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dancuny · 4 months ago

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Zeh Zeca-Flex Camera

This camera combines the compactness of a folding camera with the quality and handling of a twin-lens reflex camera. The Zeh Zeca-Flex is just the camera mentioned above, and I've had my eye on it for many years. However, the rareness and price have always eluded me until I went into a great used camera store in Salt Lake City, UT, Acme Camera.

The first time I went into Acme Camera, they were in their older location, and the store was filled with photo knickknacks. I struck up a conversation with the people there who were selling used gear, servicing cameras, and renting for the local photo community. On my second visit, back in one of the cases was the Zeca-Flex I currently have. The camera was in excellent condition, with clean optics and a working shutter. I offered a trade for the camera, and they accepted. I was elated to have the camera so I could do a blog article on my Zeca-Flex.

History:

In the early 1900s, around 1901-1902, Paul Zeh produced camera parts like shutters in his workshop in Dresden for some of the other local camera companies in Germany. In 1913, he started producing cameras, and by 1922, the company Paul Zeh Kamerawerk was started. In the early years, the company mainly produced folding plate cameras or cameras that took images on glass plates, which was very common at that time period.

During the 1920s, the company did very well. At this time in photo history, roll film was starting to become more popular. The photographer or photo enthusiast didn't need to carry bulky film holders. All the photographer needed to do was put in a roll of film and get 8, 10, 12, or 16 different photos on the same roll of film without the hassle or inconvenience of loading and carrying the film holders.

The Pilot Reflex camera, produced in 1931 by Kamera-Werkstätten Guthe & Thorsch in Dresden, has a very similar style and appearance to the Perfekta and the Super Perfekta; you can see a review by Mike Eckman of the Pilot.

During the late 1920s and 1930s, the company expanded production into folding roll film cameras. These cameras were more compact and allowed the photographer to travel with less equipment, so their popularity grew.

By 1937, Zeh produced the Zeca-Flex, a folding, twin-lens reflex camera. Its design is very similar to that of the Welta Perfekta, which was produced in the 1933-34 timeframe, and the more robust Super Perfekta introduced in 1935. The Perfekta and Super Perfekta were made by Welta Kamera Werk, which was in Freital, a very close town to Dresden.

I'm confident Zeh wanted to compete with Welta on this camera style. Unfortunately, this camera style didn't catch on with consumers. Hence, with all three cameras, the Perfekta, Super Perfekta, and Zeca-Flex were the only cameras made and are rare and somewhat expensive.

WWII took a toll on Dresden as the Allies leveled the city due to its large manufacturing capabilities. By 1948, the Zeh plant closed, and the company went out of business. My guess is that some of the Russian companies took some of the camera manufacturing machines to produce some of the after-war cameras. This is just my guess, though.

My Camera:

The condition of my Zeca-Flex is unusually excellent for a camera that is almost 90 years old. The metal is still shiny, and all the functions move like when the camera was first purchased in the late 1930s.

The camera measures 7.5" long without the light hood open. When the light hood is open, it measures 9.25" tall. The Zeca-Flex is 3.75" wide and closed; it's 2.5" from the front of the viewing lens to the rear of the camera. When the camera is open, it measures 4.75". The Zeca-Flex weighs 2lb—5.2 oz.

The lens on my Zeca-Flex is a Schneider Xenar 7.5cm (75mm) f 3.5 in an F. Deckel Compur Rapid shutter. The shutter speeds go from 1/400 to 1 sec with both "T" and "B" settings. Since I don't have a proper shutter tester, all the shutter speeds sound accurate to my trained ear. The viewing lens is a Sucher Anistigmat f2.9 lens.

To open the camera, there is a small button on the left side as you hold it to take a photo. Press that small button in, and the lens door unlocks. On my camera, you need to pull out the lens to put it into the taking position. There are knurled grips on the sides of the lens door to pull the lens out. Also on the lens door is a flip-out stand that allows you to stand the camera up, which is very common in folding cameras.

To close the lens, there are two buttons on either side of the backdoor. You press in towards the camera body, then slide the lens back into it and close it until you hear the locking "click" sound, which means the lens is back and locked in the camera body.

On the back of the light hood, there is a sliding bar you slide over to open the light hood for viewing purposes, and on the side of the light hood is a switch you can flip up or down the magnifying glass for critical focusing.

There is a latch at the top of the back door, which you slide up to open the film door to load and unload film. In my camera, there is a roll film holder you put the roll of film into before putting it into the camera. The film holder is something I've never seen before, and on the first roll, I needed to figure out which way the film rolled across the shutter, but it was easy to figure out. Now that I've done it, it makes sense, and I won't have difficulty in the future.

The frame counter resets to number 1 when I close the back of my camera, or at least it was there when I put film in it. There is a button on top of the frame counter. When I slide that button over, the frame counter goes to number 5, so my guess is that isn't correct. I can't find an instruction manual for this camera online, so I'm not 100% sure of the correct way to get maximum frames from the camera.

There is a red window on the back, which I'll use in the future, as I did miss a few frames at the beginning of the roll when I shot with it. The film advance is on the bottom of the camera and is directly tied into the frame counter, whether you have film in it or not. The frame spacing on my camera was good once I got to the first frame and used the frame counter to find the next frame.

To focus the lens, as you hold the camera to take photos, there is a wheel next to the viewing lens. I rolled my finger across it one way or the other to achieve proper focus, which was the easiest and made the most sense to me.

Results:

Now that I had a roll of film in the camera, I took it out and walked around the neighborhood to get some photos. Here are some pictures I took on my walk with the stunning Zeca-Flex camera.

Conclusion:

The viewfinder wasn't the brightest, and achieving good focus was difficult even with the magnifying glass up. Another negative about using the camera is where the shutter release is placed. There is no shutter release button, so you need to cock the shutter and then release it with the shutter release button, which is in an awkward place and thought my finger would be in the photo, but it wasn't.

Besides these two items, the camera was a joy to shoot with, and I feel lucky that my camera is in such good condition. I will use it again, but I'm putting it back on the shelf and trying something different for next week's blog post.

Thank you for taking a few minutes to review some of the cameras in my collection.

Please be safe, and I hope to hear from you soon.

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govindtbrc · 7 months ago

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Burning Bright: Navigating the Oxy Fuel Combustion Technology Market

In the quest for cleaner and more efficient energy solutions, oxy fuel combustion technology has emerged as a promising innovation with the potential to transform various industries. This article delves into the intricacies of oxy fuel combustion technology, its applications, and the factors influencing its growth in the global market.

At its core, oxy fuel combustion technology involves burning fossil fuels in an environment enriched with oxygen rather than air. This results in a combustion process that produces primarily carbon dioxide and water vapor, which can be captured more efficiently compared to traditional combustion methods. Oxy fuel combustion offers several advantages, including higher combustion temperatures, reduced emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), and the potential for carbon capture and storage (CCS) to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the primary applications of oxy fuel combustion technology is in power generation, particularly in the context of coal-fired power plants. By replacing air with oxygen in the combustion process, oxy fuel combustion can produce a flue gas stream with a higher concentration of carbon dioxide, making it easier and more cost-effective to capture and sequester CO2 emissions. This enables coal-fired power plants to reduce their carbon footprint and comply with stringent environmental regulations without significant retrofitting or investment in alternative technologies.

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Moreover, oxy fuel combustion technology has applications beyond power generation, including industrial processes such as steelmaking, cement production, and glass manufacturing. In these industries, oxy fuel combustion offers the potential for more efficient heat transfer, higher flame temperatures, and reduced fuel consumption compared to conventional combustion methods. Additionally, oxy fuel combustion can facilitate CCS in industrial applications, enabling companies to capture and store CO2 emissions from their operations, thereby reducing their environmental impact and demonstrating corporate social responsibility.

The growth of the oxy fuel combustion technology market is driven by a combination of regulatory pressures, technological advancements, and industry collaborations. As governments around the world implement stricter emissions standards and carbon pricing mechanisms to combat climate change, industries are seeking innovative solutions to reduce their environmental footprint and comply with regulatory requirements. Oxy fuel combustion technology offers a viable pathway for achieving these goals while maintaining operational efficiency and competitiveness.

Furthermore, ongoing research and development efforts are driving continuous improvement in oxy fuel combustion technology, resulting in more efficient combustion processes, lower capital and operating costs, and greater scalability for commercial deployment. Collaborative initiatives between governments, research institutions, and industry stakeholders are also accelerating the development and deployment of oxy fuel combustion technology, facilitating knowledge sharing, technology transfer, and investment in pilot projects and demonstration plants.

Despite its potential benefits, the adoption of oxy fuel combustion technology faces challenges, including technical feasibility, infrastructure requirements, and economic viability. The high purity oxygen needed for oxy fuel combustion must be produced through air separation units, which require significant energy input and infrastructure investment. Additionally, retrofitting existing combustion systems with oxy fuel technology may require modifications to boilers, furnaces, and emissions control equipment, which can be costly and complex.

In conclusion, oxy fuel combustion technology holds great promise as a sustainable solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and addressing climate change in various industries. With its ability to enhance combustion efficiency, reduce emissions, and enable carbon capture and storage, oxy fuel combustion technology represents a significant opportunity for industries seeking to transition to a low-carbon future. By navigating the challenges and leveraging the opportunities presented by oxy fuel combustion technology, stakeholders can drive innovation, promote sustainability, and contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable energy landscape.

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atrasahi1 · 3 years ago

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Best Rotary Evaporator Manufactures in India

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teduhnyakasihillahi · 4 years ago

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10 Compelling Reasons Why You Need Insect Fogger

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learningfrommiley · 4 years ago

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Digital manufacturing: The revolution will be virtualized

By Brian Hartmann, William P. King, and Subu Narayanan

Digital manufacturing: The revolution will be virtualized

The digital revolution is now breaching the walls of manufacturing as it continues to disrupt media, finance, consumer products, healthcare, and other sectors. Indeed, the explosion in data and new computing capabilities—along with advances in other areas such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, additive technology, and human-machine interaction—are unleashing innovations that will change the nature of manufacturing itself. Industry and academic leaders agree that digital-manufacturing technologies will transform every link in the manufacturing value chain, from research and development, supply chain, and factory operations to marketing, sales, and service. Digital connectivity among designers, managers, workers, consumers, and physical industrial assets will unlock enormous value and change the manufacturing landscape forever.

Yet while manufacturing generates more data than any other sector of the economy, few companies are harnessing it. One oil-and-gas company, for example, discards 99 percent of its data before decision makers have a chance to use it. We believe that companies that can close this gap by tapping the data they generate (and what’s publicly available) will uncover valuable insights to drive profits and growth. Consider traditional car manufacturers and Uber, which are both—at the highest level—in the business of moving people around. Car makers meet that need on the floors of factories and showrooms, using a century of manufacturing experience. Uber meets people’s transportation needs not with steel, glass, rubber, and salespeople but with data, matching individual riders and vehicles via smart phones. Barely five years into its existence, it is valued at about $50 billion. Uber’s data, algorithms, and enormous growth prospects have already made it more valuable than all of the physical assets, intellectual property, and brand names of some of the world’s biggest car manufacturers.

It comes as no surprise, then, that manufacturers are waking up to the opportunities and threats of digitization. In the United States, the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation is organizing six major research institutes to speed new manufacturing technologies to market. While all of these institutes have a digital component, one is focused specifically on digital manufacturing.1 Similar efforts are underway across the globe, including Germany’s Industry 4.0 effort and China’s Made in China 2025. One global convening organization, the Industrial Internet Consortium, was founded just 18 months ago and already has 175 members.

How leading manufacturers are responding to digital

The ways people and organizations use information has shifted dramatically. Data storage is cheap and flexible, and advanced manufacturing analytics and artificial intelligence are giving us new abilities to draw insights from large amounts of data. Advances in virtual and augmented reality, next-level interfaces, advanced robotics, and additive manufacturing are all opening the gates to digital disruption. And in the next decade, digital manufacturing technologies will allow companies to connect physical assets by a “digital thread”—unleashing a seamless flow of data across the value chain that will link every phase of the product life cycle, from design, sourcing, testing, and production to distribution, point of sale, and use.

While this digital transformation of the $10-trillion-plus global manufacturing sector will play out over a decade or more, pioneers are moving to drive bottom-line and top-line impact in the near term. When we examine manufacturing value drivers and map them to digital levers, we find several opportunities for companies to create value by improving operational effectiveness and product innovation, as well as by unlocking new sources of revenue. Some examples include the following:

· Many large manufacturers are starting to use data analytics to optimize factory operations, boosting equipment utilization and product quality while reducing energy consumption. With new supply-network management tools, factory managers have a clearer view of raw materials and manufactured parts flowing through a manufacturing network, which can help them schedule factory operations and product deliveries to cut costs and improve efficiency. Smart, connected products are sending customer experience data to product managers to help them anticipate demand and maintenance needs and design better products. Players in a wide range of industries are deploying digital technologies in different ways to drive value.

· A major metal plant, for example, has used digital tools to make step-change improvements in throughput. Real-time performance visualization in operator pulpits combined with daily problem solving led to a 50 percent increase in production rate in one of its lines. By mining data, engineers are gaining new insights into the failure characteristics of major equipment modes and making continuous improvements in reliability. The company expects to use condition monitoring and predictive maintenance, in conjunction with process controls and automated material tracking made possible with big data analysis, to drive a 30 percent increase in production without a substantial increase in operational costs.

· Pharmaceutical manufacturers are using their deeper understanding of end-to-end processes to develop continuous manufacturing suites with footprints less than half the size of conventional factories. Some have even developed portable factories that can be built in 40-foot trailers. They are also using the digital thread to improve quality control: continuously monitoring conditions within mixing vessels, tablet presses, lyophilizers, and other critical equipment. A few companies are now relying on infrared technology to detect counterfeit medicines and contaminants without the conventional destructive tests—at production-line speeds. As the industry brings these advances to the market, leaders will transform the Three Sigma industry performance to peer industry performance of Six Sigma or greater.

· Leading consumer-packaged-goods companies are using digital tools to improve distribution and build bonds with consumers. Global fashion retailer Zara is already renowned for developing and shipping new products within two weeks. It is now using digital tools to respond even faster to consumer preferences and reduce supply-chain costs, attaching reusable radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to every item of clothing in more than 700 of its 2,000-plus stores. Ten staff members can now update a store’s inventory in a couple of hours—work that used to take 40 employees more than five hours—by waving small handheld computers at racks of clothing. The retailer expects to complete the shift to wireless inventory in 2016. We believe the falling costs of RFID hardware and associated software are likely to aid this transition.

· The aerospace-and-defense industry is using digital tools to integrate an enormously complex supply network. A modern jet turbine engine has hundreds of individual parts, for example, some of which the engine manufacturer makes in-house and others it sources from a network of dozens of vendors. The complexity of sourcing can multiply quickly, since making one design modification can impact the manufacturing of many other components. Cloud computing–based tools allow suppliers to collaborate faster and more efficiently: an engine maker can share three-dimensional models of component design within its network, and each supplier in turn can share information about price, delivery, and quality. This type of information sharing and transparency reduces the labor required to manage design changes, reduces risk for the engine maker and suppliers, and speeds changes across the supply network. Boeing developed its two most recent airframes, for the 777 and 787, using all-virtual design, reducing time to market by more than 50 percent.

Questions about digital the C-suite should ask

The digital revolution is only beginning to take shape. But we do know that leaders in digital manufacturing, including some smaller players, are already gaining significant competitive advantage by harnessing the capabilities of workers, designers, managers, and suppliers, speeding the pace of innovation, lowering the costs of production and maintenance, and increasing the impact of marketing. We believe that every player should be asking five questions:

1. How will digital disrupt my industry in the next five to ten years, and what new ecosystems will emerge?

2. Where is the value for my company, and how can we maximize it?

3. How close is the revolution to our factory doors, and where should I make investments in infrastructure, cybersecurity, and partnerships?

4. What new capabilities, skills, and mind-sets will we need in our organization? How will we identify, recruit, and retain the right new talent?

5. What should we pilot now to start capturing this value?

No company has harnessed every possible digital advance, but many have begun to make real progress. One thing seems certain: in marketplaces where profit margins are thin and consumers demand ever more sophisticated products and better service, the digital thread will lead some companies to great success while slow-moving competitors fall further behind.

#Manufacturing analytics

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jacewilliams1 · 5 years ago

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More than an FBO

In my personal flying, and in my career in aviation insurance, I’ve visited countless FBOs, large and small. At some point I became aware that what we’ll call the “glass and chrome, potted-plant, WiFi-enabled” building had all but supplanted the mom and pop FBO; the ones that always seemed to have a three-legged dog, 30-year old courtesy car, and the smell of burnt coffee greeting visitors at the door. I have nothing against glass and chrome, and terrazzo floors, and if I were flying around in a kerosene burner while sporting epaulets, I’m sure that I would enjoy the leather recliners and cappuccino. But, my aviation heart lies with the time capsule FBOs, where the latest in information technology is a 15-year old copy of Trade-A-Plane, and the tube-fired UNICOM radio behind a Formica counter.

An FBO, but so much more.

In the year 2000, I settled in, along with my airplane, at an end-of-an-era FBO: Co-Op Aircraft Service at Cincinnati’s Blue Ash Airport. These buildings, and the surrounding crumbling concrete and asphalt, became more to me than a place to tie-down and buy avgas. The business, the airport, and the people who were drawn to it, became like a second home and family. I feel privileged to have been part of the last 12 years of its life.

Co-Op consisted of three 1930s hangars, plus a shop, office and pilot’s lounge. The furnishings and overall ambiance of the lounge was a bit like a cross between the back room of a service station and the basement of a fraternity house. The carpet was faded, the photos were faded, and the place itself was fading through a combination of age and benign neglect. I’ll leave others to chronicle the loss of Blue Ash Airport to developers, but even years before the lights were turned off in 2012, there was an understanding that the end, if not near, was certainly inevitable. Eventually, an all too familiar mixture of money and politics sealed its fate.

Although somewhat rough around the edges, Co-Op provided a tangible connection to aviation’s past. Its hangars were stuffed to the rafters with detritus, but a careful eye could spy bits of treasure interspersed: a Beech 18 door, BT-13 landing gear, cowlings from a UC-78, Staggerwing wings, all left behind from aircraft that had once been nestled inside. In the shop, or next door at Mark Day’s Blue Ash Aircraft Service, parts, some of which had been there since the 1950s, were stacked floor to ceiling. There was no need to consult a computerized inventory system; if you knew what you needed, they would find it. When you walked across the concrete hangar floor, you knew that Roscoe Turner once stood there, that instead of an MU-2, the airplane in the corner was once a Waco 10. There weren’t any layers of paint or modern lighting systems between you and the history in those hangars; it was there for all who cared to look.

The place was presided over by “Moose” Glos, resident IA and owner since 1952. In this case, the nickname was not meant to be ironic, as even in his later years, “Moose” was an imposing figure of a man. He could quote part numbers and prices from memory, seemed to know every aircraft and owner within a 50-mile radius, and was a repository for all things relating to Cincinnati aviation from the 1940s on. In his eighties, he still came to work every day. On the way to his back office, he could be counted on to throw a disparaging comment at the crowd seated in the lounge, but we knew he secretly loved to see a full house. You knew you were a bona-fide regular when he asked you for a cup of coffee, and you knew how he wanted it: black, with one packet of blue sweetener.

There’s history in those hangar rafters.

In the last days, as a sort of funereal pall surrounded the place, strangers came to pay their last respects. Old men with canes or walkers would show-up in the lounge with stories of the lessons they took, or the Aeronca Chief they based there decades before. Often they would tell us about the guy that used to run the place back then: “His name was Moose.”

“Yes sir,” we would tell them. “He’s still here, back in his office.” They would then smile in disbelief, and disappear into the back room to sit and share memories.

Aviation has a sometimes unfortunate hierarchy, its classes defined by tickets held, and equipment flown. What I witnessed at Co-Op though was something approaching true egalitarianism. The only ticket to entry was a love of airplanes. For many of us, Co-Op was more than an FBO; it was a social center. On any given weekend, the charcoal grill would be serving-up charred sausages to students, renter pilots, tradesmen, airline captains, captains of industry, and even a federal judge. CFIs, combat veterans, test pilots, or a former SR-71 driver could be seen conversing with student pilots about the subject we all had in common.

The lines between employee and customer were somewhat blurred. On any given day, it might be one of the regular customers who fueled an airplane, drove a transient pilot to a nearby hotel, or took a dad and his son, who just happened to drive by the airport and stop-in, out to the airplanes for pictures. There were no electrified fences or security badges at Co-Op. Anyone interested in what was happening at the airport needed only to walk in the door, and he would be greeted by people eager to share what we loved. Several of us had keys to the business, and when Karl, the owner’s son, would leave for the night, would be told to “just lock-up when you leave.”

Weekends would be filled with flying and shared meals. When weather permitted, my brother might lead six or eight of us in our airplanes on a flight to some distant airport restaurant. Thanksgiving turkeys were deep-fried on the ramp, and when circumstances dictated, Christmas night might find a couple of us celebrating the holiday in the humble surroundings of the Co-Op lounge.

We often live our lives in retrospect, only later truly appreciating the people and joys for what they were: extraordinary and fleeting. I’m happy to say that my countless hours spent with airplanes and friends at Co-Op are the exception to this rule. I knew then that a place like this could not last; a place that brought the sometimes undefinable allure of aviation into crisp focus for me. Changing times and “progress,” if you like, had marked it for destruction long before the wrecking ball came. I’m guessing that this species of FBO still has some survivors at small airports. The day that every large city had one or two though, is sadly over.

The post More than an FBO appeared first on Air Facts Journal.

from Engineering Blog https://airfactsjournal.com/2019/12/more-than-an-fbo/

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hemantgoel · 6 months ago

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Standard Unit equipment manufacturer & suppliers | Goel Scientific | Canada

Best, Top,Goel Scientific Glass offers a multi-purpose pilot plant Distillation unit that suits any application, Standard Unit equipment, The perfect compromise between quality & price, supply Canada, USA Ontario, Quebec, BC Alberta

#Goel Scientific Glass offers a multi-purpose pilot plant Distillation unit that suits any application #Standard Unit equipment #The perfect compromise between quality & price #supply Canada #USA Ontario #Quebec #BC Alberta

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eddiejpoplar · 6 years ago

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The Mazda CX-5 Turbo Earns Five Stars—and Then Some

I’ve driven the Mazda CX-5 crossover several times before—and thoroughly enjoyed it every time—but big news arrived for 2019 in the availability of a new turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, the first forced-induction mill in the model’s history. Suddenly, there’s up to 250 horsepower on tap. (That’s when using premium fuel; on regular gas, output is 227 horsepower. Both are a big jump from the base engine’s 187 horses.) Suddenly the CX-5 has moves it never had before.

You can get the turbo only on the top two CX-5 models, including the flagship Signature AWD edition I drove. Lavishly equipped, the Signature comes standard with everything from 19-inch wheels to ventilated and heated front seats; heated outboard rear seats; Nappa leather trim, keyless entry with pushbutton start, a power moonroof, and a 7.0-inch color multifunction display with navigation and a rearview camera. To this my test vehicle added only a few minor cosmetic extras, including roof-rack side rails ($400) and illuminated sill plates ($400). Fully loaded, the Signature checks in under $40K.

This is a highly engaging machine. The exterior may not push the design envelope very far, but it’s clean and chiseled and, unlike some vehicles in this class, it doesn’t look like a shoe. The cabin is flat-out beautiful, with an inviting driver interface with simple console controls; a big, legible primary gauge display; and the Signature’s rich materials and brushed-metal accents. The leather-wrapped and heated steering wheel feels great. Large swaths of glass make the interior airy while aiding visibility all around. The rear seats offer good legroom, while the rear cargo area (accessible via a power liftgate) offers decent luggage space. Others offer more room back there, but on the plus side, the load floor is entirely flat.

As I began driving the CX-5, immediately I noticed the cockpit’s abiding refinement. It’s quiet inside, well isolated from wind and tire noise (though the engine does make its presence clearly felt under heavy throttle). Steering feel, as we’ve come to expect from most Mazdas, is excellent, with plenty of confidence-inspiring weight and a clear stream of road info trickling through to your fingertips. The infotainment system—including Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and a 10-speaker Bose audio system—works intuitively, but the navigation maps are overly simplistic, the screen is on the small side, and the whole system is slow in response. It’s simply not as seamless and snappy as better modern units. Moreover, while most subsystems can be accessed easily using the central rotary controller and the surrounding pushbutton tabs, some simple actions—such as changing SiriusXM radio stations—require too many clicks and jogs through various menu screens. Infotainment is the one and only facet of the CX-5 that merits a serious upgrade.

The advanced driver-assistance tech on board is quite well-executed, however, as effective as it is unobtrusive. For instance, traffic-sign recognition will indicate a stop sign on the head-up display whenever you’re approaching one. For less than vigilant drivers, it’s surely a welcome notification. Also effective is the radar-guided braking alert. I rolled toward a wall without braking and—well before crunch time—the system sounded an audible alarm and a visual “Get on the brakes right now, buster!” alert on the windshield. (Okay, that’s not exactly what it said.) Radar cruise control with stop-start capability is also aboard.

Driving-wise, the CX-5 shines. This is very likely the most pilot-rewarding rig in its class. As mentioned, the electrically assisted steering is superb, and the handling balance is simply excellent, especially for a tallish vehicle, even if the electronics tend to step in early if you begin play too hard, well before you can fully exploit the suspension’s prowess. Ride quality, too, is outstanding, mostly plush but always ready to dance and never unduly harsh. As on all Mazdas, standard G-Vectoring Control complements the spirited moves, very slightly reducing powertrain torque when you turn the steering wheel, which results in a small forward pitch in body motion, thereby increasing the contact patches of the front tires for improved front-end grip. As a driver, you feel nothing—except, of course, delightful responsiveness.

Which brings us to the big finale. No one would ever mistake the turbocharged CX-5 for a “fast” crossover, but the additional horsepower now on tap seriously upgrades the overall fun at the wheel. By just 2,000 rpm, 310 lb-ft of torque is flowing through all four wheels, giving the blown CX-5 a liveliness on its feet its naturally aspirated siblings simply don’t have. You can scoot right along in this thing, passing easily, climbing steep grades without strain. The exhaust note grows a tad strident at full throttle, but there’s enough torque on tap that you rarely need to plant your right foot so deeply. The standard six-speed automatic is perfectly adequate, although we did wish for slightly speedier shifts. (A Sport setting livens them up a bit.) And in a decision worthy of a huge round of applause, in manual mode, you move the CX-5’s shift lever backward for upshifts and forward for downshifts, just like a proper sequential racing gearbox. Most automakers do it in reverse (forward for upshifts, back for downshifts), which is unintuitive. Mazda’s corps of enthusiast engineers did it right.

The turbo-enhanced CX-5 is a standout, let down only slightly by its aging infotainment system and, for some, a tow rating of just 1,500 pounds. Otherwise, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better-looking, finer-driving, more sumptuously equipped crossover anywhere.

From me, the turbo CX-5 earns five stars.

2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature AWD Specifications

ON SALE Now PRICE $37,885/$39,455 (base/as-tested) ENGINE 2.5L turbocharged DOHC 16-valve I-4; 250 hp @ 5,000 rpm, 310 lb-ft @ 2,000 rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed automatic LAYOUT 4-door, 5-passenger, front-engine, AWD hatchback EPA MILEAGE 22/27 mpg (city/highway) L x W x H 179.1 x 72.5 x 65.3 in WHEELBASE 106.2 in WEIGHT 3,800 lb (est) 0–60 MPH 6.4 sec (est) TOP SPEED 130 mph (mfr)

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jesusvasser · 6 years ago

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The Mazda CX-5 Turbo Earns Five Stars—and Then Some

From me, the turbo CX-5 earns five stars.

2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature AWD Specifications

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jonathanbelloblog · 6 years ago

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The Mazda CX-5 Turbo Earns Five Stars—and Then Some

From me, the turbo CX-5 earns five stars.

2019 Mazda CX-5 Signature AWD Specifications

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itsworn · 6 years ago

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Don’t Call it a Lincoln: Chris Ryan’s 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II

Smack-dab between Ford Motor Company’s River Rouge Complex and Dearborn facilities in Allen Park, Michigan, is the New Model Programs Development Center, where Ford performs precisely what the name suggests: tests new vehicle models. But that’s not what the center was originally constructed for way back in 1956.

Referred to as the Allen Park Body and Assembly Plant, Ford’s Pilot Plant as it was officially named at the onset, was formed as an exclusive facility with one purpose: assemble the all-new Continental Mark II—by hand. Under the direction of Henry Ford’s grandson, William Clay Ford Sr., Ford Motor Company set out to take over the luxury market segment with its newly created, non-Lincoln–affiliated Continental Division with the no-holds-barred Mark II … and failed miserably, losing an estimated $1,000 per vehicle. Poor sales numbers aside—it was the most expensive domestic vehicle on the market at the time—one fact that remains: the 1956-1957 Continental Mark II was remarkable achievement on behalf of the Special Products Division team responsible for its development and production.

Available in 19 (yes, 19!) different exterior color options with more than double (43 to be exact) various interior color combo options, the Mark II offered such extravagant features as hand-laced wheel covers, imported Scottish leather, power everything, and a FoMoCo first: lacquer-based metallic paint. And while the engines were indeed Lincoln Y-blocks, each and every one chosen was completely taken apart, blueprinted, and reassembled to strict tolerances. With an MSRP of $10,000 (10 times that in today’s prices), you can bet your bottom dollar no expenses were spared with each one produced (just over 3,000 total) in the Mark II’s short-lived, two-year lifespan. (Failures would ensue at the Oakwood Boulevard plant location after the demise of Ford’s Continental Division when it became the Edsel Division, the Motor Company’s futuristic fiasco, which also lasted a whopping two years.)

Today, just as it was then, the Continental Mark II commands top dollar in any condition (none more so than an unrestored, pristine original), but is anyone crazy enough to further customize an already perceived factory custom? You betcha. Meet Chris Ryan, owner AND builder of the “Scarlet Lady,” the 1956 Mark II custom shown here in all its searing red glory. A year in the remaking at his South Carolina–based shop, Ryan’s Rod & Kustom, the Continental did not start out as a pristine original (more like a rusted-out relic), but it does carry with it some significant provenance in that it was initially purchased by The Brooklyn Bombshell—aka Red—Ms. Susan Hayward. Not long after acquiring the Mark II, she (and the car) moved to Carrolton, Georgia, where Chris procured the car and subsequently gave it the attributing moniker.

Chris spent some time—and money—procuring the missing “hen’s teeth,” as he put it, needed for the Mark’s exterior. For the underpinnings, however, hens weren’t in the game plan, as although he wanted the car to appear as if it were done back in the ’50s, he wanted it to drive like a new-model Continental. Gone is the refined Y-block; in its place a fresh Coyote modular 5.0L and six-speed overdrive from Ford Performance. The suspension was upgraded with an airbagged Fatman Fabrications complete front clip and a RideTech parallel four-link equipped with ShockWaves. Chris also incorporated larger-sized four-wheel disc brakes, a feat not easily accomplished with 15-inch wheels—that’s why he didn’t even bother attempting. Instead, he enlisted Mike Curtis (Curtis Speed) to co-design and whittle out a quartet of 20-inch billet wheels that “appear” to be 15s thanks to the 2-1/2 inches of faux whitewall lip!

Ryan’s Rod & Kustom spent the better part of 12 months refining and redefining the Continental’s exterior. Along with the top being lowered a couple inches and the body equally down over the chassis, Chris decided to eliminate the trunklid’s iconic spare tire hump, feeling it was an “out-of-place” design element. Further, the stock grille was omitted in favor of a custom one-off piece Alumicraft’s Dan Baker designed and built for the car. The paint was applied in-house using a newly developed product from PPG called Crystallance, a glass crystal flake that, unlike traditional metalflake, flows and lays much better, creating a brilliant sparkle beneath the candy red layer on top.

Before its debut (and subsequent Great 8 selection) at last year’s Detroit Autorama, Chuck Hanna from Hot Rod Interiors did the upholstery in a traditional tuck ’n’ roll style using white leather over T-bird bucket seats, a floating center console, and the custom-made door panels. The dash was handbuilt to accommodate a Chrysler Astrodome instrument pod that features a custom bezel by Alumicraft, while an ididit column was used to mount a 1961 Plymouth steering wheel redone by Dennis Crooks. The volume got turned up a bit in the trunk, as it were, when Hanna came up with the idea of concealing the airbag system with a custom-made box—a Fender guitar amp–looking box that Chuck acquired actual Fender restoration products to help create.

While restoration buffs would surely cringe even at the suggestion a rare breed as such be anything other than restored, thankfully for people like you and I (reasonable folk!), there are people out there like Chris Ryan who wholeheartedly do not agree with that sentiment. Thank you Chris!

The post Don’t Call it a Lincoln: Chris Ryan’s 1956 Lincoln Continental Mark II appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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letzgetcrazy · 6 years ago

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Outdoors :: RV Camping In Yellowstone

A century along with a 1 / 2 of history backs the night scope fine optical goods Zeiss Optics has provided through the town of Jena in Germany. Yellowstone National Park is a mountain wildland featuring wolves, grizzly bears, and herds of elk and bison. When you plan Louisiana Swamp tours, you can go through the swamp and its habitants while experiencing and enjoying the beautiful scenery, listening towards the swamp sounds. When buying anything its smart to do your homework first, and getting night vision googles isn't any different. While it is 100% necessary to possess these scopes when hunting in some areas such as caves they can run buyers a pretty significant price point in certain instances. Building of Navajo Bridge in 1928 closed along the ferry. After 24 numerous years of marriage disaster struck Muhammad's household when his beloved Khadija died at age 64 in 619 CE. As the electrons strike the phosphorous it releases green photons which are viewable to humans by looking through the ocular lens of the evening vision unit. Define the Scope. There is really much to see, as the swamp is alive with plants, exotic birds and creatures, such as alligators as well as other reptiles. He was also very attached to the girl martyr, Philomena. Averted Vision.

There are 2 kinds of night vision that are typically used: 'image enhancement', and 'thermal imaging'. Take the time and energy to check around for your right truck tent or tailgate canopy for your needs. Take the time and energy to check around for the right truck tent or tailgate canopy for the needs. The eyepiece magnifies the image.

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Yellowstone RV camping sites: Yellowstone has 12 RV campgrounds featuring greater than 2,000 RV camping sites. Recent researchers have destroyed these myths and explained that dogs and cats cannot see certain colors yet they see others perfectly. " The Bayer name consists of two words: The 2nd word will be the name of the constellation the location where the star resides (actually the constellation name by having an "i" suffix). Verifying the scope and getting feedback will enable you to concentrate on customer acceptance, quality control, and verifying that work well performed meets the meaning of the scope of the project. This equipment aiding in seeing in the night isn't only useful to our armed forces, however it is utilized by our law enforcement officials, the Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, state universities and hunters as well. While standing around the glass, you can look between your feet in to the depths of the canyon for around 4000 feet. After 24 years of marriage disaster struck Muhammad's household when his beloved Khadija died at age 64 in 619 CE. As the electrons strike the phosphorous it releases green photons which are viewable to humans by looking through the ocular lens of the night vision unit. The irony as well as the tragedy: the guys who train beside me are just a few. Nonetheless, this night flying devices provides the added safety feature which pilots need when flying their aircrafts under low light condition. Each year we are in a position to our eyeglasses prescription and then buy glasses which treat our optical needs. Safety experts consider this gadget as among most critical equipment that pilots will need to have when engaged in rescue operations.

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inexcon · 8 years ago

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RSI Comm-Link: Anvil Hurricane Q&A

Anvil Hurricane Q&A - Part I

Greetings Citizens,

Meet the A4A Hurricane, a fighting spacecraft that packs a deadly punch into a slight fuselage. The spacecraft compensates for its lack of creature comforts with its powerful armament, boasting six guns capable of blasting their way through nearly anything. Hurricane pilots have yet to find an enemy shield they can’t knock down.

But enough of the marketing speak. You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Let’s get right to it.

Special thanks to Calix Reneau, Kirk Tome, and Steven Kam for their efforts providing answers to these questions.

Questions & Answers

These questions were submitted by backers to the Anvil Hurricane Q&A thread on Spectrum, and were selected based on the amount of upvotes received over the last week.

Can the turret be slaved like the Super Hornet?

The most upvoted question in the Q&A thread! The plan is to support slaved turrets in general – and the Hurricane’s turret will be no exception. While the balance factors for these slaved turrets are not yet fully determined, the current design direction would require the use of an avionics blade (you can think of it like installing a card into one of your PC motherboard slots) to provide the functionality and manage the additional workload on the targeting computer and related gear when in use. Up to this point, we’ve integrated some of the remote turrets on the current list of flight-ready ships on case by case basis so far, but the long-term preference is to establish a consistent systemic solution to remote turret integration rather than simply accommodating the various edge cases one ship hardpoint at a time. Overall, a lone pilot will not be totally kneecapped if their gunner decides to take the day off, but solo operating a ship designed for multiple crewmen would need to consider a loadout adjustment, and avionics would be part of that decision.

Where does this ship stand in speed and maneuverability to other ships?

The Hurricane is faster than it is nimble, designed to rush into trouble, wreck things, and then rush back out to regroup. It was designed with speed and hitting power at the cost of durability. While nimbleness always seems like a nice trait to have, Hurricane drivers have historically noted that giving in to the temptation to engage in a turning dogfight and keeping pace in the middle of the fray does not play to the Hurricane’s strengths. A good-sized boost tank gives it plenty of afterburner to help it scrape its way out of those tougher situations, but it’s for sprinting, not marathons.

Will there be a flashfire mount to replace the turret with an appropriate sized fixed mount? / Are we able to change out the top turret for one large fixed gun?

The flashfire mount design is being revisited. The Hurricane’s turret was designed to fall in line with the newer turret/remote gimbal system. The current direction is to limit the allowed size increase / mount cost to prevent too much edge-case exploitability; where a S6 would be overkill, 2xS4 might be ok. Furthermore, remote gimbals may have stricter resource bandwidth than turrets, so the peak installed performance of such guns may be less than if they were placed on a standard fixed mount, but again, this system is in the middle of revision, so please understand that this is very much subject to change.

Will this be an effective ship for a solo pilot or will it need someone in it’s turret to function properly?

The Hurricane is at its best when deployed with a pilot and turret gunner who coordinate well with each other. If you’re flying a Hurricane solo, the natural tendency is to fight while focused mainly forward; even with a look-aim capability, you’re going to be largely focusing your firepower within a fighter’s traditional business end. This is formidable firepower, but the Hurricane still shines best with a dual crew: the pilot can handle the demanding maneuvers and situational awareness required for survival and can also keep an eye towards the resource management that is so critical to this ship (see also below, re: power management) while the gunner makes sure the enemy always has plenty to think about. Meanwhile, the gunner gets some simple access to multi-crew features, helping out with radar and missile locks. Have a plan going in, work as a team, and the two crew become a force of nature. This ship is all about staggering performance potential but with significant risk management as the price of entry.

What sets the Hurricane apart from other fighters such as the Hornet, Buccaneer, Gladius, and Sabre? Does it have any particular strengths or weaknesses that might make someone choose one over the other?

The Hornet is a boxer, happy to trade slugs and rely on grit and stamina to be the one left standing. The Buccaneer would prefer to let the opponent take all the beating. The Sabre likes to strike from the shadows. The Gladius likes to chase its prey. Meanwhile, the Hurricane believes that life is short, combat should be shorter: pick a target, eliminate it before it hurts you, repeat.

As with any ship, the eventual goal is to let you customize your loadouts to your liking based on your ship’s available capabilities and budget. While you can run an energy loadout, there is a definite slant towards ballistics with the Hurricane, as the small powerplant means there isn’t a ton of power to go around – this ship is optimized for decisive action, not for protracted fights. The turret is great for strafing runs on planetside targets, blasting medium-sized targets gunship-style while the pilot’s attention is focused elsewhere, or suppressing the enemy while the pilot navigates asteroid alleys and debris fields.

How can the Hurricane be a heavy fighter when it is smaller and lighter than any of the current medium fighters and most of the light fighters?

The Hurricane punches well outside of its weight class, that’s for sure. The slight chassis may read like a light fighter, but in tactical terms that label doesn’t fit at all. The Hurricane is not meant to be flown like a light fighter, if by light fighter you’re going to imply ‘dogfighter’. Pitting a Hurricane against a Gladius or Avenger is certainly feasible, but it is an unnecessary risk – ‘overwhelming force’ is the entire focus of the ship, and it is meant to be used against heavily fortified ships and outposts, especially the kind that an average fighter’s loadout might struggle to hurt without risky prolonged fire and the exposure that comes with it. In-game and historically, it’s also worth remembering that the Hurricane’s design originally hails from another time, and for its time it was certainly pretty heavy.

Given that the Hurricane is a “glass hammer,” can we expect the pilot and gunner to have ejection seats?

Yes, both pilot and gunner seats come with ejection features. While Anvil may not have designed the Hurricane initially – that credit belongs to Casse Aerospace – Anvil’s design philosophy includes pilot survivability. Anvil is proud of their history of aces, and know better than anyone that the biggest fish in the sea got that way by outliving their equipment – after all, no one stays undefeated forever.

What is the operational range of the Hurricane? On a scale from Gladius to Vanguard?

The Hurricane is more mid-range. The stark accommodations make for an uncomfortable trip, but it has fuel enough to find its way to trouble. The quantum drive and jump module mean it is capable of venturing off on its own, but it is closer in range to the Gladius than the Vanguard. Operationally, it isn’t a long-range, deep space fighter like the Vanguard – in the Tevarin War, the Hurricane was deployed to exploit breaches in Tevarin Phalanx shields, so they usually weren’t operating alone. In most cases they would have needed to have legs only about as long as the rest of the fighters, bombers, or support ships they were flying with, and the Hurricane’s extreme risk-reward focus doesn’t quite fit the profile for long-range patrol.

How advanced are we expecting the power generator to be on this ship? Will there be a lot of room for upgrading it if it’s low end, or can we not expect to squeeze much more out of the slot than the base generator?

The factory loadout for the Hurricane allows it to achieve solid functionality, but there’s definitely room to customize. By 30th century standards, the ship is understocked in its power plant (remember, its original design is from another time in history), which means you’ll need to make frequent choices in power management between supplying power to thrusters, shields, or weapons, moreso than with “contemporary” fighter designs that inherently have a better balance in terms of pilot workload. Maintaining ballistics on your hardpoints will decrease the energy requirements, as will upgrading the power plant itself. You will have enough power to run energy weapons, but it can start to really eat into that precious resource which you’ll be wanting for defense and engagement/disengagement, making those power management decisions all the more critical in finding success. In general, we expect that running ballistic weapons in a Hurricane will be the typical loadout of choice, but we also anticipate no end of ingenuity from our players. We’re interested in seeing what you can do with the ship!

What’s the best tactic for the Hurricane to use in a dogfight? Zoom & Boom? Turning fight? Other?

Alone, I’d expect Hurricane pilots to favor attack runs and then kiting through tricky obstacles whenever available. When you are alone, it’s relatively difficult to isolate a distracted target, so a solo pilot is well-advised to pick his or her engagements carefully. In groups, I’d expect the preference to fall more towards alternating waves of boom and zoom, with a much heavier emphasis on team or group tactics, including weaves, wagon wheels, flexible formations, or other pack tactics designed to expose anyone who would threaten one Hurricane to devastating focused fire from the others.

Concept sale

About the Sale

The Hurricane concept sale will run through Monday, March 6, 2017. Standard and warbond versions are available, as are two packs that include a small discount on other ship types in Anvil’s expanding line-up. The loaner ship for the Hurricane will be the Anvil F7C-M Super Hornet. And if you want to know more? Around the Verse will feature the Hurricane in an upcoming ‘Ship Shape’ segment.

The Hurricane is being offered for the first time as a limited concept sale. This means that the ship design meets our specifications, but it is not yet ready to display in your Hangar, fight in Arena Commander, or fly in the Alpha. The sale includes Lifetime Insurance on the ship hull and a pair of decorative items for your Hangar. A future patch will add a Hurricane poster and then, once the in-game model is finished, you will also be given an in-game Hurricane mini ship model! Once this deal expires, the ship price will increase and not include Lifetime Insurance or these extras.

Disclaimer

Remember: we are offering this pledge ship to help fund Star Citizen’s development. The funding generated by sales such as this is what allows us to include deeper, non-combat oriented features in the Star Citizen world. Concept ships will be available for in-game credits in the final universe, and they are not required to start the game.

Additionally, please note that all decorative ‘flare’ items will also be available to acquire in the finished game world. Also, while the Hurricane will be entering the ship pipeline now, it will ultimately be released after other concept ships have been completed. The goal is to make additional ships available that give players a different experience rather than a particular advantage when the persistent universe launches.

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sociologyquotes · 8 years ago

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The Killing of half a million Iraqi children from UN sanctions in the 90s

from the article Squeezed to Death (March 3rd 2000) by John Pilger

“Wherever you go in Iraq's southern city of Basra, there is dust. [...] "It carries death," said Dr Jawad Al-Ali, a cancer specialist and member of Britain's Royal College of Physicians. "Our own studies indicate that more than 40 per cent of the population in this area will get cancer: in five years' time to begin with, then long afterwards. Most of my own family now have cancer, and we have no history of the disease. It has spread to the medical staff of this hospital. We don't know the precise source of the contamination, because we are not allowed to get the equipment to conduct a proper scientific survey, or even to test the excess level of radiation in our bodies. We suspect depleted uranium, which was used by the Americans and British in the Gulf War right across the southern battlefields."

Under economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council almost 10 years ago, Iraq is denied equipment and expertise to clean up its contaminated battle-fields, as Kuwait was cleaned up. At the same time, the Sanctions Committee in New York, dominated by the Americans and British, has blocked or delayed a range of vital equipment, chemotherapy drugs and even pain-killers. "For us doctors," said Dr Al-Ali, "it is like torture. We see children die from the kind of cancers from which, given the right treatment, there is a good recovery rate." Three children died while I was there.

Six other children died not far away on January 25, last year. An American missile hit Al Jumohria, a street in a poor residential area. Sixty-three people were injured, a number of them badly burned. "Collateral damage," said the Department of Defence in Washington. Britain and the United States are still bombing Iraq almost every day: it is the longest Anglo-American bombing campaign since the second world war, yet, with honourable exceptions, very little appears about it in the British media. Conducted under the cover of "no fly zones", which have no basis in international law, the aircraft, according to Tony Blair, are "performing vital humanitarian tasks". The ministry of defence in London has a line about "taking robust action to protect pilots" from Iraqi attacks - yet an internal UN Security Sector report says that, in one five-month period, 41 per cent of the victims were civilians in civilian targets: villages, fishing jetties, farmland and vast, treeless valleys where sheep graze. A shepherd, his father, his four children and his sheep were killed by a British or American aircraft, which made two passes at them. I stood in the cemetery where the children are buried and their mother shouted, "I want to speak to the pilot who did this."

This is a war against the children of Iraq on two fronts: bombing, which in the last year cost the British taxpayer £60 million. And the most ruthless embargo in modern history. According to Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, the death rate of children under five is more than 4,000 a month - that is 4,000 more than would have died before sanctions. That is half a million children dead in eight years. If this statistic is difficult to grasp, consider, on the day you read this, up to 200 Iraqi children may die needlessly. "Even if not all the suffering in Iraq can be imputed to external factors," says Unicef, "the Iraqi people would not be undergoing such deprivation in the absence of the prolonged measures imposed by the Security Council and the effects of war."

Through the glass doors of the Unicef offices in Baghdad, you can read the following mission statement: "Above all, survival, hope, development, respect, dignity, equality and justice for women and children." A black sense of irony will be useful if you are a young Iraqi. As it is, the children hawking in the street outside, with their pencil limbs and eyes too big for their long thin faces, cannot read English, and perhaps cannot read at all.

"The change in 10 years is unparalleled, in my experience," Anupama Rao Singh, Unicef's senior representative in Iraq, told me. "In 1989, the literacy rate was 95%; and 93% of the population had free access to modern health facilities. Parents were fined for failing to send their children to school. The phenomenon of street children or children begging was unheard of. Iraq had reached a stage where the basic indicators we use to measure the overall well-being of human beings, including children, were some of the best in the world. Now it is among the bottom 20%. In 10 years, child mortality has gone from one of the lowest in the world, to the highest."

Anupama Rao Singh, originally a teacher in India, has spent most of her working life with Unicef. Helping children is her vocation, but now, in charge of a humanitarian programme that can never succeed, she says, "I am grieving." She took me to a typical primary school in Saddam City, where Baghdad's poorest live. We approached along a flooded street: the city's drainage and water distribution system have collapsed. The head, Ali Hassoon, wore the melancholia that marks Iraqi teachers and doctors and other carers: those who know they can do little "until you, in the outside world, decide". Guiding us around the puddles of raw sewage in the playground, he pointed to the high water mark on a wall. "In the winter it comes up to here. That's when we evacuate. We stay as long as possible, but without desks, the children have to sit on bricks. I am worried about the buildings coming down."

The school is on the edge of a vast industrial cemetery. The pumps in the sewage treatment plants and the reservoirs of water are silent, save for a few wheezing at a fraction of their capacity. Many were targets in the American-led blitz in January 1991; most have since disintegrated without spare parts from their British, French and German builders. These are mostly delayed by the Security Council's Sanctions Committee; the term used is "placed on hold". Ten years ago, 92% of the population had safe water, according to Unicef. Today, drawn untreated from the Tigris, it is lethal. Touching two brothers on the head, the head said, "These children are recovering from dysentery, but it will attack them again, and again, until they are too weak." Chlorine, that universal guardian of safe water, has been blocked by the Sanctions Committee. In 1990, an Iraqi infant with dysentery stood a one in 600 chance of dying. This is now one in 50.

Just before Christmas, the department of trade and industry in London blocked a shipment of vaccines meant to protect Iraqi children against diphtheria and yellow fever. Dr Kim Howells told parliament why. His title of under secretary of state for competition and consumer affairs, eminently suited his Orwellian reply. The children's vaccines were banned, he said, "because they are capable of being used in weapons of mass destruction". That his finger was on the trigger of a proven weapon of mass destruction - sanctions - seemed not to occur to him. A courtly, eloquent Irishman, Denis Halliday resigned as co-ordinator of humanitarian relief to Iraq in 1998, after 34 years with the UN; he was then Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, one of the elite of senior officials. He had made his career in development, "attempting to help people, not harm them". His was the first public expression of an unprecedented rebellion within the UN bureaucracy. "I am resigning," he wrote, "because the policy of economic sanctions is totally bankrupt. We are in the process of destroying an entire society. It is as simple and terrifying as that . . . Five thousand children are dying every month . . . I don't want to administer a programme that results in figures like these."

When I first met Halliday, I was struck by the care with which he chose uncompromising words. "I had been instructed," he said, "to implement a policy that satisfies the definition of genocide: a deliberate policy that has effectively killed well over a million individuals, children and adults. We all know that the regime, Saddam Hussein, is not paying the price for economic sanctions; on the contrary, he has been strengthened by them. It is the little people who are losing their children or their parents for lack of untreated water. What is clear is that the Security Council is now out of control, for its actions here undermine its own Charter, and the Declaration of Human Rights and the Geneva Convention. History will slaughter those responsible."

[...] In the centre of Baghdad is a monument to the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, which Saddam Hussein started, with encouragement from the Americans, who wanted him to destroy their great foe, the Ayatollah Khomeini. When it was over, at least a million lives had been lost in the cause of nothing, fuelled by the arms industries of Britain and the rest of Europe, the Soviet Union and the United States: the principal members of the Security Council. The monument's two huge forearms, modelled on Saddam's arms (and cast in Basingstoke), hold triumphant crossed sabres. Cars are allowed to drive over the helmets of dead Iranian soldiers embedded in the concourse. I cannot think of a sight anywhere in the world that better expresses the crime of sacrificial war.

[...] I sat in a clinic as doctors received parents and their children, some of them dying. After every other examination, Dr Lekaa Fasseh Ozeer, the oncologist, wrote in English: "No drugs available." I asked her to jot down in my notebook a list of the drugs the hospital had ordered, but rarely saw. In London, I showed this to Professor Karol Sikora who, as chief of the cancer programme of the World Health Organisation (WHO), wrote in the British Medical Journal last year: "Requested radiotherapy equipment, chemotherapy drugs and analgesics are consistently blocked by United States and British advisers [to the Sanctions Committee in New York]. There seems to be a rather ludicrous notion that such agents could be converted into chemical or other weapons."

He told me, "Nearly all these drugs are available in every British hospital. They're very standard. When I came back from Iraq last year, with a group of experts I drew up a list of 17 drugs that are deemed essential for cancer treatment. We informed the UN that there was no possibility of converting these drugs into chemical warfare agents. We heard nothing more. The saddest thing I saw in Iraq was children dying because there was no chemotherapy and no pain control. It seemed crazy they couldn't have morphine, because for everybody with cancer pain, it is the best drug. When I was there, they had a little bottle of aspirin pills to go round 200 patients in pain. They would receive a particular anti-cancer drug, but then get only little bits of drugs here and there, and so you can't have any planning. It is bizarre."

[...] In Washington, I interviewed James Rubin, an under secretary of state who speaks for Madeleine Albright. When asked on US television if she thought that the death of half a million Iraqi children was a price worth paying, Albright replied: "This is a very hard choice, but we think the price is worth it." When I questioned Rubin about this, he claimed Albright's words were taken out of context. He then questioned the "methodology" of a report by the UN's World Health Organisation, which had estimated half a million deaths. Advising me against being "too idealistic", he said: "In making policy, one has to choose between two bad choices . . . and unfortunately the effect of sanctions has been more than we would have hoped." He referred me to the "real world" where "real choices have to be made". In mitigation, he said, "Our sense is that prior to sanctions, there was serious poverty and health problems in Iraq." The opposite was true, as Unicef's data on Iraq before 1990, makes clear.

The irony is that the US helped bring Saddam Hussein's Ba'ath Party to power in Iraq, and that the US (and Britain) in the 1980s conspired to break their own laws in order, in the words of a Congressional inquiry, to "secretly court Saddam Hussein with reckless abandon", giving him almost everything he wanted, including the means of making biological weapons. Rubin failed to see the irony in the US supplying Saddam with seed stock for anthrax and botulism, that he could use in weapons, and claimed that the Maryland company responsible was prosecuted. It was not: the company was given Commerce Department approval.

[...] "Containing" Iraq with sanctions destroys Iraq's capacity to threaten US control of the Middle East's oil while allowing Saddam to maintain internal order. As long as he stays within present limits, he is allowed to rule over a crippled nation. "What the West would ideally like," says Said Aburish, the author, "is another Saddam Hussein." Sanctions also justify the huge US military presence in the Gulf, as Nato expands east, viewing a vast new oil protectorate stretching from Turkey to the Caucasus. Bombing and sanctions are ideal for policing this new order: a strategy the president of the American Physicians for Human Rights calls "Bomb Now, Die Later". The perpetrators ought not be allowed to get away with this in our name: for the sake of the children of Iraq, and all the Iraqs to come.”

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