A flying December

Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine invented in the 15th century was designed to be controlled by a man lying horizontally and uses his arms and legs to move the wings. Originally inspired by watching birds in flight flapping their wings and movement in the air. the concept uses the wing motion as a means of propulsion.

A conversion using rotary motion from previous Leonardo inventions enables this to move. Although it doesn't actually fly, the self powering clockwork has been added to make it move, once wound up and the ratchet spring released the wings move up and down in a flapping motion. the final fished model size is 250mm x 150mm. Not difficult to build and I was happy with the result and am continually in awe of da Vinci's inventive ability and curious mind.

Working on stocking up on drawing and art supplies down at Eckersley's Windsor & Newton drawing inks at around $14 (14ml) to $28 (30ml) not cheap, thankfully I used some birthday money to put towards a collection of inks.

I borrowed a Fuji X-Pro 2 with a 56mm f1.2 and a 27mm f2.8 to play around with over Christmas. so I'm pretty excited to begin taking it out for a test run.

Star Wars : The Last Jedi how disappointing, devoid of any imagination what so ever. Poor casting, poor dialogue and enough errors to drive a truck through and pointless plot lines. It's become low brow sci fi and is trying to cater for ages that is ends up damaging its own brand. Dr Who is infinitely more inventive, witty and imaginative. How is so much money spent on this this and getting it so wrong. Where were the new sounds, alien landscapes, aliens, scary monsters, dramatic fight scenes and characters you felt something for. I could go on for pages here on all the errors but I won't.... here are 4 when the empire is firing on the cruiser the shots arc, curve, their is no gravity or atmosphere in space, the shots go straight. When the Rebel ship runs out of fuel is does not tumble in freefall, it continues in a straight line as once again there is no gravity or atmosphere. Rebel ships when bombing the dreadnaught the bombs don't drop down, as there is no, you guessed it gravity or atmosphere....... arrrrrrrrh....ironing imperial uniforms surely in the future they have transcended the iron..........really.

Reading : How to be Human : The Ultimate guide to your Amazing Existence by New Scientist

Watching : The Ashes, Cricket and Star Wars : The Last Jedi.

Listening : Beethoven symphonies in even numbers

Eating : Lentils, anchovies in salads & Jarlesberg cheese.