Read a couple of excellent interviews over on GamesIndustry today with Tony Goodman of Ensemble Studios and Feargus Urquhart of Obsidian on how the world of game publishing is changing.
Tony talks about how Ensemble is working to cut away at Zynga's dominance of the casual game market by building their product around characters called Chums. Feargus Urquhart talks about how Kickstarter allows an independent developer to own their brand, and how this can drastically change the power dynamic of future negotiations and product expansions when it's time to get a big publisher involved in the mix.
Taken together these interviews align magnificently with Johanna Blakely's TEDx talk from 2010 on how the fashion industry is so phenomenally successful without having the same copyright and patent protections found in the entertainment industries. It's all just kind of wonderfully zeitgeisty for me right now especially when taken in the context of the creative outpouring taking place in the OSR world under the creative commons license, so I'm putting all these links and screen grabs here for easy reference.
Garriott did it with Ultima. Blizzard did it with Warcraft, StarCraft and Diablo. Maxis did it with "Sim". Sid Meyer did it with Civilization. TSR did it with D&D. Wizards did it with Magic. Artists that find success during their lifetime do it to their names (Picasso, Dali, Warhol). Authors do it too, like Rice, King, and Crichton.
This is probably why JK Rowling is having such a tough time of it right now. Harry Potter is the brand, NOT JK Rowling.
Screen grabs of the interviews below the break.


Shea's Performing Arts Center has done it once again when they invited Mean Girls to play LIVE in concert on its world-class stage. This show is set to open on Saturday 21st September 2019 and will feature the top tunes that fans and critics alike love. Whether you're a long time lover of their latest albums or a curious newcomer, you are guaranteed to have an amazing evening out when you come to Shea's Performing Arts Center for what may be the top show in September 2019. If you want to enjoy this incredible live music event, then be sure to mark your calendars for Saturday 21st September 2019 when Mean Girlss U.S.A tour comes to Buffalo New York.
Did you know that critics rate Shea's Performing Arts Center as one of the best venues for live concert performances in 2019? That's because they not only have a history of booking the supreme in local and national talent to perform on their stage, but also because of the huge list of perks that guests and patrons can enjoy. Your ticket will buy you access to a dance floor that's wide-open and spacious making it the perfect place to get off your seats and shake it for your favorite music stars. This venue has comfortable seating and excellent lighting work, meaning that you won't miss the action from any seat in the house and every seat will be comfortable and relaxing. It also features stylish decor and excellent sound engineering to ensure that your evening with Shea's Performing Arts Center is guaranteed to be top shelf entertainment from the moment you enter the doors. So if you want to join many others who have already ordered tickets to see Mean Girls live in concert on Saturday 21st September 2019 at Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo New York, click that Buy Tickets button below.


The new Weight Watchers is all about 'wellness.' Critics say it's 'diet culture' in disguise.
After more than a half-century, and countless, obsessive calculations on how many points you have to spend on your diet, Weight Watchers officially ceased to exist. On Monday, WW was born.
Armed with a catchy tagline, "Wellness that Works," the company's major rebranding not only does away with its old name but also marks a strategic move to align with a modern society in which terms such as "self-care" and "body positivity" are celebrated, and the slightest mention of dieting is met with harsh criticism.
Mindy Grossman, WW's president and chief executive, touted the company's new focus as a "360 degree approach to 'healthy,' no matter how you define that for yourself," The Washington Post's Rachel Siegel reported.
"Everyone is talking about wellness, and to a degree people don't want to use the word 'diet' because they think it's a more short-term, punitive kind of issue, and that's not what we are," Grossman said.
As part of the company's current vision statement WW is aiming to "create a world where wellness is accessible to all, not just the few." Wellness — or a "state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being" — and variations of the word "health" appear multiple times in this declaration. "Diet" and "weight" are nowhere to be found.
But news that the company, which spent decades building its reputation as "the world's leading provider of weight management services," is distancing itself from dieting to focus on wellness has been met with skepticism.
Founded in the early 1960s by a housewife from Queens named Jean Nidetch, the company has historically marketed itself as a science-backed, healthy way to help people lose weight, becoming famous for a strategy that involves assigning point values to different foods and weekly in-person group meetings, complete with weigh-ins, led by someone who has succeeded in the program.
She said the company has been "evolving" to incorporate health and wellness practices, and attributed the company's financial success to its adaptation. Indeed, the rebrand comes on the heels of the company announcing in August that it now has 4.5 million subscribers, an increase of 1 million from last year. According to Market Watch, its total revenue is more than $1.3 billion.
It is not a surprise that diet brands, like WW, would be inclined to shift to promoting holistic, and perhaps vague, wellness approaches in a climate where dieting has largely fallen out of favor with the masses.
"Dieting is not a fashionable word these days," Susan Roberts, a professor of nutrition and psychiatry at Tufts University, told NPR in 2016.
The reaction is supported by scientific research and anecdotal evidence that suggests diets not only don't work but can also lead to negative health impacts, including the development of eating disorders.
Several first-person essays have also claimed that their dieting, specifically their participation in the Weight Watchers program, led them to develop eating disorders.
I felt like trash; I felt like a failure, and there were moments when I even felt like I didn't deserve to live. Now that I had blown my only shot at skinny success, my eating habits fluctuated from Perfect Weight Watchers Angel to shove-everything-I-possibly-can-down-my-throat-before-Mom-sees, depending on the hour.
Similar accounts have popped up over the years.
When the company announced earlier this year it planned to give teenagers as young as 13 free six-week memberships, the outcry was instant. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, "as many as 10 in 100 young women suffer from an eating disorder" in the United States.
Emerging through the remnants of Lean Cuisines and SlimFast shakes are wellness practices — an appealing approach to overall health, including weight loss, that focuses on elements beyond the numbers on a scale. In 2015, the global wellness industry, which encompasses everything from beauty to real estate, was a $3.7 trillion market, according to the nonprofit Global Wellness Institute.
On social media, many pointed out that wellness is often used as a way to "disguise" diet culture, slamming WW as another example.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Harrison, the dietitian, said WW may have changed its name and added to its offerings, but at its roots the company is still a weight-loss service.
"It's not like that's gone away, it's just gone underground," she said.


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Dating A Married Man? Want Some Advice?
By Gina Barreca
Amy Dickinson's "Ask Amy" column replaced "Ann Landers," which for years was penned by Eppie Lederer. (Dede Hatch)
"Never marry a man who uses a tea bag twice" is a great piece of advice. Except for those with a deep fondness for weak tea, cheap dates or promiscuous recycling, it's both indisputable and timeless.
Simultaneously simple and profound, the best advice is also almost universally applicable. Golda Meir's "Don't be so humble; you're not that great" comes under that rubric. So does a line from one of my mentors from grad school: "The people who don't like you now, darling, will simply like you less as time passes. Stop trying to please them."
I listened to grandmothers: Feed a cold, starve a fever, finish what's on your plate and don't go near the water until an hour after lunch. I listened to grandfathers: Don't believe everything you hear, don't admit to anything unless asked, and remember only fools brag about luck with the ponies or money in the bank.
My actual moral compass, such as it is, was wholly formed by the devotional daily reading of advice columnist Ann Landers (written by Eppie Lederer during my formative years). Even as a child, while others were reading "Pat The Bunny" I was reading "Will Heavy Petting Ruin My Reputation?" Ann Landers answered urgent questions I didn't even know I had. She addressed extravagantly personal topics I didn't even know existed. In terms of predicting the future, she was way better than horoscopes.
I liked her straightforward replies and her lack of coyness. I liked that she admitted when she got something wrong, saying she deserved "40 lashes with a wet noodle." I liked her humor.
But I also like the letters Ann Landers chose.
One had a lasting effect. Printed on Jan. 4, 1979, a letter discussing the vulnerability of young women to seduction insisted that, "Empty promises and sweet talk are the most effective tools of destruction." A friend mailed me the clipping; I was living in London. I carried it as a talisman, keeping it as a reminder to tell and seek only the truth. I had it in my wallet for four years, but by then I knew it for real and by heart.
Landers' replacement, the fabulous Amy Dickinson, keeps up her predecessor's tradition of brevity and wit in her daily column. I'm such an "Ask Amy" fan I turn to her page after glancing at the headlines (just to make sure we'll be around long enough for advice to be useful). One of my recent favorites was Amy's answer to a woman who, after a calamitous divorce, wanted to know what she might expect when meeting the "happily married" old boyfriend who got back in touch as soon as he heard she was single.
Writes Amy, "I love a good script. So let me take a pass at yours: He: 'I'm miserable. My wife doesn't understand me. I think about you all the time.' You: 'Check, please.' And … scene."
The other advice giver I see as a sort of modern I-Ching is E. Jean Carroll, the diamond-sharp pen behind the "Ask E. Jean" column for Elle magazine. No wet noodles for E. Jean; since 1993, she's been using her words as whips and crops. While insightful and generous, E. Jean takes no prisoners. When asked by a woman still having an affair with a colleague a few weeks before his wedding whether she was the "right" woman or the "other" woman, E. Jean cuts deliberation short by explaining "Alas, you're neither the 'right woman' nor the 'other woman.' You're the sucker."
And while the rest of us might be amateurs, we nevertheless have our signature pieces. "Never back up an inch more than you have to" Jack Sheedy was advised during a driving lesson, but he's applied those words to everything else. Lori Aldape swears that "if someone has to have an answer right now, then the answer is no." I tell young couples, if I'm asked whether they should wear rings, what I was told by a lecturer at Cambridge: "Wedding rings are like bicycle clips: they're there to keep your pants in place."
My older brother once reminded me: "You can always stop what you're doing." I'm taking his advice right now.
Gina Barreca is an English professor at the University of Connecticut and a feminist scholar who has written eight books. She can be reached through her website at www.ginabarreca.com.
Copyright © 2023, Hartford Courant

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


That was happenstance as I looked at barns and ads to figure out my layout. A tornado seemed like the easiest way to depict "weather," the old CLOUDSCAPE stamps provided further examples of weather and could be pasted up on the silo, and the scene began to come together...envelope-like barn doors for the contest address, golden fields, a ubiquitous John Deere tractor in the foreground, and a SWEET CORN forever stamp to finish off the barn wall. Will the judges see the weather vane and understand the significance? I always hope minute details like that will influence their decision (for the good).
UPDATE | Selected for the fifth year as one of the top eleven entries!
Very cool! Hope you are named a winner for the 5th year is a row!
I love it! I really like the colors of the sky, and the cute detail in the weathervane. Those cloud stamps are great, too. Where do you find the stamps you use?
I hope you do really well!
In this case, I found the Cloudscape stamps on eBay, since the USPS was no longer selling them. We still had the garden veggie forever stamps from whenever they were issued. Other years, I've ordered stamps from USPS.com (if my local PO didn't have something suitable), or settled for what I or the local PO had on hand.


The photograph shows Ivica Matkovic climbing at Brela crag close to Makarska, near Split.
The photograph was taken by Boris Cujic and appears in the Croatia rock climbing guidebook.
Click on the images to view a larger photograph of the excellent rock climbing to be found around Split.


text:
require 'app_test_helper'

include UseCases

describe UpdateEvent do

  it "successfully updates and persists an existing Event with valid attributes" do
    event = Event.create_valid!
    gathering = Gathering.create_valid!
    new_atts = {:name => "New Name", :description => "New Description", :date_time => Time.new("6/22/2014 14:40"), :gathering_id => gathering.id, :location => "100 Main St, Anywhere, US - Above the landing"}

    response = UpdateEvent.new(:id => event.id, :atts => new_atts).exec
    response.ok?.must_equal(true)
    response.event.name.must_equal(new_atts[:name])
    response.event.description.must_equal(new_atts[:description])
    response.event.date_time.must_equal(new_atts[:date_time])
    response.event.gathering_id.must_equal(new_atts[:gathering_id])
    response.event.location.must_equal(new_atts[:location])
  end

  it "returns errors if we attempt to update an Event with invalid attributes" do
    event = Event.create_valid!
    new_atts = {:name => nil, :description => "New Description", :date_time => Time.new("6/1/2014 14:40"), :gathering_id => event.gathering_id, :location => "New Location"}

    response = UpdateEvent.new(:id => event.id, :atts => new_atts).exec
    response.ok?.must_equal(false)
    response.errors.wont_be_nil
  end

  it "returns an error if attempting to update an Event that does not exist" do
    response = UpdateEvent.new(:id => -1, :atts => {}).exec
    response.ok?.must_equal(false)
    response.errors.wont_be_nil
  end

  it "returns an error if attempting to update an Event with a Gathering that does not exist" do
    event = Event.create_valid!
    new_atts = {:name => "New Name", :description => "New Description", :date_time => Time.new("6/1/2014 14:40"), :gathering_id => -1, :location => "New Location"}
    response = UpdateEvent.new(:id => event.id, :atts => new_atts).exec
    response.ok?.must_equal(false)
    response.errors.wont_be_nil
  end

end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The Neater Feeder solves the pet food mess problem and protects your floors! It's designed with protective walls to contain splashes and spills from an inadvertent kick or an excited pet. The revolutionary system holds spilled food in an upper reservoir while spilled water flows down a gentle slope through a filtering system. The spilled water drains into a lower reservoir that can safely contain more than an entire bowl of spilled water, keeping it off the floor until you are ready to dispose of it. Keeping the spilled food in the upper reservoir, off the floor, not only saves you work, but also keeps it clean for reuse.
Contains and separates spilled food from spilled water and keeps spilled water off your floor.
Protects floors and walls from stains, mold and damage.
Provides a healthier eating environment for your pet and deters pests from getting to your pet's food or water.
Elevated design to improve comfort and digestion and helps to reduce neck and joint strain.
Attractive colors and stylish design fits well in your home.
Not sure how many other people's dog likes to blow bubbles in their dog bowl, but mine has made it a hobby of hers. She gets water everywhere, we tried using a mat (the one pictured underneath) with her normal dog feeder, but she still managed to get water beyond the point of the mat. Thankfully I was told about the neater feeder & decided to give it a shot. Y'all, it works amazing! It catches all of the water my dog splashes out & makes cleaning up a million times easier. No more soaked floors!
I bought this for my dogs I have a mastiff and 3 smaller dogs. I bought the large but I should have bought the small or medium. The drain is in the front and the bowls sit towards the back, my smaller dogs cant really reach the bowls. So if you have small to medium dogs Don't get the large they cant reach the bowls. I think I'm going to send it back only for that reason. Its well made and nice looking.
My puppy would flip over his water bowl and there would be water everywhere. Now, no more water no matter how much he splashes, unless he runs away for the feeder with his face dripping with water. He's a lab, and it happens. One suggestion I have is if they could create a storage container that would fit underneath for food. That would be amazing and would save space! Possibly lifting up the food bowl to access the storage?
Stop thinking about this product and buy!
This is exactly what I needed for my standard poodle! He is now able to eat and drink without having to stoop so far over. His big head and mouth always splashed water all over our kitchen floor and although I was skeptical that this would solve that issue it really did. No more slipping when you least expect it or having to dry the floor so guest and other won't slip. It's well built, stylish looking, and super functional! I highly recommend this product.
Saw the neater feeder awhile ago, read the reviews, decided we had to try something beyond the standard water bowl on the floor approach. We have a large German Shepherd who apparently only drinks by putting his entire muzzle into the water and then drips it all over our floors outside of the water bowl. We got this feeder for the water and it's been a godsend! Now most of the water that doesn't go down his throat gets contained and captured underneath and then we empty every several days. I liked it so much that we got one to put in our motorhome since we bring our dogs with us. Can't recommend this highly enough - well worth the investment!
This is a nice product and I am pretty satisfied but I will tell you the good and bad. The good: It looks nice and seems to be good quality plastic. The extender legs are easily placed and the whole thing is easy to assemble. Looks muck better than a couple of bowls on a mat. The not great (nothing bad: The bowls are thin metal, wish they had been more substantial. The bowls do not fit snug into the holes, my dog is skittish so I had to put some foam around the bowl so it wouldn't move around when he was eating. It does stop spills inside the bowl area but if you have a messy drinker you are still going to have water on your floor.. but I'd say less at least.
The feeder is so light weight he has flipped it over several times (even w/water in it). Hopefully, he will learn not to do that. Honestly, though, if it hadn't been so expensive, we probably would be using it.
I have a Great Pyrenees who sticks most of her face in the water dish. She gets water everywhere and would spill her food too. I had a raised feeder that she would scoot around the floor or just knock over trying to get the spilled food. This feeder catches the water and the spilled food. I should have gotten this for her sooner. Much easier for me to keep the feeding area clean too. It just wipes up and looks great.


P0sixspwn download links for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch.
 Home  P0sixspwn  P0sixspwn Download  P0sixspwn iOS 8  P0sixspwn download links for iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch.
Jailbreak performed by a utility P0sixspwn, is unattached . This means that once jailbroken after reboot the machine retains all its properties and does not need to connect to a computer.
P0sixspwn installs hacked standard device application store Cydia. With it, you can perform on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch actions , which are not authorized Apple default download tweaks unofficial software and change themes.
Could you please help me? I only get the message "Rebooting device..." for a long time and nothing else happens. I'm tryingto jailbreak an ipod 4with 6.1.5.
How is the current situation with jailbreak 6.1.5?
help me please why its getting error its said "The Procedure entry point sqlite3_wal_checkpoint could not be located in the dynamic link library SQLite3.ddl.


We will be available round the clock to handle any type of medical inquiry that may come us.
Our staffs are well trained for taking care of patients in any kind of situations.
Our communication will be clear in the health care environment to the best of our knowledge.


text:
Q: How can I write data from an Android's sensors to a document that I can access later? So I'm creating a project on an Android Galaxy Tab 10.1 that uses its accelerometers and gyroscopes. One of the steps here is to collect alot of data and determine its accuracy and drift. To do this I need to move the device and allow the sensors to get their readings, and then take those readings and put them through some analysis.
My admittedly primitive way of doing this is to send each reading as an error to the log, copy the log from Eclipse, paste it in notepad, and format it, getting rid of other unwanted errors and timestamps. This method is not very good, and the log in Eclipse deletes the old log entries if the list gets too long, meaning I can only look at about 30 seconds of data.
I need much more time than this so I thought of a couple ways to fix the issue:

*

*If I could somehow write the readings directly from the Android to a document on the computer im using, that would solve all my problems.

*If i could write the readings to a file on the Android that could be saved and later transfered to the computer, that would also work

A: Writing a file to the internal SD card is quite easy and would probably solve your second point. You can access the file later via USB, which just mounts the internal SD card like an USB thumb drive.
For example, this question and answer gives you some starting points.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Der Tyrrell 019 ist ein von Harvey Postlethwaite und Jean-Claude Migeot entwickelter Rennwagen des britischen Teams Tyrrell, der in der Formel-1-Weltmeisterschaft 1990 eingesetzt wurde. Der 019 war eines der einflussreichsten Formel-1-Autos der 1990er-Jahre.

Technik und Entwicklung
Ein besonderes Merkmal des Tyrrell 019 war die aerodynamische Gestaltung der Wagenfront. Der 019 war das erste Formel-1-Auto mit einer sogenannten Hochnase (High Nose). Während sich die Fahrzeugnase bislang üblicherweise zum Frontspoiler herabgesenkt und in einigen Fällen sogar unter dem Spoiler geendet hatte, lag sie beim 019 weit über den vorderen Flügeln. Anstelle des bisher üblichen einteiligen Frontspoilers bestand das Flügelwerk des 019 aus zwei selbständigen Teilen, die links und rechts mit zwei Streben an der Fahrzeugnase befestigt waren. Unter der Nase selbst befand sich kein Frontflügel. Dies ermöglichte einen deutlich verbesserten Luftdurchfluss zum Unterboden, wodurch sich der aerodynamische Abtrieb erhöhte. Das in der Presse vielfach als "Concorde-Nase" bezeichnete Konzept war innovativ. Es setzte sich innerhalb weniger Jahre in der Formel 1 durch. Der 019 galt als eines der besten Autos der Formel-1-Weltmeisterschaft 1990.

Die Antriebstechnik des 019 konnte mit dem aufwändigen Aerodynamikkonzept nicht mithalten. Als Team des Mittelfelds hatte Tyrrell keinen Zugriff auf leistungsstarke Werksmotoren, sondern war auf den Einsatz von Kundentriebwerken angewiesen. 1990 setzte Tyrrell einen Cosworth-DFR-Achtzylinder ein, der eine Weiterentwicklung des 1967 eingeführten DFV-Motors war. Er war ein Standard-Kundenmotor, der in diesem Jahr von einem halben Dutzend Teams verwendet wurde. Tyrrells Motor wurde Langford & Peck vorbereitet. Er hatte mit rund 441 kW (600 PS) und mit einer Maximaldrehzahl von 10.800/min ein erhebliches Leistungsdefizit gegenüber den Werksmotoren von Renault oder Honda. Der Rückstand betrug je nach Rennen zwischen 70 und 80 PS.

Mit dem spürbaren Leistungsdefizit konnte Tyrrell nur auf langsamen und engkurvigen Strecken wie Monaco das Potenzial des Autos ausnutzen. Der Wagen wog insgesamt 505 Kilogramm. Der Benzintank war mit 200 Liter Fassungsvermögen einer der kleinsten aller Teams. Da das Fahrzeug erst zum Großen Preis von San Marino fertiggestellt werden konnte, trat Tyrrell in den ersten beiden Rennen noch mit dem Tyrrell 018 an.

Produktion
Tyrrell stellte 1990 insgesamt sieben Exemplare des 019 her.

Fahrer

Tyrrell bestritt die Saison mit Jean Alesi, der im Vorjahr sein Formel-1-Debüt für Tyrrell gegeben hatte, und Satoru Nakajima, der von Lotus kam.

Alesi wurde in Monaco Zweiter, ansonsten konnten die beiden Fahrer nur ansatzweise zeigen, wie gut das Chassis des Tyrrell 019 war. Für 1991 unterschrieb Alesi bei der Scuderia Ferrari.

Lackierung und Sponsoring
Die Lackierung wurde in blau-weiß gehalten. Hauptsponsor war Epson, ein japanischer Hersteller von Computer-Peripheriegeräten. Außerdem warben mit dem Leuchtmittelhersteller PIAA Corporation und der Bank Nippon Shinpan zwei weitere japanische Sponsoren mit Aufklebern auf dem Fahrzeug.

Ergebnisse

Literatur
 Adriano Cimarosti: Das Jahrhundert des Rennsports, Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01848-9
 Alan Henry: Auto Course 1990/91, Osprey Publishing Ltd, London 1991, ISBN 0-905138-74-0.
 David Hodges: A–Z of Grand Prix Cars 1906–2001, 2001 (Crowood Press), ISBN 1-86126-339-2 (englisch)
 David Hodges: Rennwagen von A–Z nach 1945, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-613-01477-7
 Achim Schlang: GRAND PRIX 1990, Motorbuch Verlag Stuttgart, ISBN 3-613-01350-9

Weblinks

Einzelnachweise

Rennwagen der Formel-1-Weltmeisterschaft  1990
019
Historischer Rennwagen

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
FUJIFILM X-H2 Mirrorless Camera with 16-80mm Lens
40MP APS-C X-Trans5 BSI Sensor
7-Stop In-Body Image Stabilization
8K 30p, 4K 60p, FHD 240p 10-Bit Video
5.76m-Dot OLED Electronic Viewfinder
160MP Pixel Shift Multi-Shot
20 fps E-Shutter, 15 fps Mech. Shutter
CFexpress Type B & SD UHS-II Card Slots
ProRes Raw, Blackmagic Raw via HDMI
Intelligent Hybrid Autofocus
XF 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR Lens
FUJIFILM X-H2: Life in Detail
Pushing the boundaries of APS-C imaging, the FUJIFILM X-H2 Mirrorless Camera with 16-80mm Lens is a high–resolution mirrorless crop-sensor camera featuring a groundbreaking 40MP BSI sensor and an arsenal of cutting-edge features packed into a small and durable X-series body. Standing atop the X-System lineup, this high performing camera inherits many of the GFX system's advances in digital capture technology to provide image quality, detail, and color rendition never before seen in a crop-sensor camera, while retaining its characteristic compact form factor and sleek design that has garnered the X-System a loyal following worldwide.
Backside-Illuminated Sensor and 64-Bit Processing
X-Trans 5 BSI Sensor
Ideal for architectural, travel, and landscape photographers, the FUJIFILM X-H2 Mirrorless Camera with 16-80mm Lens sports a backside-illuminated, APS-C-format 40MP X-Trans 5 HR sensor, which ups the resolution and improves low-light performance compared to previous generations. First, as an X-Trans sensor, it uses the unique color filter array that inherently minimizes moiré and contributes to more natural color rendering; next, the BSI design helps reduce noise and improve tonality and clarity; and, finally, the design greatly reduces rolling shutter and other motion distortion to better suit high-speed video and photo applications. The remarkable resolution allows for 2x digital zoom and has up to 13 stops of dynamic range.
X-Processor 5
Partner to the newly designed sensor is a fresh engine—the X-Processor 5—which uses 64-bit processing to realize 3x faster speeds for both video and photo tasks compared to the X-T4. On the video side, this enables recording at bit rates of up to 720 mb/s.On the stills end, this quick processing means faster shooting to suit photographing moving subjects. When working with an electronic shutter, shooting at up to 20 fps is possible, with a buffer of 202 consecutive uncompressed raw frames. With the mechanical shutter, shooting speeds of up to 15 fps are possible, along with the ability to shoot upwards of 1000 raw frames in a single burst.
Benefitting both video and stills applications, this processing also benefits the sophisticated and AI-backed autofocus system, helps achieve a 14-stop dynamic range, and enables an enhanced sensitivity range from ISO 125-12800.
Powerful Video Capabilities
4K 60p and 8K 30p Internal Recording
Despite its focus on photography, the FUJIFILM X-H2 Mirrorless Camera with 16-80mm Lens has an impressive video system capable of 4:2:2 10-bit internal recording in 8K at 30fps and in both DCI/UHD 4K at up to 60 fps and Full HD at up to 240p. A variety of codecs are supported as well, including H.265 and three tiers of ProRes: the high bitrate 422 HQ, the standard 422, and the more compressed 422 LT. Also, continuous recording times up to 160 minutes are possible at all frame rates and resolutions and can be extended to 240 minutes with the external clip-on fan.
External Raw Recording
Using the full-size HDMI port, 12-bit raw video recording is possible when paired with a compatible external recorder. Both ProRes RAW and Blackmagic RAW recording is possible, along with the ability to work with F-Log or F-Log 2 profiles, and either format supports working in resolutions up to the open-gate 8K.
Improved Autofocus and Image Stabilization
Hybrid AF with Deep Learning AI
Benefitted by the improved processing, autofocus performance is noticeably faster and more intelligent. This hybrid focusing system uses 425 phase-detection points and is now sensitive down to -7 EV for working in truly low-light conditions. Also, backed by deep learning, an AI adaptive algorithm means this focusing system is better suited to automatically detect and track a variety of subject types.
Pixel Shift Multishot
Pixel Shift Multishot takes multiple exposures in rapid succession, each one precisely shifting the image sensor by half a pixel, capturing the subject on a different part of the image sensor each time and yielding a single 160-Megapixel image with the help of the Pixel Shift Combiner software.
In-Body Image Stabilization
Built-in 5-axis sensor-shift image stabilization helps to minimize the appearance of camera shake by up to 7 stops. This system works in conjunction with most X Series lenses, including non-stabilized ones, and benefits working with slower shutter speeds and when shooting in difficult lighting conditions. Additionally, digital image stabilization can also be used during video recording to further aid in steadying footage, especially when recording handheld.
Body Design
Practical and Durable Design
Large OLED electronic viewfinder features a crisp 5.76m-dot resolution and a 0.8x magnification for bright, clear, and detailed eye-level viewing.
Rear 3.0″ LCD has a high 1.62m-dot resolution and a touchscreen interface for intuitive control. Also, its vari-angle design means the screen can be flipped out to the side, tilted up or down, and closed with the screen against the body for protection.
1.28″ monochrome LCD screen on the top plate is a simple means for quickly reviewing shooting settings.
Dual memory card slots include one CFexpress Type B slot and one SD UHS-II slot for file-saving flexibility. The CFexpress Type B slot should be prioritized for higher bitrate video recording and fast continuous shooting, and the SD slot is a convenient alternative for backups or less speed-critical shooting.
NP-W235 battery provides approximately 720 frames per charge when working with the EVF in Economy Mode, or approximately 580 frames in Normal Mode.
Full-size HDMI Type A port for outputting video to an external recorder or monitor.
USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port supports tethering, data transfer, and in-camera battery charging.
3.5mm headphone and external microphone ports for greater control over audio recording.
PC sync port for flash sync.
2.5mm remote port for using wired remote controllers.
Integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity allows for wirelessly sharing images to a mobile device or to use the device to remotely control the camera.
Film Simulation Modes
Film Simulation modes allow you to reproduce the look and feel of several of FUJIFILM's film types, including Provia, Velvia, Astia, Classic Chrome, Classic Neg., Nostalgic Neg., Pro Neg. Hi, Pro Neg. Standard, Eterna, Eterna Bleach Bypass, Acros, Monochrome, and Sepia. Additionally, Grain Effect can be adjusted as well as Color Chrome effect to fine-tune the look of imagery.
Well-suited for a wide variety of shooting situations, the FUJIFILM XF 16-80mm f/4 R OIS WR is a versatile 24-120mm-equivalent zoom, spanning wide-angle to medium-telephoto, and featuring a constant f/4 maximum aperture. Complementing this flexible design is an advanced optical layout, which includes a trio of aspherical elements and one ED aspherical element that help to minimize a variety of aberrations in order to produce high sharpness and clarity. A Super EBC coating also improves contrast and color neutrality by reducing flare and ghosting when working in strong lighting conditions. Also benefitting use in a variety of situations is a quick and quiet autofocus system along with a six stop-effective image stabilization system that minimizes the appearance of camera shake. Additionally, the lens is fully weather-sealed for working in inclement conditions.
Standard zoom is designed for APS-C-format Fujifilm X-mount mirrorless cameras and offers a 24-120mm equivalent focal length range.
One extra-low dispersion aspherical element is used greatly reduce color fringing and chromatic aberrations in order to produce high clarity and color fidelity throughout the zoom range.
A Super EBC (Electron Beam Coating) coating has been applied to the entire surface of each element to for controlling ghosting and flare for greater contrast and color accuracy.
Quick and quiet autofocus performance benefits both stills and video applications.
An advanced Optical Image Stabilization system minimizes the appearance of camera shake by up to six stops to enable sharper imaging when working with longer focal lengths or slower shutter speeds.
Weather-sealed lens body protects against dust and moisture, and to enable worry-free use in inclement conditions and freezing temperatures as low as 14°F.
Rounded nine-blade diaphragm contributes to a pleasing out-of-focus quality to benefit the use of selective focus and shallow depth of field techniques.
FUJIFILM X-H2S Mirrorless Camera
Insta360 X3 360° Camera
FUJIFILM X-T3 Mirrorless Digital Camera with 18-55mm Lens
FUJIFILM X-T5 Mirrorless Camera with 16-80mm Lens
Canon EOS 77D DSLR Camera with 18-135mm USM Lens
Nikon D3500 DSLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens


Banff Travel offers several unforgettable ice climbing tours in Banff, Canmore and Lake Louise. Adventurers will learn how to scale waterfall ice formations with certified guides and see some spectacular and unique sights in the Canadian Rockies.
Depending on ability and experience, climbers can choose from several different locations including Grassi Lakes, Haffner Creek, King Creek or Johnston Canyon. Ice climbing tours are offered in half day (3 hour) or full day (6 hour) packages.
All of the packages include boots, crampons, harness, ice tools, and helmets rentals in addition to the guide. Lessons can range in size from private to groups of 4 of more.


text:
Scotland secure Euro 2020 place but Northern Ireland suffer heartbreak
Scotland booked their place at Euro 2020 via a penalty shoot-out in Serbia, but there was heartbreak for Northern Ireland as the line-up for the tournament was completed. Goalkeeper David Marshall was the hero for Scotland, into a major tournament for the first time since 1998, after he saved from Aleksandar Mitrovic to secure a 5-4 shoot-out victory..
Army of volunteers to deliver Covid 19 vaccine
More than half of schools in Hull have seen class closures as infections soar


breath of air, and the streets were a noisy welter of children.
shmokes a grand cigar, an' he shakes yer hand that hearty."
"But this ticket has something to do with your oldest girl."
And the two girls went on to the next tenement.
They were only two of the hundreds of Trade Union girls who were "doing"
industrial future is bound up in politics? It is a three years' story.
Let us go back a little.
between the states. She lost her market. This made her slow.
territory known as the Southwest.
hangs over the center of the city where the factories roar and pound.
for St. Louis is winning back some of her old-time trade.
that's going to be another big shove toward prosperity.
money-makers in this heavy German town.
a "nice" town to live in?
and the standard of living.
Somehow the town looks different from the two ends of the ladder.
the people are still robbed of their rights.
cupboard to get his poor dog a bone, why, lo! the cupboard was bare.
lacked great organizers in St. Louis.
bend the political bow for their protection.
working girls of her city.
Labor Convention of 1907 at Norfolk, Virginia.
Irish girl to a pitch of enthusiasm peculiar to the Celtic temperament.
"the eight-hour day, the living wage to guard the home."
company furnishes medical attendance free.
speed ten hours a day. Vision she had, but training, time, energy--no!
toil and spin for the great Southwest.
evolution of industry for background.
and might be expected to carry the primaries by a big majority.
out, "Girls, they're goin' to put Troy on the carpet again!"
quick-motioned girl during a second's pause.
in of a Saturday night; and how it was a blow at American freedom."
"But how?" asked a more timid officer.
meeting that followed fairly bristled with plans.
indorsement the girls did not ask or expect. This much they got.
she--that is--ah--er--wouldn't her organization confer with Mr. E.J.
would be quite useless; that the stand of the League was taken on Mr.
fashion. She feels intensely, but she never loses her self-possession.
That's why she is such a formidable antagonist.
in which to rouse public opinion. The newspapers must help, of course.
single word about the danger to the working woman's interests.
What could the papers do? Weren't they in the hands of the "big cinch,"
as a certain combination of business men in St. Louis is known?
do you, or hit yourself in the face--if you can help it?
merely set her teeth, and got busy--decidedly busy.
girls for protection from the greed of organized capital.
unions. She and two other women appealed to every labor union in St.
muslin and sitting on the gallery, to get the cool of the evening.
ticket behind the glass of the case advised you to "Scratch E.J. Troy."
red tickets: "Scratch E.J. Troy."
"Union men and friends, Scratch E.J. Troy."
your funds are better," they said.
take a mint of money to beat E.J. Troy."
July was wearing on. The League hurled itself upon the press once more.
in the next day's papers, and the next.
had their wages docked in order to work for the larger good.
The Committee of the Central Body was now openly active in their behalf.
Men as well as women were passing out the tickets.
election to a bigoted "head of the house."
you ain't goin' to stay out of de mill today and lose your pay?
voters. I'm goin'. I don't care if I lose my job even."
face wore the anxious despondence so common to the mothers of the poor.
got no looks any more. I'm too dead tired to go out of a Saturday night.
moment of the working woman's stake in the election. "Scratch E.J. Troy"
was before their eyes as they crossed their tickets.
to make any woman self-conscious.
make Troy run third on his ticket.
in the eager, waiting groups of girls on tenement steps and stairs.
working girls tumbled into bed, tired, but with new hope.
daily sessions and live them over again for her.
better, too. Their plans were more carefully laid and executed.
only seven factory inspectors for the whole state of Missouri.
league of the working women, whose purpose is a wider social justice.
discovering that they can do things if they only think so.
Illustrated by two pen-and-ink sketches made by a staff artist.


Hey now, what's this all about?
After a long hiatus, I'm back to the keyboard, punching out a few thoughts and getting posts up (hopefully) more often than I did over at un.determined. Life is still just as undetermined as it was seven months ago, but moving the blog for a fresh new start seemed like a great way to reopen the creative floodgates.
Oh and obviously, the coolest part is that I'm here, at allymanet.com. Arguably not the most creative of site names, but I see it as an opportunity to develop on the web the person I am in the real world. Seemed only fitting that the internet me would have the same name as the real me, no?
I'll spare you the explanations of why it's been so long and instead tell you why I'm back.
I realized over the past few months that while I love to write, what I really enjoy is reading. I love telling people – namely, my husband – about the random pieces of information I garner throughout the day. I'm constantly soaking it all in, bursting at the seams to tell someone, anyone, whatever remarkable or ridiculous tidbit I stumbled across.
Who knows why I find learning new (and mostly useless) things so fascinating. Maybe it's because we're the internet generation. Maybe it's because my parents bought a full set of encyclopedias. Or maybe it's because I'm a complete and total nerd.
Either way, I'll be sharing it all with you here, and I hope allymanet.com introduces you to something new, something interesting, something completely Ally, nearly every day.


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Sukaina Rajabali is a Dubai based food photographer. Her style has graced a long list of best selling books and popular magazines. She loves playing with texture and light and has a signature style aesthetic with a vast range of vintage and modern props and surfaces, When not behind the camera, you will still find her surrounded by food in the kitchen- playing with flour, butter and sugar. She is also one of only seven Certified Phase One Professionals in the Middle East.
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text:
Q: buffering messages and send after reconnect I'm looking for a solution for this, buffering messages in an array and send them after web-socket reconnect. I can check the socket client and push messages to an array when connection is lost and send them after reconnect, But how i can find which message was sent to show a check icon on client side? A solution seems to be sending a uuid from client side as message client side identifier and check it after receiving acknowledge from the server. But any better solution or articles about this?

A: This is a standard problem that messaging middleware / message brokers solve.
I believe your question hints at using a UUID as a message-id, but I will flush out the details, to help you cover all the bases:
Typically message brokers use distinct "messages" each of which have a unique message-id, the sending system buffers up all messages and only removes the message from the buffer once it has been acknowledged by the receiving system.
If a disconnect occurs, the sender resends all unacknowledged messages.
The receiver must acknowledge all such messages (even if they are duplicates - so that the sender can remove the messages from it's buffer) and then proceed to either de-dup the messages or (ideally) if the messages are idempotent they can be processed again.
I believe that you can directly connect to some message brokers using a websocket via protocols such as STOMP, so that might be an option for you. However it's likely that you are not the first person to come across this problem regardless of what tech stack you are using, so I would look for a library/framework that handles the low level messaging for you.

But how i can find which message was sent to show a check icon on
  client side?

I am not sure what you are asking here.
If you are expecting a message from the client and don't receive it, you might be able to detect that with a timeout.
Additionally you can check the websocket (link) status via some kind of heart-beat. As long as your application is constantly generating new messages, you can check to see how long its been since you last received an acknowledgement, once a timeout/threshold is reached you can then take action (reconnect/notify/etc).


How do social relations, or guanxi, matter in China today and how can this distinctive form of personal connection be better understood? In Guanxi: How China Works, Yanjie Bian analyzes the forms, dynamics, and impacts of guanxi relations in reform-era China, and shows them to be a crucial part of the puzzle of how Chinese society operates.
Rich in original studies and insightful analyses, this concise book offers a critical synthesis of guanxi research, including its empirical controversies and theoretical debates. Bian skillfully illustrates the growing importance of guanxi in diverse areas such as personal network building, employment and labor markets, informal business relationships, and the broader political sphere, highlighting guanxi's central value in China's contemporary social structure.
A definitive statement on the topic from a top authority on the sociology of guanxi, this book is an excellent classroom introduction for courses on China, a useful reference for guanxi researchers, and ideal reading for anyone interested in Chinese culture and society.
"Yanjie Bian is the pre-eminent scholar on social networks and guanxi in China and this monograph is the benchmark of his theoretical and methodological analysis of guanxi and its global implications. A must-read for scholars and students on social networks everywhere."
"Combining deep knowledge of Chinese culture with expertise in global network theory, Professor Yanjie Bian offers the definitive book on guanxi - the interpersonal connections through which personal achievement happens in China, and often (by other names) in the West."


text:
Panasonic: Verification of inhibitory effect of nanoe™ X, technology with the benefits of hydroxyl radicals on novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
WIESBADEN, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Panasonic today announced that, in collaboration with the global contract research organization Texcell*1, Texcell has verified the inhibitory effect of the nanoe™ X, technology with the benefits of hydroxyl radicals on the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
nanoe™ X, the original ionizer to generate "nano-sized atomized water particles" is developed by Panasonic. It is an electrostatic atomization technology, that collects invisible moisture in the air and applies high voltage to it to produce "hydroxyl radicals contained in water". The decisive factor is the existence of hydroxyl radicals inside nanoe™ X. Hydroxyl radicals are characterized by being strongly oxidative and highly reactive.
Panasonic has been conducting research on this technology since 1997, and has verified its effectiveness in a variety of areas, including inhibiting certain pathogenic microorganism (bacteria, fungi, and viruses) and allergens, breaking down PM 2.5 components that have adverse effects on the human body*2.
In 2012, Panasonic conducted a virus clearance test with a third-party organization and confirmed the effectiveness of each of the four categories in terms of biological characteristics. Based on this result, Panasonic announced that "hydroxyl radicals contained in water" technology could be expected to have an inhibitory effect on new viruses*3.
The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) of the current global pandemic is one such new type of virus and testing with Texcell has now confirmed that the nanoe™ X does have an inhibitory effect on this virus. This testing was carried out in a closed laboratory environment and was not designed to assess its efficacy in uncontrolled living spaces.
Panasonic will continue to pursue the potential of nanoe™ X technology to address possible risks associated with air pollution such as new pathogenic microorganisms, with the aim of creating cleaner environments for people around the world.
For reference :
Testing of inhibitory effect of nanoe™ X on the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
・ Overview
A comparative verification was conducted in a 45L test space containing the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with and without exposure to nanoe™ X.
・ Results
Over 99.99% of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) activity was inhibited within 2 hours.
Note: This verification was designed to generate basic research data on the effects of nanoe™ X on the novel coronavirus in laboratory conditions different from those found in living spaces. It was not designed to evaluate product performance.
・ Methodology and data
Organisation :Texcell
Subject :Novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)
Device :nanoe™ X device
- nanoeTM X device is installed at 15cm from the floor in the 45L test space.
- A piece of gauze saturated SARS-CoV-2 virus solution was placed in a petri dish and exposed to nanoeTM X for a predetermined time.
- The virus infectious titer was measured and used to calculate the inhibition rate.
・ Results data
Test subject
Inhibition rate*
*1: Texcell is a global contract research organization that specializes in viral testings, viral clearance, immunoprofiling and R&D or GMP cell banking, for your R&D, GClP, GLP and GMP projects.
With more than 30 years of experience and roots within the Pasteur Institute in Paris, Texcell has a long recognized expertise in viral testing with a broad range of protocols for the detection of adventitious agents.
Texcell is the first spin-off of the Pasteur institute of Paris created in 1997.
*2: Main releases on verification cases
- May 12, 2009:Positive effects of charged water particles on viruses, bacteria, and agricultural chemicals have been verified.
- October 20, 2009: The new influenza virus inhibition effect of charged water particles has been verified.
- February 20, 2012:Suppression effect of charged water particles on pet-related allergens, bacteria, fungi, and viruses have been verified.
- January 16, 2014:Nano-sized electrostatic atomized water particles effectively breaks down PM2.5 components and inhibits growth of fungi attached to Yellow Sand.
*3: January 26, 2012: Virus suppression effect of charged water particles has been verified by the virus clearance test. Co-verified with Charles River Biopharmaceutical Services GmbH, a German testing organization.
About Panasonic
Panasonic is a worldwide leader in the development of diverse electronics technologies and solutions for customers in the consumer electronics, housing, automotive, and B2B businesses. The company, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2018, has expanded globally and now operates 528 subsidiaries and 72 associated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.49 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2020. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company uses its technologies to create a better life and a better world for its customers.
https://www.panasonic.com/global.
Tanya.houston@wildwoodpr.com
Verification of inhibitory effect of nanoe™ X, technology with the benefits of hydroxyl radicals on novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)


text:
Un'automobile a vapore è un tipo di locomobile idonea alla circolazione su strada, negli albori della storia dell'automobile queste vetture primeggiavano sui modelli con motore a combustione interna ed erano in concorrenza con l'auto elettrica che in quegli anni godevano della preferenza dei pochi acquirenti. Fino all'inizio del XX secolo, le automobili a vapore erano ancora comuni e registrarono un record di velocità terrestre assoluto. La Stanley Rocket fu il primo veicolo terrestre a superare i 200 km/h nel 1906. Una vettura a vapore, il carro di Cugnot, fu la prima automobile realizzata nella storia, mentre la prima carta di circolazione, e la prima Patente di guida, vennero associate ad un'autovettura con questo tipo di trazione. Alcune autovetture a vapore, furono poi fornite all'esercito britannico, durante la seconda guerra boera e questi veicoli diventarono le prime autovetture al mondo ad essere utilizzate in un conflitto armato.

Dopo il successo iniziale, furono però poche le vetture a vapore costruite dopo gli anni venti del XX secolo. Grazie ai progressi tecnologici compiuti all'inizio del XX secolo sul motore a combustione interna - come l'invenzione del motorino di avviamento e l'applicazione di tecniche produttive più efficienti (la cosiddetta "catena di montaggio") - i modelli con questo tipo di trazione conquistarono il predominio sui mercati rendendo anacronistiche le autovetture a vapore. Sorte analoga toccò poi alle auto elettriche, che pagarono invece l'arretratezza della tecnologia degli accumulatori elettrici.

Nella seconda metà del XX secolo ci sono stati dei tentativi per reintrodurre autoveicoli a vapore, essendo Il motore a vapore, con gli avanzamenti tecnologici avvenuti nel corso dei decenni e con le peculiarità che potrebbero renderlo valido come sistema di propulsione alternativa. Questi progetti sono però ancora in fase di studio.

Storia

Le origini

Sebbene le prime applicazioni del vapore nella movimentazione di autoveicoli siano state tentate nel XVII secolo, e benché l'invenzione dell'automobile sia datata 1769, fu l'introduzione del motore con vapore ad alta pressione dalla fine XVIII secolo - che rese possibile la realizzazione di questa tecnologia. La Locomotiva a vapore ed il battello a vapore sviluppati nel XIX secolo, e quindi vennero realizzati molto tempo prima delle autovetture moderne. Il primo battello a vapore fu costruito nel 1783, mentre la prima locomotiva a vapore venne realizzata nel 1803.

Richard Trevithick, l'inventore della locomotiva a vapore, nel 1801 costruì la sua prima vettura a vapore in grado di circolare lungo le strade. A questa, ne seguì un'altra nel 1803, che fu la prima a percorrere le strade londinesi. Nel 1824 fu invece brevettato il prototipo a vapore di David Gordon. Questo veicolo, che aveva l'aspetto di una locomotiva, era dotato di un motore bicilindrico. Dal 1825 al 1829 Goldsworthy Gurney realizzò invece un autobus a vapore destinato al trasporto pubblico. Questi prototipi furono usati in diverse città inglesi nel trasporto locale e nel trasporto intercomunale, restando in servizio fino al 1831.

Risale invece al 1836 il primo "accordo di una privativa" in Italia, nel Regno delle Due Sicilie, « per l'introduzione in Sicilia di una vettura a vapore senza bisogno di rotaje ».

Una delle automobili a vapore realizzate da Richard Dudgeon fu invece il primo veicolo a comparire, nel 1857, sulle strade di New York. Questa vettura a vapore fu distrutta in un incendio già l'anno successivo.

Le autovetture moderne con motore a vapore e quelle a combustione interna furono invece sviluppate contemporaneamente a metà del XIX secolo, così come la costruzione stradale. L'evoluzione delle autovetture a vapore venne però facilitata dalla vasta esperienza sui motori a vapore che era stata fatta sia sulle locomotive sia sui battelli, e quindi i veicoli mossi da questo tipo di trazione ebbero un vantaggio iniziale su quelli dotati di motore a combustione interna.

Le prime automobili a vapore

La prima autovettura a vapore moderna prodotta per fini commerciali, e quindi in grado di circolare lungo le strade, fu realizzata da Thomas Rickett a Buckingham, sempre città inglese, nel 1858. Rickett costruì poi, nel 1860, altri prototipi di questo genere. Questo Triciclo a vapore era in grado di raggiungere una velocità massima di 19 Miglio orario.

È invece del 1864 il veicolo a vapore realizzato da Innocenzo Manzetti. Secondo le cronache dell'epoca, aveva l'aspetto di un furgone. Nella parte anteriore del veicolo erano presenti il camino dei gas di scarico ed il motore monocilindrico, mentre sopra quest'ultimo era posizionata la caldaia. La trazione era anteriore e la panchina su cui potevano trovare spazio i passeggeri era posizionata nella parte posteriore della vettura.

Nel 1873 Amédée Bollée costruì a Le Mans un veicolo con motore a vapore a cui fu dato il nome di "Obéissante" (obbediente). Ad esso, il ministero dei lavori pubblici francese assegnò la prima carta di circolazione della storia. L'autovettura era dotata di due motori V2, ciascuno dei quali era collegato ad una ruota motrice. Ognuno dei propulsori erogava 20 CV di potenza e ciò permetteva al veicolo di raggiungere una velocità massima di 42 km/h.

Lo sviluppo, ad opera di Léon Serpollet, di una caldaia caratterizzata dalla riduzione del tempo necessario per raggiungere le condizioni operative portò invece alla realizzazione di tricicli e quadricicli a vapore tra la fine degli anni ottanta e l'inizio degli anni novanta del XIX secolo. Questi veicoli ebbero successo e presero parte anche a competizioni di lunga distanza, ma persero presto il favore del pubblico a causa della concorrenza delle automobili con motore a combustione interna. Nel 1883, a Léon Serpollet, fu assegnato un permis de conduire, che fu la prima patente automobilistica della storia.

Le automobili a vapore all'inizio del XX secolo

Le automobili a vapore moderne furono sviluppate principalmente negli Stati Uniti d'America tra gli ultimi anni del XIX secolo e l'inizio del XX secolo. Questo fu anche il loro periodo di maggior successo: ad esempio, nel 1902, 485 delle 909 registrazioni di nuove automobili negli Stati Uniti furono di vetture a vapore.

Una delle aziende più famose che costruivano automobili a vapore fu la Stanley, che costruì questi tipi di veicoli dal 1902 al 1924 a Newton, nel Massachusetts. Negli Stati Uniti, fino al 1905, la Stanley superò nelle vendite tutte le case automobilistiche che assemblavano auto con motore a scoppio, posizionandosi al secondo posto assoluto dopo la Columbia, che realizzava principalmente auto elettriche. Le autovetture della Stanley avevano installato una caldaia a tubi ed un motore a due cilindri a doppia azione. Nel 1906, la Stanley Rocket, pilotata nell'occasione da Fred Marriott, conquistò il record di velocità terrestre a Ormond Beach, in Florida, registrando una velocità massima di 205 km/h. La Stanley Rocket fu quindi il primo veicolo terrestre a superare i 200 km/h. Tale primato fu battuto da un'altra automobile a vapore solo 103 anni dopo, nel 2009. Tale era la diffusione delle auto con questo tipo di trazione, che una vettura Stanley fu la prima automobile ufficiale del presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America. Nello specifico, venne scelta come auto di rappresentanza durante il mandato di Theodore Roosevelt.

La White Motor Company produsse invece automobili a vapore dal 1900 al 1911 a Cleveland, nell'Ohio. Questa casa automobilistica introdusse nel 1902 una novità per il generatore di vapore: grazie all'installazione di un condensatore, la caldaia ora riciclava i vapori esausti. Nel 1909 il neoeletto presidente degli Stati Uniti d'America William Howard Taft, che succedette a Theodore Roosevelt, scelse come auto ufficiale una White Model M 40 torpedo a sette posti. Dopo aver deciso di interrompere la produzione delle auto con questo tipo di trazione, la White iniziò prima a fabbricare auto con motore a combustione interna (1910) e poi veicoli commerciali (1918).

I tentativi più importanti per rendere più avanzate le auto a vapore furono operati invece dalla Doble, che riuscì a ridurre i tempi di avviamento introducendo una caldaia monotubo in grado di preriscaldare una piccola quantità di acqua. Questo preriscaldamento faceva infatti partire il motore prima che venisse scaldata l'intera quantità di liquido. Entro il 1923, le Doble erano in grado di partire da freddo girando una chiave e avviandosi in meno di 30 secondi. Abner Doble, anche dopo la chiusura della casa automobilistica da lui fondata, non uscì dal mondo delle auto con questo tipo di trazione e sviluppò in via sperimentale, tra il 1950 ed il 1953, l'Ultimax, ovvero un motore a vapore per la McCullough-Paxton.

La Locomobile, casa automobilistica inizialmente con sede a Watertown, nel Massachusetts, fabbricò alcune migliaia di modelli a vapore dal 1899 al 1904. Quando la compagnia cessò la produzione di veicoli con questo tipo di trazione, iniziò quella di automobili di lusso con motore a combustione interna. Nel 1922 la Locomobile fu acquistata dalla Durant Motors. Sette anni dopo chiuse i battenti per le basse vendite di autovetture. Durante la seconda guerra boera, la Locomobile fornì alcuni veicoli all'esercito britannico. Per tale motivo, delle Locomobile furono le prime autovetture al mondo ad essere utilizzate in un conflitto armato.

Nel 1900 la American Bicycle Co di Toledo, nell'Ohio, creò invece la Toledo Steam Carriage, che era mossa da un motore da 6,5 hp di potenza. Nel settembre del 1901 due esemplari di questa vettura furono iscritti alla gara di durata "New York to Buffalo Endurance Contest". Uno di essi arrivò terzo nella propria categoria. Questa parte di gara venne però cancellata dopo la diffusione della notizia dell'assassinio del presidente degli Stati Uniti William McKinley. La produzione di auto a vapore Toledo terminò nel 1903, dopo di cui la compagnia iniziò a concentrarsi sulla fabbricazione di modelli a benzina sotto il nome di Pope-Toledo.

L'Endurance steam car è stata invece un'automobile a vapore costruita a Los Angeles dal 1923 al 1924. Questo modello, che era a cinque posti, era dotato di freni a disco e venne messo in vendita a 1.885 dollari.

Il declino e la scomparsa

Il primo avvenimento che decretò il declino delle auto a vapore fu l'adozione del motorino di avviamento da parte delle vetture con motore a combustione interna. Questa invenzione, che fu introdotta nel 1912 sui modelli Cadillac, rese possibile una partenza semplice ed immediata del motore a scoppio. Fino ad allora, infatti, per l'auto a vapore esisteva il vantaggio di essere "avviata con un cerino" (che accendeva il bruciatore), anche se per poi azionare il mezzo occorreva aspettare qualche minuto. L'avviamento a manovella delle prime auto a combustione interna era invece complicato, scomodo, faticoso, ed anche pericoloso. In seguito, anche l'auto a vapore ebbe l'accensione elettrica del bruciatore.

Dato che gli inconvenienti erano anche altri, il declino delle auto a vapore non si fermò. Il problema principale di questo tipo di vetture era collegato al fatto che - con la tecnologia del tempo - il motore a vapore fosse particolarmente pesante. In aggiunta, era di difficile gestione l'enorme condensatore che era continuamente intasato da gelatine carboniose prodotte dalla miscela del vapore con i liquidi lubrificanti. Infine, persisteva il problema del tempo necessario per raggiungere le condizioni operative e per far muovere l'auto partendo da condizioni fredde.

Nel 1913, l'introduzione su larga scala della catena di montaggio applicata a modelli con motore a combustione interna, decretò un cospicuo abbattimento dei costi di produzione di questo tipo di vetture. Questo, sommato agli effetti dell'adozione dell'avviamento elettrico, causò prima il declino e poi la scomparsa delle auto a vapore.

La tecnologia delle automobili a vapore

Il motore a vapore è un tipo di propulsore a combustione esterna. Pertanto differisce da quello a combustione interna per il fatto che il carburante viene bruciato fuori dal propulsore vero e proprio. Sulle autovetture con questo tipo di trazione il cuore del sistema di trazione è il generatore di vapore (o caldaia), il cui compito è quello di produrre il vapore necessario per far muovere il motore. Il vapore viene generato dal calore prodotto dalla combustione di un carburante, che avviene in un bruciatore. Per far sì che il motore poi produca movimento, il vapore deve essere generato a condizioni operative specifiche (ovvero ad una certa pressione) ed in quantità sufficiente. Dopo essere stato prodotto, il vapore in pressione viene inviato al motore vero e proprio, dove genera energia meccanica grazie al movimento dei pistoni. Come ciclo termodinamico, il motore a vapore descrive un ciclo di Rankine.

Sulle auto a vapore dell'inizio del XX secolo la caldaia rappresentava il componente di maggior peso della vettura. Questo peso era superiore a quello generato dal gruppo formato dal cambio e dalla frizione dei veicoli con motore a combustione interna. Grazie infatti alla grande coppia che era fornita a tutti i regimi, il propulsore a vapore era connesso direttamente alle ruote motrici senza l'utilizzo dei due componenti meccanici citati. Le automobili con questo tipo di trazione, una volta che la pressione operativa era raggiunta, potevano infatti essere avviate con una considerevole accelerazione perché l'energia era immagazzinata in caldaia grazie al vapore, e quindi la potenza era erogabile in pieno in qualunque momento e a qualsiasi regime. Oltre a ciò, anche le grandi ventole di raffreddamento associate al propulsore a vapore pesavano più del cambio e della frizione delle auto con motore a combustione interna. Quindi, nel complesso, questo maggior peso annullava il vantaggio che aveva il propulsore a vapore di funzionare senza il cambio (ad auto immobile il motore era fermo, e quindi non sprecava energia con la rotazione in folle). Dalla massa superiore, conseguiva anche il fatto che le vetture a vapore fossero, di norma, globalmente più pesanti delle auto con motore a combustione interna, e quindi la loro conduzione richiedeva più attenzione da parte del guidatore.

Un'altra restrizione importante del motore a vapore dei modelli di inizio XX secolo era il rifornimento d'acqua per la caldaia. All'epoca, infatti, il liquido citato doveva essere trasportato e aggiunto frequentemente perché le vetture prodotte fino ai primi anni del XX scaricavano il vapore nell'atmosfera. Per evitare questi frequenti rabbocchi, sui modelli successivi, venne installato un condensatore, ovvero un'ulteriore apparecchiatura piuttosto ingombrante, pesante e che dava anche molti inconvenienti, il cui scopo era quello di condensare e riciclare il vapore esausto. Il condensatore aveva l'aspetto del radiatore delle auto a combustione interna ma, rispetto ad esso, aveva delle dimensioni maggiori che erano dovute al tenore dello scambio termico; quest'ultimo, infatti, doveva essere - oltre che maggiore - anche più veloce. Oltre ad essere molto voluminoso, il condensatore doveva essere posto esposto all'aria a causa dell'ingente sottrazione di calore che doveva realizzare. La stessa cosa non era necessaria per il motore vero e proprio che, anche in virtù delle sue limitate dimensioni e del fatto che fosse connesso con semplici tubazioni alla caldaia ed al condensatore, era invece posto nella posizione più comoda per l'azionamento delle ruote motrici, ad esempio sotto il pianale.

Oltre a quelli menzionati, per le auto a vapore dei primi anni del XX secolo c'era però un altro grande problema: il tempo necessario per raggiungere le condizioni operative. Serviva infatti oltre un minuto per ottenerle e per far sì che il motore si avviasse. Per risolvere questa limitazione, sui modelli prodotti in seguito fu sviluppato un tipo di caldaia dove i tempi di raggiungimento della temperatura di esercizio erano molto più brevi rispetto a quelli di una tradizionale, dato che in essa veniva scaldata una piccola quantità di acqua. Quest'ultima forniva infatti al propulsore l'energia sufficiente per far partire il veicolo prima che venisse scaldata l'intera quantità di liquido. Sulle automobili a vapore Doble più recenti era presente anche un sistema di accensione del bruciatore che funzionava a gasolio e che velocizzava ulteriormente questa fase.

L'automobile a vapore aveva però molti vantaggi. Il motore (esclusa la caldaia) era infatti molto più piccolo e leggero di quello a combustione interna. Era anche meglio adatto a girare ad una velocità più elevata e richiedeva una trasmissione più semplice rispetto a quella richiesta da una vettura con motore a combustione interna dato che mancavano, come già accennato, il cambio di velocità e la frizione. L'auto era inoltre molto più silenziosa anche senza marmitta (nel motore non si verificavano infatti degli "scoppi"). Un altro indubbio vantaggio del motore a vapore, oltre alla silenziosità, era che in tale propulsore la combustione era continua. Quindi, il bruciatore poteva essere configurato in modo tale da avere una combustione ottimale minimizzando l'inquinamento atmosferico grazie alle basse emissioni di monossido di carbonio, di ossidi di azoto e di idrocarburi incombusti negli scarichi.

Le automobili a vapore moderne
Dopo essere scomparse dal mercato per decenni, le automobili con questo tipo di trazione sono ricomparse, nello stadio di prototipo, nella seconda metà del XX secolo. Il motore a vapore, infatti, se prodotto con tecnologie moderne, presenta molte caratteristiche che potrebbero renderlo valido come sistema di propulsione alternativa.

Gli avanzamenti tecnologici
La novità principale dei motori a vapore contemporanei, rispetto a quelli dell'inizio del XX secolo, è quella della riduzione del peso dei componenti che costituiscono il sistema di propulsione. Grazie al progresso tecnologico, è stato infatti possibile rendere modeste le dimensioni del generatore di vapore e del condensatore. Ciò è stato ottenuto riducendo drasticamente la massa del fluido di lavoro (l'acqua), aumentando la superficie di scambio termico e migliorando l'efficienza del generatore. Le strumentazioni moderne rendono agevole la possibilità di regolare la combustione e l'alimentazione dell'acqua. Di conseguenza, è possibile ottenere del vapore in condizioni operative molto accurate (in altri termini, lo si può ottenere ad una temperatura e ad una pressione molto precise). Sistemi di rilevamento strumentale possono anche rendere veloce l'adattamento dei parametri operativi a quelli ottimali, che sono legati, tra l'altro, anche alle condizioni di guida. Con l'avanzamento della tecnologia, questo tipo di propulsore non è più affetto dal problema del tempo necessario per l'avvio, che è infatti diventato di pochi secondi.

Il motore a vapore è tecnicamente molto più svincolato dalle caratteristiche del combustibile usato di quanto lo sia quello a combustione interna. La combustione continua (non "a scoppi"), controllata strumentalmente e condotta in maniera ottimale, oltre a ridurre al minimo l'inquinamento, permette anche l'uso di vari combustibili ecocompatibili con le vigenti norme antinquinamento (ad esempio, oli vegetali grezzi, alcoli, ecc.). In aggiunta, rispetto a quelli a combustione interna, i motori a vapore forniscono un rendimento superiore e non necessitano, come già accennato, di una trasmissione complessa. Quando l'auto è ferma, ad esempio ad un semaforo, la caldaia funziona in modalità "stand-by" (ovvero nelle condizione di mantenimento di temperatura e pressione del vapore) ed il motore è fermo; per tale motivo il propulsore, a differenza del motore a combustione interna, consuma pochissima energia e non produce rumore.

Di fatto, nei moderni motori a vapore, non esiste più una "caldaia" nel senso comune del termine: il generatore di vapore consiste in una serie di evaporatori che sono costituiti da fasci di tubi molto sottili, oppure da altri dispositivi ad elevatissima superficie di scambio che contengono pochissima acqua. L'acqua ed il vapore sono contenuti in un circuito ermeticamente sigillato e quindi non è necessario il benché minimo rabbocco di fluido di lavoro. Come per tutti i circuiti chiusi, il fluido utilizzato è un prodotto tecnico puro, e pur trattandosi di acqua, questa non è acqua comune, è infatti depurata, demineralizzata e degasata.

Visto che nei motori a vapore moderni si è fatto largo uso di materiali speciali, viene reso inutile l'uso di lubrificanti convenzionali ricavati dal petrolio. La loro funzione lubrificante è infatti svolta in modo eccellente dal fluido di lavoro stesso, sia sotto forma di acqua sia sotto forma di vapore. Nel motore a vapore, l'olio minerale di lubrificazione è stato in passato il principale motivo di danni, inaffidabilità e malfunzionamenti. Esso, infatti, dopo essersi emulsionato con l'acqua e col vapore, veniva a contatto con le superfici roventi e si carbonizzava rapidamente. I residui carboniosi e le emulsioni gelatinose depositati sulle superfici di scambio danneggiavano la trasmissione del calore, ed otturavano i tubi del condensatore, costringendo a continui ed onerosi interventi di manutenzione, rendendo in ultima analisi la gestione costosa ed inaffidabile.

I prototipi prodotti
In seguito alla crisi energetica del 1973 la Saab mise a punto un progetto - iniziato l'anno successivo sotto la guida di Ove Platell - che fu finalizzato alla realizzazione un'auto a vapore. Fu costruito un prototipo che possedeva una caldaia costituita da un circuito multi-parallelo di tubi sottili aventi un diametro interno di circa un millimetro. Questo generatore di vapore produceva una potenza di 250 hp ed aveva le dimensioni di una batteria per automobili. Per poter permettere al prototipo un avvio immediato, venne previsto un sistema propulsivo ausiliario ad aria compressa. Il motore a vapore di questo veicolo era dotato di nove cilindri.

Tra il 1973 ed il 1974 il designer inglese Peter Pellandine produsse in Australia - con marchio Pellandini Cars - la sua prima vettura a vapore. Il progetto era frutto di un contratto con il governo dell'Australia Meridionale. Il telaio e la monoscocca del veicolo erano in fibra di vetro, mentre la meccanica era basata su quella della Morris 1100 e della Mini. Nel 1977 Pellandine, dopo essere tornato in patria, costruì una seconda vettura a vapore, la Pelland Mark II Steam Car, questa volta con marchio Pelland Engineering. Il motore di quest'ultimo prototipo, che aveva configurazione a W, era a tre cilindri a doppia azione.

Negli anni novanta del XX secolo, una consociata del gruppo Volkswagen operante nel settore di ricerca e sviluppo, la Enginion AG, progettò e realizzò un motore a vapore chiamato "ZEE" (acronimo di "Zero Emissions Engine", ovvero "motore a zero emissioni"), che produceva 220 hp di potenza. Questo propulsore erogava vapore quasi istantaneamente senza l'utilizzo di fiamma libera e non aveva bisogno di oli lubrificanti, dato che per questo scopo era utilizzato il vapore stesso. Le camicie dei cilindri erano realizzate in materiale ceramico. Questo propulsore era inoltre caratterizzato da emissioni inquinanti molto basse e da un rendimento superiore a quello dei comuni motori a combustione interna. Comunque, la Enginion AG si rese conto che il mercato non era pronto per le auto a vapore, e preferì procedere allo sviluppo del motore "Steamcell", ovvero di un generatore di energia e di calore (cogenerazione) basato su un principio analogo. Infatti, la compagnia non riuscì a convincere nessuna azienda a produrre in serie il proprio motore a vapore.

All'inizio del XXI secolo, Harry Schoell ha realizzato in via sperimentale il motore vapore Cyclone. Questo propulsore, che è in grado di partire da freddo in una decina di secondi e di entrare a regime in circa un minuto, è caratterizzato da emissioni inquinanti particolarmente basse. Il motore Cyclone, che è stato prodotto in seno alla "Cyclone Power Technologies", ha un rendimento del 46% e possiede una camera di combustione centrifuga, da cui il nome.

Il 25 agosto 2009 la British Steam Car Challenge batté il record di velocità terrestre valido per i veicoli a vapore. Questo primato resisteva dal 1906 quando fu registrato, come già accennato, dalla Stanley Rocket. Il nuovo record, che fu di 225,055 km/h, venne realizzato alla Edwards Air Force Base, nel deserto del Mojave, in California. La vettura fu guidata da Charles Burnett III. Dato che questi primati di velocità terrestre sono basati sulla media di due passaggi percorsi in direzioni opposte in un periodo di tempo di un'ora, la velocità massima raggiunta e registrata nel record citato fu ottenuta considerando i 219,037 km/h del primo passaggio ed i 243,148 km/h del secondo. Il giorno stesso, il record fu confermato dalla FIA. Il giorno successivo, Don Wales, nipote di Malcolm Campbell, fece un nuovo tentativo con la stessa vettura raggiungendo una velocità media record di 238,679 km/h. Il primato fu battuto nuovamente percorrendo due partenze consecutive calcolate, questa volta, sulla distanza di un chilometro. Anche questo record fu registrato dalla FIA.

Note

Bibliografia

Voci correlate
 Motore a vapore
 Carro a vapore
 Locomotiva a vapore
 Battello a vapore

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Automobili a propulsione alternativa


But first I had to get on the train.
This year, I really, really, really wanted to become a "super randonneur" or somebody who has done a sanctioned 200k, 300k, 400k, and 600k ride all in one year. The 200k went swimmingly and was more or less flat from Olympia to Mayfield Lake and back again with some curly cues and a head wind.
On August 20th, I boarded the train to Bellingham to ride the summer 400k which starts from Dan Turner's house. Dan is a randonneur extraordinaire, rides a sweet Colnago with every accoutrement you could want on a bike except fenders. He also let our rag tag group camp out on his lawn both before and after the event.
Now just so you don't get any funny ideas, I was doing the easy ride. My ride started on Saturday morning and ended on Sunday morning, was only 250 miles long and was pretty darn flat, but more on that later. The big group was doing 1000k and started from Dan's house on Thursday so as to return at the same time. Dan was therefore running an SIR mothership command center from Demming, Washington for 4 days. Chapeau!
This is the sign in: Albert Meerscheidt, Robin Pieper, unknown awesome randonneur (Jeff Tilden?), and the aforementioned Dan Turner.
And the rest of the shot rounding it out with Elaine Jameson of wonderful 200k tandem chattiness fame, Lyn Gil, Albert, and Robin. Fun riders included were Ward Beebe, Eric Ahlvin, Bill Gobie, and a fellow new randonneur named Tommy, who tore the heck out of this course.
We rode in a big pack until just before Blaine when I couldn't keep up. Tommy and I rode into the second checkpoint, then he rode away from me. I took a bunch of wrong turns, came to the third checkpoint from the wrong direction, and found myself more like 20 minutes behind, oh well, I knew I would have a head wind until Stanwood (mile 110 or so) so I just hunkered down and started taking photos of cool animals.
I didn't take too many more photos after that because I caught a tail wind that pushed me from Stanwood to Darrington and then it was gently downhill to Rockport where I came upon a christian rock festival.
I encountered the ride leaders on the out and back to Marblemount, had a nice dinner in Marblemount, saw Tommy and Bill riding quickly out of town so I lent chase, caught Bill, found out Tommy had stopped for supplies (not in that order), and sped downhill to Sedro Wooley, which was more or less closed.
Then the obligatory photo of Concrete, Washington.
I finished just after midnight with a time of 18:17, not bad considering it was my first sanctioned 400k, I hadn't ridden with anyone since 10 AM except for Bill for a while until he rode away too.
I had the presence of mind to snap this post ride shot. The next morning I rode to Bellingham, caught the train, which was late, met a fantastic member of the Alaska Randonneurs (Nick?), led him to REI mothership, then missed church entirely.
At which point I regaled my lovely wife, Claire with tales of great adventure and daring do.
Lovely write-up. You are looking lean, my friend.
Funny you should mention, of all people. I have to say that I actually am a nutritional role model!