Castle review thread.

[Smitty-48]

Top that, muthahfuckah

I've never been much of a one for 5 star pampering. My kinda holiday is more wandering around a country with a backpack looking at old shit.
I wouldn't turn it down as a freebie, obviously, but I'd never spend that much money on it.

It wasn't for me, it was for my wife

She's a five star wife, she deserved the full mission profile

JRJ came through for me, I'm pretty sure

Everything fell into place, all at the exact right time

This is like the bathroom she got herself all dolled up in, on our wedding night

https://www.tripadvisor.com/LocationPho ... uebec.html

I wanted it to be classy for her, she didn't want a mafia princess wedding in a church

But she's still a princess, she's just shy

[Montegriffo]

My best ever trip aboard was to Egypt and I did that on my own. No constraints, go where I wanted when I wanted.
It wasn't really like that though as I met a lot of fellow backpackers along the way and tagged along with other peoples plans sometimes.
It was the ultimate in looking at old shit. Long before the rise of The Muslim Brotherhood. Friendly faces wherever you went.
I don't think I'd want to do it again. Their tourism has shrunk to about 10% of what it was and the atmosphere would be very different.

[Smitty-48]

My best ever trip aboard was to Egypt and I did that on my own. No constraints, go where I wanted when I wanted.
It wasn't really like that though as I met a lot of fellow backpackers along the way and tagged along with other peoples plans sometimes.
It was the ultimate in looking at old shit. Long before the rise of The Muslim Brotherhood. Friendly faces wherever you went.
I don't think I'd want to do it again. Their tourism has shrunk to about 10% of what it was and the atmosphere would be very different.

I don't think you need kids, but life is sweeter when you're living it for someone else

It's like the Mrs jet sets around the world on business, she sees all the sights in Europe particularly

But she's says it's no fun without me there, so mostly she just hangs out in the hotel and texts me

I send her naughty texts, then we have phone sex

[SuburbanFarmer]

Fire at Nantes cathedral.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ars ... ral-france

[C-Mag]

Carpenters wow public with medieval techniques at Notre Dame

It also showed that the decision to replicate the cathedral in its original form was the right one, said Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, who heads the cathedral’s reconstruction.

“It shows … firstly that we made the right choice in choosing to rebuild the carpentry identically, in oak from France,” Georgelin said in an interview. “Secondly, it shows us the … method by which we will rebuild the framework, truss after truss.”

A debate over whether the new spire should have a futuristic design or whether the trusses should be made of fireproof cement like in the Cathedral of Nantes, which was destroyed in a 1972 fire, ended with the decision in July to respect Notre Dame’s original design and materials.
https://www.660citynews.com/2020/09/19/ ... otre-dame/

I'm happy that they are going with traditional materials.
A couple videos on the roof system and techniques to rebuild it.


The Demonstration


A news piece

[Montegriffo]

Gaia sighs as 1300 mature oaks are felled in their prime...

[Hastur]

Wooden rafters are captured carbon. Cement production is a huge CO2 emitter.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46455844

[Montegriffo]

Once you cut down a mighty oak it stops trapping carbon.
Each mature oak can contain up to 300 species of creatures.
It's criminal to cut one down never mind 1300 of them.

[C-Mag]

Yanks lend a helping hand rebuilding Notre Dame
https://www.curbed.com/2021/08/notre-da ... s-usa.html

“I started getting calls as soon as the fire was put out,” said Rick Brown, standing on the lawn at Catholic University the other day. Brown and his wife, Laura, are the co-founders of Handshouse Studio in the USA, an educational non profit organisation that replicates large historical objects using the precise techniques with which they were built.

In 2011, he led a trip to Poland to rebuild by hand the Gwoździec synagogue, raised in the 17th century and then razed by the Nazis. This time, the calls were about a much bigger house of worship: the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris.

[C-Mag]

Notre-Dame De Paris Progress Report

Renovation of two of Notre-Dame Cathedral’s chapels, the Saint Ferdinand and Notre-Dame de Guadalupe chapels, is now complete. These chapels served as test worksites for the methods that will be used to clean and restore the rest of the cathedral.

Fortunately, the twenty-four chapels along the nave and choir were not damaged during the 2019 fire, but they are now covered under a layer of lead dust and require cleaning. The work on the Saint Ferdinand and Notre-Dame de Guadalupe chapels began in September 2020 and finished earlier this year. These two test worksites are important because they help determine the protocols for cleaning the paintings, stonework, and stained-glass windows.

The process of cleaning the chapels was incredibly meticulous. Restorers used a laser to clean the seals between stones; then they set a gel to absorb dirt, removing it with a paper towel. This process is the safest to reveal the original colors and materials of the chapels. The results of the restoration work are extremely encouraging and are a good starting point to renovate the Cathedral’s remaining 22 chapels. This work will likely begin after the rebuilding of the rib vaults, roof, and spire is complete.

Removing decades worth of dirt and the lead soot from the fire revealed the beautiful and vibrant interior décor of the chapels. The Saint Ferdinand Chapel is adorned with painted plaster and wonderful polychrome, while the Notre-Dame de Guadalupe Chapel is bejeweled with amazing exposed stones and fleur-de-lys painted on the ribs of the vaults.

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2021/08/2 ... ss-report/