29 June 2012
26 June 2012
nora ephron - good night
Writer and Filmmaker With a Genius for Humor
NY Times: Nora Ephron, an essayist and humorist in the Dorothy Parker mold (only smarter and funnier, some said) who became one of her era’s most successful screenwriters and filmmakers, making romantic comedy hits like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally,” died Tuesday night in Manhattan. She was 71.
The cause was pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia, her son Jacob Bernstein said.
Read more here.
NY Times: Nora Ephron, an essayist and humorist in the Dorothy Parker mold (only smarter and funnier, some said) who became one of her era’s most successful screenwriters and filmmakers, making romantic comedy hits like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “When Harry Met Sally,” died Tuesday night in Manhattan. She was 71.
The cause was pneumonia brought on by acute myeloid leukemia, her son Jacob Bernstein said.
Read more here.
25 June 2012
22 June 2012
21 June 2012
20 June 2012
hotel endémico
Cabins in the Sky: For a rustic retreat in Baja’s wine country, Gracia Studio perches a series of cubes on a hill, offering panoramic views of the fertile valley below.
Read about it here.
Read about it here.
14 June 2012
13 June 2012
sounds of the malawi mouse boys
Grammy award-winning producer Ian Brennan is always on the lookout for new talent. He helped bring worldwide recognition to the northern Mali group Tinariwen. Now he’s looking to do the same for the Malawi Mouse Boys.
Malawi Mouse Boys is a band of eight members – a group of young villagers who have been playing music together and writing songs since they were children.
Malawi Mouse Boys is a band of eight members – a group of young villagers who have been playing music together and writing songs since they were children.
Brennan tells music broadcaster Matt Coles how the sounds from young men selling roadside snacks caught his ear.
Listen here to the story on PRI's The World.
10 June 2012
08 June 2012
oh - to relax
Hotel San Giorgio on Mykonos in Greece is the epitome of relaxation. They have a concept at this design hotel: True - Authentic - Simple...
The photos speak for themselves.. enjoy!
.jpg)
all photos San Giorgio Mykonos
05 June 2012
04 June 2012
esophageal cancer claims another
Richard Dawson, Host Who Kissed on ‘Family Feud’, Dies at 79
NY Times: Richard Dawson, the British-born actor and comedian who played a larcenous prisoner of war on the comedy “Hogan’s Heroes” and became a star as the dapper and gregarious host of the game show“Family Feud,” died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 79.
The cause was complications of esophageal cancer, his son Gary wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday.
From an impoverished upbringing in post-World War II England, Mr. Dawson, whose earliest aspiration was to be a dockworker, became one of the most well-known television personalities in the 1970s and ’80s. He won a daytime Emmy in 1978 for his work on “Family Feud".
Read more here.
Past deaths from esophageal cancer:Christopher Hitchens, author - died December 2011
Harmon Killebrew, hall of fame slugger - died May 2011
Ron Silver, actor - died March 2009
Tom Lantos, US Representative from N. California - died Feb 2008
Ann Richards, governor of Texas - died Sept 2006
Ann Richards, governor of Texas - died Sept 2006
01 June 2012
31 May 2012
"smart" clothes
Silkworms and squid inspire smart materials
Car panels made of silkworm cocoons, clothing that can camouflage the wearer at the flick of a switch and a "smart" shirt with a phone and power source embedded in the fabric.
Research published on Wednesday reveals advances in materials science that could transform industries struggling with the rising cost and scarcity of raw materials and save lives in post-conflict countries still clearing minefields.
In a study published in the Royal Society journal Interface, Oxford University researchers David Porter and Fujia Chen examine the structure of silkworm cocoons, which are extremely light and tough, with properties that could inspire advanced materials for use in protective helmets and light-weight armor.
"Silkworm cocoons have evolved a remarkable range of optimal structures and properties to protect moth pupae from many different natural threats," Porter and Chen said in their paper. These structures are lightweight, strong and porous and therefore "ideal for the development of bio-inspired composite materials."
Their research could lead to lightweight armor that dissipates rather than deflects the particular components of a blast that do the most damage to the human body - much like crumple zones in modern cars or sound-absorbing sonar tiles that make submarines harder to detect.
Even more tantalizing from an economic standpoint, Porter and Chen's research, which was funded by a grant from the U.S. Air Force, could point to a new material for fabricating car panels in some of the fastest-growing car markets - China and India.
Fritz Vollrath, who heads the Oxford research group, said supplies of cocoons are plentiful. "Present raw silk market production globally is half a million tons annually." Most of that is boiled and unraveled for textiles, but Vollrath says there are potential applications for the cocoons themselves, particularly in the developing world and potentially in car panels that are very tough and totally sustainable.
The researchers are working on carbon footprint calculations but Vollrath notes that the production process is probably carbon neutral, involving a mulberry bush and worms that, unlike cattle, don't emit any methane.
Further research is needed. Porter said the next stage will be to find a way to replicate the structures found in the cocoons or use them as a base material impregnated with gels as a way of developing a scalable production process.
There are plenty of precedents for the commercial exploitation of structures found in the natural world. One of the best known is the so-called ‘lotus effect', the properties of the lotus leaf that keeps them extremely clear of dust and dirt. Researchers found tiny nodules on the surface of the leaf that stops water from settling on them. Droplets form and simply roll off, gathering any dirt as they go.
It was this research that eventually led to the development of self-cleaning windows and advanced exterior paints. Velcro was developed after Swiss engineer George de Mestral observed the way the flowers of the mountain thistle stuck to his trousers after a walk in the countryside.
NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T
Scientists have also created artificial muscles in the laboratory that mimic the color-changing ability of squid and zebrafish and could eventually be used in camouflaging ‘smart clothes'.
Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK created soft and stretchy artificial muscles based on specialist cells called ‘chromatophores' that are found in some fish and reptiles. They contain pigments which give these animals the ability to change color.
"We have taken inspiration from nature's designs and exploited the same methods to turn our artificial muscles into striking visual effects," said Jonathan Rossiter, lead author of the study, which was published on Wednesday in the Institute of Physics journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
The Bristol scientists say their camouflaging technology could also be used to regulate the temperature of the wearer at the flick of a switch. Zebrafish can pump pigmented fluid from under their skin to the skin's surface - a process Rossiter and his colleagues have been able to mimic in artificial muscles in the lab. "The application of this biomimetic pumping action to thermoregulation is most easily understood by considering smart clothing or a 'second skin' which contains heat-emitting fluid," Rossiter told Reuters. "When the wearer is cold, the fluid is kept close to the skin. When the wearer becomes hot, the fluid is translocated to the outside of the 'second skin' where the heat energy is radiated away from the body." Rossiter said his group will be looking for more potential applications, from artificial skins for human-interacting robots, to new electronic devices. "We are keen to move from laboratory prototypes to commercial products, and this is expected to be through industrial partnerships," he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved.
Car panels made of silkworm cocoons, clothing that can camouflage the wearer at the flick of a switch and a "smart" shirt with a phone and power source embedded in the fabric.
Traditional silk manufacture / Photo: Corbis
Scientists, some with funding from the U.S. Air Force, have made breakthroughs that could eventually make all this reality.
Research published on Wednesday reveals advances in materials science that could transform industries struggling with the rising cost and scarcity of raw materials and save lives in post-conflict countries still clearing minefields.
In a study published in the Royal Society journal Interface, Oxford University researchers David Porter and Fujia Chen examine the structure of silkworm cocoons, which are extremely light and tough, with properties that could inspire advanced materials for use in protective helmets and light-weight armor.
"Silkworm cocoons have evolved a remarkable range of optimal structures and properties to protect moth pupae from many different natural threats," Porter and Chen said in their paper. These structures are lightweight, strong and porous and therefore "ideal for the development of bio-inspired composite materials."
Their research could lead to lightweight armor that dissipates rather than deflects the particular components of a blast that do the most damage to the human body - much like crumple zones in modern cars or sound-absorbing sonar tiles that make submarines harder to detect.
Even more tantalizing from an economic standpoint, Porter and Chen's research, which was funded by a grant from the U.S. Air Force, could point to a new material for fabricating car panels in some of the fastest-growing car markets - China and India.
Fritz Vollrath, who heads the Oxford research group, said supplies of cocoons are plentiful. "Present raw silk market production globally is half a million tons annually." Most of that is boiled and unraveled for textiles, but Vollrath says there are potential applications for the cocoons themselves, particularly in the developing world and potentially in car panels that are very tough and totally sustainable.
The researchers are working on carbon footprint calculations but Vollrath notes that the production process is probably carbon neutral, involving a mulberry bush and worms that, unlike cattle, don't emit any methane.
Further research is needed. Porter said the next stage will be to find a way to replicate the structures found in the cocoons or use them as a base material impregnated with gels as a way of developing a scalable production process.
There are plenty of precedents for the commercial exploitation of structures found in the natural world. One of the best known is the so-called ‘lotus effect', the properties of the lotus leaf that keeps them extremely clear of dust and dirt. Researchers found tiny nodules on the surface of the leaf that stops water from settling on them. Droplets form and simply roll off, gathering any dirt as they go.
It was this research that eventually led to the development of self-cleaning windows and advanced exterior paints. Velcro was developed after Swiss engineer George de Mestral observed the way the flowers of the mountain thistle stuck to his trousers after a walk in the countryside.
NOW YOU SEE ME, NOW YOU DON'T
Scientists have also created artificial muscles in the laboratory that mimic the color-changing ability of squid and zebrafish and could eventually be used in camouflaging ‘smart clothes'.
Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK created soft and stretchy artificial muscles based on specialist cells called ‘chromatophores' that are found in some fish and reptiles. They contain pigments which give these animals the ability to change color.
"We have taken inspiration from nature's designs and exploited the same methods to turn our artificial muscles into striking visual effects," said Jonathan Rossiter, lead author of the study, which was published on Wednesday in the Institute of Physics journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics.
The Bristol scientists say their camouflaging technology could also be used to regulate the temperature of the wearer at the flick of a switch. Zebrafish can pump pigmented fluid from under their skin to the skin's surface - a process Rossiter and his colleagues have been able to mimic in artificial muscles in the lab. "The application of this biomimetic pumping action to thermoregulation is most easily understood by considering smart clothing or a 'second skin' which contains heat-emitting fluid," Rossiter told Reuters. "When the wearer is cold, the fluid is kept close to the skin. When the wearer becomes hot, the fluid is translocated to the outside of the 'second skin' where the heat energy is radiated away from the body." Rossiter said his group will be looking for more potential applications, from artificial skins for human-interacting robots, to new electronic devices. "We are keen to move from laboratory prototypes to commercial products, and this is expected to be through industrial partnerships," he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved.
29 May 2012
isaac's live lip-dub proposal
I know everyone has seen this. But it's so cute, I thought it would be a fun way to start the week. At the time of this post it's only got 5,631,588 views. Surely we can add some more.
27 May 2012
flanders fields
"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially unsatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch.
It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war. As a result of its immediate popularity, parts of the poem were used in propaganda efforts and appeals to recruit soldiers and raise money selling war bonds. Its references to the red poppies that grew over the graves of fallen soldiers resulted in the remembrance poppy becoming one of the world's most recognized memorial symbols for soldiers who have died in conflict. The poem and poppy are prominent Remembrance Day symbols throughout the Commonwealth of Nations, particularly in Canada, where "In Flanders Fields" is one of the nation's best known literary works.
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
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 it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
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 it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
via wikipedia
a different kind of poppy
U.S. Efforts Fail to Curtail Trade in Afghan Opium
NY Times: KABUL, Afghanistan — For years, American officials have struggled to curb Afghanistan’s opium industry, rewriting strategy every few seasons and pouring in more than $6 billion over the past decade to combat the poppies that help finance the insurgency and fuel corruption.
More here.
An Army officer walking through a poppy field while on patrol in Afghanistan last month.
Baz Ratner/Reuters
POPPY FIELDS FOREVER A crop in Helmand Province in 2006. An unlikely coalition of corrupt Afghan officials, timorous Europeans, blinkered Pentagon officers and the Taliban has made poppy cultivation stubbornly resistant to eradication.
John Moore/Getty Images
Red Tide: Recent U.N. reports shattered the myth that poppies are grown by destitute farmers who have no other source of income.
Véronique de Viguerie/WPN
A United Nations report estimates that the country’s cultivation of poppy buds has risen 17 percent in the last year.
Humayoun Shiab/European Pressphoto Agency
25 May 2012
a plethora of poppies
I've always loved poppies. They come in beautiful colors with pretty frilly petals. I've tried many times to grow them but something always seems to thwart my efforts.
This year seems to have been a good year. I've got three different kinds blooming:
Papaver somniferum, "Breadbox" poppy
Papaver rhoeas,
also known as the Remembrance poppy
also known as the Remembrance poppy
Papaver romneya, "Matilija" poppy, a native to the California chaparral
Now I need to add in some California poppies.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)