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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

Solar Ark

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 18:04:49 GMT

clipped by: shunyax
clipper's remarks: Turning a mistake into advantage ......

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

SOLAR ARK: World’s Most Stunning Solar Building

Sanyo has built an ark for the solar century – an impressive 630 kW solar-collecting building that boasts over 5,000 solar panels and kicks off over 500,000 kWh of energy per year. Even more outstanding is the fact that most of the monocrystalline modules used on the Solar Ark were factory rejects headed to the scrap pile. Located next to Sanyo’s semiconductor factory in Gifu, Japan, the Solar Ark stands as one of the best examples of building integrated PV design to date.

The company decided to build its solar monument but opted to use the recalled technology. That is how the Solar Ark as we know it today came to be. On the Solar Ark website, Sanyo says “we have done this to show our sincere regret that this problem has occurred and to express our willingness and determination to both remember what happened and how important it is to maintain quality.”

Tags: solar energy

Organ Transplants without Rejection?

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 01:21:18 GMT

clipped by: sohil
clipper's remarks: One of the greatest medical advances of our time? I certainly think so...

Clip Source: www.nature.com

Three independent research teams have successfully performed organ transplantations that do not require the recipient to face a lifetime of immunosuppressant drugs to prevent rejection. Instead, the new techniques prevent rejection by training the immune system to recognize the new organ as its own.

Thousands of kidney transplantations are performed every year, and nearly 99% of patients in the United States are still alive a year after the surgery. But even when the organ donor is a close relative, the transplant recipient often needs to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of their lives to guard against organ rejection. But although the drugs help to prevent rejection, they also increase the risk of infection and are very pricey.

Previous work in animals has suggested ways to avoid taking these drugs. Mice and monkeys given an organ transplant coupled with an infusion of blood stem cells could sometimes be weaned off the immunosuppressant drugs

Tags: science, research, technology, medical, transplantations, via:nature

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

The Eternal Truth

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:38:39 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.love-sessions.com

What is love? It is one of the most difficult questions for the mankind. Centuries have passed by, relationships have bloomed and so has love. But no one can give the proper definition of love. To some “Love is friendship set on fire” for others “Maybe love is like luck. You have to go all the way to find it”. No matter how you define it or feel it, love is the eternal truth in the history of mankind.

Love is patient, love is kind. It has no envy, nor it boasts itself and it is never proud. It rejoices over the evil and is the truth seeker. Love protects; preserves and hopes for the positive aspect of life.

Love should be experienced and not just felt. The depth of love can not be measured. Look at the relationship between a mother and a child. The mother loves the child unconditionally and it can not be measured at all.

Tags: i, believe, in, love

CNN readers respond angrily to 'race or gender' story

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 02:05:22 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

Within minutes of posting a story on CNN's homepage called "Gender or race: Black women voters face tough choices in South Carolina," readers reacted quickly and angrily.

Many took umbrage at the story's suggestion that black women voters face "a unique, and most unexpected dilemma" about voting their race or their gender.

An e-mailer named Tiffany responded sarcastically: "Duh, I'm a black woman and here I am at the voting booth. Duh, since I'm illiterate I'll pull down the lever for someone. Hm... Well, he black so I may vote for him... oh wait she a woman I may vote for her... What Ise gon' do? Oh lordy!"

Tiffany urged CNN to "pull this racist crap off" the Web site and to stop calling Hillary the "top female candidate."

"Stop calling Barack the "Black" candidate," she wrote.

Matt e-mailed, "The article itself shows black women have brains and actually choose candidates based on issues and not just gender or race, but CNN doesn't seem to give them that credit."

Tags: woman, women, black, politics, race, gender, media

Art - Kobus Moller (African wildlife)

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:22:55 GMT

clipped by: michellezm
clipper's remarks: Unfortunately I couldn't clip the larger versions

Clip Source: www.cornerstoneart.co.za

Clip Source: www.kobusmoller.com

Israeli and Palestinian soldiers form peace group

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 22:20:21 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: This is the kind of very brave thing that can stop wars. Read the article, it's heroic.

Clip Source: www.democracynow.org

we decided that it’s important to refuse, but just refusing to be part of something illegal and immoral and just refusing to be part of war crimes is not enough. You have to try to fix the wrongdoing that you were part of. And then, with many other people who refused to military service and to be part of the occupation in the Israeli side and Palestinian ex-fighters in the Palestinian side, people who were many years in Israeli prisons, we formed this group, which we called “Combatants for Peace.”

I know the name is a bit militaristic itself, but the idea is that we are going to have a joint struggle this time. And, in a way, the Israelis who woke up, the ex-fighters, are joining the Palestinian nonviolent struggle for liberation. And this is something that didn’t happen before. We have a lot of organizations of Israelis and Palestinians that are struggling together against the occupation, but not as former fighters.

Tags: israel, palestine, soldiers

Westboro Baptist church picketing Heath Ledger funeral

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 18:56:00 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: blog.newhumanist.org.uk

The Westboro Baptist Church have announced plans to picket the funeral of Australian actor Heath Ledger, who died yesterday aged just 28.

The Church, who have become infamous for saying God is enacting his revenge on America for its acceptance of homosexuality, and for picketing the funerals of US soldiers killed in Iraq, announced on their website that they will picket the actors funeral because he "promoted homosexuality" by starring in Brokeback Mountain.

With this in mind, it's worth repeating the words of Mariana Hyde from her Guardian showbiz blog: "Further comment feels unnecessary, other than perhaps to wonder whether the "church" will ever realise that their continued existence is the most eloquent argument against the existence of any deity. And then to accept the answer would be a no."

Clip Source: www.gossipboulevard.com

The church has announced it’s plans for a Ledger funeral protest in a disgusting bulletin posted on it’s official site

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

Reverse Graffiti

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 23:07:57 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks:

The Brazilian artist’s work came to a happier resolution. The authorities were certainly miffed but could find nothing to charge him with. They had no other recourse but to clean the tunnel — but only the parts Alexandre had already cleaned. The artist merely continued his campaign on the other side of traffic. The utterly flummoxed city officials then decided to take drastic action. Not only did they clean the entire tunnel but also every other tunnel in Sao Paulo.

Bravo!

Clip Source: www.inhabitat.com

REVERSE GRAFFITI: Clean Green Street Art

When is cleaning the sidewalks a crime? When you’re doing it to create art. Obviously.

A number of street artists around the world have taken to expressing themselves through an innovative practice known as Reverse Graffiti. Taking a cue from the “Wash Me” messages scrawled on the back of delivery trucks, they seek out soot covered surfaces and inscribe them with images, tags, and even advertising slogans using scrub brushes, scrapers and pressure hoses.

The practice puts authorities in a definite moral quandary.

“Once you do this, you make people confront whether or not they like people cleaning walls or if they really have a problem with personal expression.”

What action was taken against the advertisers is unknown. What is known is that Moose was charged under the very scary sounding Anti-Social Behaviour Act and ordered to clean up his clean act. I’m not exactly sure how he managed to did this. By making it dirty again?

Tags: art, graffiti, law