The Smoke Bay

A Smoke Bay is a section of a house that is dedicated to collecting smoke. It gets its name from the space between each of the vertical wall and roof truss frames of the house, which are called bays. In this example a roof truss is infilled with material similar to the outside walls. This infilled truss acts as a barrier to the smoke as it rises to the roof, Instead of allowing smoke access to the entire roof as in the small thatched hut example. A hole in the roof allows the smoke to escape and creates a draught that pulls smoke out of the house. The smoke bay can also be used as a smoker. Meat was hung on hooks inside the smoke bay to be preserved by the smoke.

The Smoke Hood

The smoke hood, in this case, is an intermediate step between an open indoor fire and fireplace with a chimney. It was used from the late medieval period to the mid 17th century. The smoke hood creates a draught that draws the smoke and sparks from the fire and releases them above the roof. This means less smoke in the house and less chance of fire. A good example of a smoke hood can be seen at Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts.

Thatched Hut with a Three Stone Fire

This is a cut-away view of a thatched hut with a small three stone fire. The fire needs to be small because there is no chimney; the smoke merely filters through the roof or through a hole. A large fire would create too much draught that could carry sparks up to the roof and start a fire.
The three stone fire has been used for many thousands of years. It combines an efficient combustion area with a stable platform for a cooking pot. If used correctly, with good quality dry wood, it can burn with very little smoke. Poor quality damp wood or too much wood can create more smoke than can quickly escape through the roof . The smoke can fill the hut and poison the occupants. These inefficient open fires cause health damage through indoor smoke pollution, burn far more wood than necessary and waste the energy of the people who gather the firewood. This in turn leads to deforestation as people cut down the trees around them for fuel.

Napoleon

Napoleon with St. Anne's Church in Vilnius

There is a story that Napoleon said that he would like to take the church home with him in the palm of his hand. The church is small but not necessarily as shown here.

The New Anachronism

Beautiful Plumage!
Feathered dinosaurs conjure up new images.

How I Fell at Waterloo Part 2

How I Fell at Waterloo Part 1

Sitar Player Sketch

A sitar player walks into a pet shop to complain about a dead parrot. Not really. This drawing is based on a sitar player that I saw on my last day in Bombay. My wife and I were preparing to leave Bombay because of the threat of the imminent outbreak of war between India and Pakistan. We decided to take a break from the tension of watching the drama unfold on TV and go to a swanky hotel for a drink and to buy some souvenirs. When we got to the hotel we found it almost deserted. The guests had already gone to the airport. We walked into a opulent lobby that had pools of water filled with floating rose petals and at the back of the room was a man in elegant costume, sitting on a low platform and playing his sitar. We sat for a while drinking expensive bottled water as we listened to the sitar and enjoyed a peaceful moment.

When Bacteria Ruled the Earth

This is an illustration from my web site http://www.envirotoons.com/.
A bacterium waits patiently while the dinosaur hunts for its (the bacterium's) next meal.

Musketeer

Study for Napoleon's Army in Vilnius

During their disastrous retreat from Moscow, exhausted and starving remnants of Napoleon's Imperial Army enter Vilnius on December 9th 1812.

Susan Boyle

Dogs run through a neighborhood of new condominiums

In spite of their apparent lethargy, these dogs can jump very high. They can jump to the top of stone walls in a way that appears totally effortless. They seem to levitate without any anticipation before the jump. If it was animation I would call a retake.

Saki Naka from Google Earth.

Here is a Google Earth view of Saki Naka.

Dog in Saki Naka Bombay

This is a road in Bombay that I traveled on every day between my apartment and the animation studio.
The dog is smart to use the wall as a road to avoid being run over by auto rickshaws. The dog has to watch his step to avoid the broken glass that is cemented into the top of the wall.
Saki Naka is suburb of Bombay. It is the home of Asia's largest slum. Dharavi, where Slumdog Millionaire was shot, is supposed to be the largest slum. Dharavi is small compared to Saki Naka.

Bombay Dog

This is a typical dog that I saw in Bombay. The dogs are very passive because of the heat, which was always in the high 30s celsius. The dogs expend very little energy during the day and never bark.

Downshot on Bombay slums.

Slum dogs avoid crowded streets by walking on top of stone walls. They use the walls as dog highways or dogie "flyovers". A flyover is an elevated highway that lets you get around Bombay without seeing the squalor or being inconvenienced by the shocking condition of the roads below.