Ira Cohen obituary | Art and design | The Guardian

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First movie of 'tsunami' on Sun

Jules Verne Shuttle Replacement Is Giant Leap for A.I: First Look

To see where, check the ESA’s satellite tracker to follow the Jules Verne and ISS in orbit.

Altered Ocean's

a five-part series on the crisis of the seas

Runoff from modern life is feeding an explosion of primitive organisms. This 'rise of slime,' as one scientist calls it, is killing larger species and sickening people.

Nazca Lines of Peru

Using earth orbiting satellites, acclaimed researcher David Flynn has studied the high plateau of Bolivia and found previously undiscovered unnatural patterns stretching outward from Lake Titicaca for hundreds of square miles. The geoglyphic works range from arrow straight parallel lines, enormous over lapping perfect circles and rectangles to 'labyrinth like' systems of walls and mounds extending over every feature of the terrain.

This picture taken by a 12-year-old Kirkland girl during the holiday week in December surprised her family by capturing a mysterious object.The girl, her family and her 15-year-old friend were staying at cabins overlooking a river in Winthrop when the incident occurred.At sunset, the girl was experimenting with a new digital camera she had received as a gift.

christmas
with deeply-rooted traditions--is the most significant holiday of the year in Western culture. Although Christmas is celebrated all over the world, nowhere is it such a significant holiday as in Central and Northern Europe. Especially in the Alpine regions, where the Christmas observance has incorporated pre-Christian traditions as well. Of these the "Mitwinternacht" (mid-winter night or winter solstice) and the 12 Rauhnächte (the harsh nights) are the most important.

Pagans had traditionally decked their halls with boughs of holly, evergreens and mistletoe to symbolize winter's inability to prevent the renewal of life. Merrymaking came to have a share in Christmas observance through popular enthusiasm. The medieval secular celebrations lasted for a "season," extending from Christmas eve to Epiphany, and in some localities even from St. Thomas' Day, Dec. 21 (honoring the "doubting Thomas," disciple of Jesus) to Candlemas (February 2).

There was some dispute about the proper date of the birth of Christ and not everyone agrees even to this day. It was not until A.D. 350, that December 25 was declared the official date for celebrating Christmas by Pope Julius I. When the fathers of the church decided to settle upon a date to celebrate the event, they wisely chose the day of the winter solstice, since it coincided with some rival religions' celebrations and the rebirth of the sun (see Year of the Sun Calendar), symbolized by bon-fires and yule logs. December 25 was a festival long before the conversion of the Germanic peoples to Christianity, it seemed fitting that the time of their winter festival would also be the time to celebrate the birth of Christ. The darkness that had frightened and threatened to defeat the ancient pagans, was forever defeated by the coming of Christ.

Because of changes in man-made calendars, the time of the solstice and the date of Christmas vary by a few days. As Christianity spread among the peoples of pagan lands, many of the practices of the winter solstice were blended with those of Christianity. In the dead of winter a celebration of rebirth of life was symbolized in the birth of Christ. The time of the winter solstice, when days grew longer again--the return of the light--became the hope of the world in the birth of Christ, "the light of the world."

Numerous evidence of Pre-Historic Nuclear War exists:

Columns of Smoke Rose as if from a Mighty Furnace

British Council

Sirius the dog star
NASA, H.E. Bond & E. Nelan(STScI); M. Barstow & M. Burleigh(Univ. of Leicester); & J.B. Holberg(UAz)

Is a New Solar Cycle Beginning?

ESA's Cluster mission

Sweet Thing:
scrumptious organic fair traded chocolate
from endangered species chocolate company
check out their blog @ endangered species blog

NASA Spacecraft makes new discoveries about Northern Lights

Nightingale

Birds in decline, European survey reveals

Woodland birds that once flourished across Britain are vanishing, according to an extensive study.

Popular species such as the nightingale, the lesser spotted woodpecker and the wryneck have dwindled almost to the point where they would be classed as endangered.

A study of bird populations across 20 European countries revealed that some woodland bird numbers had fallen by up to 20 per cent in the past two decades. A separate, smaller study suggested that the situation could be even worse in Britain, with populations falling by more than 25 per cent.

Running the Numbers
An American Self-Portrait

Ho! Ho! Ho! ~ MERRY CHRISTMAS ~

Hubble has sent back an early Christmas card with this new NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image of the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 74

What is that thing?

"Dalmatian Spots" of Mars' South Pole

Mysterious dark spotting on Mars’ south polar ice cap provides numerous clues to the nature of electrical events in the region. But NASA scientists show no interest in the charged particle streams that, evidence suggests, continually alter the surface.

The whole is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

The Great Wall Map

The Great Wall

Http://www.sina.com.cn April 29, 2007 06 : 22 Shanxi News Network-Shanxi Evening News

山西大同煤车掘开明长城抄捷径逃费(图)Datong Coal trucks dug open the Great Wall taking a shortcut amounts (Picture)

本报4月28日讯（记者郭斌）肆意开挖长城根基，甚至为开辟煤车逃费通道“腰斩”长城。Our April 28 (Reporter Guo Bin) wanton excavation foundation of the Great Wall, or even to open coal cars amounts channel "abort" Great Wall. 在晋蒙交界大同市新荣区胡家窑村附近，许多开在长城脚下的大型煤场无视相关法律，将上千米明代长城破坏。Jin Meng at the junction of the new Datong Hu Rong district near Yaocun, many opened at the foot of the Great Wall of large coal market ignored relevant laws, ASK will be on the destruction of the Ming dynasty.

　　今日一早，记者从大同市出发，沿云丰公路来到我省与内蒙古自治区交界的胡家窑村附近。Today morning, reporters from Datong City, Feng Yun along the highway to the province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region junction near Yaocun Hu. 这里曾是古时边塞要冲，绵延有十几公里的明代长城。Here was the ancient frontier fortress hub, stretching more than 10 km of the Ming dynasty. 因云丰公路是晋煤外运的重要通道，有人瞅准这个地理优势，陆续在长城脚下开起了大型煤场，截至目前已有十几家。By Feng Yun Jin Coal Highway is a vital channel progressed, it was aimed at the geographical advantages, at the foot of the Great Wall have started a large-scale coal market, as of now has more than 10.

　　记者在此处看到，为了“圈地”，受利益驱动的一些煤场主竟将部分长城根基铲掉，并原地取土建房。Xinhua here to see, in order to "grab" driven by the interests of the coal yards describing some of the main foundation of the Great Wall shoveled away. marking and brickworks building. 偌大的煤场内，一个个小山似的煤堆正吞噬着长城的“肢体”。Even the coal inside a hill-like pile is to swallow up the wall "physically." 滚滚煤尘中，巍峨矗立了数百年的文化遗产被折腾得乌烟瘴气。Billowed from coal dust, towering stands of centuries of cultural heritage are brought in the pandemonium.

　　在采访中，附近一些村民告诉记者还有“比这更严重的事”。In the interview, some nearby villagers told reporters there is "far more serious than this thing." 原来，我省与内蒙古交界处设有公路收费站，一些拉煤大型运输车为了逃费，竟然将长城铲开了一个大豁口，作为煤炭外运的通道。In fact, our province and Inner Mongolia junction with Highway toll station, some large trucks with coal in order to escape charges to the Great Wall has opened a spade a big tracks, as a coal transport channels.

　　因怕煤场的人报复，知情村民不愿详细说明，记者只好通过收费站进入内蒙古地界，沿长城另一侧寻找被“腰斩”长城。Coal Field, for fear of retaliation, informed the villagers do not want to elaborate on, had no choice but to enter through the toll booths in Inner Mongolia boundary Traffic on the other side of the Great Wall was looking for "killing" the Great Wall. 在内蒙古丰镇市境内，记者向一名经常路过此处的三轮车司机打听后，沿着一条洒满煤渣的土路向山西方向返回。In Inner Mongolia Fengzhen City, the reporters to a regular stopover here looking for the tricycle driver, wrote cinder along a dirt road to the Shanxi direction. 走了不多远，记者就看见了横亘在眼前的长城。How far away is not, the reporter saw in the eyes along the Great Wall. 这条土路穿墙而过，将长城拦腰斩为两段。This dirt road to pierce the wall and that wall down the middle of chopped two.

　　经观察，记者果然发现有煤车从这个被铲开的豁口穿越晋蒙交界，“从容”逃费。By observation, it was found that a reporter coal trucks be shoveled from the opening of tracks crossing the junction Jin Meng, "calmly" escape charges. 记者沿土路继续回驶，正好回到了胡家窑村附近的煤场。Xinhua continued along the dirt road back to driving, is returned to the Hu Yaocun nearby coal yards.

　　今日上午，记者采访了大同市文物部门。This morning, the reporter interviewed the Datong City Museum. 据有关负责人介绍，按照2006年12月1日国家施行的《长城保护条例》，在长城附近取土建房、开煤场、损毁长城开通道，都是破坏长城风貌的行为，是绝不允许的，他们将对此进行调查。According to the responsible person, according to December 1, 2006 implementation of the national "Great Wall Protection Ordinance" brickworks in the vicinity of the Great Wall built open coal yard, damaged the Great Wall opened, the Great Wall features are destructive behavior, is absolutely not allowed, they will look into.
the great wall

The real décor of the costume is the thousands of white stenciled dots which suggest a hailstorm, a metaphor for the force of the warrior.

Nomadic pastoralism has been portrayed as one of the great advances in the evolution of mankind. It is an adaptation by people to grassland areas of the world where the raising of livestock is more supportive of human life than the growing of crops. People who specialize in livestock production requiring periodic movements of their herds are known as nomadic pastoralists, or, simply nomads. The survival of nomads on the Tibetan Plateau and Himalaya provides examples of nomadic practices that were once widespread throughout Asia and Africa, but are now increasingly hard to find. As such, these portraits of nomads offer a rare glimpse into a way of life that is rapidly vanishing.


This is from a wonderful site tucked away in asianart.com
the nomadic people live in one of the most inhospitable places on earth and yet they manage to do more than just survive. The nomads have created a unique, vibrant culture, about which, even today, so little is known.

Salutations to Ira Cohen.

Staring across interstellar space, the alluring Cat's Eye nebula lies three thousand light-years from Earth. A classic planetary nebula, the Cat's Eye (NGC 6543) represents a final, brief yet glorious phase in the life of a sun-like star. This nebula's dying central star may have produced the simple, outer pattern of dusty concentric shells by shrugging off outer layers in a series of regular convulsions. But the formation of the beautiful, more complex inner structures is not well understood. Seen so clearly in this sharp Hubble Space Telescope image, the truly cosmic eye is over half a light-year across. Of course, gazing into the Cat's Eye, astronomers may well be seeing the fate of our sun, destined to enter its own planetary nebula phase of evolution ... in about 5 billion years.

Carina Nebula Panorama from Hubble

Credit: NASA, ESA, N. Smith (U. California, Berkeley) et al., and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Explanation: In one of the brightest parts of Milky Way lies a nebula where some of the oddest things occur. NGC 3372, known as the Great Nebula in Carina, is home to massive stars and changing nebula. Eta Carinae, the most energetic star in the nebula, was one of the brightest stars in the sky in the 1830s, but then faded dramatically. The Keyhole Nebula, visible left the center, houses several of the most massive stars known and has also changed its appearance. The entire Carina Nebula spans over 300 light years and lies about 7,500 light-years away in the constellation of Carina. Pictured above is the most detailed image of the Carina Nebula ever taken. The controlled color image is a composite of 48 high-resolution frames taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and released to honor its 17th anniversary. Wide-field annotated and zoomable image versions are also available.

Explanation: Why are parts of this asteroid's surface so smooth?
No one is yet sure, but it may have to do with the dynamics of an asteroid that is a loose pile of rubble rather than a solid rock. The unusual asteroid has been visited recently by the Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa that has been documenting its unusual structure and mysterious lack of craters. Recent analyses of the border regions between smooth and rugged sections of Itokawa indicate that jostling of the asteroid might be creating segregation between large and small rocks near the surface, like the Brazil nut effect. In late 2005, Hayabusa actually touched down on one of the smooth patches, dubbed the MUSES Sea, and collected soil samples that are to be returned to Earth for analysis. Hayabusa will start its three-year long return trip to Earth this month. Computer simulations show that 500-meter asteroid Itokawa may impact the Earth within the next few million years.

Could this be a picture of the Earth and Moon from space? It certainly looks like it at first glance, with a dark, cratered Moon standing off from planet Earth's lovely blue disk surrounded by a nurturing atmosphere. In fact, this view looks up into the dome of the ancient Pantheon in Rome. The Earth's blue disk is really the daytime sky with clouds seen through a nine meter diameter central opening in the dome. The circular opening, or oculus, was intended as the source of light for the building's interior. The Moon is actually direct sunlight streaming through the oculus onto the dome's inner ribbed structure. Historian Soeren Dalsgaard snapped the intriguing picture in February and comments that for almost two thousand years the rays of the Sun have traced a steady path on the inside of the Pantheon's cupola. A testament to Roman architecture and engineering, the Pantheon's dome is said to symbolize the vault of the heavens.

Bohdan Paczynski 1940-2007

A View from Water Level: Jill Fredston
http://www.climate-change-two.net/
Jill Fredston
Darwin College, Scott Polar Research Institute
Co-Director of the Alaska Mountain Safety Center, Inc.

Cambridge in America Day 2006
New York City, CUNY Graduate Center
December 2, 2006

Currently Co-Director of the Alaska Mountain Safety Center, Inc. Jill Fredston is one of North America's leading avalanche specialists, as well as being an accomplished rower and explorer. Her book Rowing to Latitude: Journey along the Arctic’s Edge (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/North Point Press) won the 2002 National Outdoor Book Award for Literature. Her most recent book Snowstruck: In the Grip of Avalanches was published in November 2005. Her talk entitled A View from Water Level will discuss what makes a place wild as well as the shifting baselines of wilderness and touch on her most recent work studying polar bears, shrinking habitats, adaptation of species and reconciling science and policy.