Wombat Scale
Tonje Bernardin
The first ever iteration of a wide-scale targeting exercise was recently conducted at the 363d Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Wing at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va. Exercise STOIC WOMBAT, which took place June 13-16, 2022, challenged the 363d ISR Group and its Total Force partners with delivering all-domain, kinetic and non-kinetic targeting solutions to an air component commander at a speed and scale commensurate with future conflict. Over the course of 4-days, 150 analysts across 13 geographically-separated Active Duty, Reserve, and National Guard squadrons tested 363 ISRG Targeting Enterprise wartime capabilities for command and control, target system predictive analysis, and dynamic targeting. (Courtesy graphic)
The package is inspired by, and built on, several key libraries for large-scale data processing, such as Dask, Geopandas, Pandas, Rasterio, and Xarray. GeoWombat interfaces directly with Xarray for raster I/O, which uses Rasterio to open raster files such as satellite images or aerial photos as Dask arrays. GeoWombat uses the Xarray register to extend the functionality of Xarray DataArrays.
One of the key features of GeoWombat is the on-the-fly handling of multiple files. In particular, GeoWombat leverages Rasterio to transform and align rasters with varying projections and spatial resolutions. In addition to simplifying the process of data alignment, GeoWombat utilizes the task graphs of Dask arrays. By default, GeoWombat loads a raster as a DataArray, which points to the raster data on file using a chunked Dask array. This task graph feature simplifies parallel computations of one or more raster files of any size.
Not to state the obvious, but Dingwall (and others with fanned frets) are trying to achieve exactly that - a longer scale length for the lower strings and a shorter scale length for the higher strings - all on the same neck
Cons
The issue fanning frets would be the upper end where playing chords can be a bit cramp. Also if not done right in this case Ibanez, playing a low C or F can be annoying or even painful because if the nut is not properly design to avoid finger rubbing then your index finger fires and second inside knuckle would rub the sharp top of the nut.
Unless you are going for the certain aesthetic the cheaper of the 2 models is a good buy. I was going for the silver/grey one of the 6 string but in the middle of covid that model has not been out yet and it was a few more months wait and my GC rep gave me a good deal on this one. I may try to custom make the nut myself to solve the problems.
Winners of 2019 Ig Nobel Physics Prize showed up to accept the prize, dressed as a wombat, or as pieces of wombat feces (they received the prize for researching and publishing, How Do Wombats Make Cubed Poo?). You might have seen them onstage dressed this way in the ceremony video.
I've been teaching private guitar lessons for the last year, and while I make a point of tailoring lesson plans to each individual student, I'm always looking for great resources with broad applications. For beginners, the Hal Leonard Guitar Method is an effective starter series. For intermediates, 101 Guitar Tips is rich with invaluable advice. For jazz players, The Real Book is a must-have.
There are plenty of other books which I own, recommend, and use for teaching as well as my own development, but it's often helpful to have a big full-page printout of a single concept I'm trying to convey. I used to make some myself until I found Teach Wombat. The owner, Rob Hylton, sent me a sample of the massive collection of guitar, bass, and general teaching materials available for sale on the site. I now use them regularly in my teaching to supplement whatever primary material a student is using.
For example, take a look at this free PDF offered on the site: First Guitar Chords. It seems simple enough; it's just the five open major chords and three open minor chords that are fundamental to every guitarist's skill set. But it's rare to see them so clearly defined, together on a single page, formatted to be as large as possible. The Hal Leonard method introduces them one by one, over the first 60 pages. That's a great way to start, but having this Wombat printout handy helps the student maintain this knowledge.
My other favorites include several types of blank staff/tab paper and chord grids, blank full neck diagrams, barre chord shapes, power chord shapes, and scale shapes. If you're a fellow guitar or bass instructor, take a look around Teach Wombat, take advantage of the handful of free PDFs like the one above, and preview all the other resources Rob has to offer.
I have looked to see if there are any MOCs of a 1:110-scale Millennium Falcon, at the same scale as the LEGO Ideas Saturn V. I am wondering if anyone could design and build a MOC of this. I would do it myself, but I do not have the skill to do it.
You're in luck! @simplethinker's Millennium Falcon is EXACTLY 1:110 at 39 studs. Top view from his Flickr below, but he has an abundance of other photos too. Pretty sure he has instructions for this.
This review provides an update on what is currently known about wombat reproductive biology and reports on attempts made to manipulate and/or enhance wombat reproduction as part of the development of artificial reproductive technology (ART) in this taxon. Over the last decade, the logistical difficulties associated with monitoring a nocturnal and semi-fossorial species have largely been overcome, enabling new features of wombat physiology and behaviour to be elucidated. Despite this progress, captive propagation rates are still poor and there are areas of wombat reproductive biology that still require attention, e.g. further characterisation of the oestrous cycle and oestrus. Numerous advances in the use of ART have also been recently developed in the Vombatidae but despite this research, practical methods of manipulating wombat reproduction for the purposes of obtaining research material or for artificial breeding are not yet available. Improvement of the propagation, genetic diversity and management of wombat populations requires a thorough understanding of Vombatidae reproduction. While semen collection and cryopreservation in wombats is fairly straightforward there is currently an inability to detect, induce or synchronise oestrus/ovulation and this is an impeding progress in the development of artificial insemination in this taxon.
Wombat nocturnalism, fossorialism, difficulties of field capture (for repeated sampling) and reticence to breed in captivity have hindered the study of reproductive biology in this taxon. Nevertheless, since 2002, significant advances have been made in characterising the oestrous cycle (West et al. 2004, Finlayson et al. 2006, Hogan et al. 2010b) and in understanding male seasonality and fertility (Hamilton et al. 2000, Taggart et al. 2005, Hogan et al. 2010a). While studies into the preservation of spermatozoa (Taggart et al. 1998, 2005, MacCallum & Johnston 2005) and manipulation/control of the oestrous cycle (West 2002, Druery et al. 2007, Finlayson et al. 2007b) have been attempted, there are still many aspects of wombat reproduction that require further characterisation. The aim of this review is to provide an update on the current knowledge of wombat reproductive biology (highlighting species differences) and to identify where additional research is required in terms of developing reliable artificial breeding technology. Given that there is very limited information on NHNW reproduction, this review will primarily focus on the CW and SHNW.
There is currently little information on the gross anatomy and no information on the micro-anatomy of the wombat epididymis. The gross anatomy of the CW epididymis has been described by MacKenzie & Owen (1919) and MacCallum (2004), but there is only one observation for the SHNW (Brooks et al. 1978). All three studies reported that the cauda epididymis was enclosed within a separate pocket of the tunica vaginalis but no functional significance for this structure has been provided. Wombat spermatozoa are immature when they enter the head of the epididymis and are characterised by the head being only slightly recurved or of an irregular spiral configuration (Brooks et al. 1978); during epididymal maturation there is a marked increase in the recurvature of the sperm head, condensation of the accessory cytoplasmic droplet within the hook of the sperm head and rotation of the long axis of the head parallel to that of the flagellum (Hughes 1965). During epididymal transit, wombat spermatozoa show no structural changes to their plasma membrane or cytoskeleton in the mid-piece region; this is in contrast to other marsupial spermatozoa, including to a limited degree the koala (Harding et al. 1979, Harding & Aplin 1990, Temple-Smith 1994).
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