other, but the idiots in the cheap seats at the back might not have heard everything. It probably says a lot about how similar Dean’s and my perspectives are that he and I view Sam in pretty much exactly the same way.

Moving swiftly onwards, discussing women who enjoy sex brings the discussion around to the professor in the cold open who the viewer is led to believe engaged in lots of coitus with students. The situation of professor and student inherently implies a power imbalance, though it is never specified whether or not the students he made the beast with two backs with were his students or not. We can assume that a large number likely were since Gabriel saw fit to punish him, but the woman in the cold open appeared to be in her mid twenties and actively pursued the sexual encounter with the professor. Is that how they all happened? I have heard stories of professors being harassed and pursued by students like that, so I wonder, but for the sake of this analysis let us assume that what the show tells and implies is indeed how things happened: the professor abused his position of power in order to procure sex with students in his charge.

The professor is presumably pushed out of his window and slams into the concrete. Note that the professor did not scream as he fell, implying he was already dead before his defenestration. This happened just as janitor!Gabriel was leaving the building for the night, but for some reason Dean and Sam do not think to be suspicious of him when they question him early in the episode. He was the only one there and he found the professor, so he would have likely been one of the police’s suspects at least.

The next two incidents are a professor involved in animal testing getting eaten by a sewer alligator, and a pledge master getting ‘hazed’. Dean is the one to work out that all the men involved were linked by being ‘dicks’ and that what happened to them was ‘poetic justice’. Skipping past the implication that rape is an appropriate punishment which one can ‘deserve’ (Shiban, Kripke, and Gamble: sit on broken glass), it is not long later that Bobby gives them the final push they need to conclude the janitor is a Trickster and the one responsible for everything.

Calling Loki a trickster is not all that accurate however, as Loki is more a liar and agent of Chaos than he is a trickster. He crosses boundaries of sex, sexuality, and gender, is both of the Æsir and of their enemies the Jötunns (anti-gods), and is the sworn enemy of Heimdallr who is an agent of order and guards the borders. I praised Joanne M. Harris’ Loki earlier, but the one thing which grated on me was that her version of Loki just accepted that male-bodied gods were not supposed to engage in intimate relations with other male-bodied beings. Melvin Burgess’s Loki did not have any such inhibitions, but rather enjoyed physical and emotional intimacy with men as much as with women. ...And animals, because how is a human or god any different to a horse for the embodiment of chaos?

Moving on, the episode culminates in Gabriel attempting to win Dean’s favour in a lecture hall (note that Gabriel is All About Dean in this episode) by offering him sex with the two women he conjoured in return for Dean letting Gabriel get away. Contrary to popular belief, Dean does not think with his penis and refuses Gabriel’s offer. Dean cannot let Gabriel go, and as Dean says this Sam and Bobby appear. A fight ensues in which Dean in particular suffers some serious whumpage (inflicted mostly by the scantily-clad Bond women, implying I am supposed to laugh).

Dean manages to eventually stake Gabriel and kill him, whereupon he and the others book it before somebody finds Gabriel’s body. Sam almost apologises to Dean before getting into the car (inappropriate timing, Sam, but points for trying), and then Bobby annoys me a bit with more of his unearnt crochitiness. Right at the end it is revealed that Gabriel is still alive and that the one Dean thought he killed was only an illusion.

I have never been a big fan of Gabriel in this show. His next episode is another fan favourite which is supposedly hilarious, but he kept Sam in an endless Groundhog Day where he had to watch Dean dying over and over again. I understand that a show like Supernatural has to replace blood and guts with exaggerated ridiculousness, wherefore Dean’s endless deaths, but for some reason I am not able to laugh. This might be one of those normal people things which I am too neurodivergent to understand. Is this one of those déjá thingies?

Anyway, Gabriel locks Sam into watching his brother die to teach him a lesson, and depending on how we understand the mechanics of Gabriel’s ’magic’, kills Dean over and over again. The first death does not amuse me and not just because I do not like seeing Dean die: I actually watched an 11 year old boy get run over after school one day in 2004. Something went right under the wheels and luckily I cannot remember whether it was him or just his schoolbag. Either way, I do clearly remember noticing the seat of his trousers had ripped and my 13 year old brain latched onto that because it was easier to deal with than the fact an 11 year old boy was dying at my feet. His funeral was thrown open to the whole school, and some people went just to have a day off school. This song was played at his funeral and I remember it every time I hear this song:

So no, not a single one of Dean’s deaths in that episode amuse me, and no I do not give a fig about killing your buzz. I also do not like Gabriel much, but I like him as an antagonist and loose cannon. Far more enjoyable than bloody Lucifer.

That almost does it for part one. Generally speaking a good episode, though it would not rank anywhere near my list of favourites. One issue I have is that The Show does not allow Sam to be made fun of in anything like the way Dean is. As Paula R. Stiles noted, Dean is ridiculed and exaggerated a lot in this episode, but other than two incidents he is just regular Sam. I have heard tell of Jared’s complaints and insistence that his character not be made fun of, and I believe it might well have been around this time in the show that he – if I have heard correctly – got angry about where Sam’s story was taking him, and tried to start a fight with Jensen on set. Whether or not this is true, I cannot say for sure (though both Jensen and Jared have referred to an incident when Jared stormed off set to sit alone in his trailer and Jensen shortly joined him and talked to him), but whatever the case may be, a noticeable disparity is evident.

Whilst on the subject of disparities, the ‘dicks’ are almost all men in this show, infrequently women. Paula R. Stiles raised the point in her discussion of Jo in 2x06 No Exit that women do not like being portrayed as the dumbass, cocky tomboy any more than men like being portrayed as useless, lazy, stupid slobs. The former is bad representation and so is the latter, but the difference is that the former is met with resistance in modern popular culture whereas the latter is actively encouraged and criticism of it is met with distinctly anti-male scorn. In a show where almost all on-screen, violent, bloody deaths are men who die as horror-fodder while women are usually killed off-screen or saved at the last minute, here is an episode where all the ‘dicks’ are men and sexual assault against men is played for laughs. Usually when I point this out it falls on deaf ears, but if I can point out some of the writers’ homophobia, the incredibly high death rate of black men, the missed opportunities for Native American inclusion and representation, and the bad writing of female characters like Jo, why do people seem so unwilling to listen when I point this out? Why do they insist I am wrong, and why do they so quickly change the subject to women talking in board rooms? I have a very good idea why this is the case, as I will discuss in the section about male victims of sexual violence.

One final point before closing part one: some have taken issue with the presence of Busty Asian Beauties. The thinking is that Asian women (here in the US meaning of East and Southeastern Asian, excluding the Indian subcontinent and Western Asia) are almost not represented at all in the show, with Mrs Tran and Dagon being the only two notable examples. It does not look good for them to be mostly represented in the form of a porn site and magazine.

Having grown up on the other side of the Atlantic from the American context, I never understood Busty Asian Beauties as anything more than a joke about how randomly specific it was, similar to Jack’s one-legged Parisian prostitute in Titanic.

Perhaps the experience is different for North Americans, but any ‘racist’ connotations were completely lost on me. Some have even gone a little further and said that Dean himself is racist for ‘fetishising’ Asian women and being interested in Asian women specifically. To be quite honest that sounds like a load of American bullcrap. Other than it being an exaggeration of Dean’s interest for online rage fuel, I wonder whether my enjoyment of Ripped Nordic Blonds or Girthy Celtic Hotties would also be considered a racist fetishisation. The issue as I see it is the poor representation, not Dean’s interest.

Note once again that it Dean who is both given a bit more depth with stuff like this, and the one who is the butt of the joke. Never Sam.

Thus concludeth part one. Part two will follow later this week.

[usafphantom2]

#onthisday in 1939 a Blenheim Mk IV of No. 139 Squadron undertook reconnaissance over Wilhelmshaven, Germany where the German Fleet was based.

@classicwarbirds via Twitter

Bristol Blenheim | Classic Warbirds

The owner of the Daily Mail during the 1930s Lord Rothermere had a very keen interest in aviation spanning two decades and in 1934 wanted an aircraft for his own use. The aircraft would need to have space for 6 passengers and 2 crew members with a good top speed. By coincidence a design outline for a two-engined light transport aircraft to be powered by the, currently in development, 500-hp Bristol Aquila 1 had been done by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. However with Lord Rothermere's requirement for speed the Aquila 1s would be replaced by the 650-hp Bristol Mercury VIS powerplant.

This new aircraft made its maiden flight on the 12th April 1935 from Filton and the Type 142, as it was known, was to be faster than any Royal Air Force fighter currently in service. Unsurprisingly the Air Ministry were interested in the aircraft and after being allowed to evaluate the type it was revealed to the nation and was called 'Spirit of Britain'

With the Air Ministry looking at the aircraft as a potential light bomber Bristol would work on a militarised version designated the Type 142M. The main changes made to the design was the addition of a dorsal turret, bomb bay and bomb-aimer's station. The company submitted this idea to the Air Ministry which they accepted. So under Specification 28/35 an initial order for 150 was placed in September 1935.

Named the Blenheim and of all metal construction bar the control surfaces, which were fabric covered, the prototype made its first flight on the 28th June 1936. The Mk I had another change of engines with power supplied by a pair of 840-hp Bristol Mercury VIII engines with three blade variable pitch propellers giving the aircraft a top speed of 285 mph. Featuring retractable landing gear and tail wheels, although the production versions would be without the retractable tail wheel. Armament consisted of a sole 0.303-in machine-gun located in the port wing whilst the dorsal turret had a Vickers 'K' gun and a bomb load of 1,000lb. The Blenheim would have a crew of 3 consisting of pilot, navigator/bomb-aimer and air gunner/radio operator.

Deliveries of the first Blenheims started around nine months after the prototype flight when No. 114 Squadron, RAF Wyton received theirs on the 10th March 1937. This was followed four months later in July by an order for a further 434 aircraft. It was whilst with No. 114 Squadron that the public got their first glimpse of the type when it displayed at the RAF Display, Hendon on the 27th June 1937. With its sleek appearance and speed the Blenheim excited people and installed the belief that the RAF possessed the best bomber in the world.

With an influx of new orders for the Blenheim two new additional construction lines, both in Lancashire, were set up. One at A.V Roe and the other at Rootes Securities. In total 1,552 Mk Is would be built and would serve with around 26 squadrons both at home and aboard. However by the time the Second World War (1939 – 1945) broke out in September 1939 only a handful of Mk Is were being used as bombers by home based squadrons, the type being moved into other roles. Some would serve as both crew and conversion trainers whilst 200 were converted to night fighters and designated Blenheim Mk IF. This would see the aircraft fitted with additional armament in the form of four 0.303-in machine-guns fitted in a pack underneath the fuselage. Also installed was either Mk III or Mk IV Airborne Interception radar and it was a Mk IF of the Fighter Interception Unit at RAF Tangmere which, on the 23rd July 1940, shot down the first enemy aircraft using AI, a Dornier Do 17.

In August 1935, just four months after the Blenheim first flew, the Air Ministry issued Specification G.24/35 which required an aircraft which would be used for coastal reconnaissance and as a light bomber and was intended to replace the Avro Anson. The design Bristol submitted was based on the Blenheim Mk I and was known as the Type 149. With the installation of Bristol Aquila engines it was intended to increase the range of the aircraft without the need for additional fuel tanks. However this design was rejected by the Air Ministry.

Despite this initial rejection the Air Ministry again looked at the Type 149 design but as a general-reconnaissance aircraft. This would see a Mk I used as the base with a number of changes made. Firstly the nose of the fuselage was increased so the navigator/observer had more room, additional fuel tanks added and the Mercury VIII engines were kept instead of the intended Aquila powerplant. This flew for the first time on the 24th September 1937. With the pressing need for Blenheims there was concern at the Air Ministry that by putting the Type 149 into production it would hinder building of the Blenheim. Instead the aircraft would be sent to Fairchild Aircraft, Canada where the type would be built for the Royal Canadian Air Force and named the Bolingbroke.

Another change of heart by the Air Ministry saw them again consider the Type 149 this time as a stopgap as a torpedo bomber until, another Bristol design, the Beaufort was able to enter service. These aircraft would be known as the Blenheim Mk IV and featured bigger fuel tanks in the wings and would have the Bolingbroke's longer nose design. Power would be supplied by a pair of 920-hp Mercury XV engines giving a top speed of 266 mph. These modifications to the aircraft would begin in late 1938 although the first 68 wouldn't have the bigger fuel tanks.

The new Mk IV would enter service during March 1938 with armament consisting of two machine-guns. Over time this would increase to five with the addition of a dorsal turret and underneath the nose a Frazer-Nash mounting which was controlled remotely. The bomb load was increased by bomb racks under the wings which could hold 320lb bombs in addition to the 1,000lb in the bomb bay. The Blenheim Mk IV would see widespread service not only with Bomber Command but also Fighter and Coastal Command among others all over the world serving with over 70 squadrons.

Blenheims would be in action on the same day Britain declared war on Germany, 3rd September 1939, when a sole Mk IV from No. 139 Squadron flew over Germany on a reconnaissance mission over Wilhelmshaven to monitor the German Fleet and the type also became the first British aircraft to attack German targets when Blenheims raided the German fleet off Wilhelmshaven. Two squadrons Nos. 114 and 139 would be sent to France as part of the Royal Air Force's Advanced Air Striking Force and would operate alongside the Fairey Battle. Losses for the aircraft would be high as they operated during daylight and not always with fighter escort. One such mission on the 14th May 1940 saw five out of eight Blenheims fail to return from a raid on the Sedan bridgehead.

After 'Operation Dynamo' (26th May 1940 - 4th June 1940), the evacuation of Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain (10th July 1940 - 31st October 1940) would begin and the Blenheim and its crews would undertake raids on German airfields in occupied Europe and invasion barges located in occupied ports. As with some of their missions in France the aircraft would be operating unescorted in daylight hours. Losses again were high with one raid on Aalborg airfield, Denmark on the 13th August 1940 seeing 100% losses when none of the 11 Blenheims sent returned, and of the 33 airmen only 13 survived as prisoners of war.

With the introduction of newer and faster aircraft the Blenheims time with home based Bomber Command squadrons came to an end in 1942, this wasn't the end of the types front line service as they continued to serve overseas, not only with the Royal Air Force but other air forces including the Free French and Finnish.

The final Blenheim to be produced was the MK V, which for a while was named the Bisley and also known as the Type 160, it was intended for this aircraft to be used as a close support bomber. With only a few modifications and powered by either Mercury XV or XXV engines the Mk V was essentially the same as previous Mks. However these changes saw the aircraft when produced serve as a high altitude bomber. 10 overseas squadrons based in the Middle East and Far East would receive the Mk V with deliveries beginning during the summer of 1942 but when moved to serve in the Italian campaign the Luftwaffe with its modern fighters inflicted heavy losses on the Blenheim. In part this was due to the fact that the extra weight had a detrimental effect on performance as the MK V had a top speed of 262 mph some 34 mph down on its predecessor the Mk IV. So by 1944 the type was no longer in RAF service and a total of 4,422 had been built.

Technical Details

Click on the aircraft image to view a larger version.

Top Speed Range Service Ceiling Armament

Blenheim Mk I 285 mph 1,125 miles 32,000 ft four 0.303-in machine-guns

1,000lb bombs

Blenheim Mk I side profile image

Blenheim Mk II Became the Bristol Bolingbroke.

Blenheim Mk IV 296 mph 1,400 miles 27,260 ft five 0.303-in machine-guns

1,320lb bombs

Blenheim Mk V 262 mph 1,600 miles 31,000 ft four 0.303-in machine-guns

1,000lb bombs

[memorableconcerts]

The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin, the band has undergone several line-up changes since their reunion in 2006, with Corgan being the sole constant member since its inception. The current lineup features Corgan, Chamberlin, Iha and guitarist Jeff Schroeder.

Disavowing the punk rock roots of many of their contemporaries, the band has a diverse, densely-layered sound, containing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, progressive rock, shoegaze, and electronica in later recordings. Corgan is the group's primary composer; his musical versatility and cathartic lyrics have shaped the band's distinctive albums, which one writer described as "anguished, bruised reports from Billy Corgan's nightmare-land". With 30 million albums sold worldwide, the Smashing Pumpkins were one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands of the 1990s, often cited as an important act in the popularization of alternative rock music. However, internal conflicts, drug use, and diminishing sales led to a break-up in 2000.

In 2006, Corgan and Chamberlin reconvened to record a new Smashing Pumpkins album, Zeitgeist. After touring throughout 2007 and 2008 with a lineup including new guitarist Jeff Schroeder, Chamberlin left the band in early 2009. Later that year, Corgan began a new recording series with a rotating lineup of musicians entitled Teargarden by Kaleidyscope, which encompassed stand-alone singles, EP releases, and two full albums that also fell under the project's scope—Oceania in 2012 and Monuments to an Elegy in 2014. Chamberlin and Iha officially rejoined the band in February 2018. The reunited lineup released the album Shiny and Oh So Bright, Vol. 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. (2018), Cyr (2020) and Atum: A Rock Opera in Three Acts in three increments across 2022 and 2023.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness - 1995–1997

During 1995, Corgan wrote about 56 songs, following which the band went into the studio with producers Flood and Alan Moulder to work on what Corgan described as "The Wall for Generation X", and which became Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, a double album of twenty-eight songs, lasting over two hours (the vinyl version of the album contained three records, two extra songs, and an alternate track listing). The songs were intended to hang together conceptually as a symbol of the cycle of life and death. Praised by Time as "the group's most ambitious and accomplished work yet", Mellon Collie debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in October 1995. Even more successful than Siamese Dream, it was certified ten times platinum in the United States and became the best-selling double album of the decade. It also garnered seven 1997 Grammy Award nominations, including Album of the Year. The band won only the Best Hard Rock Performance award, for the album's lead single "Bullet with Butterfly Wings". The album spawned five singles—"Bullet with Butterfly Wings", "1979", "Zero", "Tonight, Tonight" which Corgan stated was inspired by the Cheap Trick song "I'll Be with You Tonight", and "Thirty-Three"—of which the first three were certified gold and all but "Zero" entered the Top 40. Many of the songs that did not make it onto Mellon Collie were released as B-sides to the singles, and were later compiled in The Aeroplane Flies High box set. The set was originally limited to 200,000 copies, but more were produced to meet demand.

In 1996 the Pumpkins undertook an extended world tour in support of Mellon Collie. Corgan's look during this period—a shaved head, a long-sleeve black shirt with the word "Zero" printed on it, and silver pants—became iconic. That year, the band also made a guest appearance in an episode of The Simpsons, "Homerpalooza". With considerable video rotation on MTV, major industry awards, and "Zero" shirts selling in many malls, the Pumpkins were considered one of the most popular bands of the time.

In May, the Smashing Pumpkins played a gig at the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. Despite the band's repeated requests for moshing to stop, a seventeen-year-old fan named Bernadette O'Brien was crushed to death. The concert ended early and the following night's performance in Belfast was cancelled out of respect for her. However, while Corgan maintained that moshing's "time [had] come and gone", the band would continue to request open-floor concerts throughout the rest of the tour.

The band suffered a personal tragedy on the night of July 11, 1996, when touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin and Chamberlin overdosed on heroin in a hotel room in New York City. Melvoin died, and Chamberlin was arrested for drug possession. A few days later, the band announced that Chamberlin had been fired as a result of the incident. The Pumpkins chose to finish the tour, and hired drummer Matt Walker and keyboardist Dennis Flemion. Corgan later said the decision to continue touring was the worst decision the band had ever made, damaging both their music and their reputation. Chamberlin admitted in a 1994 Rolling Stone cover story that in the past he'd "gotten high in every city in this country and probably half the cities in Europe." But in recent years, he had reportedly been clean. On July 17, the Pumpkins issued a statement in which they said, "For nine years we have battled with Jimmy's struggles with the insidious disease of drug and alcohol addiction. It has nearly destroyed everything we are and stand for. … We wish [him] the best we have to offer". Meanwhile, the band had given interviews since the release of Mellon Collie stating that it would be the last conventional Pumpkins record, and that rock was becoming stale. James Iha said at the end of 1996, "The future is in electronic music. It really seems boring just to play rock music."

The Smashing Pumpkins - "Thru The Eyes Of Ruby" - Live 1996

[roshankumar7904800]

Aerospace & Defense Elastomers Market

Aerospace & Defense Elastomers Market Size, Share, Trends: DuPont Leads

Increasing adoption of high-performance elastomers in aerospace applications drives market innovation.

Market Overview: 

The Aerospace & Defense Elastomers Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% from 2024 to 2031. The market value is expected to increase significantly during this period. North America currently dominates the market, with key metrics including increasing aircraft production, growing defense budgets, and rising demand for fuel-efficient aircraft. The market is experiencing steady growth driven by technological advancements in elastomer materials, increasing aircraft deliveries, and the expanding space exploration sector.

The aerospace and defense industries are increasingly adopting high-performance elastomers that can withstand extreme temperatures, chemicals, and mechanical stress. These advanced materials are being used in critical applications such as seals, gaskets, and hoses, where traditional elastomers fall short. The market scope extends beyond aircraft and defense applications, with significant potential in space exploration and next-generation aircraft. The continuous investment in research and development, coupled with strategic partnerships and collaborations, is expected to drive further growth and innovation in the aerospace and defense elastomers market.

DOWNLOAD FREE SAMPLE

Market Trends: 

The aerospace and defence industries are seeing a considerable move towards high-performance elastomers that can withstand harsh temperatures, chemicals, and mechanical stress. These sophisticated materials are increasingly being used in crucial applications such as seals, gaskets, and hoses, where standard elastomers fail. Fluoroelastomers, for example, are gaining popularity because of their superior resistance to fuels, lubricants, and hydraulic fluids, even at high temperatures. Similarly, silicone elastomers are popular due to their broad temperature range and flexibility. This trend is motivated by the need for increased safety, dependability, and performance in aerospace applications, particularly next-generation aeroplanes and space vehicles. As manufacturers focus on lightweight materials to improve fuel efficiency, high-performance elastomers that reduce weight without sacrificing durability are becoming more popular.

Market Segmentation: 

Fluoroelastomers dominate the Aerospace & Defense Elastomers Market due to their exceptional chemical resistance and high-temperature performance. Fluoroelastomers, commonly known as FKM or Viton, have emerged as the dominant category in the aerospace and defence elastomer market. These high-performance elastomers have excellent resistance to a variety of chemicals, fuels, and oils, making them perfect for use in essential aircraft components. Fluoroelastomers can tolerate temperatures ranging from -40°C to 200°C, providing dependable performance in harsh aerospace settings. Their superior compression set resistance and low permeability to gases and fluids make them ideal for seals, O-rings, and gaskets in aircraft engines, fuel systems, and hydraulic applications.

Fluoroelastomers' dominance in the market has been confirmed by recent industrial advances. For example, in 2023, a major elastomer producer launched a new grade of fluoroelastomer specifically tailored for aircraft applications, which has better low-temperature flexibility and resistance to abrasive aviation fluids. This idea has been enthusiastically appreciated by aircraft makers that want to improve the performance and lifetime of crucial sealing components.

Furthermore, the aviation industry's increased emphasis on fuel efficiency and emissions reduction has boosted demand for fluoroelastomers. These materials help to reduce weight while also improving sealing efficiency, which has a direct impact on fuel economy. According to industry studies, the use of sophisticated fluoroelastomer seals in current aircraft engines has resulted in a 2-3% increase in fuel economy over older elastomer materials. This enormous impact on performance and operational costs has prompted major aerospace companies to include fluoroelastomers in their most recent aircraft designs, confirming their position as the industry leader in aerospace and defence elastomers.

Market Key Players:

DuPont

Trelleborg AB

Momentive Performance Materials

Shin-Etsu Chemical Co.

Solvay S.A.

Parker Hannifin Corporation

Contact Us:

Name: Hari Krishna

Email us: hari.krishna@aurorawaveintellects.com

Website: https://aurorawaveintellects.com/

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

"Strikers Picket Flin Flon Hall," Winnipeg Tribune. July 4, 1934. Page 1. ---- During the rioting at Flin Fion last Saturday strikers threw a picket line around the Community hall. This picture shows the line guarding the entrance to the hall. The young man and woman in the centre, sitting on the pipe, seem to be more concerned with their own affairs than strike matters.

///

"TENSION GROWS AT FLIN FLON: POLICE ARRIVE," Winnipeg Tribune. July 4, 1934. Page 1. ---- Town Disturbed at Rumors That Troops Will Be Sent In ---- POSSESSION OF HALL BONE OF CONTENTION ---- Large Crowd at Station When Train Carrying Redcoats Arrives ---- By Tribune Staff Representative. FLIN FLON, July 4 - Arriving at 7 o'clock this morning a special train of two sleepers and a baggage car brought a detachment of 34 R.C.M.P. constables and officers from Regina, the force of red conta now in Flin Fion numbers 76. Several hundred strikers and nearly 50 women were at the station when the train pulled in.

The police detachment made the public school building near the mine their barracks.

During the night the town was disturbed by rumors that troops were to be brought in and martial law declared. It was said the special train would arrive at a.m. and soon after daybreak strikers assembled at picket headquarters and made their way to the railway yards.

There was no disturbance when the train arrived. Temporary Barracks The two sleepers will be spotted on a side track near the staff house of the Hudson Bay, Mining and Smelting Co, and be used as temporary barracks while the policemen remain here.

Inspector James Browne, who has been in charge of the R.C.M.P. squad in Flin Flon since the outbreak to the strike, returned here by aeroplane at 6 pm Tuesday, after conferring with Winnipeg headquarters.

Hon. W. J. Major, K.C, was informed that citizens had been intimidated and it was suggested to the attorney-general that Inspector Browne's force should police the entire Flin Flon area. Mr. Major agreed that this should be done.

Late Tuesday night strikers learned that the train would arrive and at 4 o'clock this morning nearly 200 men had assembled in the railway yard near the station. A few women also were present.

Huddle Over Fires The temperature was near freezing point and after huddling over fires for two hours or more the crowd dwindled and only the men on picket duty remained. Before the train arrived the crowd re-assembled and nearly as many women as men were present.

Possession of the Community club hall continued today as the chief bone of contention between the militant strikers and the employes of the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Co., and their fellow workers who are inclined to return to work.

Below the surface the extreme tension is apparent. It is the com mon belief among strikers that troops will be brought in.

If the dispute comes to a clash it will develop near the Community club hall, where the strikers have established a dining-room and have succeeded in ousting the executive committee which refused last week to permit non-resident speakers to address meetings.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.28 (before 1950)

224 – The Battle of Hormozdgan is fought. Ardashir I defeats and kills Artabanus V effectively ending the Parthian Empire. 357 – Emperor Constantius II enters Rome for the first time to celebrate his victory over Magnus Magnentius. 1192 – Assassination of Conrad of Montferrat (Conrad I), King of Jerusalem, in Tyre, two days after his title to the throne is confirmed by election. The killing is carried out by Hashshashin. 1253 – Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for the very first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism. 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols with the reigning title Oljeitu. 1503 – The Battle of Cerignola is fought. It is noted as one of the first European battles in history won by small arms fire using gunpowder. 1611 – Establishment of the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas, The Catholic University of the Philippines, the largest Catholic university in the world. 1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War. 1758 – The Marathas defeat the Afghans in the Battle of Attock and capture the city. 1788 – Maryland becomes the seventh state to ratify the United States Constitution. 1789 – Mutiny on the Bounty: Lieutenant William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew returns to Tahiti briefly and then sets sail for Pitcairn Island. 1792 – France invades the Austrian Netherlands (present day Belgium and Luxembourg), beginning the French Revolutionary Wars. 1794 – Sardinians, headed by Giovanni Maria Angioy, start a revolution against the Savoy domination, expelling Viceroy Balbiano and his officials from Cagliari, the capital and largest city of the island. 1796 – The Armistice of Cherasco is signed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, expanding French territory along the Mediterranean coast. 1869 – Chinese and Irish laborers for the Central Pacific Railroad working on the First transcontinental railroad lay ten miles of track in one day, a feat which has never been matched. 1881 – Billy the Kid escapes from the Lincoln County jail in Mesilla, New Mexico. 1887 – A week after being arrested by the Prussian Secret Police, French police inspector Guillaume Schnaebelé is released on order of William I, German Emperor, defusing a possible war. 1910 – Frenchman Louis Paulhan wins the 1910 London to Manchester air race, the first long-distance aeroplane race in the United Kingdom. 1920 – The Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic is founded. 1923 – Wembley Stadium is opened, named initially as the Empire Stadium. 1930 – The Independence Producers hosted the first night game in the history of Organized Baseball in Independence, Kansas. 1937 – South African medical researcher Max Theiler develops the yellow fever vaccine at the Rockefeller Foundation in New York. 1941 – The Ustaše massacre nearly 200 Serbs in the village of Gudovac, the first massacre of their genocidal campaign against Serbs of the Independent State of Croatia. 1944 – World War II: Nine German E-boats attacked US and UK units during Exercise Tiger, the rehearsal for the Normandy landings, killing 946. 1945 – Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci are shot dead by Walter Audisio, a member of the Italian resistance movement. 1945 – The Holocaust: Nazi Germany carries out its final use of gas chambers to execute 33 Upper Austrian socialist and communist leaders in Mauthausen concentration camp. 1947 – Thor Heyerdahl and five crew mates set out from Peru on the Kon-Tiki to demonstrate that Peruvian natives could have settled Polynesia. 1948 – Igor Stravinsky conducted the premiere of his American ballet, Orpheus at the New York City Center. 1949 – The Hukbalahap are accused of assassinating former First Lady of the Philippines Aurora Quezon, while she is en route to dedicate a hospital in memory of her late husband; her daughter and ten others are also killed.

[tourist-destinations]

New Attractions to Check Out on Your Dubai Visit 2024

Dubai is always up to something new perpetually! It wants to be the shining star of attractions and experiences in every genre for its guests, and it leaves no stone unturned with its innovative vision. Every year, you will find a slight tweak in Dubai's skyline due to brand-new additions of architectural marvels. Presently, it has some of the most excellent attractions in the world, including the Museum of The Future, which looks straight out of a sci-fi movie! So, what does Dubai have up its sleeve in 2024 for its Dubai visit visa holders? Let’s take a look! 

Cityland Mall Dubai

Adding a new venue for all shopping enthusiasts visiting Dubai, The Cityland Mall is a brand-new mall near IMG Worlds of Adventure and Global Village. Sprawling over 1.2 million sq. ft, infused with refreshing natural ambiences the mall is now counted among the best malls to visit in Dubai. The Cityland Mall features the largest single-floor retail centre and a 20,000 sq. ft outdoor, open-air verdant gardens. 

Location: Sheikh Zayed Road, (E311), Dubai

Arte Museum Dubai

Taking the immersive digital experience a level further and into the lap of nature, Arte Museum is here in Dubai to provide an enchanting indoor nature experience through the medium of digital art and avant-garde technology. It offers an invigorating multi-sensory experience for its guests. This brand-new museum is unlike any museums in Dubai you have visited!

Location: Level 2, Dubai Mall, Downtown Dubai

Glitch

One of the year-round adventure things to do in Dubai for kids and adults, the Glitch is the brand new addition to the eclectic range of indoor thrills in the Emirates. It is packed with a series of indoor recreational adventures such as wall-climbing, themed obstacle courses, bowling alleys, roller-gliding parks, and gaming arcades. Opened in June 2023, this indoor attraction at Al Ghurair Centre has gained massive attention from holiday vacationers as a kid-friendly attraction.

Location: Al Ghurair Centre,Al Riqqa Street Road, Deira - Dubai.

Dubai Mall Chinatown

Dubai gets its version of Chinatown at Dubai Mall, where you can step into a space filled with Chinese lanterns, dragon motifs, and other figurines,  quaint shops with goodies from Chinese heritage, and more. The food court is a must-visit to relish an amazing palette of Chinese cuisine that is a treat for your tastebuds. The arena has a whole different vibe than the rest of Dubai! 

Location: 1st Level-Dubai Mall, Downtown Dubai.

Dubai Islands Beach

For all beachgoers, Dubai has a new spot for you to swim and enjoy gorgeous sunset views. A massive sunkissed stretch of warm sands lapped by azure waters awaits to welcome you at Dubai Islands, located off the coast of Deira. The beach offers a clean, sublime, and spacious place to enjoy the refreshing Persian Gulf views along with the dazzling city skyline of Dubai. It is also a dog-friendly beach where even pets can have their fair share of beach fun!

Location: Dubai Islands, Deira-Dubai

Dubai Crocodile Park

Dubai has a collection of wildlife attractions, and the latest one to join the club is Dubai Crocodile Park. Located near Mushrif Park, this ambitious Dubai attraction is a massive crocodile conservation and breeding centre. As of now, it is home to over 200 Nile crocodiles. That's not all; along with educational and entertainment on crocodiles, this wildlife venue also has a National History Museum, an African-themed aquarium, and some amazing shopping and dining outlets.

Location: Mushrif, Dubai

Sky Views Dubai

For some real adventures to enjoy fascinating bird-eye views of Dubai, head for a thrilling day at Sky Views Dubai. Relatively new and already catching the interests of adventure enthusiasts, Sky Views Dubai experiences are a much better way to explore Dubai's city skyline from atop with a hint of thrill without getting into an aeroplane. There's Sky Edge Walk, where you will be walking along the edge of the observatory, which is fully secured with harnesses. The best thing is that you and your family, even kids above 12, can join you on this adventure. Not keen on doing the extreme walk? You can enjoy the views with Sky Glass Slide and Sky Views Observatory experiences.

Location: Address Sky View, Downtown Dubai

Conclusion

The mentioned new attractions in Dubai 2024 are just a gist of what lies ahead in Dubai. There are many other upcoming attractions in Dubai being designed and brought to reality in the future. So keep your eyes open to know what’s new in Dubai before you go ahead and plan for your Dubai holiday!

[speedyposts]

Chile’s wildfires kill at least 112, as Boric warns death toll to rise

The death toll from raging wildfires in Chile has risen to at least 112 people, with hundreds more missing, authorities have said.

President Gabriel Boric on Sunday warned that casualties would rise “significantly” as forest fires continued to blaze in the central region of Valparaiso.

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Dabiri-Erewa warns Nigerians against irregular migration, Especially to Canada

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has urged Nigerians travelling abroad to go legitimately and with proper documentation

Read Article

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“It is Chile as a whole that suffers and mourns our dead,” Boric said in a televised speech. “We are facing a tragedy of very great magnitude.”

Authorities said 200 people were reported missing in and around the city of Viña del Mar, a popular beach resort where some of the most intense fires have raged.

Several neighbourhoods on the eastern edge of the city, which is known for its annual international music festival, were destroyed by flames, leaving residents to sift through the remains of their burnt-out homes.

Boric on Friday declared a state of emergency as he pledged support for people trying to recover from the disaster.

“We are together, all of us, fighting the emergency,” he said. “The priority is to save lives.”

Almost 26,000 hectares (64,000 acres) of land had been burned across the Latin American country’s central and southern regions as of Sunday, according to the national disaster service SENAPRED.

Some 1,400 firefighters and 1,300 military personnel, as well as 31 firefighting helicopters and aeroplanes, have been deployed to fight the fires, according to authorities.

Wildfires are not uncommon in Chile during the summer months and about 27 people died in a spate of blazes in the south-central region of the country last year.

This season’s fires, however, have been far deadlier than past blazes, including fires in 2017 that killed at least 11 people and were widely described as the worst in the country’s history.

During his Sunday address, Pope Francis, who hails from neighbouring Argentina, called for prayers for the “dead and wounded in the devastating fires in Chile”.

The fires followed record high temperatures, low humidity and high wind speeds in central Chile driven by the El Niño weather pattern.

Scientists have warned that natural disasters such as wildfires are likely to become more common due to warming temperatures caused by climate change.

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Dabiri-Erewa warns Nigerians against irregular migration, Especially to Canada

The Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM), Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has urged Nigerians travelling abroad to go legitimately and with proper documentation

Read Article

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[ssaviation]

The Role and Responsibilities of Pilots in India

A pilot in India has a wide range of responsibilities. To operate an aircraft safely and successfully, a pilot has to have a thorough grasp of aviation laws, weather conditions, directions, communication, as well as aircraft systems. Pilots need to be highly skilled in awareness of the situation, decision-making, and responding swiftly and composedly to any crisis in addition to technical skills. Along with making sure the aircraft is operational and collaborating with the crew to guarantee passenger comfort and security, pilots are also in charge of pre-flight planning as well as post-flight inspections. In addition to following the guidelines established by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, pilots operating in India must be ready to adapt to changing atmospheric conditions.

The main responsibility of a pilot is to safely transport people to their destination and to accomplish this, they must be equipped to handle any obstacles that may come along.  In India, a pilot is in charge of operating the aircraft efficiently and securely and is required to follow the rules established by Indian Civil Aviation Authorities. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the licensing authority for issuing the DGCA Commercial Pilot License. This requires acquiring an authorized student pilot license, finishing at least 200 hours of flying experience, and qualifying for both a theoretical and practical test. The responsibilities of a pilots in India vary according to the kind of aircraft they fly. A pilot employed by a commercial airline is in charge of safely initiating, manoeuvring, and flying the aircraft in addition to coordinating with air traffic control as well as other elements that may impact flight safety. 

Job Role and Responsibilities 

Operating aeroplanes safely

In addition to making sure that everyone on board, including passengers and flight attendants, is safe, pilots are in charge of running the aircraft efficiently. The pilot keeps an eye on all crucial safety factors and operates the flying gear. These consist of inspecting the cockpit controls, flying systems, fuel usage, load or balance adjustments, and flight paths. To get updates on weather, routes, and fuel availability, pilots also stay in contact with air traffic controllers during the journey. Before take-off, the pilot is required to inspect the aircraft and its instruments, brief the crew, oversee the loading process by rules, and make contact with air traffic control. Pilots evaluate the data shown on their instruments and controls while in flight. When they take off and land, they rely on their knowledge as well as experience. An aircraft's instruments are monitored while it is operating automatically to make sure everything is operating as it should.

Developing flight plans

Logbooks known as flight plans record information on the kind of aircraft, its efficiency, the weather, temperature, visibility, as well as wind direction. Pilots can better prepare the route while also learning about any unique conditions of the voyage by completing this essential pre-flight activity. In addition, they often submit corporate memoranda, weather advisories, and maintenance releases before the flight.

Job Description 

Completing required paperwork and reviewing pre-flight materials such as flight plans, service releases, aircraft logbooks, business memoranda, and weather alerts

Conducting standard checks for anomalies on the aircraft and avionics equipment before take-off.

Exchanging information on flight plans, air traffic regulations, as well as current weather conditions with air traffic control operators

Keeping an eye on the aircraft's navigation systems, fuel capacity, and engine performance while in flight

Checking whether the weather is suitable for landing and taking off

Coordinating with airline staff and keeping passengers informed throughout take-off, landing, and flight plan modifications

Before every flight, pilots are required to ensure that the aircraft is in good functioning condition and to follow the regulations set out by the Best pilot training In Kerala. Pilots also need to be alert to any possible risks or dangers, such as bad weather or technical issues, that can compromise flight safety. Apart from their regular responsibilities, pilots in India could also have to do extra activities like cargo handling or aircraft maintenance. Additionally, pilots need to know how to use the aircraft's equipment and emergency protocols. Pilots also need to be aware of the safety guidelines for the particular kind of aircraft they are flying as well as the laws and rules controlling aviation authorities in India. 

In India, you must have completed your 10+2 schooling with physics, chemistry, and maths as your core courses to begin a career as a pilot. Following that, you must join a flying school that has been authorized by India's DGCA. One of the uncommon organizations of its kind in India is the Sha-Shib Flying Academy. Pilot Training Academy In Kerala supports students in their learning and helps them achieve their goals.