HUMAN OTTERS?

 This video may be currently ranked as the #1 most adorable occurrence in the entire world, but this water cuddle by Olympic swimmers Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa (who won the Men's 100m Breastsroke) and Christian Sprenger of Australia is certainly giving the otters a run for their money.

NEARLY A HALF CENTURY PROTEST

First Gay Rights Protest at the Pentagon: 1965. That year marked several important milestones in the history of organized gay protest. In April, gay rights advocates held the first ever pickets in front of the White House demanding equal treatment in federal employment and other areas of discrimination. During the year, those pickets would expand to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, and, on this date in history, the Pentagon. Participants in that picket line included gay rights pioneers Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings (whose birthday is also today; see below), Jack Nichols and eight others. Another 46 years would pass before the military ban on gays serving openly would finally be out the door. The ban officially ended last year on September 20. The New York Public Library has a small online digital gallery of that first Pentagon protest.

A SIDNEY SUMMER

Click to Enlarge

To walk under fully blooming Jacaranda trees in Sidney Australia is a natural high.

DONALD DESKEY'S VERY BEST.

Click all images to Enlarge

Outstanding Art Deco Cabinet Designed by Donald Deskey

American
c. 1935
Art Deco cabinet and sideboard with streamline
design in walnut wood with black lacquered details. 
The sideboard has curved front design. Two outer
doors open to reveal cabinet space with fitted shelves.
The sideboard also has four center drawers allowing
for maximum storage. Donald Deskey is considered
among the very best of the American Art Deco designers.

Price
$7,475

Condition*
Restored Mint Condition

Measurements
height: 34.25 in. (87 cm)
depth: 17.5 in. (44 cm)
width/length: 4 ft. 2 in. (127 cm)

Specifications
Number of items: 1
Creator: By Donald Deskey

Photography
provided by 1stdibs

Location
High Style Deco
224 west 18th street
New York, NY, 10011
Phone: 212-647-0035
E-Mail: howard@highstyledeco.com


Ref. : 12060879343046

BREATHTAKING ABOVE OVER OUR PLANET

STORM OF COMETS

Click to Enlarge

This artist's conception illustrates a storm of comets around a star near our own, called Eta Corvi. Evidence for this barrage comes from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, whose infrared detectors picked up indications that comets were recently torn to shreds after colliding with a rocky body. In this artist's conception, one such giant comet is shown smashing into a rocky planet, flinging ice- and carbon-rich dust into space, while also smashing water and organics into the surface of the planet. A glowing red flash captures the moment of impact on the planet. Yellow-white Eta Corvi is shown to the left, with still more comets streaming toward it. Spitzer detected spectral signatures of water ice, organics and rock around Eta Corvi -- key ingredients of comets. This is the first time that evidence for such a comet storm has been seen around another star. Eta Corvi is the right age, about one billion years old, to experience a bombardment of comets akin to what occurred in our own solar system at 600 to 800 millions years of age, termed the Late Heavy Bombardment. Scientists say the Late Heavy Bombardment was triggered in our solar system by the migration of our outer planets, which jostled icy comets about, sending some of them flying inward. The incoming comets scarred our moon and pummeled our inner planets. They may have even brought materials to Earth that helped kick start life. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech