#National Thermal Engineer Day

[gerard-lange-art-journals]

Happy National Thermal Engineer Day, 24 July 2024 — Gerard Lange art journals, Book 20: Portrait of Self in Coffee and Tobacco, spread 1 (pp. 2–3), 2015–2016, 28 x 44 x 3 cm (11 x 17 x 1 ¼ in.).

[subby-sab]

Today is 24th July.

Today is National Tequila Day, Amelia Earhart Day, International Self Care Day, National Thermal Engineer Day.

[murderousink23]

07/24/2024 is International Self Care Day 🌎, Florists' Day 💐🇷🇺, National Cousins Day 🇺🇸, National Drive-Thru Day 🇺🇸, National Tequila Day 🇺🇸, National Thermal Engineering Day 🇺🇸

[gpstudios]

Celebrating National Thermal Engineering Day: Honoring the Innovators of Heat and Energy

Happy National Thermal Engineering Day! 🔥🔧 Celebrate the vital contributions of thermal engineers who manage heat and energy across industries. Learn, appreciate, and honor these essential professionals. #ThermalEngineeringDay

Introduction Happy National Thermal Engineering Day! 🔥🔧 Celebrated annually on July 24th, this day is dedicated to recognizing the vital contributions of thermal engineers who work tirelessly to manage heat and energy across various industries. From HVAC systems and power plants to electronics and transportation, thermal engineering plays a crucial role in improving efficiency, safety, and…

[reasonsforhope]

"In Washington D.C., a sophisticated sewage treatment plant is turning the capital’s waste into a form of capital: living capital that is fertilizing the gardens of farms of the Mid-Atlantic region and saving vast quantities of resources.

Described by the workers’ there as a “resource recovery plant,” D.C. Water run a biogas plant and high-quality fertilizer production in the course of their dirty duty to ensure the city’s waste finds a safe endpoint.

The nation’s capital is exceptional at producing waste from the toilet bowls of the 2.2 million people who live, work, and commute through the city and its suburbs.

Reporting by Lina Zeldovich reveals that rather than trucking it all to a landfill, D.C. Water extract an awful lot of value from the capital crap, by looking at it as a resource to send through the world’s largest advanced wastewater treatment plant, which uses a “thermal hydrolysis process” in which it is sterilized, broken down, and shipped off for processing into “Bloom,” a nitrogen-rich, slow-release fertilizer product. 

The other “Black Gold”

At their facility in southwest Washington, huge aeration tanks percolate the poo of everyone from tourists to the President. After it’s all fed into enormous pressure cookers where, under the gravity of six earth atmospheres and 300°F, the vast black sludge is rendered harmless.

Next this “Black Gold,” as Zeldovich described it, is pumped into massive bacterial-rich tanks where microbes breakdown large molecules like fats, proteins, and carbs into smaller components, shrinking the overall tonnage of sewage to 450 tons per day down from 1,100 at the start of the process.

This mass-micro-munching also produces methane, which when fed into an onsite turbine, generates a whopping 10 megawatts of green energy which can power 8,000 nearby homes. [Note: Natural gas (which is mostly methane) is definitely greener than coal and oil, but it still causes a significant amount of emissions and greenhouse gases.] The 450 tons of remaining waste from the D.C. feces are sent into another room where conveyor belts ring out excess fluid before feeding it through large rollers which squash it into small congregate chunks.

D.C. Water sends this to another company called Homestead Gardens for drying, aging, and packaging before it’s sold as Bloom.

“I grow everything with it, squashes, tomatoes, eggplants,” Bill Brower, one of the plant’s engineers, tells Zeldovich. “Everything grows great and tastes great,” he adds.

“And I’m not the only one who thinks so. We’ve heard from a lot of people that they’ve got the best response they’ve ever seen from the plants. Particularly with leafy greens because that nitrogen boost does well with leafy plants. And the plants seem to have fewer diseases and fewer pests around—probably because Bloom helps build healthy soils.”

While farms around the country are facing nutrient depletion in soils from over-farming, turning to synthetic fertilizers to make up the difference, introducing more such thermal hydrolysis plants could truly revolutionize the way humans look at their feces—as a way of restoring the country’s soils rather than polluting them. As Mike Rowe would say, it only takes a person who’s willing to get their hands dirty."

-via Good News Network, November 23, 2021

Note: You can buy this fertilizer yourself here!

[whumpster-fire]

How to Swear Like a Steam Engine (And Other Sentient Locomotive Slang)

If there’s one thing engines enjoy doing, it’s complaining and insulting each other, and they’ve developed their own slang to do it. Phrases like “fusspot,” “cinders and ashes!” and “bossy boiler” are common in the Railway Series, but there are many other terms.

The following list of phrases and expressions are commonly used by engines on American railroads, in particular on the Jefferson Great Divide Railway in the mountain west of the US. Some may be common in Sodor and the rest of Britain as well, others are specific to America. There are other lists on the internet documenting the various IRL slang used by human employees, and a lot of that is used by engines as well, but this is specifically the slang terms that were more or less developed within the locomotive subculture.

All Smoke and No Steam: All show and no substance. A person or engine who talks a good game or puts a lot of effort into appearing to be helpful but can’t back it up. An engine that’s making a huge cloud of smoke and a lot of noise looks impressive but if what’s coming out the smokestack is all smoke and no steam it’s not actually doing any work. Can also mean empty words or promises that won’t be fulfilled in the abstract.

“He’s all smoke and no steam!” = talks a good game, is all hat and no cattle, etc.

“That rule’s all smoke and no steam” can mean a rule isn’t / won’t be enforced, or that it will be enforced but it doesn’t actually make things better and is just a way of looking like something’s being done. E.g. “The new safety regulations are all smoke and no steam, management’s still going to come down harder for being late than for safety violations.”

“Their threats are all smoke and no steam” (when referring to customers/clients/workers) = they complain loudly but they’re not actually going to do anything like stop buying tickets, or ship freight by other means, or quit, or strike.

Amtrash: Derogatory term for Amtrak and its engines, used by freight railroad engines. Amtrak is the USA’s quasi-nationalized long-distance passenger rail network. Most of the track it runs on is owned by other railroads which are freight-only, and there’s quite a bit of resentment between them. See also: Useless Pacific, Nofucks Southern, Satan Fe, All Trains Smell Funny, Borington Northern, Misery Pacific, Criminally Slow and X-pensive, Southern Pathetic, Big Nasty Stupid Fuckers. The US only had its railroads forced into a Get Along T-shirt for like three years and that was during WWI-era, so there are a lot of rivalries between different railroads there.

Ballast Plow: A large truck, especially a flatbed, that stalls at a crossing – because if it gets hit it’s likely to bend around the engine’s front and be dragged down the track instead of getting thrown aside, digging into the embankment and scattering ballast everywhere.

Buckled Rail: A buckled rail (usually happens due to thermal expansion of the track in a heatwave) is at a minimum extremely painful to run over and can often damage engines or rolling stock and derail trains. “I need that like a buckled rail!”

Cattle Cars / Cattle: Derogatory term for a passenger train / passengers, particularly unruly and annoying passengers. Engines aren’t supposed to say this within earshot of passengers (and coaches get offended too).

Cowboy / Car Wrangler / Rodeo Clown: Shunter/switcher engines. Definitely popularized in the American West.

Did you fill your Tender/Bunker from the Ash Pit?: Ash doesn’t burn and would make a mess all over the cab. Basically translates to “Who pissed in your cornflakes?”Can also refer to an engine who has no steam or energy.

“Did you fill your bunker from the ash pit this morning? You’ve done nothing but complain and insult everyone all day!”

“Did you fill your tender from the ash pit today? I might as well be pulling this train by myself!”

Did They Fill Your Tender With Rocks?: Less profane version of the above.

Drink Hard Water: Hard water, i.e. water with lots of mineral content, is not good for a steam engine because mineral deposits (boiler sludge and scale) can accumulate in the boiler and other plumbing and be very uncomfortable / difficult to clean out.

“Go drink hard water!” = Go jump in a lake / go to hell / go fuck yourself. Basically “go somewhere else and have a miserable time while you’re there.”

“I’d rather drink hard water!” or “That’s like drinking hard water!” = Hell No.

Dry Crownsheet: VERY strong expression meaning an engine is tired or frustrated to the breaking point and about to lose their temper. “My crownsheet’s dry” could be compared to “I’m going to blow a fuse” or “Blow my stack” but that doesn’t cover the intensity. The crownsheet is the top of a locomotive’s firebox, and allowing the water level in the boiler to drop low enough that the crownsheet is exposed can cause it to overheat, weaken, and fail, which is a common cause of boiler explosions. If that weren’t bad enough water suddenly being reintroduced to an overheated crown sheet can flash to steam and cause a catastrophic pressure spike. Blowing a fuse means a safety mechanism has activated to prevent catastrophe. A steam locomotive with a dry crownsheet means the safety mechanisms have already failed and is on the verge of a devastating explosion. Used figuratively, means an engine has run out of ability to cope with stress and is one more tiny irritation away from taking it out on whoever’s unlucky enough to have added the proverbial final straw, or just anyone nearby, without regard to consequences for themselves.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault. He rolled into the yard with his crownsheet dry” = He wasn’t angry because of you, he was already angry and something was going to set him off sooner or later.

“Listen, I got a dry crownsheet from my last train. If any of you cars start anything I’m about ready to jump the track into the river and pull you all along with me.”

“Please just get me out of this station! My crownsheet’s about dry and if I have to hear the passengers complaining I don’t think I can take it!”

Find a Scrapyard: This basically means “Kill yourself,” so… not a very nice thing to say.

Fire Me Dry: Basically equivalent to “Fuck me” as an expression of exasperation. If an engine’s fire was lit with no water in the boiler at all, it might not cause an explosion but would still destroy the firebox. Apparently Furness Railway No. 1 was severely damaged and later scrapped due to this.

Flatlanders: Insult used on many mountain railways to make fun of engines and crews from plains regions who aren’t used to running the difficult routes.

“Boy, if those flatlanders think one in one-twenty’s a hill, I can’t wait to see ‘em coming up the pass!”

“They way some of these flatlanders talk you’d think you can’t climb anything over 1% without cog wheels.”

General Sherman, Sherman’s Army, Sherman’s Necktie: Refers to “Sherman’s Neckties,” a tactic of destroying sections of rail by heating them and twisting or bending them until they were unusable. This phrase is pretty much US-specific, and likely originated with engines used in the US Civil War picking up the term from humans, but has spread to subsequent generations of engines who often weren’t taught the historical context and only knew that Sherman was a man who commanded an army and destroyed a lot of railroad track. General Sherman and his army have become almost folkloric figures that various causes of track wear and failure are attributed to, sort of like Jack Frost. Can also refer to incompetent track maintenance / rough and poorly maintained track, or to the crews and vehicles responsible for it. Though they sometimes use the term for an engine who’s particularly hard on the rails or otherwise damages the track.

“That crew really did a General Sherman of a job with these rails.” = Sarcastically saying the maintenance crew made the rails even worse.

“Be careful at that junction, it’s a real Sherman’s Necktie.”

“Ouch! Who laid these ties, General Sherman?”

“That new road-rail’s a real General Sherman. Take any track he’s been over slow or you might break an axle.”

“Hey, General Sherman, try checking a switch is set right before you barge into it.”

“In case you’re wondering why the spur’s been closed all day, General Sherman over here spun his wheels ‘til he damn near hit ballast.” (Diesels in multiple unit operation can occasionally spin their wheels on a stopped train for so long they grind/melt halfway through the rails)

“They ought to put you in a siding and necktie the rails” (similar to “They should lock you up and throw away the key)

“Keep an eye on the track ahead of you: General Sherman’s hard at work on days like this” = a warning given in very hot weather that could cause buckling of the rails.

Getting the Rails Painted: A euphemism for a person or animal being run over by a train. Alternately: “Paint my wheels” or “Paint my pilot.” Obviously no sane engine wants this to happen but some engines use this phrase as gallows humor between each other. Occasionally said to humans who break safety rules by a furious engine.

“What the hell are you doing walking between moving freight cars? You almost painted the rails back there!”

“I heard they got the rails painted at the 58th Street Crossing?” “Yeah. From what I heard, poor guy must’ve been drunk and fell asleep on the tracks. They didn’t say whose train it was but Robbie’s been in the shed all week.”

“Some idiot ducked under the crossing gates on a bike and just about painted my pilot.”

“I got my pilot painted by a herd of deer yesterday. I swear, once they get on the track they must think they’re a train, they just run along it!”

Go Get Your Ash Pan Raked: Removing the ash that collects under an engine’s firebox could be considered the closest steam engine equivalent to using the bathroom, but the connotations aren’t quite the same. Cleaning out the ash pan is a task firemen hate, so telling an engine to get their ash pan raked basically means “Go be someone else’s problem for a while (instead of mine)” Basically translates to "Fuck off."

Hotbox / Hot Axle: A hotbox or hot axle is an overheating axle and/or bearing box, usually on rolling stock but sometimes on engines. “One hot axle stops a train” is a common proverb that means a small missed detail can cause a massive inconvenience or impediment – compare to “For want of a nail” or “One bad apple spoils the barrel.” It doesn’t matter how many cars are on a train, a single hotbox can force the entire thing to stop until the problem is fixed. In slang use, of course, a hotbox can refer to anything small and seemingly irrelevant that manages to cause a disproportionate amount of annoyance, delay, or wasted time. It could be a physical object, a rule or procedure or an event. It is also a common insult: sometimes directed at engines, but more often at people or other vehicles. It basically means “killjoy” or “wet blanket,” with a specific connotation of “You and your opinion aren’t important but you are holding everyone else back / ruining things for everyone by making a ton of noise.” Common examples of hotboxes include an overly officious inspector or manager, a broken down road vehicle blocking a grade crossing, a track maintenance crew that’s working slowly and blocking multiple trains, a small weather event that still sometimes manages to delay everything, or an unruly passenger who causes an entire train to be stopped on their account (or unsuccessfully demands it be).

“Sorry I’m so late. Some drunk hotbox picked a fight with the conductor and the cops had to drag him off the train.”

“Will you quit being such a hot axle? Everyone else is enjoying the roundhouse party, if you don’t like it just sleep outside!”

“They’d better fix those jammed points soon, they’re hotboxing the whole damn yard!” (note: the use of "hotbox" as a verb among engines probably predates the drug usage)

Icicles In My Smokebox: Hyperbolic complaining about cold weather. There are many parts of a steam engine that are susceptible to things freezing where they shouldn’t, such as the feed hoses from the tender, water tanks, and possibly journal boxes and other running gear could feel stiff and numb if the oil gets cold enough. Naturally, when engines are complaining about the cold they’ll claim the hottest parts of them, which have absolutely no chance of freezing while their fire is lit, are freezing. Other variants include “Frost in my flues,” “If they put ice cream in my firebox it wouldn’t melt,” and “Cold enough to freeze your smoke halfway up the stack,” and “So cold a snowman could fire me all day long” (standing next to a firebox door shoveling coal is hot work, if it’s that cold in the cab it’s pretty darn cold)

Idiot Siding: Off the rails, specifically a safety siding where the rails end in a sand or gravel bed, or wherever a train that runs over trap points / catch points / derailers gets sent. These devices intentionally derail an uncontrolled or runaway train to prevent it from obstructing a main line or endangering people further down the track. If a train ends up here either somebody didn’t check the switch alignment, moved when they weren’t supposed to, or lost control of their train, hence the name.

If it gets any hotter my fireman’s gonna be out of a job: Hyperbolic complaining about the weather – implying that the heat of the sun on an engine’s boiler is enough to raise steam without them needing a fire.

In My Cab: Sarcastic way of saying another engine (usually) or a non-crew human is being bossy, or controlling and/or micromanaging, or giving advice on things that are none of their business. Basically meaning “You’re acting like you think you’re my driver.”

“Get out of my cab, I can sort these cars how I want!”

“Manager’s been in my cab all week.”

“Who let you in my cab?”

“Yeah, sure thing. Hey, while you’re up there in my cab, why don’tcha polish my gauges?”

Lionel Lines / Lionels: Derogatory term for narrow-gauge railways and trains, named after the popular brand of toy and model trains. Visitors to the JGD are strongly advised to NOT use this term around the resident standard-gauge engines. They are very protective of their narrow-gauge friends due to certain incidents in the past.

No Ashpan: e.g. “You’ve been running with no ashpan all day” or “He ain’t got no ashpan.” The ash pan is a tray underneath a steam engine’s firebox that collects ash and cinders that fall through the grates. An engine with no ashpan would leave a trail of red-hot cinders everywhere it went, which could be scattered by the wind from a train at speed, starting fires around the track – especially in the dry climate where the JGD is! Basically it means someone leaves a trail of destruction wherever they go. This is a very strong way of calling someone clumsy or incompetent (as in “You fuck up everything you touch”). It can also be used to refer to someone who’s rude, tactless, cruel, or toxic.

Pulling With Your Regulator: Wasting effort, doing more work than you need to. A steam engine’s power can be controlled using the regulator/throttle (reducing available steam pressure / flow rate to the valves) or by using the valve gear control (the “Johnson Bar”) to reduce the amount of time the valves are open. Controlling power and speed using the Johnson Bar (admitting small amounts of high-pressure steam into the cylinders) is more efficient than using the throttle (letting lots of low-pressure steam into the cylinders).

“Sure, you could shunt those cars like that, but you’ll be pulling with your regulator. Those grain hoppers are going out tomorrow morning and you’ll have to get ‘em out from behind everything else.”

Put on a Liquid Diet: A coal-fired or wood-fired steam engine being converted to an oil burner.

Rolling Dumpster: Insulting term for a tender. Not like a slur against tender engines, in fact it’s probably mostly tender engines who use it. E.g. “Why don’t you get that rolling dumpster off that siding and do some work for once?”

Sand in my fire and coal on my wheels: An engine feeling sick, confused, or discombobulated. Ironically oil-fired engines do actually periodically get sand thrown in their fire to clean their tubes out.

Scalding: Yelling at someone, dressing them down, treating them with cruelty. Engines can’t be physically scalded, but they know the meaning from the injuries that escaping steam can cause to humans.

“I’m sick of that stationmaster. He scalded me and my crew for running two minutes behind schedule without even asking why!”

“Geez, ask a simple question, get a scalding.”

“If that switchman isn’t fired tonight, he’ll wish he had been after the scalding I give him next time he see him. Throwing a train onto a siding at that speed could’ve derailed me, not to mention if there’d been a train there!"

Slug: Someone who blindly follows orders with no initiative or independent thought, or a yes-man or toadie. Used by diesels. A slug is an extra motor unit that can be coupled to a diesel-electric engine that draws excess power from it to provide extra traction while shunting, but a slug is not alive in the same way that tenders aren’t alive.

“Oh, company policy says, the rulebook says – quit being such a slug and live a little!”

“Yeah, the guy’s just Bernie’s slug. Always following him around hoping to be noticed. Pathetic.”

Smoke out the Stack: Similar to Water Under the Bridge. Expression meaning something’s in the past and no longer relevant.

“Hey, sorry about this morning.” “Ahh, don’t worry, that’s smoke out the stack."

Squishies: A very rude way of referring to careless yard workers and light road or rail vehicles, as well as people who trespass on tracks.

Sugar in My Fuel Tank: An unpleasant surprise. Originated in petrol-powered vehicles, but spread to diesel locomotives even though sugar in a diesel tank doesn’t really cause that much damage.

Teakettle: Insulting term for steam engines, especially small ones.

Tender-first: Doing something totally wrong, i.e. Ass-backwards. This one translates very literally. A tender engine running backwards can’t see very well and neither can its crew.

This Train’s Leaving. You can be on it, beside it, or under it: Means “My mind is made up. You can either help or leave me alone, but if you get in the way there’s going to be serious trouble.”

Thrown: Throwing a switch is what changing it from one direction to another is called, but when an engine talks about getting thrown it means being switched in an unexpected or unwanted direction, particularly at high speed. Like other types of sentient vehicle engines need a human operator to move with full control, but they also run on rails and cannot “steer.” In essence a train moves in one dimension while a car or boat moves in two and an aircraft moves in three. Even the most free-spirited engines don’t usually truly want the ability to go any which way: they like the certainty and predictability of knowing where moving forward will take them. However, engines do value the limited autonomy they do have. An engine can’t control itself without a driver, but as anyone who’s read the Railway Series will know, it is extremely difficult to move an unwilling engine. Thomas and James had runaway incidents because they were either trying to move without a driver on purpose or didn’t realize there was no one at the controls, and once they had made the choice to let themselves start moving, they couldn’t change the state of their controls by themselves. But an engine won’t move without their consent. Switches are a different matter. An engine is reliant on someone outside the cab to set the points, and being sent down the “wrong track” against their will feels very violating to many engines in a way that being physically pushed or pulled by another vehicle doesn’t. It’s like being manhandled. There is an expectation that switch operators follow the instructions of either an engine, their crew, or the dispatcher or yardmaster who is expected to tell the engine in advance where they are supposed to go. It’s also physically a jarring and unpleasant out-of-control feeling for an engine even when traveling at a safe speed – basically the train equivalent of going up or down a staircase and expecting another step that isn’t there, or suddenly hydroplaning or hitting a patch of ice in a car, or having your feet start to slide out from under you. And it’s often downright dangerous, either because a train is moving too fast for the curve of the switch and is derailed or because it’s sent into a collision on the other track or off the end of a siding (e.g. the Flying Kipper crash). Engines being engines, the term is also used hyperbolically to complain about an abrupt change of routing or scheduling with little warning, e.g. “Well, nobody told us about the special using my regular platform, until the last signal, they just threw me to Platform Five!” or “Today’s ore train was late. Dispatch gave them the tunnel instead of me so they didn’t have to stop going uphill, but I didn’t hear about it until they threw me on the passing siding!” It can also be used figuratively, similar to “thrown off track” or “thrown off,” to describe an unpleasant surprise or failure of communication.

Traveling In Style: Slang for a vehicle, especially a locomotive, being transported on a flatbed.

Tubes in a Twist / Knot: Expression of an engine (or human) being irritated, or feeling sick.

“What’s gt your tubes in a twist this morning?”

“That’ll put a knot in the foreman’s tubes for sure!”

“Are you feeling okay? You look like you’ve got a knot in your tubes!”

Turf Train: Affectionate term for farm tractors pulling multiple trailers or appliances.

Turn Your Grates: Implying that an engine has a buildup of ash on their firebox grates that is preventing their fire from getting enough air – almost always used figuratively to imply the engine’s mind is clogged with useless thoughts or strong emotions that are keeping them from thinking clearly. Or that they’re just being an idiot.

“Turn your grates before you run your mouth” = Think before you speak, in particular about whether you’re coming from a place of emotion or bias.

“Turn your grates and look at the track” = You have your mind on something other than what you’re doing, stop thinking about that and concentrate.

“Your cars are right on Spur 7 like I told you, turn your grates and look again!”

“I know the last diesel who visited was rude, but let’s turn our grates and keep an open mind about the new ones.”

Yoopers and Burlies: These are JGD-specific slang. The railroad connects to two major interstate railroads, Union Pacific and the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway (BNSF). At some point some engine heard about the word “Yooper” to describe people from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, decided to start calling engines and employees from Union Pacific this, and the name stuck. “Burlies” are BNSF engines. Prior to the 1995 merge of Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, the term was used for Burlington Northern, but there wasn’t really a term for Santa Fe engines other than “Santas” or “S-Fs.” A few engines tried to get “Reindeer” adopted as a term but it never caught on. Yoopers and Burlies are common on the JGD because both railways have trackage rights on one or more of its major routes.

You Got Your Valve Gear Backwards On the Left Side: Steam locomotives reverse by using their valve gear to change the timing of their valves. If one somehow had its valve gear operating backwards on one side, one cylinder would be trying to go in reverse and the other forward and it wouldn’t get anywhere. Used figuratively to mean “You’re sabotaging yourself” or “You’re the cause of your own problems.” Mostly used by older engines.

[whirligig-girl]

Standard humanoid patterned jumpsuit uniforms of the United Mellanus Space Program, circa 2360s-2380s. Division colors inspired by Federation Starfleet uniforms were introduced in the mid-2360s, but the basic jumpsuit pattern (with zipper holes doing double duty as pockets and holes for additional or modified limbs to pop out) dates back to the early days of spaceflight, and, in fact, to old military uniforms. There is room on the black right shoulder for relevant pins or pips, and room on the left arm for a mission-patch and any relevant national flag or organizational logo. The patch on the breast is a blue circle with a red horseshoe and a white star with the top point being exaggerated to point upwards.

UMSP Administrators don't actually wear jumpsuits, but their suits, jackets, dresses, and vests used for formal purposes often use red accents. Command division includes rocket captains, space station commanders, or whomever is in command of a spacecraft.

Mission Specialists comprise the astronomers, physicists, biologists, archaeologists, planetary scientists/geologists, and payload specialists that fly on missions that are not otherwise primarily tasked with the operation of the spacecraft itself.

Medical are medics, nurses, and doctors. If a biologist is flying on a biology-focused mission (for example, a landing on Oldsky or Lake, or an orbital botany experiment) but they happen to be a trained medic, they may also use the white uniform with a mission specialist mint stripe.

Astrogators are the astronauts who figure out how to get rockets to where they need to go, and may be responsible for the orbital maneuvers and traffic control for space stations as well. (Astrogator is the space version of a navigator). In most cases, spacecrafts are controlled through preprogrammed manuevers, but manual piloting also falls under the Astrogation division. Subspace field dynamics was originally under the purview of Mission Specialist division, but as pulsed warp drives become integrated into more missions in the 2380s, subspace physicists have generally doffed mint and donned blue.

Engineers, more properly Flight Engineers, are astronauts tasked with upkeep, maintenence, and operation of ship systems, or with the assembly of rockets and space stations in space. They may be expected to conduct EVAs to perform repairs, they manage a ship's nuclear reactor, nuclear-thermal-impulse-drives, or if present, even its pulsed warp drive.

Security astronauts are usually restricted to rare military-contracted missions, but the uniform is also used for the ground-based security force of the UMSP. They're also found at phaser stations, now that phaser operation is coordinated with the UMSP for phaser-powered launch vehicles. If you're not where you're supposed to be in a UMSP facility, they're the ones who are gonna throw you out

[usafphantom2]

Russia used Zircon hypersonic missile to attack Kiev

Fernando Valduga

Ukrainian analysts say there is clear forensic evidence suggesting that during the missile attack on February 7, 2024, Russian forces used a 3M22 Zircon missile to hit a target in Ukraine's capital, Kiev.

The Kiev Institute of Forensic Expertise Scientific Research confirmed the use of a 3M22 Zircon hypersonic missile during the missile attack from Russia on the capital of Ukraine, based on photos of the wreckage found in Kiev, indicating that this was probably the first operational firing of the zircon hypersonic cruise missile in sea-to-ground mode.

Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of the Institute of Scientific Research of Forensic Expertise in Kiev, said: "According to preliminary information, there is in fact evidence of the use of a 3M22 Zircon missile. This is evidenced by the markings on parts and debris, identification of components and parts and characteristics of a relevant type of weapon".

Experts said that in Russian missiles there are parts that can be used in several types at the same time, but others are used only for specific models. In this case, specific elements of the 3M22 Zircon missile were found. Specific markings contain parts and fragments of the jet engine and control surfaces.

Other markings on the missile wreckage indicate the date of production of its components - end of 2023-2024. This means that the missile was recently assembled.

Experts note that microelectronics is poorly preserved and is almost impossible to analyze due to physical damage.

Currently, the Institute is taking measures to determine the composition of the metal from fragments of the missile body and thermal insulation materials.

Zircon is a hypersonic cruise missile developed by the Association of Scientific Production of Machine Construction (NPO Mashinostroyeniya). It uses a solid thruster and a SCRAMJET engine, with a maximum range of 1,000 km and a warhead weighing approximately 300 kg. Zircon's cruising speed is Mach 8 at an altitude of 30 to 35 km. Guidance regarding terrestrial targets is probably achieved through GNSS and INS positioning systems.

Tags: weaponsMilitary AviationhypersonicZirconWar Zones - Russia/Ukraine

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, he has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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14/02/2024 - 19:25

MILITARY

IMAGES: Czech Air Force performs first Gripen REVO with Airbus A330 MRTT

14/02/2024 - 18:21

MILITARY

Iran simulates attack with ballistic missiles against Israeli F-35 hangars in office on National Guard Day

[ukrainenews]

Daily(ish) Wrap Up December 29-30, 2022

Under the cut:

Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine damaged power facilities and left key regions with limited electricity supply Thursday evening, a top Ukrainian official said in an update. Even though the country's air defenses shot down many missiles from the Russian barrage, “some of them hit several power facilities," said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

The backup power line at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was damaged and disconnected due to shelling, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Friday.

The richest Russian oligarchs have lost almost $95bn this year amid strict sanctions imposed by western nations over the Ukraine war – shedding $330m a day since the Kremlin launched its invasion.

Russia launched 16 "kamikaze" drones into Ukraine overnight, Kyiv's military said on Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage against Ukrainian critical infrastructure.

“Russia’s latest attacks on Ukraine damaged power facilities and left key regions with limited electricity supply Thursday evening, a top Ukrainian official said in an update.

Even though the country's air defenses shot down many missiles from the Russian barrage, “some of them hit several power facilities," said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.

"We will not specify the locations of these objects, but because of these hits, we have limited power supply capacities in some regions," he continued.

Engineers are working to restore electricity across Ukraine, with capacity limitations remaining in Lviv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Odesa, he said.

Tymoshenko said he was hopeful that the situation in Kyiv would improve Friday.

He praised the efforts of engineers who worked through the past week to stabilize supply in the capital city, saying that their hard work was realized on Christmas weekend, "when practically all households in Kyiv had electricity supply."

"I believe that now our power engineers will work a few more hours in such a mode and there will be a normal power supply to the city of Kyiv,” Tymoshenko said.

Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the CEO of the Ukrainian utility Ukrenergo, also reported that disruptions to energy supply persisted Thursday evening.

“At the moment, a significant part of the generating capacities in the system has been restored, but there is significant damage to the network and some power plants. That is related to the fact that it was not one missile attack, but in fact a series of attacks,” he said. Repairs are ongoing, but due to significant network damage, “it is difficult for us to supply electricity in regions of Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson and Lviv,” he said.”-via CNN

~

“The backup power line at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was damaged and disconnected due to shelling, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said in a statement on Friday.

“A 330 kilovolt (kV) backup power line to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) was disconnected late yesterday due to damage caused by shelling,” Grossi's statement read. “The ZNPP, whose six reactors are all in shutdown, continues to receive the off-site electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety and security functions from the plant’s only remaining operational 750 kV external power line.” The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team said the connection to the 330 kV backup power line was lost at 9:35 p.m. local time Thursday “as a result of damage on the other side of the Dnipro River, some distance away from the plant itself.”

The IAEA statement also informed that while there has been no direct shelling of the ZNPP since November, the IAEA experts on site reported on Friday that they heard “the sound of loud explosions today that appeared to come from a distance of a few hundred meters from the facility, in the area of the water channel connecting the nearby Zaporizhzhia thermal power station with the Dnipro River.”

The status of other nuclear plants: Ukraine informed the IAEA that the country’s three other NPPs, located in Ukrainian-controlled territory, were “in the process of restoring their electrical power production levels following a decrease in output after Thursday’s missile attacks.”

More background: During the first week of December, Ukraine claimed some Russian troops were withdrawing from their positions in Ukraine’s southern region of Zaporizhzhia. The General Staff of the Ukrainian military said Russian units left the settlements of Mykhailivka, Polohy and Inzhenerne, all towns south of the city of Zaporizhzhia.”-via CNN

~

“The richest Russian oligarchs have lost almost $95bn this year amid strict sanctions imposed by western nations over the Ukraine war – shedding $330m a day since the Kremlin launched its invasion.

Roman Abramovich, the former Chelsea FC owner, was the biggest loser, with his fortune falling by 57% to $7.8bn this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Abramovich was one of the first oligarchs to be subjected to UK sanctions on 10 March after ministers accused him of having “clear connections” to Putin’s regime and being among a group of rich Russian businessmen who had “blood on their hands”.

The fortune of Gennady Timchenko, a billionaire energy investor and close friend of Putin, has reduced by 48% to $11.8bn, and Suleiman Kerimov, another of the Russia president’s allies, has lost 41%, dropping to $9bn, according to the index.

The UK government has frozen more than £18bn of assets belonging to oligarchs and other Russians, the first official total recently revealed. Sanctions have been imposed on 1,271 people – including Abramovich and the “Nickel King” Vladimir Potanin, Russia’s second-richest person – according to the annual review of the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation.

The government said the “most severe sanctions” ever imposed had resulted in the freezing of £18.4bn of Russian-linked assets, which is almost £6bn more than the assets held under all other UK sanction regimes.”-via The Guardian

~

“Russia launched 16 "kamikaze" drones into Ukraine overnight, Kyiv's military said on Friday, a day after Moscow fired dozens of missiles in its latest barrage against Ukrainian critical infrastructure.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that all 16 drones, which it said were sent from the southeast and north, had been destroyed by air defences.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on his Telegram channel that seven drones had been aimed at the capital, and that five were destroyed within the city and two before reaching Kyiv.

An administrative building in the city was partially destroyed, according to Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv's military administration, who also said there was no information about any casualties.

Russia has launched numerous waves of drone and missile strikes against Ukraine since mid-October, heavily damaging its energy infrastructure and forcing planned and emergency power outages.”-via Reuters

[iimtcollege]

24th July National Thermal Energy Day!! “A good scientist is a person with good knowledge. A good thermal engineer is a person with great ideas.” . https://www.iimtindia.net/ Call Us: 9520886860 . #NationalThermalEnergyDay #ThermalEnergy #IIMTIndia #IIMTNoida #EngineeringCollege #AKTUadmission2023_24 #MBAadmission #MCAadmission2023 #CollegeofPharmacy #PolytechnicCollege #LawCollege #ManagementCollege #Btechadmission2023

[californiastatelibrary]

Happy National Cheese Lovers Day to all who celebrate

Below is a c. 1915 photo of the Orland Cheese and Butter factory in Orland, California. The image shows a creamery operated by the farmers of The Orland Project, which transformed the area’s soil.

What was The Orland Project? Expand for more details:

The Orland Project, in north-central California, is located about 100 miles north of Sacramento. The project incorporates parts of neighboring Glenn, Tehama and Colusa counties. The hub of the project, the town of Orland, is in northern Glenn County.

One of the smallest projects ever tackled by Reclamation, the project irrigates 1 percent of the Sacramento Valley’s total irrigable soil, 20,000 acres. The project, one of the oldest federal reclamation projects in the country and one of the first undertaken in California, was authorized by the Secretary of the Interior in October 1907 after a finding of feasibility by a board of engineers.

Water was delivered to the first farm units at the beginning of the 1910 growing season. The project is irrigated by Stony Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River. Flowing northward, the creek gathers water drained from the surrounding slopes of the Coast Range Mountains. The collected water irrigates lands on both sides of the creek near the town of Orland.

The Orland Project comprises two main dams to store water, East Park and Stony Gorge, two diversion dams, almost 17 miles of canals, and 139 miles of laterals. Orland has some of the best conditions for agriculture. The growing season lingers over 262 days from March to November. The project’s soil is considered some of the richest and most productive in the nation. Orland, and the Sacramento Valley, is warmed by a thermal belt, with very few frosts. Average rainfall is 17.99 inches, most of which is measured between the first of November and the first of April. With hardly any snow, winter runoff occurs almost immediately after precipitation. The project has an average annual runoff of 410,000 acre feet.

[Description from usbr.gov]

[f1]

Saudi motorsport chief keen to attract F1 teams to Saudi Arabia | RaceFans Round-up

In the round-up: The president of Saudi Arabia’s Automobile and Motorcycle Federation says he is keen to see Formula 1 teams eventually move to the kingdom In brief Saudi motorsport chief keen to attract F1 teams to Saudi Arabia The president of Saudi Arabia’s Automobile and Motorcycle Federation says he is keen to see Formula 1 teams eventually move to the kingdom. Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Al Faisal, president of SAMF said the Saudi government was keen to “create a hub” for motorsport in the nation over the coming decades. Asked by Motor Sport if he envisioned an F1 team possibly moving its base to the nation, Prince Khalid said “this is what we are hoping for and this is what we are working for. Hopefully we can bring one of the big manufacturers. “We have a 20-year programme that hopefully will launch at the end of 2023, early 2024. Our aim is not just to host international events, we want to be involved more. We want to have engineers, we want to have mechanics, we want to build cars, we want to be creative. “We really want to have a champion, a driver that can compete in the championship for Formula 1, who can compete in MotoGP. We are investing a lot in infrastructures, in building tracks in Saudi Arabia. We want to build academies so we can be more involved – Saudi teams with Saudi drivers or other drivers to race in Saudi teams. It’s still a long way ahead but hopefully by 2030, 2035, 2040 we can achieve our goals.” Australian GP qualifying moved earlier to avoid glare Outgoing Australian Grand Prix CEO Andrew Westacott says moving the start time of the qualifying session at the Albert Park circuit to an hour earlier was prompted by a request from the FIA. Since moving to a ‘twilight’ race time of 5pm in 2009, qualifying for the race in Melbourne has also been held at 5pm on Saturday. However this season, qualifying will instead begin at 4pm. Westacott told the Herald Sun the governing body informed organisers they wanted the session moved earlier. “The reason is because there has been some glare issues during qualifying,” Westacott explained. “And so feedback via the FIA was that they wanted to make it earlier. We are finalising that at the moment but it’s likely to be earlier just to make sure there is ideal lighting from the sun as opposed to it being too low in the western sky.” Pre-season IndyCar test set for Thermal Club An open IndyCar test involving all full-time drivers has been set for Thursday 2nd and Friday 3rd of February at the Thermal Club in California. The resort will host the test around a combination of the venue’s North and South Palm configurations. All drivers set to compete across the IndyCar season are expected to participate across the two-day test. Earlier this week, Robert Shwartzmann was fastest in a private test for four drivers at Sebring. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free Happy birthday! Happy birthday to Raginginferno, Akshay.It and Mole! On this day in motorsport via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

[murderousink23]

07/24/2023 is International Self Care Day 🌏, Florists' Day 💐🇷🇺, National Cousins Day 🇺🇲, National Drive-Thru Day 🍔🍟🥤🇺🇲, National Tequila Day 🍹🇺🇲, National Thermal Engineering Day 🇺🇲

[douxlen]

Ukraine’s Energy Sector Faces Its Biggest Crisis Yet

New Post has been published on https://douxle.com/2024/08/14/ukraines-energy-sector-faces-its-biggest-crisis-yet/

Ukraine’s Energy Sector Faces Its Biggest Crisis Yet

As part of its hybrid war strategy, Russia has been targeting Ukrainian grain silos, schools, hospitals, power plants, and more for two and a half years. Given the Kremlin’s failure to overrun Ukraine militarily, it has increasingly turned instead to making the country uninhabitable. This strategy isn’t new. But 2024 has seen wave after wave of basic infrastructure hit with previously unknown accuracy and ferocity. The biggest target is now the country’s power sector, and specifically, its ability to generate electricity.

Between 2022 and 2024, Russia targeted approximately 50% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, including forcing the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power plant offline with repeated strikes, and the bombing of the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Dam. Transmission lines and electrical substations were also often hit. But Ukrainian engineering and power line teams had proved extremely diligent, fast, and adept at repairing them. Difficulty in procuring replacement autotransformers sometimes extended blackouts, but Ukraine bounced back relatively quickly and survived both winter 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. This time is different. 

Some 60% of Ukraine’s power generation has been knocked out, as Russian precision bombs, drone strikes, and rocket attacks increasingly home in on power plants and energy infrastructure. The country is now suffering the worst rolling blackouts since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine’s ability to regenerate and rebuild has now been overwhelmed, at least for the immediate future. Over 9 gigawatts of power generation alone has been taken out just since March. More hydroelectric plants have been destroyed, including the Dnipro station, the largest that was still working. Solar power facilities, too. Every single one of the thermal—coal and natural gas burning—plants has been hit, and of the original 13 no more than two are still operational. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private power company, has lost 90% of its generation capacity. The current national power deficit is approximately 35%.

Four months of brutal strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have done so much damage that even in Kyiv there are only 10 hours of electricity per day—and just four for some other cities. It will take years to rebuild. Come winter, this situation will get much worse. DTEK executives estimate that winter blackouts could reach 20 hours per day. And several of the power plants that have been destroyed were combined electricity and heating facilities, so it will not only be dark but also very cold in the middle of Ukraine’s famously harsh winters. People will almost certainly die from cold, or lack of access to care.

There are numerous proposals and ideas about how to help Ukraine survive this winter. Ukrenergo, the national electricity grid company, is working in both the public and private sectors to get new generation and storage capacity online, with a strong priority of developing distributed power instead of centralized facilities. Ukraine is already importing electricity from Poland and other neighboring countries, but imports cannot make up enough of the difference and are expensive. Rebuilding thermal power plants makes little sense in the long run, both because of Ukraine’s climate change commitments and because gas and coal have become scarcer under Russian sanctions, so renewables are the focus in the near future and nuclear power in the long term. Immediately, private generators are humming all over the country, for those who can afford the units and the diesel to keep them running.

While these possible solutions are gradually taking shape, Ukraine exists in a partial darkness and state of dysfunction that is gradually undermining its stamina. People’s ability to work, to bank, to get medical treatment, to use their phones or internet, and so on, has been hammered by the lack of power. Schools cannot operate normally. Nor can businesses. This in turn means less money for individuals, and also less tax revenues with which to pay for the government and the war effort. And many may finally make the difficult decision to leave their country because life, already no walk in the park, has become even more difficult.

But this bleakness does not mean Ukraine’s supporters should count it out. Nor should they stop supporting Kyiv, even as global attention has shifted to Israel’s expanding war and the U.S. presidential election. Friendly countries are still looking for much-needed power grid replacement parts to ship to Ukraine. Each shipment of new military support, now including F-16 fighter jets, helps Ukraine survive. Giving Ukraine air defense systems or allowing Kyiv to take offensive measures against Russia could mean a more decisive defense posture. At the very least, the West should help Ukraine win enough of its country back to strengthen its negotiating position against Russia should real peace talks ever take place.

While Ukraine waits for more help to arrive, perhaps its most important defense against Russia is that its people somehow remain optimistic. Despite the brutality of war, and facing the looming doom of winter with major electricity shortages, only 44% of citizens want to negotiate with Russia. As many as 88% believe Ukraine will still win the war and 80% consider the country’s future to be promising. Their optimism should not make Ukraine’s backers complacent. As many Ukrainians are quick to explain, they are a resilient people. They have to be.

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

Cousins Day & National Drive-Thru Day & National Thermal Engineer Day & Pioneer Day

Person A and Person B are two dragons of the same bloodline and have an intense rivalry, but when both decide to retire at the same time, they both make it a goal to compete over who can be more successful in their civilian lives. Person A uses their dragon fire to become a famous chef, creating recipes that require dragon flame specifically to bring out a unique flavor and eventually starts up their own restaurant chain where each location gets a piece of their flame to cook the food with, to give it that special touch. Person B decides to go into engineering, using their easy access to dragon fire to use it in their thermal engineering work and advance their field.

[brookston]

Holidays 7.24

Holidays

Amelia Earhart Day

Asarnha Bucha Day (Thailand)

Body Painting Day

Boycott SeaWorld Day

Carnival of Awussu (Tunisia)

Children’s Day (Vanuatu)

Cousins Day

Drive-Thru Day

Feast of the Trickster of Liberty

Fellowship of the Ring Day

Guayaquil Day (Ecuador)

Horsetail Day (French Republic)

International FemDom Day

International Save the Vaquita Day

International Security Officers Day

International Self-Care Day

Life Peerage Day (UK)

Midsummer Day (Denmark)

National Day of Motoring

National Drive-Thru Day

National Kebab Day

National Madison Day

National Private Investigator Day

National Seasonal Affective Disorder Awareness Day (UK)

National Thermal Engineer Day

National Water Gun Fight Day

National YOLO Day (Indonesia)

Navy Day (Venezuela)

Pioneer Day (Utah)

Police Day (Poland)

Pop A Wheelie Day

Public Opinion Day

Puzzle Day

Resident Evil Day

Samaritans’ National Awareness Day (UK)

724 Day (Pennsylvania)

Simón Bolívar Day (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador)

Tell an Old Joke Day

Tenjin Matsuri (Japan)

Treaty of Lausanne Anniversary Day

Virtual Love Day

World BDSM Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Instant Coffee Day

National Drink Watermelon Day

National Frozen Margarita Day

National Tequila Day

Pie 'n' Beer Day

Independence & Related Days

Restoration of Democracy Day (Greece)

Tennessee (Readmitted to Union; 1866)

4th Wednesday in July

Bubble Tea Day [3rd Wednesday]

Cat Yoga Day [3rd Wednesday]

Festivals Beginning July 24, 2024

Cinehill Motovun Film Festival (Gorski Kotar, Croatia) [thru 7.28]

Days of '47 Parade (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Gage County Fair (Beatrice, Nebraska) [thru 7.28]

Hood River County Fair (Odell, Oregon) [thru 7.27]

Kotka Maritime Festival (Kotka, Finland) [thru 7.27]

NYC Restaurant Week (New York, New York) [thru 8.20]

Ohio State Fair (Columbus, Ohio) [thru 8.4]

Tenjin Matsuri (Osaka, Japan) [thru 7.25]

Tolminator (Tolmin, Slovenia) [thru 7.28]

Feast Days

Alexandre Dumas (Writerism)

Alex Katz (Artology)

Alphonse Mucha (Artology)

Asalha Puja Day (Buddhism)

Banana Yoshimoto (Writerism)

Boris and Gleb (Christian; Martyrs)

Charbel (Maronite Church/Catholic Church)

Christina the Astonishing (Christian; Saint)

Christina of Bolsena (Christian; Saint & Virgin)

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Pioneer Day

Cunegundes of Poland (a.k.a. Kings; Christian; Saint)

Day of Bast (Pagan)

Day of Mourning (Orthodox)

Declán of Ardmore (Christian; Saint)

Eugene J. Martin (Artology)

Expensive Hugs Day (Pastafarian)

Feast Day of Vatiaz (Mongolia; Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Francis Solano (Christian; Saint)

Jakaba Diena (Ancient Latvian Hay Harvest Festival)

Jilwalla Jinks’ Jamboree (Shamanism)

John Boste (Christian; Saint)

Kinga (a.k.a. Cunegunda) of Poland (Christian; Saint)

Lewine of Britain (Christian; Saint)

Lord Dunsany (Writerism)

Lupus, Bishop of Troyes (Christian; Saint)

Martyrs of Daimiel (Christian; Saint)

Mel Ramos (Artology)

Menefrida of Cornwall (Christian; Saint)

Michaelangelo (Positivist; Saint)

Mourning Day (Greek Orthodox)

The Old Mothering (Celtic Book of Days)

Pat Oliphant (Artology)

Piganini (Muppetism)

Romanus and David of Muscovy (Christian; Martyrs)

Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day (St. John the Baptist Day; Quebec)

Sigolena of Albi (Christian; Saint)

Sylvester Graham Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Tequila Day (Pastafarian)

Vladimir Borovikovsky (Artology)

Wulfhad and Ruffin (Christian; Martyrs)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

Baby Wants a Battle (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1953)

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (Film; 1947)

Begin the Beguine, recorded by Artie Shaw (Song; 1938)

Bewitched Bunny (WB LT Cartoon; 1954)

The Black Cauldron (Disney Animated Film; 1985)

Blow Out (Film; 1981)

Corn on the Cop (WB MM Cartoon; 1965)

Cupid Gets His Man (Rainbow Parade Cartoon; 1936)

Donald’s Gold Mine (Disney Cartoon; 1942)

Existentialism is a Humanism, by Jean-Paul Sartre (Philosophy Book; 1946)

Eye of the Needle (Film; 1981)

Folklore, by Taylor Swift (Album; 2020)

Franken-Stymied (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1961)

Friedenstag (Day of Peace), by Richard Strauss (Opera; 1938)

G-Force (Film; 2009)

High Noon (Film; 1952)

How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You, recorded by Marvin Gaye (Song; 1964)

Jungle Jitters (Ub Iwerks MGM Cartoon; 1934)

La Bamba (Film; 1987)

La Feet’s Defeat (The Inspector Cartoon; 1968)

Le Ball and Chain Gang (The Inspector Cartoon; 1968)

Let’s Get Movin’ (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1936)

The Masks of God, Vol. 1: Primitive Mythology, by Joseph Campbell (Science Book; 1959)

A Maze of Death, by Philip K. Dick (Novel; 1970)

Olivia, by Dorothy Strachey (Novel; 1949)

Paper Towns (Film; 2015)

Pixels (Film; 2015)

Porky’s Bedtime Story (WB LT Cartoon; 1937)

Puddy Pup and the Gypsies (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1936)

Saving Private Ryan (Film; 1998)

Sherlock (BBC TV Series; 2010)

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Film; 1978)

Spring is Here, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1932)

Summer School (Film; 1987)

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (Film; 1987)

A Time to Kill (Film; 1996)

Tire Trouble (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1942)

Today’s Name Days

Christoph, Christophorus (Austria)

Boris, Kristina, Ljudevit, Mirjana, Sarbelije (Croatia)

Kristýna (Czech Republic)

Christina (Denmark)

Kersti, Kerstin, Kirsti, Krista, Kristel, Kristi, Kristiina, Kristin, Kristina, Rista, Riste (Estonia)

Kiia, Kirsi, Kirsti, Krista, Kristiina, Tiina, Tinja (Finland)

Christine, Ségolène (France)

Christine, Christoph (Germany)

Christina (Greece)

Kincső, Kinga (Hungary)

Cristina (Italy)

Krista, Kristiāna, Kristīne, Krists (Latvia)

Dargvilas, Dargvilė, Kristina, Kristoforas (Lithuania)

Kristi, Kristin, Kristine (Norway)

Antoni, Kinga, Krystyna, Kunegunda, Olga, Wojciecha (Poland)

Elena, Olga (Russia)

Vladimír (Slovakia)

Cristina (Spain)

Kerstin, Kristina (Sweden)

Christine (Ukraine)

Chrissie, Chrissy, Christabel, Christelle, Christene, Christi, Christie, Christine, Christy, Cis, Cissy, Declan, Kirsti, Kirstie, Kirstin, Kirsty, Kristel, Kristie, Kristine (Universal)

Amalia, Amelia, Boris, Chris, Christa, Christen, Christian, Christina, Christine, Christy, Cristina, Cristian, Declan, Kiersten, Kirsten, Krista, Kristian, Kristen, Kristi, Kris (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 206 of 2024; 160 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 3 of Week 30 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Tinne (Holly) [Day 18 of 28]

Chinese: Month 6 (Xin-Wei), Day 19 (Ji-Chou)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 18 Tammuz 5784

Islamic: 17 Muharram 1446

J Cal: 26 Red; Fryday [26 of 30]

Julian: 11 July 2024

Moon: 87%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 9 Dante (8th Month) [Michaelangelo]

Runic Half Month: Thorn (Defense) [Day 1 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 35 of 94)

Week: 4th Week of July

Zodiac: Leo (Day 3 of 31)

Calendar Changes

Thorn (Defense) [Half-Month 14 of 24; Runic Half-Months] (thru 8.7)