Clipmarks | dorine's clips

10ft 'photographs' drawn with a ballpoint pen

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:50:43 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

They may look like pin-sharp photographs - but these amazing pictures are actually drawings created with the humble ballpoint pen.

The stunning pictures, measuring up to 10ft high, were drawn by a rising star of the art world, Juan Francisco Casas.

Casas, 31, can use up to four 14p ballpoint pens for a canvas and his works are already a sell-out at exhibitions.

Formerly a traditional painter, Juan began the drawings three years ago based on photographs of nights out with his friends.

Bic money: Casas can use up four 14p ballpoints on one picture, but his prizewinning works already fetch up to £3,750 each

Speaking from Rome yesterday, he said he admires the "simplicity" of the ballpoint pen, invented in 1938 by Hungarian Laszlo Biro.

Casas said: "I guess it started off as a joke, to try and make something so realistic that people would think is a photo.

"I also wanted to create it with something that everyone has - a Biro. I don't think it has ever been done before.

Big Red -- Photo

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:55:37 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: by qski....I've collected many, many photos that have been taken from this same spot. Every one is as spectacular as this one!!!!

Clip Source: www.wunderground.com

Caption:

Woronkofski Island with Zarembo in the distance. The sunset was among the biggest I can recall seeing. Would have been neat to be on the top of a mountain.

Tags: alaska, beauty, sunset

The Gift of Life -- Photo

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:51:49 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: Another amazing sunset photo. by Jakeof

Clip Source: www.wunderground.com

Caption:

Picture taken at Bosham nr Chichester just before Sunset

Photo Taken:

Friday January 25, 2008 — Chichester, United Kingdom

Tags: sunset, photo, beauty

American woman kidnapped in Afghanistan

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:38:05 GMT

clipped by: dorine

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Gunmen kidnapped a burqa-clad American aid worker and her driver while they were traveling through southern Afghanistan early Saturday, a provincial governor said.

The two were stopped by gunmen outside the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, said Gov. Asadullah Khalid. He blamed the kidnappings on the "enemy of Islam and the enemy of Afghanistan."

Several Westerners — including two German construction workers and two Italian journalists — have been kidnapped in Afghanistan in the last year, but this was the first kidnapping of an American in recent memory.

Khalid said the 49-year-old American was wearing a burqa when she was taken. She worked for the aid agency Asian Rural Life Development Foundation, he said.

The U.S. Embassy said it had no immediate information.

Khalid said the armed gunmen had not contacted the government or the woman's aid organization. He said police and intelligence officials were working to find her.

Tags: news, afghanistan, danger, war on terror

Spectacular Sky Show: Venus, Jupiter and the Moon

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 12:16:48 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: Can't wait for this one!!!!!

Clip Source: www.yahoo.com

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

The most spectacular celestial sights over the next couple of weeks are reserved for the early morning sky. Two bright planets will converge, then be joined by the moon.

Such an eloquent description certainly fits our current morning sky, for these final days of January and the first days of February will be an exceptional time for predawn sky watchers with a beautiful pairing of the two brightest planets, Venus and Jupiter. They will appear closest together in the dawn sky of Friday, Feb. 1, and a few mornings later, the waning crescent moon will later drop by to join them.

Dazzling "double planet"

For the past several months, dazzling Venus has been prominent in our morning sky. And about a week ago, brilliant Jupiter also began to emerge from out of the glare of the Sun.

From now through the end of January, the gap between the two will noticeably close, until on Feb. 1 they'll be separated by just over one-half degree,

Tags: astronomy, awesome, space, science

A brief history of eggs

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:43:54 GMT

clipped by: michellezm
clipper's remarks: I found the whole article interesting.

Clip Source: www.foodtimeline.org

"Eggs have been known to, and enjoyed by, humans for many centuries. Jungle fowl were domesticated in India by 3200 B.C.E. Record from China and Egypt show that fowl were domesticated and laying eggs for human consumption around 1400 B.C.E., and there is archaeoligical evidence for egg consumption dating back to the Neolithic age. The Romans found egg-laying hens in England, Gaul, and among the Germans. The first domesticated fowl reached North America with the second voyage of Columbus in 1493."
---Encyclopedia of Food and Culture, Solomon H. Katz, editor, William Woys Weaver, associate editor [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 2003, Volume 1 (p. 558)

When did people start using eggs in baking and why?
Food historians tell us the practice was ancient but they do not venture an exact place, date, or reason. The domestication of fowl (esp. chicken) greatly increased the availabiltiy of eggs to ancient peoples. This is thought by some to have begun in China in 6,000BC

DNA tests finally solve the riddle of what happened to the last tsar's two children

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 05:26:28 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

For 90 years, it has been an enduring mystery - did some members of the Russian royal family survive execution by the Bolsheviks in 1918?

Now DNA tests carried out on two sets of bones found in the Ural Mountains appear to have solved the riddle.

Forensic experts say initial results show the human remains belong to 13-year-old Crown Prince Alexei and his sister Princess Maria, 19.

Executed: Tsar Nicholas II and his family, with Maria and Alexei circled

The pair were shot on the orders of Lenin along with their father Nicholas II, the last tsar, their mother and three sisters in the year after the Russian Revolution.

Other tests are under way in Britain, where researchers hope to match DNA to members of the British Royal Family, notably Prince Philip.

Last summer, the two sets of bones were found at a separate site, along with bullets, nails and the hinges of a wooden box.

Their bodies were soaked in sulphuric acid and burned before burial.

Earth as Art

Fri, 25 Jan 2008 04:57:09 GMT

clipped by: amgumen

Clip Source: unearthedtees.wordpress.com

The West Fjords are a series of peninsulas in northwestern Iceland. They represent less than one-eighth the country’s land area, but their jagged perimeter accounts for more than half of Iceland’s total coastline.

Earth as Art: Cloud formations over the western Aleutian Islands.

The Ganges River forms an extensive delta where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. The delta is largely covered with a swamp forest known as the Sunderbans, which is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger. From the Earth as Art collection of the USGS.

Virunga Volcano chain lies along the borders of Rawanda, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) in central Africa. This false-colored radar satellite image was acquired from the Space Shuttle Endeavor on October 3, 1994. It covers an area of 56 by 70 km. The Democratic Republic of Congo lies west of Lake Kivu (the dark, bottom of image) and Rwanda lies to the east. The steep cone in the center of the image is the Nyiragongo stratovolcano, which rises to 3,465 m

Tags: art, geology, volcanoes

Australian Ant Safari

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 10:39:16 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Entomologists say Australia has the highest ant biodiversity in the world. In other countries, there may be 30 different species per hectare, in Australia there are more like 100. The text in the clip continues below the pictures. At the site there are details of how ants play an important part in the environment.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

As summer reaches its height and the wattles shed their seeds, Australia’s ants get really busy. Although some might consider them a nuisance, researchers are discovering that the bush couldn’t do without ants.

Ant watching Feeling seedy Ants at a glance

Bullants with weevil
Image: Bob Taylor

Australia, entomologists are proud to say, has the highest ant biodiversity in the world. In other countries where ants thrive, you might find 30 different species per hectare. In Australia, says ant expert Dr Alan Andersen, it’s more like 100 species.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

“Only about 20-25 per cent of all ant species have been described,” he says of how little is known about this enormous group on insects

There are probably up to 300 new species being discovered every year!” For anyone wishing to pursue a career in biology, ants are truly unexplored territory. Imagine if 300 new marsupials were still being discovered every year!

Why does Australia have so many ants? One reason, suggests Alan Andersen, is our diverse soils

Mosaics

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 17:59:33 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.thejoyofshards.co.uk

mosaic goes back some 4,000 years or more

the Greeks

raised the pebble technique to an art form

Roman Empire took mosaics further afield, although the level of skill and artistry was diluted

The inter-twined rope border effect here is called "guilloche

Click for a list of Roman mosaics you can see on this site

Byzantine mosaics

Eastern influences in style and the use of special glass tesserae called smalti

They are sometimes backed with reflective silver or gold leaf

Islamic mosaic art

motifs are mainly geometric and mathematical

Clip Source: www.thejoyofshards.co.uk

Medieval to modern

tiling patterns in abbeys and other major religious buildings

19th century

a revival of interest

in the Byzantine style

Art Nouveau movement also embraced mosaic art

the stunning ceramic mosaics of the Guell Park

a technique known as trencadis in which tiles

covered surfaces of buildings

Mosaic is in a healthy state in the early 21st century

Clip Source: www.thejoyofshards.co.uk

La Maison Picassiette is the extraordinary result of one man's work between 1938 and 1964

Koi fish & dragonflies - watercolours by Sharon Carr

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:21:42 GMT

clipped by: michellezm
clipper's remarks: Extra large images on the site.

Clip Source: www.sharoncarrwatercolor.com

Beautiful quilts by Barbara Brewer

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:11:10 GMT

clipped by: michellezm
clipper's remarks: Images are extra large at the site.

Clip Source: www.bbquiltscapes.com

Images of Mercury are Pouring In

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 22:44:29 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: messenger.jhuapl.edu

Click on image to enlarge.

MESSENGER Views an Intriguing Crater
Release Date: January 20, 2008
Keywords: Mercury Flyby 1, NAC

The unnamed crater (52 kilometers, or 31 miles, in diameter) in the center of the image displays a telephone-shaped collapse feature on its floor. Such a collapse feature, not seen on the floors of other craters in this image, could reflect past volcanic activity at and just below the surface of this particular crater. MESSENGER team members are examining closely the more than 1200 images returned from this flyby for other surface features that can provide clues to the geological history of the innermost planet.

The crater is located in the southern hemisphere of Mercury, on the side that was not viewed by Mariner 10 during any of its three flybys (1974-1975)

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Tags: astronomy, science, mercury, messenger, planets, solar system

High School Students Discover Asteroid

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 15:20:28 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: www.universetoday.com

Here’s another wonderful example of how amateur astronomers can make important discoveries. Three high school students from Wisconsin discovered an asteroid while doing an astronomical observation project for a class in school

The students will have the opportunity to name the asteroid, temporarily designated as 2008 AZ28. They spotted the asteroid through telescopes located in New Mexico that operate remotely via the internet

As Fraser and Pamela commented on their Astronomy Cast episode about amateur astronomy, “Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs make can meaningful contributions and discoveries.” And here’s proof. So the rest of you, go out there and start looking!

Color! -- Photo

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 05:56:08 GMT

clipped by: dorine
clipper's remarks: Brilliance!

Clip Source: www.wunderground.com

by highground

Photo Taken:

Monday January 7, 2008 — Ramona, CA [Check Local Weather]

Tags: sunset, beauty, photo