117B CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

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 PEACE ON EARTH

Not from the Americans (USA). We’ve been at war for the last 80 years. It’s good for our economy. (The Phillipines, Puorto Rico, The 3^rd Reich, The Russian Communists, The Jihadists, etc.) Not possible when we budget 60%  for the Military. 

JOY TO THE WORLD

This can’t come from us.  We didn’t learn much from the Vietnam War, did we?, since we are duplicating that in Iraq and Afganistan’.

GOODWILL TOWARDS ALL MEN

Even to people who are not Christians? to Islamists?, Towards Jews?

We are still fighting the eleventh century war with the Mohammidans., but not really knowing why.

If we obeyed the above slogans, we would have to outlaw all religions.  Can’t we use these slogans at other times of the year other than our celebration during Christmas?

 Are we still making H bombs?

Lamont

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AN ARCHITECT SHOULD KNOW HIS STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

  My development of the modular system “ CONCEPT ENVIRONMENT’in the early 1960’s was gaining an understanding of a particular type of  truss system which was paramount in my modular system..

 

   RE-INVENTING THE ROOF TRUSS                  

My initial use of the truss system was for a motivated salesman for a large structural truss manufacturer. When we began drawings for the Lyster House on Diamond Street in Laguna Beach in 1960, We utilized what is called an attic Truss, A large truss that had a large enough area in the middle for a small room which was the bedroom. This was a large triangular truss that incorporated the entire roof of the house The owner, Tom, Wanted to preserve the old 20’s garden which runs thru with a small   stream. He also wanted a spec house on the site (which resulted in a bridge house,) which spanned the site and initiated the Truss house design, as we realized one could walk thru the truss openings if they were tall enough. I chose the Warren Type of truss as it had the fewer upright members.

   We wanted to do another spec home so I revised my plan and used the Warren Truss, 10 foot high, But combined it with a Vereendal Truss, which substitutes diagonal members with moment connections at all points. Since the diagonal loads are smallest at the center of the span, I substituted the Vereendal. Truss instead.  This avoided any door that was  needed on the center span.. But With 4 trusses I could span a parking area below , with only 6 points for bearing all loads with a 20’ cantilever on each end. This opened up a lot of possibilities for steep lots.

wood mosaic picture

ART DECO IN PARIS

  We had discovered the Bar at Hotel Lenox on the Rive Gauche (left Bank) which was a true mind bender as there were a few wall murals made of different woods of Satchmo (Louis Armstrong) larger than life,  , plus a Jazzquartet and then a large picture of a flapper framed behind the Main Desk (See right). There must be at least 20 types of hardwoods used on the work. Where did the craftsman find a white wood for Satchmo’s hanky?   But all the furniture and lights were in an Art Deco motive and  all done in excellent taste.  Not only that, but it was one of the few places in the early days  (1980’s) where you could be assured of an American Cocktail well made.  Harry’s bar was on the Rive Droit, near the Opera. I have an agent living in Paris who is responsible to investigate
purchase of the Hotel by a hotel line called KULT. I cannot believe anyone would destroy a Wood Mural work of that magnitude so keep tuned  and I’ll let you know if MJ is successful in her search for truth among the denisons of the Rive Gauche.

 

                                           The  Left Bank

MAP OF RIVE GAUCHE

  We always stay on the Left Bank of Paris so it was de rigueur for me to make my own map to remember where the boulangerie was. Each time we’re there I add a couple of places, like the market street where cars are not allowed. (Rue Cler).

  Our favorite sidewalk café id Le Fregate, which has an interesting history. The owner, a friend of alexander Dumas ( of Count of Monte Christo fame), Owned the building and it is a prime location      being on the end of the Pont Royal Bridge and looking across the river at the end of the Louvre building. Dumas convinced him that it would be a good spot for a Café.

BOOK REVIEW

 Tim Snyder – Gives us 20 LESSONS FROM THE THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

   This small book contains  bold connections between past and present.

“The Founding fathers tried to protect us from the threats they knew , the tyranny that ovecame ancient democracy, today our political order faces new threats, not unlike the totalitarianism of the twentieth century. We are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience.”

UTOPIAS

  I Can’t find  my book of history of most authors of Utopias, But I’m still trying to find someone who had the right idea.  I’ve looked again at Platos’ ‘Republic’, Found Sir Thomas Moore (1550), 1984 of George Orwell , even discovered H.G. Wellls got into the act.  I guess I’m not the first one to try and organize the perfect world. It is rather ubsettling to find most of these were based on a communist format but run by wonderful people.I’ll let you know when I find out more.

JUST FOR FUN

  If you’re a gourmet you might like a You Tube Video called ‘Le Petit Chef (by Skull Mapping).

You’ll find a tiny chef pulling food out of the table to cook on the Barbie, etc.

JUST FOR NO FUN

  You might see how far the international consortium has come building the largest  moveable object on Earth, The Chernoble Containment Arch, to last 100  years, is nearing completion afterabout 12 years.

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Bir Hakiem

          Paris Metro  -  You will find that several Metro and train stations are named for famous battles (Won !) such as Waterloo in London, Austerlitz and Bir Hakeim in Paris.  We’ve all heard about Waterloo (Brits/Germans won that one), Austerlitz (Napoleon won that), but Bir Hakeim was always a mystery  to me .  I researched a bit and found the battle was in North Africa in 1942  S-W of Tobruk. The French Foreign Legion (Le Legion Etrangier de France)  was holding the Old Ottoman Fortress ( meaning Old Man’s Well) and managed to hold it long enough to deter  the  Nazi from getting around it. It is one of a few Metro stations that are above ground, next to the Seine and also  a stop for the Tower Eiffel.

OFFENSIVE SPENDING

  We always claim it’s for defense but why have we gotten to be such Military/Industrial spenders, which seems to add up more than the next FIVE nations combined to an unbelievable 700 Billion a year?  They (We!) spent 6 billion recently just to find out how much money that the Pentagon needed to overspend  on items so drastically.  It seems that the Pentagon is “Too big to count”.  There seems no way for us to cut back on these items as both parties seem silent about each increase of billions every year. My miserable little theory is that there are too many people working in the Industry to cut it back any. How about Boeing,  General  Dynamics ?  And other industries like computers, etc. ? Just imagine how many workers would lose their jobs if we cut back on our military orders?

TRUMP WHO?

 I  try to stay aloof of politics but once in  while I just have to get my hands dirty and talk about it. I always wondered how someone like T. was so popular that he was elected by nearly a majority. I ran across a short article in the New Yorker that kind of threw some light on the great mystery. They claimed that his Television  stint elevated him to a position of competence that is not part of this real world. One of his contestants said of him “He is a poor persons idea of a rich person”.   Now I get it.

MEMORIAL DAY   

It’s more than a day off for Federal  Workers, it was supposed to reflect the death of many of our young people in the First War to End Wars.  John McCrae’s short poem regarding the loss is especially poignant in the last two stanza;

                ……………

                We are the dead, Short days ago

                We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

                Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold high,

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

                In Flanders fields.

I guess we didn’t take their advice?

WHAT DOES ONE TRILLION DOLLARS LOOK LIKE?

  See Link above on You Tube : What does one trillion dollars look like? We hear these numbers bandied around but have not a clue how much we are imagining.  It's about as big as a building, solid with 100 dollar bills, new.

WE GOT OUR NEW TELEPHONE BOOKS YESERDAY

 Just for fun I looked up Architects in Sonoma county and found about one half a page listed. Then for more fun I looked up attorrneys and found 17 pages for them.

PROECTING AGAINST WHO?

    We seem to be  i n  a big brau Hau right now regarding whether having a gun is all right as we may be called on to fight our own government for control. At least this was written into our constitution in 1770’s when most men and boys owned a gun at the time and they actually used it to defend against the British Forces.  When they drafted the Constitution  Little did they believe that in a few hundred years a weapon will be a much different machine that could shoot hundreds of rounds without loading until you had killed that many people in one fell swoop.   It didn’t matter whether these dead were friends or enemies or just innocent folks in the wrong place with the right Karma. They said nothing about hand grenades as they hadn’t been perfected at that time.  Also, maybe we have forgotten that in those days it took about three minutes for an expert to load and shoot someone .  It would have been easier and faster to use a big knife or sabre to even begin killing folks around you.  

2010; ODYSSEY TWO

  I just finished Arthur Clarks’ sequel to 2001, written about 1982 and was always hoping someone would do a movie of it as they could probably simulate the destruction of Jupiter nowadays.   We all would like to know what happened to Dave Bowman his transformation into “StarChild” and what ever happened to the black monoliths out in space?  Why would HAL, a stable intelligent computer, kill the crew?( By the way, HAL stands for Hueristic ALgorithmics).  And whatever happened to the Spaceship Discovery?   Clark does answer some of these questions, while making it all sound very logical and possible.  Written during the cold War, most of the crew is Russian. 

STUMBLES IN THE MARCH OF HISTORY

 While sporting a rather dumb title, but a cogent  illumination of some of the major  problems in world Governments and Private enterprise managed and some kind of solutions that was not what always was expected.   The book, STUMBLES IN THE MARCH OF HISTORY, Beginning in the year 500 years B.C. (Does that still mean Before Christ?), and ends with the WMDS that the Iraqis never had, It covers a lot of ground..       

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LATEST FASHIONS

It happens very subtly and we almost miss it but there are two fashions that I have noticed recently to have occured.  When all your superstars (Millionaires) start sporting beards , It almost drives me to shave again so I’ll look like a teenager again. (Pretty unlikely).  But we are still  hung up on clean faces in the Political arena, except for a bit part in a pretty good movie “Madam  Secretary”  where one of her aides has a partial beard but even better, one of her female (black) aids has a very weird haircut. If only that filters down to our real world (as some of the other ideas of the series), life  could improve a bit.

   The other fashion is have you ever noticed that women are mostly wearing tights  instead of skirts anymore. This harks back to early Science Fiction illustrations where all women wore tights (and were not fat) plus their ever-present belt containing their  daily dose of anti-pregnant pills. Well,

I missed the pill time as well as the AIDS epidemic, and am thankful for it all.

                                             

BLACK KNIGHT MOVIE

  Being of a curious temper, I rented “Black Knight” as it has gotten so many awards. Wow, was  I ever surprised! What an absurd scene. Have our adults retroed to child-hood?  This was worse than I imagined.  The only thing missing were the white guys.  Who rates all these, twelve year old kids?

MONEY VERSUS TASTE                                  

  There seems to be a close correlation between the two as the more money someone has, their taste for Design & aesthetics declines. Or is it just me?

IF YOU’R DESPERATE IN Paris and need a Hot Dog  fix, get to Harry’s Bar and ask for a “Chien Choud”

(Shen Showd) And you will get a close facsimely  of one.  I don’t know where they get them.

   It’s like Cocktails. The French do not like to cloud up their Cognac with sweet crap and make it look pretty. thirty years ago the only place you could get a cocktail in France was a  Harry’s and a really large Hotel, but now , the French are getting perverted and you’ll find them all over. Just don’t ask for a ‘Martini’ as you will be served a glass of Sweet Vermouth, Martini’s.

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     PHOTO OF SMART VILLE

MORE ON THE SMART CAR

   Before production began the Diamler AG folks designed and built the innovative production plant near the German Border near Hambach, France, now called SMARTVILLE.   The central portion is a cross consisting of the assembly lines on the ground level wirh the upper three stories for offices and Labs. Most of the components are produced , assembled and guanteed by a plethera of sub-contractors.

These companies have mostly built adjacent plants where they produce various components and actually install them on a timely basis due to their close proximetry.  A few of the subs are: De Dion Tube rear suspension (He invented the Rear end for cars in about 1895 for steam Tricycles.), Siemens produces the entire cockpit, cable trees and batteries. Krupp delivers the propulsion unit, Tire sets are by continental. They produce about 750 cars a day. ( Thru a company-owned railway station.)

   But you are probably more interested in the safety of such a small machine.   See below.

                                                                

Since there is virtually no room for a crumple Zone in the front the car , it has is built in a cage of steel. An American Test using a five star rating gave Smart a four-star rating,(Front Impact) while it got a five star rating for a side impact. The real test was getting approval for the Norwegian “Moose Test” wherever  the car has to avoid an object at a certain speed and not tip over. Smart had to do a re-design to pass that one.

  My old Citreon 2CV (Due-shay-voh) or two horses), was also a three cylinder power plant but it only produced about 13 HP at the time(1966). However,  the Smart has a beautiful bundle of giszmos that are in the back that produces 88 HP in some models.  The radiator is in the front of the car.  But it will get up to 96 mile per hour, fast enough for me.

WHEN YOU’R FEELING DOWN….                                               

I’ve just come across a musician who is a real inspiration for us when we are feeling sorry for ourselves or a bit down. He as a pianist/Arranger who plays AROUND MIDNIGHT in a manner that is better than Monk  himself. If that doesn’t get rid of your blues, listen to his version of TAKE THE ‘A’ TRAIN, played with his outstanding side-men. His name is Michel Petrucciani, see him on You Tube, performing “Round Midnight” & “Take the ‘a’ Train”.  This small miserable dwarf can barlely move about on his little dwarf crutches, yet has managed to excel at Jazz piano as well as arranging same.  If you find life a little too hard, just play his clip and you couldn’t possibly keep feeling sorry for yourself any longer. His transformation is close to miraculous.

QUEEN OF THE DESERT

Gertrude Bell, an early suffragette (She did not support the cause),  was an early supporter  of the Arab cause, one of the first mountain climbers (Europe),  and instrumental in the first days of Iraq when it was originated in about 1925 by the British and the French.  How she was on the scene at the right time is described in a well researched book by Georgina Howell , “Gertrude Bell, Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations.”  She had a brilliant mind, from a wealthy British family, fluent in French, German, Persian, Arabic and versed in others as required.  She had her own caravans and traveled the vast deserts to meet most of the important Sheiks and Sherifs that would come in handy when Iraq was being designed.

This was all done when women were not to be seen at anything important.

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AN ARCHITECT'S VIEW OF HIMSELF

THE PUBLIC'S VIEW OF ARCHITECTS

                                                

From my 'Manual of Practice'. 

MAKING FUN OF ARCHITECTS
                Once in a while someone comes up With an idea to make fun of Architects.

The above cartoons are a couple of my favorites, even if I used one of them. (Thanks to Frazetta).

ASK YOURSELF WHY WE USE TOOTHPASTE TO CLEAN OUR TEETH?

  Whatever happened,  it resulted in a multi-million dollar scheme.

SAINT WHO?                      

                Since it seems de regiuer to get drunk at the local pub every time ST. Patrick’s day comes around, I had to do a little research to find the person behind all this hubbub.   First of all, like Jesus, a lot of his story is a myth as he lived before there were journalists, sometime in the 400 AD.  According to the legend, Patrick was captured by Irish Pirates (weren’t they all?) from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland, looking after animals (sheep?).   After about six years he escaped and returned to his family in Britain.   Later on he became a clerk of some kind and returned to Ireland.  Somehow later on he became a Bishop in the Catholic church, but didn’t become popular until the 7^th century. 

  Patrick was actually a Christian missionary sent from France after studing .

  Don’t forget to get drunk on March 17^th !

WALK IN TUB?

  I have seen these adds for accessible tubs but only recently realized that you have to open the door, walk in, sit down and wait for the hot water to fill the tub. When finished, reverse the process by pulling the plug, let all the water out, then open the door and exit.  I hope there’s a catch on the latcht that precludes you from opening the tub when it is full of water!  I’m afraid to ask how much one coss.

THE ITALIAN BOOK ON MODERN DESIGN

  This wonderful little book ( about 6.5 inches square) is missing from my library. If there I is  anyone out there  who I loaned it to, would you let me know?  I also have one on German Design that I just finished reading again, and it reminded me about the Italian one.

EIFFEL TOWER  REVISITED                      

      REVISIONS TO THE TOWER

To get a better idea of how Gustave came up with the design , it is a fun exercise to take the different sections and give them a dimension .   I have cut up  photo of the tower to show how it would look given he was conracted to build in three different stages or heights.

WHO PUT AMERICA FIRST?

It was first used as a Republican Slogan about 1880.  An early president, Woodrow Wilson used it during World War One , not to reflect  isolationism but to reflect our nuetrality. The Klu Klux Klan claimed to have a copyright on the phrase  but  that was not true. (You mean they lied?)  What does it mean today, with our president trumpeting that we should be first? First in what? It originally meant to be a dream of individual wealth, justice and democracy for the nation. Well, that's all done.

                                                              

LUNCH UNDER LE DOME

  

WANT TO HAVE A GREAT LUNCH IN PARIS?

   I believe one of the finest rooms in Paris is the Barasserie  Printemps in the mens’ section of Le

Galleries Lafayette near the old Opera building.  The entire dining room is under a huge

magnificent glass Dome. If I remember, it was fairly economical (for Paris).or I wouldn't be there. 

COOKS TOURS

The first time we were in Paris we found we needed the Train schedules put out by Cooks Tours. We found a nearby Book-store   across from the Opera and asked for the book. Well, this is a high end bookstore and hey don’t sell rail schedules.   Ooooops!   I don’t know where we finally found one but it wasn’t at Brentanos.

  Cook’s usurped the market when trains became prevelant and even had spiffy Steam River boats up and down the Nile  in Egypt for the ultimate travelor.
  Cooks sold out in 2013 and it is now called 'Continrental travet guide, but I assume it is now on your iphone and always handy. We had to tear out the countries we were not visiting by train as the book was getting pretty bulky. and I traveled light. 

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Ciodad de Mexico at its' height

AZTECS

  Ever since my trip to the Yucatan area in the 60's I have been interested in Aztec & Inca civilizations. At some point I copied a rendition of the Aztec empire at its height  I supposed our Mexicans understand they are living on the roots of the ancient Aztec civilization and the Zocalo, the main square in the City, is the remains of the actual square that the ancient civilizations used. I have included a map of Mexico City with today's rant  to show that the high rise buildings in Mexico City are basically siting on giant concrete rafts, as the entire city is founded on the old civilizations. After my graduation from College, I enrolled in the Collegio de Ciudad de Mexico for a semester, which gave me time to search out the ancient ones. In retrospect, it was very much like Paris, sitting on my balcony overlooking the Reforma, with fresh bread from the bakery across the street and a jug of beer (a legacy from the rule of some Austrian King (Maximilian)  in the last century! and reading  authors that I had no time to while in school. It seems a tossup who was the more brutal; The Spanish Priests (The Inquisition) or the Aztec priests, with their mounds of skulls of prisoners. 

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Celtic harp for the Holidays

           

FOR YOUR NEXT CHRISTMAS, get Real.

If you are getting bored with the same old songs that are drug out about time for your next X as, allow me to brighten up your holiday a bit. (How long can Bing Crosby be allowed?).

  Let me suggest you buy a CD of Celtic music, by Chris Caswell. He has one out of Celtic Tidings (Holiday numbers) as well as his CD of just good listening to all old instruments, many constructed by Caswell in my Artist building in Graton before he died rather young. He had a recording studio in my building in Graton fo years. 

REAL RUMINATIONs

     As I am on the precipice of life here I feel it is time to review what I have done in order that I can access whether I have done enough while taking up room on this planet. In other words, what have I done?

  First of all, I have tried to donate at least 10% of my work to causes that I have found to be needed.  I have donated a lot of work for the following projects;

1.     Shamaz Retreat in Redwood Valley, CA

2.    Sant Takar Singh, Umoqua Retreat, Umpqua, Oregon

3.    Kirpal Singh Hall renovation, Tustin , CA

4.    Isha projects , 400 seat donw, 5,0000 Ahditorium, Bruce, Wisconsin

5.    StarCross Residence & Barn, Annapolis, CA (Children with AIDS)

6.    A primitive carpenter in Africa,_Provide small loans to entrepreneurs . Kiva Program

7.    Work on The East-West Society, Los Angeles, CA (New stage, misc. carpentry)

8.    Seven Arts Society, Laguna Beach, CA

I have left a trail of upgraded garages, sheds; you name it, livable environments on a minimum budget (for me).

Secondly:

Wrote, published, then didn’t sell 1,000 books 1982 Mostly to see how a book is published. And how is one designed?

Wrote another book on computer without the aid or involvment of any human (Except myself). 1990

Changed book to E-book, about 2012.

Thirdly;

Bought & financed 100 year old apple processing building, turned into 28 Artists Studios, Graton  CA. 1985

Designed (and built) many houses , mostly innovative solutions on “Unbuildable Lots” in USA.

1960 to current

Designed and produce several Modular concepts; Three Dimensional, Panel types.

Sold to Ford Motor Co., 1970

TO DIE FOR

   My daughter just gave me a  kind of a primer on dying. As we get older and approach the edge of the Abyss our study options seem get more limited.  SENECA by James Roman is a good read , though small, on your bookshelves  How to Die gathers in one volume, for the first time, Seneca’s meditations on death and dying. The book reveals a provocative thinker who speaks with a frankness about the need to accept death or even, under certain conditions, to seek it out.  We should remember he lived during the reigns of Nero and Caligua, who condemned a plethora of folks to death but they had to do the job themselves. After reading the book, I realized how different our view is of death due to the dogma of our Christian religions, and really, we Americans (USA) consider it a Sin or a Major crime to do ourselves in or even assist another to end it all. Seneca really practiced what he preached as he ‘Executed ‘ himself, which is described nicely by  Tacitus ,in  a later chapter of the book.  This harks  back to the death of Socrates, some three hundred years earlier in Athens.

How about changing the name of our Secretary of Defense to SECRETARY OF OFFENSE?

Can we use the term OMNICIDE?

ESCAPE FROM PARADISE? That's what a lot of us try.

I WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR POLITICIANS TO WEAR SUITS THAT ADVERTISED THEIR “DONORS”, JUST LIKE THE RACE CAR DRIVERS, WHO NEED SUPPORT FROM THE COMMERCIAL SECTOR. While we’re at it, let’s  just vote directly for the lobbyists, and bypass the middle man (your politician).

WEST COAST JAZZ

During the 60’s the Jazz Scene in Los Angeles was very active. There must have been 20 or 30 Small Cubs in L.A. and environs for us aficionados to hang out around and pick up on the latest vibes.  One could stop in for a drink or two, sometimes a $5 or $10 cover charge at a place like Shelleys’ Man-Hole (Shelly Mann) or some narrow venue much like the current Club Alto in Amsterdam, and pick on the latest cool vibes. Sunday early afternoons offered “The Lighthouse” in Hermosa Beach, where the coolest cats hung out to jam a bit.

Diagragm showing squaring the circle

 

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DEVINE WINDOWS

Before there were architects and Engineers, there were Master Masons who were fascinated with mathematics.  In early 1100’s they changed the architecture of the French churches to what is now called “ Gothic”  from the Romanesque  style  which had just run it’s course. The new idea was  originally called ‘Gothic”  as it was also called “monstrous and barbaric”  it did not conform to the current Classical Ideals. The Term  became acceptable  during the Middle ages, which by that time they had constructed some of the most structurally amazing edifices due to the use of flying buttresses and giant walls of colored glass, some with about 200 foot high naves.. Most people were illiterate and the church itself became the method of teaching the biblical tales.

  The Rose Window became he significant point of the buildings and after Filius Benaci discovered what is now called “The Fibonacci Series” in 1202,  the windows became a   talisman to out-complicate any rival mason. The above photo shows a completed window while the diagram shows only one way “Squaring the Circle” was manifested for the complex design. Next time you are in Paris, be sure to see the Rose Window in ‘La Chapelle’, The culmination of the art in the king’s personal chapel near Notre Dame. About 1400 AD.