#ballast point ventures

[amnottrak-official]

Sydney Trains A & B sets

Class of electric train operating in Sydney, Australia

"Waratah train" redirects here. For the station on the Hunter line of the same name, see Waratah railway station.

"New South Wales B set" redirects here. For the historic electric rolling stock, partly given the same set designator, see New South Wales Standard suburban carriage stock.

The Sydney Trains A & B sets (also referred to as the Waratah trains) are classes of electric multiple units that currently operate on the Sydney Trains network. Based on the M sets, the Waratahs were manufactured by a joint consortium between CRRC and Downer Rail, with initial construction taking place overseas in Changchun before final assembly at Downer Rail's Cardiff Locomotive Workshops. The sets were named after the Waratah flower, which is the state's floral emblem.

Quick Facts A & B sets, In service ...

The initial order for 78 A sets was the largest rolling stock order in Australia's history. These 624 A set carriages make up around half of the Sydney Trains fleet and replaced two-thirds of the 498 S set carriages. Delivery commenced in July 2011 and was completed in June 2014.

An order for 24 additional trains with updated technology and a lightly revised design was placed in December 2016. These are classified as B sets, or colloquially as Waratah Series 2 trains. The delivery of the first order of sets began in September 2018 and was completed in June 2019, while a second and final order of a further 17 sets began in September 2020 and was completed in June 2021.

Public Private Partnership

The A sets were delivered by a joint venture between Downer Rail and Hitachi for Reliance Rail under a Public Private Partnership (PPP). As part of the PPP, Reliance Rail will also maintain the trains for a minimum of 30 years at the purpose-built Auburn Maintenance Centre facility. At least 72 sets must be made available to Sydney Trains every day during the contract period.[citation needed]

Reliance Rail took on debts of $2.4 billion at cheap interest rates before the global financial crisis. Higher interest rates and changes in the financial sector after the GFC meant the company would have difficulty refinancing its debt, leading the Government of New South Wales into talks with Reliance Rail to resolve the financial status of the project. In February 2012 the Government agreed to bail out the project for $175 million by becoming the sole shareholder in 2018.

Design

Vestibule

The A sets were designed at the Downer EDI Rail design offices, then at Clyde, New South Wales & Maryborough Queensland. The sets are formed of eight carriages – a break from the previous standard Sydney practice of four car sets, which are then coupled to form eight-car trains. The configuration is: driving trailer car + motor car + motor car + trailer car + trailer car + motor car + motor car + driving trailer car. This means that guards operate from the rear of the train rather than the centre and that commuters are able to walk through the entire train. The trains include external CCTV cameras to assist guards.

Carriage interiors were designed by Transport Design International. The inside of the train includes additional Emergency Help Points and CCTV cameras compared to older classes. Improvements to the DVAs (Digital Voice Announcements) with differential pitch of the voice allow more natural sounding speech. 'Smart' air-conditioning automatically adjusts to the outside temperature and the number of passengers on board. Accessibility features include 16 wheelchair spaces, portable wheelchair ramps in the end cars, red fabric on priority seating and additional handrails compared to older trains in the fleet.

The A set is the first passenger train in the world to use LED lamps for all lighting (except for headlights). In doing so, the designers managed to remove almost 800 kg (1,800 lb) in reflectors and ballasts associated with fluorescent units, as well as reducing power consumption to around a quarter of that used by fluorescents. Woollen moquette fabric, a durable, vandal-resistant material, is used to cover the train's seats. The seats use specially developed shock absorbers such that the reversing feature is damped - this was a safety feature added to allow reversible seats which would contain passengers in the event of an accident. Detailed design of the train was completed in July 2009.

B2 (left) and A76 (right) at Revesby station

The B sets share more than 90 percent of their design with the original A sets. The trains' exterior is of the same design and construction, but feature a different livery of black, orange and silver wrap applied to the cabs, and side windows. Changes are more prominent internally; the B sets have upgraded computer systems and improved passenger technology, such as updated and additional digital passenger information displays throughout the interior.

Construction and delivery

A sets

A4 at Ashfield station

The joint venture between Downer EDi Rail and Hitachi was established to design, manufacture and commission the A sets. The stainless steel bodies were partially constructed by CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles in China before being shipped to Downer EDI's Cardiff Locomotive Workshops facility in New South Wales for final assembly, testing and commissioning. The manufacturing facility at Cardiff received an upgrade of over $20 million to cater for the needs of the project. Other infrastructure works included the construction of the Auburn Maintenance Centre and new substations at various locations around the network.

A four car pre-production test train was built to test the train sub-systems and compatibility with the Sydney suburban network. This was intended to allow any issues with the train to be corrected before the production trains entered service. The test train was expected to perform trial runs from mid 2009, but did not begin network testing until April 2010. The pre-production train concluded testing in August 2010. The first production set began network testing in August 2010 and by November 2010, three sets were undergoing testing.

The first trains were scheduled to be introduced in late 2010, but a series of delays pushed back their introduction. The first train intended for service (A3) was delivered to then-operator CityRail for acceptance on 20 April 2011. CityRail had 20 business days to accept or reject the train, but a decision was postponed by two weeks to allow Downer EDi to correct further defects. CityRail rejected the train due to safety concerns and a number of defects. The defects included; 'milky' effect windscreens – apparent when under direct sunlight, poor-quality steel welding as evident in the indents seen on some areas of the carriage exterior, gaps in the plastic moulding, handrails not lining up with stairs and software problems.

Once the majority of the problems were resolved by Downer EDi, CityRail allowed A3 to commence service, though operating under special conditions. It entered service on 1 July 2011, operating its maiden run from Redfern to Macarthur via the City Circle and Airport. Initially, it operated two return services from the city to Macarthur via the Airport line during the off-peak period on weekdays, and all day on the Airport & East Hills and South lines on weekends. On 14 October 2011, A3 became the first Waratah set to operate during peak hours. As more Waratahs became available, the trains were progressively rolled out to most lines of the Sydney suburban network. On 2 June 2014, it was announced that the final A set (A80) had been delivered.

Originally, the Waratahs were intended to replace all 500 S set carriages, but in February 2013 it was revealed that some S sets would still be required in order to provide services on the South West Rail Link. An option existed to extend the order, but in March 2013 the government indicated it would not take this up.

B sets

B3 departing Panania

Despite proceeding with the intercity train order, the New South Wales Government announced on 1 December 2016 that 24 new suburban trains had been ordered. Known as the Sydney Growth Trains during development, the trains are officially classified as B sets.

The $1.7 billion contract was awarded to Downer EDI (now Downer Group). CRRC Changchun manufactured and assembled the trains in China on Downer's behalf. Upon arrival in Australia, the trains were taken to Downer's facility at Cardiff, where commissioning works were performed.

Downer Rail will maintain the trains for a minimum of 25 years. As many as 45 additional sets may be added to the order at a future date. The trains were originally to be based at the Mortdale Maintenance Centre, but in late 2017 it was decided that the trains would instead be based alongside the A sets at the Auburn Maintenance Centre. Nevertheless, work to upgrade the Mortdale Maintenance Centre continued.

Revamped LCD destination boards on a B set. Screens are also incorporated above the stairwell

The B sets incorporate improved air conditioning, accessibility and internal lighting, with new and revised features such as LCD Indicators and LCD video screens as well as more than 90 internal and external CCTV cameras. Upgrades to the train's computer systems are the most significant changes between the original A sets and the updated B sets. There are also various external livery and colour changes that differentiate the newer B sets from the original A sets.

The first B set to be delivered was unveiled to the media in March 2018. Set B2 was the first to enter revenue service on 7 September 2018, beginning with a run from Granville to Liverpool. On 18 September 2018, B2 became the first Waratah Series 2 to operate during peak hours. By June 2019, all the 24 B sets were delivered and had replaced the 48 remaining S sets.

In February 2019, a further 17 B sets were ordered, with the first two trains delivered to Australia in July 2020. The first of the 17 entered service in September 2020. By September 2020, B25 commenced service, making it the first arrival of the second and final order of the B sets. Further deliveries allowed for the retirement of the C sets. From April 2022, a software update was progressively rolled out across the digital destination boards of the B sets.

In service

Formation

The train's guards' compartment is located in the last driving carriage

The 625 carriages form 78 eight car sets (numbered A1, A3 to A78 and A80) with 1 spare driving car. Individual vehicles are numbered as follows:

A1: D6301-N5301-N5501-T6501-T6601-N5601-N5401-D6401

A3: D6303-N5303-N5503-T6503-T6603-N5603-N5403-D6403

up to

A41: D6341-N5341-N5541-T6541-T6641-N5641-N5441-D6441

A42: D6379-N5342-N5542-T6542-T6642-N5642-N5442-D6442

A43: D6343-N5343-N5543-T6543-T6643-N5643-N5443-D6443

up to

A78: D6378-N5378-N5578-T6578-T6678-N5678-N5478-D6478

A80: D6380-N5380-N5580-T6580-T6680-N5680-N5480-D6480

The inter-carriage doors feature a new mechanism for opening during an emergency, in response to Justice McInerney's Report into the Waterfall rail accident recommending the development of alternative emergency exits for passengers

The spare driving car is D6479. This was one of the first four carriages delivered, along with D6379 and scrapped duplicates of N5342 and N5442, and was part of the four car testing and development train. Car D6379 is now on set A42 replacing D6342.

The 328 B set carriages form 41 eight carriage sets. Individual vehicles are numbered as follows:

B1: D1101-N1701-N1901-T1301-T1401-N1801-N1601-D1201

up to

B41: D1141-N1741-N1941-T1341-T1441-N1841-N1641-D1241

The first 40 A sets were delivered to CityRail with the NSW Government's Waratah logo on each carriage. Following the formation of Sydney Trains in July 2013, these were replaced by the Sydney Trains logo and the sides of the train near the driver's cabs were covered with an orange wrap.

Waratahs currently operate on these lines:

T1 North Shore & Western Line: Berowra, Emu Plains or Richmond to City

T2 Inner West & Leppington: Leppington or Parramatta to City Circle via Granville

T3 Bankstown: Liverpool or Lidcombe to City Circle via Bankstown

T5 Cumberland: Leppington to Richmond

T7 Olympic Park: shuttle service from Lidcombe to Olympic Park on weekends and public holidays, special event services from Central to Olympic Park

T8 Airport & South: Macarthur to City Circle via Airport or Sydenham

T9 Northern Line: Hornsby to Gordon via Strathfield

In service incidents and accidents

On 12 March 2015, set A19 was driven more than 700 m (2,300 ft) in the wrong direction at Mount Druitt. At the time of the incident, a Pacific National freight train was travelling towards the train on the same line. The cause of the incident was likely attributed to driver fatigue, and prompted a review of train crew rostering policies. No passengers were onboard A19 at the time of the incident, and no injuries were reported as both trains were stopped in time.

On 20 March 2017, carriage N5508 on set A8 suffered an explosion in a traction inverter unit at Burwood. The cause was found to be a faulty capacitor in the inverter. The carriage was subsequently repaired and A8 later returned to service.

On 22 January 2018, Waratah A42 hit the buffers at the end of the track on platform 2 at an approximate speed of 35 kilometres per hour (22 mph) at Richmond station just before 10am. The train then lurched backwards, causing passengers who were readying to disembark, to fall and injure themselves. The impact caused extensive frontal damage, some of the carriages to lift and gangways between carriages to become crushed. The damage was such that the train could only be moved out of the platform after several days and it needed to be split into 2/3 carriage segments to be towed to Downer Rail at Cardiff. Sixteen patients in total, including the train driver and another crew member were treated. None of the injuries were considered life-threatening. Inspection of A42 was undertaken following the incident, with the train's event recorders taken for analysis and interviews being conducted with the train's crew. A42 has since been repaired and returned to service on 27 March 2019, with the driver carriage (D6342) that hit the stop buffer replaced with a spare from the prototype train (D6379).

On 5 September 2018, A18 hit and killed a man at Riverwood while he was illegally on the tracks.

The city-bound train A15 crashed into a trailer at Level Crossing Road at Vineyard, south of Windsor, about 5am on Thursday 25th of January 2024.

Criticism

Noise concerns

In 2021, residents in Waverton and Wollstonecraft complained about excessive squealing made by Waratah trains, relative to other trains in the fleet, as well as their horns. Sydney Trains responded that it was working to reduce noise in the area.

CRRC Uyghur slave labor scandal

Senior public servants have made three trips to the CRRC Changchun plant in June 2017, October–November 2017 and February 2018.[citation needed]

In September 2018, the NSW Government approved a request for two senior executives from Transport for NSW to visit the CRRC Changchun plant at an estimated cost exceeding $15,000.

In March 2020, a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute highlighted 82 companies directly or indirectly using Uyghur slave labour.[citation needed] Included in this was KTK Group, a supplier to CRRC. The report indicated that this had been occurring since 2019.[citation needed]

A spokesperson for Downer said the company had investigated serious allegations in early 2020, and that CRRC strongly denied the use of Uyghur labour.[citation needed]

CRRC would be one of 11 companies placed onto a United States blacklist in July 2020.

In October 2020, Premier of New South Wales Gladys Berejiklian stated that she was concerned over the possibility of Uyghur slave labour being used. She would state that "Obviously we’re concerned with that and if there’s anything further we need to do I’m sure Transport for NSW will take that action," which prompted much opposition from the state opposition and union groups. -Anastasia the train girl I have to add that Gladys berejiklian is a super corrupt politician that is nicknamed kola killer

This one started out really interesting and then I got to the parts about slave labor, explosions, and crashes and suddenly the LED lights and smart air conditioning weren't that cool anymore lol.

I love reading these, trains are so fascinating

3/10 train tastiness

[inventivaindia]

Why VCs are dumping money into insurance marketplaces

Why VCs are dumping money into insurance marketplaces

Following our look at why so many startups are building OKR-focused software and why venture capitalists are pouring capital into their efforts, today we’re asking a similar question about insurance marketplace startups.

This month, Insurify raised a $23 million Series A that TechCrunch covered here. And even more recently, Gabi, a competitor, raised $27 million. The two rounds added up to $50…

[sudriantraveler]

The Cronk & Harwick Railway: The Railway to Insanity

The Cronk & Harwick Railway Is one of those bits of RWS lore which I find really interesting, mainly because we know so little about it, which leaves plenty of room for headcanon. But before diving into any of that, let's see what the IOS book has to say about Harwick and its railway.

So first of all, based on the name of this railway, was the original plan to try to build the line all the way to Cronk? Because that is a pretty long distance for a railway located in probably the most off the beaten path part of the entire island, and which, presumably, was never all that financially prosperous.

Secondly, the railway was horse drawn. I’m going to change this for my own headcanon, and instead say the railway switched to steam engines somewhere around the beginning of the 1900s. I’m not entirely sure what I want their locomotive fleet to be specifically, but I wonder if one of the Sodor and Mainland’s box tanks could have ended up here. In any case I imagine the engines of this line are a hodgepodge of second, third, or even fourth hand engines of ridiculously antiquated designs, all held together with duct tape and prayers! Also, I think it would be fitting for the C&H to at some point acquire a pair of railmotors similar to ones used on Colonel Stephens’ light railways.

Finally, the line was apparently pulled up for scrap at some point during World War II. I would like to propose that instead of being truly scrapped, whoever the owner of this railway was actually pulled off the biggest con in the island's history! Let me explain.

During World War II the British Government wanted to tear up the old line for scrap metal to serve the war effort. The owner sold the tracks to them, but at a cost significantly higher than what they were actually worth. He kept possession of the railways right-of-way however. The railways engines were also supposed to be scrapped, but the owner claimed they had been completely destroyed by a German bomber, and pointed to the railways’ blown up sheds as proof. It was a bit weird that only the sheds had been hit… and that no one had either seen or heard any planes overhead… and that the Cregwir Quarry coincidently “misplaced” some several boxes of dynamite the night before, which were never found. However, there was a war on, and frankly, the military had more pressing matters to deal with than the sketchy behavior of a disused backwater railway which was going to be torn up anyway.

So the line was scrapped, and for the remainder of the war nothing particularly unusual happened around Harwick. The naval base which had been established there was small, and only ever housed a handful of small coastal patrol vessels, the crews of which never really ventured far out of the town. But shortly after the war had ended, and the Royal Navy was out of sight, strange things began to occur on railways all over the island. The NWR had begun a program of repairing and relaying their tracks, which had become worn out during the war. At works sites all across the railway, several segments of old rails and sleepers, which had been taken up during the day, began to go missing in the night. A shipment of bricks for the rebuilding of some of the NWR’s goods sheds conspicuously never arrived, and the Skarloey Railway reported that a small stockpile of slate seemed to have simply vanished. On the Mid Sodor Railway, the long abandoned Mountain Road, which had its rails and sleepers removed in the late 30s, was mysteriously stripped clean of all its remaining ballast. The Mid Sodor, however, was too busy going bankrupt at the time to really take much notice.

Up in Harwick however, a remarkable rebirth had occurred, with rails once again running alongside the river all the way to Cregwir. Also, as it turned out, the death of the line's old engines had been greatly exaggerated, and they were found (due to some clerical error no doubt) to have instead been stored in a disused mine-shaft up at Cregwir, where they had miraculously remained in good working order (or atleast, good by the standards of the C&H, which wasn’t saying much). The revitalized railway had even built a brand new engine shed to replace the one which had been destroyed, made of bricks and complete with a slate roof… yeah…

Nothing could ever be proven however, and so the Cronk & Harwick Railway was back! Needless to say, the NWR and the Skarloey refused to ever do business with the revitalized railway. When asked by Awdry during his research The Fat Controller refused to even admit the railway was still in existence, hence why it’s marked as abandoned on most maps, if it's even marked at all! It's possible that one of the reasons the NWR never extended up to Harwick is because doing so would have almost certainly meant having to deal with the C&H. 

Despite this, the C&H has continued to survive. How? Well, that’s a question which many have asked, but it has become accepted wisdom on Sodor that you should not go looking for an explanation. For those who have tried have all ended up becoming obsessed and throwing themselves head first into their research, isolating themselves from society and wasting further and further away. Until they finally re-emerge from their studies into the outside world, having gone completely insane after finally concluding that logic and sanity had simply given up on the Cronk & Harwick and that so too must they give up on logic and sanity!

Since then the railway has led a mostly uneventful life (at least by Sodor’s standards), though it is still as ramshackle an operation as ever, and there have periodically been rumors of the old owner hiding stores of cash and maybe even some gold in the surrounding caves! Again, nothing has ever been proven, and the old owner has since been succeeded by his daughter, who has a slightly better reputation. Needless to say though, the railway has certainly lived up to its long standing nickname of The Old Crooked and Horrible! In recent years they’ve even taken to flying the Jolly Roger over their definitely not stolen engine shed!

[meaningofmotorsport]

Why are the proposed Sprint Races bad for F1?

When it was announced that F1 would be discussing possible sprint races during the next meeting with teams, there was backlash as to the format that they were planning on doing it with, which would effectively be a preview for the race on Sunday. Despite this outcry on social media, the talks seem to have been positive and may be progressing to further talks in the future about this format entering the sport. So, what is so bad about them?

Well the problem is more the direction that Liberty Media seems to be taking F1, when they arrived in the sport a few years ago, there was much hope that it would revitalise the sport, and in the most part it has. We have seen many changes for the better, as they seem to have really strengthened their social media presence, which is key nowadays. However, we are starting to see ideas coming out of the new management, which set a worrying precedent for the future, such as an expanding calendar, which it seems could get as high as 25 races very soon.

Whilst on the face of it, more races means more action, which is better, what it will actually do is make each race less special, because they are that much more common, or even worse people could become sick of the races if it takes up too much of their life. Plus, we have to think about those who are travelling to the races, and more importantly, away from their families. I know that F1 is looking to shorten the F1 weekends to combat this, but that won’t fix the problem.

That brings us to the new idea set out by F1, of these sprint races being basically a mini copy of the Sunday Race, which means it will likely have the same result, which will just give people less reason to watch the race on Sunday. Much like adding races, this is being done to sell more tickets to the track, and make more money through TV contracts, as it is effectively them paying for an extra race. When Ecclestone left the sport a few years ago, we thought it was the end of F1 being simply a money making venture for those in charge, and although this isn’t quite at Bernie’s level yet, we seem to be heading in that direction.

It was a surprise to hear that the teams were onboard with this idea, as it was the expectation that they would see through the idea, just as many of the fans have. However, we have to bear in mind that the teams are here to make money as well, and it may be that they think that they can get more money from their sponsors for doing an extra bit of racing over a weekend, as they think more people will tune in to it. There is also the factor that, the more racing that happens, the more wins the top teams can get, and the more chance of a shock result for the lower down teams.

So what else could F1 do instead, to try and spice up the racing, well I think that if they want to try sprint races at three races this year, they need to do something properly different, so as much as reverse grids are very gimmicky, they should give it a go, just to see what happens. One option is, if teams don’t want the reverse grid race to set the grid for the main race, that the Saturday race is a standalone race, which gives half points, so we get to see what a reverse grid race does, but the teams are happy as the Sunday race is not changed at all.

Doing things like Ballast or Balance of Performance (where you try to make all cars equal), is just not in the DNA of Formula 1. There needs to be someway to differentiate all the cars, and let the best cars win, and hopefully with the new rules, it will allow them to do this without getting too far ahead. I do also think that the budget cap will aid the pack to close up, at the end of the day, F1 has been around for 70 years, in which most of the time it was able to keep fresh with teams always rising and falling. All it needs is a little kick start, and it could all be brilliant again!

Do I think the Sprint Races will happen this year? They may well do, although maybe only once, it will not be the end of the world if they do, as it is always good to try things, I just hope they see that it is not what F1 needs right now. If you are going to change F1, do it properly, don’t half do it and make it worse!

-M

[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : Part 12 of 83 : World of Sea

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

Part 12 of 83

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2020

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users   of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may   reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information   remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in   my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical   compositions.

All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

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“Of course, little easier,” he leafed through the stack and pointed to a place.  “Here, where they were using the small boats to harpoon, would seem a likely bit to add it to.”

“I know that I can trust you to do it well,” said Barad, in genuine admiration, as Morgu’s facile hand added the note.

“Would you like to join me and Master Selked for a game of Three Dragons this evening after dinner?”

“I would be happy to,” said Morgu sincerely.  “I’ll be there.”

Arriving back at his cabin, Barad noticed at once that Kurti had taken down his bed hanging and was hard at work mending a worn spot.  She looked up, an expression of fear flitting across her face to be hidden by a mask of pleasure.  She had obviously been going through the cabin looking for clues to his taste as she cleaned.  His gaze caught that fact as he had opened the door.  His carpet was straightened of its wrinkles, port-sills, chest tops, knobs and shelves had been damp-wiped.  His clothes-press was open with everything neatly hung and airing.  She had been more than merely busy.  She had found the unlocked chest under the bed with its cargo of very feminine clothing.

“Captain! Welcome back!  I had hoped to have this done and hung before you returned but velvet is hard to darn so that it doesn’t show.” She held out the nearly repaired bed hanging for his inspection.

Gravely he examined it in her outstretched hands, actually appreciating the quality of her needlework.  Velvet was hard to repair when it was worn thin and her work would be invisible when done.  He let his gaze go past her outstretched hands and down her arms to her bosom. He let his eyes rest on her breasts for an embarrassingly long moment.

“Excellent,” he said ambiguously.  She was dressed in a blouse that had sheer amber sleeves and front, loosely fitted and open down the center of her chest, with shiny black mussel fabric, laced tight from just below the breasts to her waist where it vanished into a sash-belt of light brown.  Dark brown, almost black, slick fabric pants covered her to the groin, with legs of sheer amber matching the top of the outfit. Everything was accented and decorated with ruffles of white Longin Lace.

Kurti saw the approval in his eyes and felt relief flood her.  I’m glad that you like what I’ve done and how I dressed.  I’ll live longer.  Acting sprightly, she said, “I hope that you don’t mind that I got into these clothes, Captain.   I found them in an unlocked chest beneath the bunk, while I was cleaning.” Suffering only slightly inside as she did so, she let the hanging fall, straightened her back and squared her shoulders to project her bust more fully and stepped forward to hug him to her.

Surprised beyond measure, Captain Barad returned her hug.  Her head snuggled into him barely at mid-chest.  No other cabin-girl has ever treated me like this before.  The others were all too afraid or too angry.  He held her to him and stroked her medium brown hair as he said quietly, “I know that you are afraid of me, Kurti.  That is wise.  I can see that you are also determined to do what I want and help me however you can.  That is also wise.

“I will tell you frankly that no other girl has steered this course. Already, the clothes that you chose for me appear to be having some effect.  You are the first to clean without my order.  None has ever approached me as you have, voluntarily, unless her spirit was in ruins.”  Absently, as he put his thoughts into order, he stroked her gently along the jaw, tilting her head up to look into her gray eyes.  She schooled herself not to flinch from his touch.  He let her go.

In a voice that surprised her with its pleasant tone, he said, “Finish your mending, Kurti.  It is going well.  I should like to watch you do it.  Besides, we don’t have time to sport now.  I’ll have to make a sighting of one of the moons, shortly,” he said, settling into a comfortable chair.

“Is it the rise of Carsis?” she asked curiously, looking at him over her busy hands.  “I knew that a noon sighting would be necessary but I couldn’t figure out from the books what you would need for that.  I did set out the ephemeris book of Carsis, your favorite stylus, a tallow-slate and your most recent chart on the chart table.”

“Yes, it will be Carsis rise.”  Captain Barad’s brow furrowed in perplexity as he looked at the preparations on his chart table.  “How did you know that this was my favorite stylus?”

Kurti ventured a smile and said, “I cleaned.  That stylus was far more worn and polished by your hand than any other.”

“Simple, obvious, observant, and stemming directly from serving me.  You think and your actions are ruled by your thought. You rule your fear.” He measured her with his pale watery-blue eyes with embarrassing directness.  “I will be frank.  I like some fear in those about me. Even more, I like to see that fear mastered, though never banished. I respect such people.  They are rare.  I did not expect to find such a quality in you.  No other cabin-girl that I have had has shown your strength.”

Captain Barad gathered two instruments from a shelf and went up on deck to make his sighting.  Soon he returned to set the water-clock to zero and went back up to continue his navigational work.  After some more time he came down and noted the elapsed time.  Consulting the Ephemeris for Carsis, Barad began to calculate on his tallow-slate. He muttered to himself, looked at his chart, rubbed out his problems and started over.

“Sir,” Kurti ventured timidly, “I am very handy with figures.  I know nothing of navigation but if you give me figures to work, I can do them for you.”  I must be crazy.  If he thinks that I am trying to learn his job, he will kill me.

The Captain looked up calculatingly from his morass of figures and held out a stylus.  “I’d almost forgotten that you were a ship’s stores keeper besides being a diver.  Here, try this.  These two need to be added, then this figure from the table has to be subtracted from the total.  After that, find the closest figure on this other table here.”

Kurti made a show of having some difficulty with the simple task.  Even so, she was quicker than he had been.  It was when she was looking up the last figure that she found a difficulty.  Perplexed, she examined her work and found it to be good.  Then she picked up the book and looked closely at the columns of figures.  She laughed and pointed to the Carsis rising time in the book.

“Here is the culprit!  A dragged bit of hair has made a three into a nine.”

Looking at the book, Captain Barad said, “Observant.  How did you know that your answer was wrong?”

She held out the tallow-slate.  “I got the same answer as the one that you rubbed out.  Since yours was wrong, mine had to be too.”  Barad nodded accepting the simple explanation.

He surprised her by his next question.  “Kurti, do you understand Lading functions?  General Mass Distribution equations?”

“Yes, Sir.  As a stores clerk I had to figure cargo placement, ballast distribution and load for the hands to implement.”

Barad nodded thoughtfully, “I always accept the Gifts of the Dragons.  I may have a good use for your mathematical talents.”

Kurti arched a skeptical eyebrow.  “My mathematical talents, Captain?”

“Indeed,” he replied, his eyes gaging her with a new interest.  “The indenture of a skilled Calculator is worth thrice or more the indenture of a boat-builder.”

Shifting subjects quickly, Barad smiled at her slight confusion and said, “I do try to reward those who willingly do me service.  I had intended a bit of bed-sport before this evening’s game of Three Dragons.  I offer you your choice.  No answer that you give will be held against you.”

Ouch! I dressed to provoke his lust.  If I turn him down, I will appear to be teasing him.  Not safe!  “You are my Captain,” she replied.  My duty is to you.  Besides, it would be a shame not to follow through on what I’ve started.”  She gestured at the sheer and shiny clothing.  Stomach churning a bit at what she would do for survival, she led him to the bed.

TO BE CONTINUED

<==PREVIOUS   NEXT==>

Return to the Master Story Index

Return to World of Sea

[claybefree]

Excerpt- Mule Skinner Blues

The man guided Kit up the trail until it merged within a hair's breadth of treeline next to the tracks, running like that until it met the railyard. The two lines coming in from the outskirts split and branched into a multitude of tracks like veins of a leaf stem spreading across acres of junctions and ballast rock.. The trail there was halted abruptly by a wall of chain link, complete with a man sized hole in it. Not far was what must have been a dead line as along it’s back were parked huge lengths of what Kit guessed to be track laying equipment, low slung, enveloped with clumps of Queen Anne’s lace and left to rot away. Hulking wrecks with a rainbow of multicolored patina, years of different owners individual paint schemes peeling away over one another. Red and yellow gave way to yellow and orange which gave way to blue, with the deep burgundy of Lord Rust presiding over all. 

“Okay, Hobo 101 meets under that barge there,” the thin man said. 

“What, underneath?”

“Yeah, don’t worry it ain’t goin anywhere.” he said with a grin. “It’s a Sunday so there ain’t that much personnel but if you see a white truck a comin’ you better coon it, quick.”

In response to Kit’s confused look he said “Here, allow me to demonstrate.”

Hustling through the hole in the fence, he started off across the sparse grass hunched almost to squatting, hands just above the ground as if he were about to drop to all fours. A sneaky kind of lope, Kit decided, that looked almost exactly like a racoon. 

The weeds were almost four foot tall and clustered thickly so that once underneath, they were well concealed.  Kit crawled up next to the thin man and lay across the rails, the smell of creosote impregnated timbers all around. They peered out through a multitude of top heavy stalks each bearing a small continent of impossibly intricate white flowers waving gently in the breeze. 

“Okay, so if you run across a worker that wants to talk, it’s probably safe. Most of these guys work a twelve hour shift, so bullshitting with a hobo is a fun way to burn time. Plus you might find out something useful. You’ll know a bull if you run across one, they usually cuss and yell. There’s this one red-faced old drunk who works here, means as hell. If you see him my recommendation is you haul ass.”

As they were talking, the rumbling in the earth beneath them grew to where it filled the air around them and a locomotive rolled out from between the lines of freight heading towards them. Kit resisted the urge to wave at the engineer. The thin man paused, waiting for the building fury of diesel fumes and machine grumble to pass them. A rogue’s gallery of battle scarred boxcars followed behind as the train picked up speed heading into the wild heart of forest just outside the yard.

“So the mainline he’s on is headed East, besides he’s local. You need a mountain train. The line on the other side goes North. That’s the one you want. At some point he’ll make a left, hopefully, at which point you’ll be on the mighty Highline. Ride that til you can’t anymore. It stops at the Pacific ocean. Think you can manage that?”

“I think I can.” Kit chuckled. 

Rows of oil cars rumbled past, black as pitch with streaks of pitch spilling down the sides from the lid. Then a number of boxcars, pale sun-faded yellow with black doors slid open. Red company emblem a flying “W” tucked in amid a riot of graffiti, brash hieroglyphs that might have been slurs in purple and green.   

“Now if you wind up on a boxcar, make sure you jam the door open, so you don’t accidentally wind up locked inside. Also, I wouldn’t recommend riding topside of a trash bin or a coal car, you’ll freeze to death.”

“Freeze? Ain’t it August?” Kit said, “What month is it anyway?”

“Don’t matter where you’re going, friend.” He smiled. “You do got a jacket in that rig, I’m guessing?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay- so the ideal is that type car right there, a grainer,” he gestured at the silver and grey walled construct rolling past, it’s box battered and slightly concave from too many years being in service. Black iron trucks and wheels spinning diligently away underneath.  “You’ll want the ass end of things, shetler wise, under that triangular edge. Not the side where the mechanics are located, mind you, the brakes and such, there’s no real estate there. Oh and make sure it’s got a porch. Otherwise you’ll have to ride suicide which is not nearly as fun as it sounds.”  

“Growing up on a farm so I learned early on how to behave myself around heavy equipment.”

“That’s pretty comforting, actually. Oh yeah, see those three bolts on the wheels? If they’re going to fast to count, then the train is moving too fast to catch. When you go for it, make sure you get both hands on the thing before you haul your shit aboard. If it pulls out of your hand it’s going too fast and you’ll need to ditch it into the rocks. Ballast rash ain’t no fun but I think you understand the importance of not winding up under the trucks.”

“Imagine that’d put a hitch in your giddy-up.” Kit said.

Noticing the grim turn of his mouth, the thin man said, “I know this is a lot to take in but be careful, don’t die and you’ll be a gentleman of the yards in no time.” and slapped his shoulder.

“No chance in talking you into coming with me is there?”

“And take the chance of watching you get chewed into hamburger? Sorry but no.” he laughed. “Besides, I got to stay here and mind Screwdriver. At least until he realizes his lady love ain’t coming back anytime soon, and then probably a week or so after that. Maybe I’ll talk him into going home to the farm. Hopefully you won’t have to wait long. Just do me a favor and don’t start drinking until you’ve successfully boarded your ride, okay?”

“Will do.” 

“See you on down the line, Kit-By-the-Way.” and with a smile he doffed his floppy hat, scrambled out from under the car and was gone into the treeline. 

 In the end, it took no time at all. Hidden away from the heat of the day, he dozed until awoken by the familiar rumbling that sounded like the end of all things. The engine passed in a blaze of orange and yellow, gleaming bright as a sun in the afternoon light. He picked a grain car and made for it straight away, making sure not to linger in the sight line along the locomotive’s edge, the only hitch being almost getting decapitated by the skeleton frame of an empty lumber rack. The beast was going slow enough to catch with ease, and as luck would have it, the porch was enclosed in a steel case with a large circle cut into it that he could squeeze into. Once inside, the diamond plate steel of the floor was clean and spacious, a fresh coat of battleship grey. There were even half a half dozen comic books left by another traveller. Spider-man versus the Rhino. Black Panther. He crawled inside his enclave of welded steel and made himself hidden and comfortable.

Just as the thin man said it would, the train slowly thundered out the yard and made a hard left, heading North, at which point it stopped entirely. Fearing he would be discovered, Kit remained sequestered and read his comic books. After an hour of this he ate a can of ravioli, raw, slurping cold meat sauce from his fingers.  During the second hour he ventured outside to pee into the rock between the cars and then quickly hid himself away again, even though he was completely enveloped entirely by forest and had seen not a soul since they’d left the yard. He developed a welcome case of the stares and let his gaze drift across the lines of the coupling he was told not to cross, even mimicking the shape of it with his two hands, cupped one inside the other. He watched the way the ladder on the car across from his rose, battered and worn, to the top edge, and convinced himself he didn’t need to climb it.  Still the train sat motionless with not even an occasional tremor to indicate shunting yet for this or that. Finally, with nothing else to do, he broke into the handle of Jack he had hidden away in the depths of his bag, having endured the nagging weight of it for what seemed like an eternity.

“Well, the old guy didn’t say nothing about drinking after I got on the train, which I did manage to do. Seems like time to celebrate to me.”  He would have to portion it out if he could, as he had no idea how far it was to California. Tipping it back, the burn in his throat and consequently his stomach was like a lover’s embrace. Everything immediately softened, the colors of the woods brightened, the filth covering everything fell away and the world didn’t seem so big and scary. 

Eventually he heard a series of bangs from far away as the engine began to pull the train along it’s chain length to move out, a clamor that echoed well into the woods and back towards town. His turn came and he was thrown back into the hole, the slack jerked taught, and the great assembly of steel and iron and rust began to roll. Naturally he took another shot to celebrate his departure. 

It occurred to him that unlike the tractors he’d grown up riding, this was more a moving city as it was a piece of equipment. It was not a smooth ride, which surprised him, and there was always a sound of metal creaking somewhere. As they gained speed, and the woods parted and they spilled out onto another limitless ocean of wheat fields, he realized that everything left in his mind would shortly be pushed out by it. The train would consume his entire existence, there was no arguing with it, the train was terrible and absolute. 

Presently the woods surrendered to wheat fields spreading away from both sides of the train. Off to his left the sun fell below the racing clouds, setting the whole thing alight into a golden blaze that threatened to consume him. A conflagration of yellow and orange set to consume the prairies. The train, picking up even more speed, rocked him like a child.

“Sadie-girl, I sure wish you could see this,” he said quietly. 

The engineer poured on more speed such as to send them flying through towns and countryside. It sounded like a mile up the track from him but Kit could hear him laying on the horn as they roared through each crossing. Towns that seemed only to be out there to harvest wheat, maybe they were able to muster a downtown, sometimes just a convergence of a road and rail, with few houses thrown in just to indicate a population. Occasionally there was a water tower or a fallen down depot giving a name to the place to be noted and then immediately forgotten. Monolith grain elevators stood vigil, rising windowless out of the landscape, clapboarded in faded black or white or grey, an architecture completely foreign to him. As dark fell and the train picked up more speed, he became drunk and yelled at it all, incoherent, raging against his own insignificance.     

Morning found him under his leather jacket, body inside the hole and head on his boots as a pillow on the perforated steel walkway outside, woken by a light rain or cloud vapor accumulating on his face. In a literal fog, his waking gaze followed the rail, polished to a mirror finish and passing smoothly beneath him like a pair of silvery ribbons. The pace of the locomotive seemed to not have abated in the least, and he figured he must have caught the famed hotshot he was looking for. He sat up. The softness of the fog obscured the morning, but as near as he could tell the sun was off behind them. They must have turned West somewhere in the night, and his friend was right, he was freezing. 

No coffee to be had, he rummaged around the pile he’d made to sleep under until he found the bottle of Jack, on it’s lower third, and took a three finger belt. The mist cleared enough to reveal a martian landscape. They were in the mountains sure enough. Maybe it was the hangover, maybe just being unfamiliar, but everything looked jagged and angular and desolate. Tall aspens, he gathered, maybe doug fir. Pines of every kind. The only familiar thing was the rail flying beneath him, it’s gauge holy and absolute, punctuated with a million crossties.  

“Sadie, I don’t particularly care for all this ponderosa bullshit, no ma’am,” and pulled again on the bottle in his lap. “Too many pines, rocks and dust. Not enough green. I feel like I might dry up and blow away as it is.”  He stood up and stretched, swaying slightly due as much to the train as the fact he was not at all sober. He threw his jacket over his shoulders and clutched the bottle by the throat for good measure. Didn’t want it getting away from him. 

At this point the engine up the line let loose with a blast from its horn, sending ghosts of echoes to fill the canyons. 

“Ah yes, good morning to you too, Captain!” Kit shouted back. “You heavy handed sonofabitch!”

Suddenly the earth fell away into a chasm that must have been a thousand feet deep, the floor of it buried in the fog and unseen. He grabbed onto the ladder mounted to the outside corner of the grain car. “Holy shit. I guess that’s what all the noise was about.” 

The trestle was immense, a miraculous web of cross bracing filling the valley in what amounted to a straight line through the air yet neither side had a rail or walkway. It occurred to him to just let go and fall away into the clouds. The rocks or river or whatever below waiting would hold him close until the vultures and wolves and whatever else came to claim him, and he could belong to the forest from then on. Listening to the pines whispering, the occasional train whistle, coyotes crying, perhaps he could become a whisper in that valley himself. 

Instead the locomotive pulled him across the abyss to the other side before he had formed a proper mind to leap. He sat down hard, thumbed off the top and pulled on the Jack once again. There was a bag of beef jerky stashed somewhere he’d considered for breakfast, but decided against it. 

“Hey Sadie, wake up and come look at this,” he yelled over his shoulder. “Purple mountains majesty and all that.” For a moment it seemed the same shade as the lavender she had left on the dash of the Toronado. Delicate purple flowers windswept from the open window and perched on a skin of turquoise leather.  Maybe they should have stayed in the farmhouse, he thought. 

He lamented the he never showed her the network of rabbit tunnels crisscrossing the yard, long mounds of soft earth stretching this way and that between the house and the barn. He decided he would hang on just in case he ever saw her again so he could describe this to her. The soft earth with rabbits hidden beneath, the ground yielding underfoot oddly comforting. He drank a little more and thought these things and in this way passed into California. 

[marketreseach]

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[orbemnews]

Insurance comparison website The Zebra raises $150 million in latest financing round The Zebra, a home and auto insurance comparison website, has raised $150 million in a Series D fundraising round, which valued the company at over $1 billion. Investors in the insurance comparison service include Accel, Silverton Partners, Ballast Point Ventures, Daher Capital, Floodgate Fund, Weatherford Capital, KDT, The Zebra’s own CEO Keith Melnick, and others. A company release said that The Zebra has raised over $250 million to date, including seed funding. “This investment is going to be used to grow our team and build our brand. We are accelerating our efforts to make The Zebra a household name and help educate, empower and advise consumers to find the best policies for their unique needs, no matter where they are in their lives,” said The Zebra CEO Keith Melnick. “As one of the earliest investors in The Zebra, this inflection point in the company’s history is something I’ve been eagerly anticipating,” commented Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and governor of the Dallas Mavericks. Cuban added in a statement that the word “startup” no longer applies to The Zebra, calling the company a “full-fledged tech company that is taking on – and solving – some of the biggest challenges in the $638 billion insurance industry.” Despite the pandemic, The Zebra reported net revenue growth from $37 million in 2019 to $79 million in 2020. The company has also grown in size since early 2020, from about 200 employees to over 325 during its transition into a fully-remote work environment. Source link Orbem News #Comparison #financing #insurance #Latest #million #raises #website #Zebra

[ask-de-writer]

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT : World of Sea : Part 12

SEA DRAGON’S GIFT

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

140406 words

copyright 2018

written 2007

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

//////////////

Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

///////////////////////

New to the story?  Read from the beginning.  PART 1 is here

///////////////////////

“Of course, little easier,” he leafed through the stack and pointed to a place.  “Here, where they were using the small boats to harpoon, would seem a likely bit to add it to.”

“I know that I can trust you to do it well,” said Barad, in genuine admiration, as Morgu’s facile hand added the note.

“Would you like to join me and Master Selked for a game of Three Dragons this evening after dinner?”

“I would be happy to,” said Morgu sincerely.  “I’ll be there.”

Arriving back at his cabin, Barad noticed at once that Kurti had taken down his bed hanging and was hard at work mending a worn spot.  She looked up, an expression of fear flitting across her face to be hidden by a mask of pleasure.  She had obviously been going through the cabin looking for clues to his taste as she cleaned.  His gaze caught that fact as he had opened the door.  His carpet was straightened of its wrinkles, port-sills, chest tops, knobs and shelves had been damp-wiped.  His clothes-press was open with everything neatly hung and airing.  She had been more than merely busy.  She had found the unlocked chest under the bed with its cargo of very feminine clothing.

“Captain! Welcome back!  I had hoped to have this done and hung before you returned but velvet is hard to darn so that it doesn’t show.” She held out the nearly repaired bed hanging for his inspection.

Gravely he examined it in her outstretched hands, actually appreciating the quality of her needlework.  Velvet was hard to repair when it was worn thin and her work would be invisible when done.  He let his gaze go past her outstretched hands and down her arms to her bosom. He let his eyes rest on her breasts for an embarrassingly long moment.

“Excellent,” he said ambiguously.  She was dressed in a blouse that had sheer amber sleeves and front, loosely fitted and open down the center of her chest, with shiny black mussel fabric, laced tight from just below the breasts to her waist where it vanished into a sash-belt of light brown.  Dark brown, almost black, slick fabric pants covered her to the groin, with legs of sheer amber matching the top of the outfit. Everything was accented and decorated with ruffles of white Longin Lace.

Kurti saw the approval in his eyes and felt relief flood her.  I’m glad that you like what I’ve done and how I dressed.  I’ll live longer.  Acting sprightly, she said, “I hope that you don’t mind that I got into these clothes, Captain.   I found them in an unlocked chest beneath the bunk, while I was cleaning.” Suffering only slightly inside as she did so, she let the hanging fall, straightened her back and squared her shoulders to project her bust more fully and stepped forward to hug him to her.

Surprised beyond measure, Captain Barad returned her hug.  Her head snuggled into him barely at mid-chest.  No other cabin-girl has ever treated me like this before.  The others were all too afraid or too angry.  He held her to him and stroked her medium brown hair as he said quietly, “I know that you are afraid of me, Kurti.  That is wise.  I can see that you are also determined to do what I want and help me however you can.  That is also wise.

“I will tell you frankly that no other girl has steered this course. Already, the clothes that you chose for me appear to be having some effect.  You are the first to clean without my order.  None has ever approached me as you have, voluntarily, unless her spirit was in ruins.”  Absently, as he put his thoughts into order, he stroked her gently along the jaw, tilting her head up to look into her gray eyes.  She schooled herself not to flinch from his touch.  He let her go.

In a voice that surprised her with its pleasant tone, he said, “Finish your mending, Kurti.  It is going well.  I should like to watch you do it.  Besides, we don’t have time to sport now.  I’ll have to make a sighting of one of the moons, shortly,” he said, settling into a comfortable chair.

“Is it the rise of Carsis?” she asked curiously, looking at him over her busy hands.  “I knew that a noon sighting would be necessary but I couldn’t figure out from the books what you would need for that.  I did set out the ephemeris book of Carsis, your favorite stylus, a tallow-slate and your most recent chart on the chart table.”

“Yes, it will be Carsis rise.”  Captain Barad’s brow furrowed in perplexity as he looked at the preparations on his chart table.  “How did you know that this was my favorite stylus?”

Kurti ventured a smile and said, “I cleaned.  That stylus was far more worn and polished by your hand than any other.”

“Simple, obvious, observant, and stemming directly from serving me.  You think and your actions are ruled by your thought. You rule your fear.” He measured her with his pale watery-blue eyes with embarrassing directness.  “I will be frank.  I like some fear in those about me. Even more, I like to see that fear mastered, though never banished. I respect such people.  They are rare.  I did not expect to find such a quality in you.  No other cabin-girl that I have had has shown your strength.”

Captain Barad gathered two instruments from a shelf and went up on deck to make his sighting.  Soon he returned to set the water-clock to zero and went back up to continue his navigational work.  After some more time he came down and noted the elapsed time.  Consulting the Ephemeris for Carsis, Barad began to calculate on his tallow-slate. He muttered to himself, looked at his chart, rubbed out his problems and started over.

“Sir,” Kurti ventured timidly, “I am very handy with figures.  I know nothing of navigation but if you give me figures to work, I can do them for you.”  I must be crazy.  If he thinks that I am trying to learn his job, he will kill me.

The Captain looked up calculatingly from his morass of figures and held out a stylus.  “I’d almost forgotten that you were a ship’s stores keeper besides being a diver.  Here, try this.  These two need to be added, then this figure from the table has to be subtracted from the total.  After that, find the closest figure on this other table here.”

Kurti made a show of having some difficulty with the simple task.  Even so, she was quicker than he had been.  It was when she was looking up the last figure that she found a difficulty.  Perplexed, she examined her work and found it to be good.  Then she picked up the book and looked closely at the columns of figures.  She laughed and pointed to the Carsis rising time in the book.

“Here is the culprit!  A dragged bit of hair has made a three into a nine.”

Looking at the book, Captain Barad said, “Observant.  How did you know that your answer was wrong?”

She held out the tallow-slate.  “I got the same answer as the one that you rubbed out.  Since yours was wrong, mine had to be too.”  Barad nodded accepting the simple explanation.

He surprised her by his next question.  “Kurti, do you understand Lading functions?  General Mass Distribution equations?”

“Yes, Sir.  As a stores clerk I had to figure cargo placement, ballast distribution and load for the hands to implement.”

Barad nodded thoughtfully, “I always accept the Gifts of the Dragons.  I may have a good use for your mathematical talents.”

Kurti arched a skeptical eyebrow.  “My mathematical talents, Captain?”

“Indeed,” he replied, his eyes gaging her with a new interest.  “The indenture of a skilled Calculator is worth thrice or more the indenture of a boat-builder.”

Shifting subjects quickly, Barad smiled at her slight confusion and said, “I do try to reward those who willingly do me service.  I had intended a bit of bed-sport before this evening’s game of Three Dragons.  I offer you your choice.  No answer that you give will be held against you.”

Ouch! I dressed to provoke his lust.  If I turn him down, I will appear to be teasing him.  Not safe!  “You are my Captain,” she replied.  My duty is to you.  Besides, it would be a shame not to follow through on what I’ve started.”  She gestured at the sheer and shiny clothing.  Stomach churning a bit at what she would do for survival, she led him to the bed.

TO BE CONTINUED

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[yolaxinfranergy]

Operation and Maintenance services | Railway Track Laying

Laxyo Energy Limited is an ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 18001:2007 OHSAS Certified Company. It is amalgamated mix of firms and associations which started quite a while prior. We  offering organizations to Turnkey Construction of Railway Track, Maintenance of Railway Track, Operation and Maintenance of Thermal Power Plant, Cement Plant,  Steel,  and Chemical plants, Roads and Civil Construction Work. By segment of time an entry has been made in Software Development where Liver Solutions, the Software wing of Laxyo has a submitted gathering to consider requirements of Information Technology related issues. This has earned colossal valuation for cost discerning vehicle managers in the advanced and government divisions moreover.

Laxyo bunch is one of the previous and best India based railroad administration contractual workers. Till the date we finished different undertakings for railroad administrations included with eastern, southern, boondocks rail routes. Railway services includes drainage,  preparation of land, ballast process, sleepers made with concrete, offloading of rails, tamping, and finishing work. Our gathering has made a renowned situation by conveying quality terms and best serious work through exceptional venture the executives abilities for Indian Rail Service. Offering total start to finish railroad administrations.

Our significant administrations for railroad is incorporated with assuming control over all rail lines contracts identified with activity, support, improving railway track laying and so forth.

We perform intensive investigation and exploration on O&M data identified with improvement and usage cycle, and conveys quality administrations. Being a fundamental specialist co-ops for activity and upkeep (O&M), we at Laxyo vitality screens and assess every single moment point as required by various enterprises including saves, consumables, assets, fuel utilization, synthetic compounds and so on.

Our cycle of complete Operation and Maintenance is incorporated with a total arrangement which depends on most recent market patterns, amount, quality, pricings. Our major O&M services includes operation and maintenance of dairy plant, thermal power plant and cement plant.

Visit us at- www.laxyo.com

Contact us at- +91731-4996625, +919425103444, +918815218255

E-mail us at- info@laxyo.com

[wallpaperpainting]

Here’s What People Are Saying About Door Colour | Door Colour

Last week, we appropriate that for a absolutely orted adventure industry, the bound ally who accommodate beforehand basic to VCs — institutions like universities and hospital systems — charge to alpha aculation ortment mandates into their work. Say a adventure close basic to defended a charge from the University of Texas System; it would aboriginal charge to agree, in writing, to cascade a ertive allotment of its basic into startups founded by underrepresented groups.

Given how burst the apple of institutional investing, the abstraction ability complete impracticable. But Lo Toney, one of a baby but growing cardinal of atramentous VCs in Silicon Valley, suggests it ability absolutely be inevitable. He points, for example, to alimony funds like the California Accessible Employees’ Retirement System, which manages the ets of 1.6 actor employees, abounding of whom “look like me,” says Toney. Imagine what ability appear if they started allurement added questions about who is managing their money.

Not that Toney is cat-and-mouse on this development. He doesn’t charge to. As a above accomplice at Comcast Ventures, afresh GV, Toney was able to defended Alphabet as the ballast broker in his own beforehand firm, Plexo Capital, whose admission agent has been allotment adventure outfits, as able-bodied as authoritative absolute startup investments. Now, with renewed absorption actuality paid to the absence of bodies of blush throughout the startup industry, Plexo has LPs animadversion on its aperture again, and Toney’s affairs for that additional armamentarium absorb not aloof allowance his accepted armamentarium managers but allowance added investors of blush anatomy adventure firms of their own.

It’s an addendum of ignment that’s

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[oceanrowingboat]

Here I'm adding a skeg to #thecoracle. It's not a vital addition for a boat of this stature but in this instance serves a number of purposes. - I've used 18mm ply to add a modicum of ballast to the lowest point of the boat which will give a hint more stability. As the client for this boat is a very exacting 4 year old it also allows a very simple rudder for both attachment and at-sea repairs as he's requested. - You can also see the filleting of thickened resin around it which acts as the bond. This is one of the many reasons why building #thecoracle is such a great introduction to the methods you'll need if you want to build an #oceanrowingboat or other grand venture. - I'd like to thank everyone who has followed this venture up to now for their patience as I create the website and initial products. I do have a plan for content which will cover details and techniques like this much more comprehsivly. You'll get to enjoy that soon! - If #thecoracle is of interest to you check out the link in my bio for the relevent pages of the website. Thanks - #boatbuilding #garagebuilt #boatplans #coracle #oceanrowing (at Ocean Rowing Boats) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAqsl5YlcS7/?igshid=5dohurg0wmgs

[mariaawilliams]

All You Need to Know About Vacuum Excavationvacuum excavation

Vacuum excavation is a type of excavation, different from the traditional digging. It is also called hydro-excavation which is a way of non-destructive digging. Vacuum excavation uses the concept of adding high-pressure water and air vacuum in the digging process. The heated water is used for cutting and breaking up the soil, and the air suction removes the slurry from the necessary location into the tank with debris.

This process is basically used for removing any type of material from a certain area. It's used for excavating dirt, mud or some unwanted material from underground utilities. Vacuum excavation is a perfect choice for doing work without causing any unnecessary damage to the site. By using hydro-excavation, the surrounding area and soil stay firmly compacted. The underground cabling and pipework aren't damaged compared to the traditional method.

It's also a safer alternative to the traditional process of digging. And since safety is crucial in every construction venture, the vacuum excavation system is quite accurate. In fact, the introduction of vacuum excavation results in fewer injuries and damage to the workers who are performing the action.

Where is Vacuum Excavation Applicable?

Vacuum excavation can be used in most of the jobs that would require digging. Therefore, some of the points where vacuum excavation finds its application and it is ideal for are:

• Excavation of street light and power poles

• Sign or pole installation

• Sewer and pipe rehabilitation

• Safe exposure of underground utilities

• Removal of rail ballast

• Pit cleaning and maintenance

• Excavation around the tree roots

• Conduit cleaning and stinging

What Is a Vacuum Truck?

Vacuum excavation trucks are also called suction excavators. These trucks are specialized and fitted with waste storage space, air lance, vacuum suction, and twin vehicle fans. The vac trucks do all the work, from the very start, which includes breaking up of the soil, then using heated water and air suction. The waste material is placed within the truck waste storage space and later on, it's disposed of.

Different types of vacuum trucks are distinguished according to the size of their tank. The most common sizes are 3000L and 6000L. If you're having doubts about whether you should choose a conventional excavator or a vacuum excavator, then you should go for a vacuum excavator. This is because the later one is more efficient and can reach sixteen times greater output when compared to the regular, conventional alternative.

If you think that you want to know more about the process of vacuum excavation, feel free to visit the Sure Search website and get the most out of this process!

[un-enfant-immature]

Oscar’s health insurance platform nabs another $225 million

The direct-to-consumer health insurer Oscar has raised another $225 million in its latest, late-stage round of funding as its vision of tech-enabled health care services to drive down consumer costs becomes more and more of a reality.

In an effort to prevent a patient’s potential exposure to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, most healthcare practices are seeing patients remotely via virtual consultations, and more patients are embracing digital health services voluntarily, which reduces costs for insurers and potentially provide better access to basic healthcare needs. Indeed, Oscar now has a $2 billion revenue base to point to and now a fresh pile of cash to draw from.

“Transforming the health insurance experience requires the creation of personalized, affordable experiences at scale,” said Mario Schlosser, the co-founder and chief executive of Oscar.

Oscar’s insurance customers have the distinction of being among the most active users of telemedicine among all insurance providers in the US, according to the company. Around 30 percent of patients with insurance plans from the company have used telemedical services, versus only 10 percent of the country as a whole.

The new late-stage funding for Oscar includes new investors Baillie Gifford and Coatue, two late-stage investor that typically come in before a public offering. Other previous investors including Alphabet, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Lakestar and Thrive Capital also participated in the round.

With the new funding, Oscar was able to shrug off the latest criticisms and controversies that swirled around the company and its relationship with White House official Jared Kushner as the President prepared its response to the COVID-19 epidemic.

As the Atlantic reported, engineers at Oscar spent days building a stand-alone website that would ask Americans to self report their symptoms and, if at risk, direct them to a COVID-19 test location. The project was scrapped within days of its creation, according to the same report.

The company now offers its services in 15 states and 29 U.S. cities, with over 420,000 members in individual, Medicare Advantage, and small group products, the company said.

As Oscar gets more ballast on its balance sheet, it may be readying itself for a public offering. The insurer wouldn’t be the first new startup to test public investor appetite for new listings. Lemonade, which provides personal and home insurance, has already filed to go public.

Oscar’s investors and executives may be watching closely to see how that listing performs. Despite its anemic target, the public market response could signal that more startups in the insurance space could make lemonade from frothy market conditions — even as employment numbers and the broader national economy continue to suffer from pandemic-induced economic shocks.