Five-time Oscar winning film composer John Barry has died at the age of 77. Here is one of my favorites from his lengthy filmography.
TALENT WE HARDLY KNEW
Five-time Oscar winning film composer John Barry has died at the age of 77. Here is one of my favorites from his lengthy filmography.
WELL DESERVED RESPECT
John Fliszar (left) and Mark Ketterson
Gay Marine’s husband surprised at respect shown by Naval Academy
John Fliszar had a heart attack in 2006 and was rushed to Illinois Masonic Medical Center. “When I was in the emergency room with him, he asked me to promise him, if he died, to make sure his ashes were interred in the Naval Academy,” … Read More:
108 YEAR OLD MOVIE
An eight minute silent film adaptation of Lewis Caroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland directed by Cecil Hepworth.
FAROE ISLANDS FAIRYLAND
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JUST TOOLING ALONG IN HER MERRY OLDSMOBILE
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Toledo, Ohio, circa 1910. "Riverside Park and boat house.
STILL WON'T HIDE YOUR JUNK
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4TH AMENDMENT UNDERCLOTHES
Now there's a way to protest those intrusive TSA X-ray scanners without saying a word.
4th Amendment Metallic ink-printed undershirts and underwear.
Assert your rights without saying a word.
SUCH UNECESSARY LOSSES
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| For the second year in a row, last year the number of U.S. soldiers who killed themselves exceeded those killed in battle. One of the problems hindering the military's attempt to address soldier suicides is that there's no real rhyme or reason to what kind of soldier is killing himself. While many suicide victims are indeed afflicted with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after facing heavy combat in the Middle East, many more have never even been deployed. Of the 112 guardsmen who committed suicide last year, more than half had never even left American soil. "If you think you know the one thing that causes people to commit suicide, please let us know,” Army Vice Chief of Staff General Peter Chiarelli told the Army Times, "because we don't know what it is." |
PLAYING WITH FIRE
Although it might look like it, this building isn’t actually on fire. The conflagration is a choreographed art installation by Isabelle Hayeur in Downtown Eastside, Vancouver. The fire is created via video projectors and 3 blu-ray players. The effect, however, is completely realistic. Watch the video to see the ignition to all out 5 alarm. (via)
DEVIOUS CHRISTIANS
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R2D2'S ANCESTOR
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Lifesize Metal Prop Robot
American
1950's
A great robot in an amazing scale! We don't know all the history here, but he was most likely a movie or television prop originally. He was later used by a Midwestern sign company to rent for promotions and store openings. One could run a recorded message though the speaker planted in his mid section, while most of the lights illuminate. This handsome fellow displays obvious charm, and looks terrific in person!
Price
$5,800
Condition*
Solid Condition, Overall Age Enhancement
Measurements
height: 7 ft. 0.5 in.
depth: 24.5 in.
width/length: 34 in.
Specifications
Number of items: 1
Materials/Techniques: Painter Steel, Various Electrical Components
Creator: unknown
Photography
provided by Off The Wall Antiques
Location
Off The Wall Antiques
7325 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
USA
Phone: 323-930-1185
E-Mail: weirdstuff@earthlink.net
Ref. : U11011781201133
YOUNG ACHIEVERS
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| Click to Enlarge From left, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Associate Director for Science Carl Wieman; NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver; Billings, Montana, Central Catholic High School student Mikayla Nelson; Phoenix, Arizona, South Mountain Community College student Diego Vasquez; Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Dr. John P. Holdren; sixteen-year-old high school junior from Richardson, Texas, Amy Chyao; West Philadelphia High School student Brandon Ford; and, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden pose for a group photo at the New Executive Office Building, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011, in Washington. The students are all young achievers in science and technology and will be amongst other guests seated in the First Lady’s Box in the U.S. Capitol during the President’s State of the Union Address. |
THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES
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The Aeroscraft ML866 boasts a vast 5,000 square feet of interior room for the ultimate luxury experience. This "flying yacht" reaches a top speed of 120 knots and has vertical takeoff and landing capabilities.
For the complete story:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/future-planes-photos-incr_n_667009.html?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily+Brief&utm_campaign=daily_brief#s116898&title=NASA_Solar_Flapper
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| Click to Enlarge Unveiled in mid-July, the creators of this Airbus concept plane say it could potentially become the standard for air-travel by the year 2050. The plane features ultra long and slim wings, a "U" shaped tail, and a more "intelligent" body to boost performance and efficiency. The interior of the plane will also be revolutionary and environmentally friendly, according an Airbus press release: In ‘The Future by Airbus’ the company talks of morphing seats made from ecological, self-cleaning materials, which change shape for a snug fit; walls that become see-through at the touch of a button, affording 360 degree views of the world below; and holographic projections of virtual decors, allowing travelers to transform their private cabin into an office, bedroom or Zen garden! |
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/02/future-planes-photos-incr_n_667009.html?utm_source=Triggermail&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily+Brief&utm_campaign=daily_brief#s116898&title=NASA_Solar_Flapper
FOR THE BILLIONAIRE WHO HAS EVERYTHING
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British designers have produced plans for a floating replica of the principality named Streets Of Monaco which features scaled-down versions of its famous landmarks including the Monte Carlo racetrack. The 500ft-long boat - expected to cost up to £700million - also boasts miniatures of the famed Monte Carlo Casino, Hotel de Paris, Cafe de Paris, La Rascasse, the Loews Hotel as well as swimming pools and tennis courts. It even has a platform that holds smaller yachts in case prospective owners need something a little nippier to get around in. The most mind-bending feature is the Monaco Grand Prix-inspired go-kart track complete with tunnel complex which runs around the deck. The submarine is included.
SHE SURELY DOESN'T LOOK 90!
Teresa Scanlan, Miss Nebraska waves to the audience after being crowned Miss America 2011 during the Miss America pageant, Saturday, Jan. 15, 2011 in Las Vegas. This is the contest's 90th year and Teresa is almost the youngest at only 17. Margaret Gorman, Miss Washington D.C., the very first contestant in 1921, was 16!
RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER FROM MY HOME
Nestled in the post-WWII stuccapocalypse that is Upper Market is the Largent House by Richard Neutra, circa 1935. While Neutra houses are thick on the ground in the Los Angeles area, there are only five in San Francisco, with a few down the peninsula and in the East Bay. We know nothing about Mr./Mrs./Ms. Largent but this was radical stuff in the middle of the Great Depression. Like so many Neutra houses, Largent is now all white, although it may well have once been unpainted cement block and redwood siding, and above his typical shifting planes is a large glass block space with later greenhouse additions. On the corner of Hopkins and Burnett and worth imagining when it was one of the few houses in the neighborhood with open views to the northeast. There is an indoor heated saltwater pool under the greenhouse skylight!
Licensed real estate professionals Wayne Edfors and Derrik Anderson are sophisticated with the intricate details of listing and selling San Francisco real estate. They embrace a team approach representing Sellers and Buyers alike. Using two agents' talents to listen to your needs and communicate your progress with you, will give you peace of mind that every step of your transaction will be properly executed in selling or buying your San Francisco home.
A LGBTQ HISTORIC MILESTONE
The nation’s first gay museum opening in San Francisco’s Castro district showcases a variety of items ranging from Harvey Milk’s pink-framed sunglasses to manuscripts and sex toys.
The 1,600-square-foot museum, opening Wednesday, chronicles the evolution of what organizers call the liberation of the gay, bisexual and transgender community.
Milk’s sunglasses displayed in the GLBT History Museum are a tribute to the late San Francisco supervisor, who was the first elected openly gay politician in California.
GLBT Historical Society executive director Paul Boneberg told the San Francisco Chronicle the society has a five-year lease for a formerly empty storefront.
The society is relying on donations and volunteers to keep the museum open.
http://www.glbthistory.org/museum/index.html
http://www.glbthistory.org/museum/index.html
2011 DETROIT AUTO SHOW
The Audi A6 is seen during the press preview of the North American International Auto Show at the Cobo Center on January 10, 2011 in Detroit, Michigan. The show opened for media previews today and is open to the general public January 15-23.
SPACE ODDITY
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This image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope, an unusual, ghostly green blob of gas appears to float near a neighboring spiral galaxy.
The bizarre object, dubbed Hanny's Voorwerp (Hanny's Object in Dutch), is the only visible part of a 300,000-light-year-long streamer of gas stretching around the galaxy, called IC 2947. The greenish Voorwerp is visible because a beam of light from the galaxy's core illuminated it. This beam came from a quasar--a bright, energetic object powered by a black hole. The quasar may have turned off about 200,000 years ago.
This Hubble view uncovers a pocket of star clusters, the yellowish-orange area at the tip of Hanny's Voorwerp. The star clusters are confined to an area that is a few thousand light- years wide. The youngest stars are a couple of million years old. The Voorwerp is the size of our Milky Way galaxy, and its bright green color is from glowing oxygen.
An interaction between IC 2947 and another galaxy about a billion years ago may have created Hanny's Voorwerp and fueled the quasar. The Hubble image shows that IC 2947 has been disturbed, with complex dust patches, warped spiral arms, and regions of star formation around its core. These features suggest the aftermath of a galaxy merger. The bright spots in the central part of the galaxy are star-forming regions. The small, pinkish object to the lower right of IC 2397 is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the background.
The image was made by combining data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3. The ACS exposures were taken April 12, 2010; the WFC3 data, April 4, 2010.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel (University of Alabama) and the Galaxy Zoo Team
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The bizarre object, dubbed Hanny's Voorwerp (Hanny's Object in Dutch), is the only visible part of a 300,000-light-year-long streamer of gas stretching around the galaxy, called IC 2947. The greenish Voorwerp is visible because a beam of light from the galaxy's core illuminated it. This beam came from a quasar--a bright, energetic object powered by a black hole. The quasar may have turned off about 200,000 years ago.
This Hubble view uncovers a pocket of star clusters, the yellowish-orange area at the tip of Hanny's Voorwerp. The star clusters are confined to an area that is a few thousand light- years wide. The youngest stars are a couple of million years old. The Voorwerp is the size of our Milky Way galaxy, and its bright green color is from glowing oxygen.
An interaction between IC 2947 and another galaxy about a billion years ago may have created Hanny's Voorwerp and fueled the quasar. The Hubble image shows that IC 2947 has been disturbed, with complex dust patches, warped spiral arms, and regions of star formation around its core. These features suggest the aftermath of a galaxy merger. The bright spots in the central part of the galaxy are star-forming regions. The small, pinkish object to the lower right of IC 2397 is an edge-on spiral galaxy in the background.
The image was made by combining data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys and the Wide Field Camera 3. The ACS exposures were taken April 12, 2010; the WFC3 data, April 4, 2010.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Keel (University of Alabama) and the Galaxy Zoo Team
THE 49'ERS MISSED ONE
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| Click to Enlarge Some 150 years after the forty-niners rushed west in search of riches, a new gold discovery in the Sierra Nevada is stirring excitement. A 100-ounce nugget, found by a man last year on his property near Nevada City, Calif., is expected to fetch between $225,000 and $400,000 when it goes up for auction March 15 in Sacramento, Calif. Fred Holabird, a mining geologist whose Reno-based company is one of the country's largest sellers of Western Americana and is handling its sale, thinks it's the largest California gold nugget left in existence. Virtually all of California's gold fields have been thoroughly combed by miners, he said, and other monster nuggets from the Golden State have been melted into ingots for money. While bigger nuggets have surfaced in Australia in recent decades, no similar-sized placer nuggets from California have turned up in museums, he added. The Smithsonian Institution's largest placer nugget from California weighs about 80 ounces. "The chances of finding something like this anymore are beyond remote. It could be one in a trillion," Holabird said. The man was using a metal detector in an unmined ancient stream bed near the old Mother Lode mining camp of Washington when he stumbled on the nugget in February 2010. The Union of Grass Valley, Calif., has identified him as San Francisco businessman Jim Sanders. The so-called Washington Nugget is thick and oblong, and resembles a "squished loaf of bread," Holabird said, adding it was found in the same area where hydraulic mining was invented in the 19th century. A lack of records makes it difficult to determine how the nugget compares in size historically, said John Clinkenbeard, senior geologist with the California Geological Survey in Sacramento. But he said he's unaware of any similar 100-ounce placer nugget being found in California in recent decades. "I can't put a numerical value on how rare it is to find a nugget like this," Clinkenbeard said. "All I know is that large nuggets are very rare and your odds of finding one aren't very good." The largest known nugget found in California weighed 54 pounds and was found in 1859 in Butte County, he added.  "It's worth more as a collectible," he said. "No one will be melting this thing. It's one of the most important California gold artifacts that exist." |
FIRST IT WAS THE SIMPLE AIDS RIBBON NOW THIS
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| Click to Enlarge Last night Pauley Perrette, star of NCIS, took the image to the People’s Choice Awards, front and center. Literally. (stylebistro)
Although NCIS did not win Favorite TV Crime Drama, Pauley’s stance has, I’m sure, led the way for significantly more prominent visibility of this image in the future. I doubt many more dresses will take such a visible interpretation, but NO H8 will likely soon be assured a comfortable lapel home on many a talk show or interview. |
MAGELLAN COULDN'T HAVE IMAGINED THIS.
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This hemispheric view of Venus was created using more than a decade of radar investigations culminating in the 1990-1994 Magellan mission, and is centered on the planet's North Pole. The Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98 percent of the planet Venus and a mosaic of the Magellan spacecraft imaged more than 98 percent of the planet Venus and a mosaic of the Magellan images (most with illumination from the west) forms the image base. Gaps in the Magellan coverage were filled with images from the Earth-based Arecibo radar in a region centered roughly on 0 odegree latitude and longitude, and with a neutral tone elsewhere (primarily near the south pole). This composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Gaps in the Magellan coverage were filled with images from the Earth-based Arecibo radar in a region centered roughly on 0 degree latitude and longitude, and with a neutral tone elsewhere (primarily near the south pole). This composite image was processed to improve contrast and to emphasize small features, and was color-coded to represent elevation. Gaps in the elevation data from the Magellan radar altimeter were filled with altimetry from the Venera spacecraft and the Pioneer Venus missions.
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