ART CENTRIC Photography, 3D Art, Technology plus Diverse Art Centric Inspirations

ART CENTRIC Photography, 3D Art, Technology plus Diverse Art Centric Inspirations




		Mockingbird: Mimus polyglottos Is something keeping you awake these spring nights? Waking you up before sunrise? It seems that there's a lot of activity taking place when most of us expect our birds to be resting. Northern Mockingbirds are well known night callers, especially if there is a full moon or it's breeding season. Enthusiastic mockingbirds can stay up ALL night, mimicking every bird song in the book as well as other sounds such bells, whistles, car alarms, cell phones and sirens. These are birds that can try the patience of the most committed bird-lover! Mockingbirds have landed in South Florida and our state bird is looking for love - at the top of his lungs. Mockingbirds mate from February through August, but most breeding in Florida occurs in the Spring. The mocking bird, or mockingbird was adopted as the Florida state bird by Florida Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 3 approved on April 23, 1927. The northern mockingbird is known for its intelligence and has also been noted in North American culture. A 2009 study showed that the bird was able to recognize individual humans, particularly noting those who had previously been intruders or threats. Also birds recognize their breeding spots and return to areas in which they had greatest success in previous years. The males arrive before the beginning of the breeding season to establish their territories. They use a series of courtship displays to attract the females to their sites. They run around the area either to showcase their territory to the females or to pursue the females. The males also engage in flight to showcase their wings and they sing and call as they perform all of these displays. ~excerpts and image from: http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2011-05-27/news/fl-noisy-night-mockingbirds-20110527_1_mockingbird-state-bird-migratory-bird-treaty-act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_mockingbird http://www.kcet.org/news/redefine/revisit/wildlife/listen-to-the-mockingbird.html Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Women (and Beauty?) International Women's Day is celebrated on March 8 every year. Below is interesting information about this day. Back in the early 1930's Max Factor designed the item in today's image. It represented "perfect facial proportions" and was used in the film industry. The dichotomy between this device and International Women's Day is fascinating and perhaps shows some improved thinking. International Women's Day (IWD), originally called International Working Women's Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year. In different regions the focus of the celebrations ranges from general celebration of respect, appreciation, and love towards women to a celebration for women's economic, political, and social achievements. Started as a Socialist political event, the holiday blended the culture of many countries, primarily in Europe, especially those in the Soviet Bloc. In some regions, the day lost its political flavor, and became simply an occasion for people to express their love for women in a way somewhat similar to a mixture of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day. In other regions, however, the political and human rights theme designated by the United Nations runs strong, and political and social awareness of the struggles of women worldwide are brought out and examined in a hopeful manner. This year's theme, "Empowering Women - Empowering Humanity: Picture It!" envisions a world where each woman and girl can exercise her choices, such as participating in politics, getting an education, having an income, and living in societies free from violence and discrimination. The tortuous looking device in the image is a beauty calibrator or "micrometer", made in 1932 by makeup mogul Max Factor, the father of the modern cosmetics industry. A bizarre union of beauty and phrenology, this one-of-a-kind device was meant to be used as a tool for Hollywood make up artists, who could measure a starlet's face against "perfect" facial proportions and use heavy make up to correct her facial shape flaws. Made of flexible metal strips, it is held against the head using set screws and will supposedly reveal flaws that could be exaggerated on the movie screen. ~ excerpts from 3 Internet sites: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/ ~ image from: http://ridiculouslyinteresting.com/2013/02/21/what-is-this-thing-mystery-museum-object-5/#more-1852 Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Bee With No Stripes Discovered in Kenya It has a black head and a bright orange body, and velociraptor-like claws on its hind legs. It lives underground, not in a hive. And it lives by itself, instead of in the huge colonies we're used to. The world's newest-known bee has been named Samba turkan The hot, dusty bush and deserts of Turkana in Northern Kenya are one of our planet's most remote and exciting regions to explore. This harsh landscape is famous for its long record of human and vertebrate evolution - as part of the work of the Leakey family. The Turkana Basin holds the shimmering Lake Turkana that lies in the middle of the African Great Rift Valley. Turkana is also a region with unique biodiversity, that has adapted to the hot, dry conditions. At first look deserts and drylands may appear bleak and devoid of life. However, nothing could be further from the truth: these regions are teeming with life, but living things here have adapted to the extreme conditions, and often stay hidden or dormant for long periods of time. After brief rains life erupts with an unrivaled exuberance to make the most of the flowers and opportunity. This part of the world is particularly rich in different kinds of bees. Being bright orange, Samba turkan are easy to spot as they zip about the low-growing flowers that appear after the rains. These solitary bees start their day early in the morning racing to the flowers to gather pollen. As things dry up really quickly in the Turkana heat, they only have a couple of days to gather enough pollen for their larvae. The females nest in the ground, digging tunnels in the sand, where they make small cells that hold the stores of pollen and their young. Each female collects food for her own larvae and cares for her own nest individually - there's no sharing and cooperation like in the more familiar honeybees. The female Samba bees lay eggs on the stored pollen. If you're wondering what the males are doing, so are we! We haven't found any yet, but they are likely just focused on mating - we can already see that they don't help at the nest or collect pollen. ~excerpt and photo from: http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/25/a-new-bee-from-turkana-kenya/?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=link_tw20150226voices-beestripes&utm_campaign=Content&sf7662996=1 Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Scientists have discovered nature's newest strongest material It's as strong as steel and tough as a bulletproof vest, capable of withstanding the same amount of pressure it takes to turn carbon into a diamond. Scientists have discovered nature's newest strongest material, and it comes from a sea snail. British researchers announced that the teeth of shelled, aquatic creatures called limpets are the strongest biological material on Earth, overtaking the previous record-holder, spider silk. The teeth, which are so small they must be examined with a microscope, are composed of very thin, tightly-packed fibers containing a hard mineral called goethite. Limpets use them to scrape food off of rocks. The teeth also bested several man-made materials, including Kevlar, a synthetic fiber used to make bulletproof vests and puncture-proof tires. The amount of weight it can withstand can be compared to a strand of spaghetti used to hold up more than 3,300 pounds, the weight of an adult female hippopotamus. ~excerpt from: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/02/18/scientists-have-discovered-natures-newest-strongest-material-and-it-comes-from-a-sea-snail/ Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		National Margarita Day! Today! 5 o'clock? original photo by dmdart Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Pangolin World Pangolin Day (Today!) is an opportunity for pangolin enthusiasts to join together in raising awareness about these unique mammals and their plight. Pangolin numbers are rapidly declining, particularly in Asia. Pangolin trafficking is now recognized as a serious problem in Africa. Pangolins, also known as scaly anteaters, are unique creatures that are covered in hard, plate like scales. They are insectivorous (feeding on insects) and are mainly nocturnal. Their name, "pangolin", is derived from the Malay word "pengguling", which loosely translates to "something that rolls up". Together, the eight species comprise their very own Order: Pholidota. In 2013, an estimated 8,125 of these shy creatures were confiscated in 49 instances of illegal trade across 13 countries. Because seizures represent just 10 to 20 percent of the actual illegal trade volume, this strongly suggests that approximately 40,625 to 81,250 pangolins were killed in just one year. An estimated one million of them have been traded and killed within the past ten years. This makes them the most trafficked animals in the world. The demand for pangolins comes mostly from China, where pangolin scales are unfortunately believed to be a cure-all of sorts and pangolin flesh is considered a delicacy. In Vietnam, pangolins are frequently offered at restaurants catering to wealthy patrons who want to eat rare and endangered wildlife. There is no evidence to support claims regarding medicinal properties of pangolin scales or any other part of the pangolin. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), virtually no information is available on population levels of any species of pangolin. These species are rarely observed due to their secretive, solitary, and nocturnal habits, and there has been little research on their population densities. However, all species are thought to be in decline, with some more rapidly so than others - particularly the Asian species. ~excerpt from: http://pangolins.org/world-pangolin-day/ ~image from: http://whitmanpioneer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/pangolin_05.jpg Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		One Fruit Tree - 40 Fruits Van Aken's Tree of 40 Fruit, an invention that's just what it sounds like, is capable of producing 40 different varieties of fruit - plums, peaches, apricots, nectarines, cherries and others. The 42-year-old sculptor and art professor at Syracuse University created his first multi-fruit tree back in 2008, by grafting together branches from different trees. He intended to produce a piece of natural art that would transform itself. He thought of the tree as a sculpture, because he could, based on what he grafted where, determine how it morphed. Today, there are 18 of these wondrous trees across the country, with three more being planted this spring in Illinois, Michigan and California. Seven are located in New York - including the very first Tree of 40 Fruit that's still on the Syracuse campus - and six more are in a small grove in Portland, Maine. While it takes precision, the grafting required to create these multi-fruit trees is not that complicated a process. Van Aken, who grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania, takes a slice of a fruit tree that includes buds and inserts it into a matching incision in a host tree, one that's been growing for at least three years. He then wraps electrical tape around the spot to hold the pieces together. When all goes well, the veins of the different trees flow into each other so that they share a vascular system. ~excerpt and photo from: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/a-tree-grows-40-different-types-of-fruit-180953868/ Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Sanibel Island Rotary Art Show Since I occasionally photograph for SantivaChronicle.com, I covered the Rotary Art Show that took place yesterday. Take a look here and see some of the wonderful art at the show: http://santivachronicle.com/Content/Photo-Gallery/Photo-Gallery/Photo-Gallery/Rotary-Arts-and-Crafts-Fair-2015/7/7/40 original photo by dmdart Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Tibi Tibi Neuspiel's Strange Sandwiches Toronto-based artist Tibi Tibi Neuspiel Tibi Tibi's works are highly approachable, wonderfully absurd, and visually appealing. And just a little bit ridiculous. They might not exactly evoke a "fine" art aesthetic, but his work is not light on artistic merit or craftsmanship. Incredibly, they are not photographs of real sandwiches, but rather beautifully crafted encaustic wax sculptures. Rather than relying on the veneer of curious appeal, his work instead uses this bizarre allure as a vehicle to draw the viewer into the deeper levels of the work. The image and the words above are excerpted from here: http://ridiculouslyinteresting.com/2011/10/13/tibi-tibi-neuspiels-subversive-sandwiches/ and you can see more of his work here: http://tibitibi.com/ Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		How The Measles Virus Became A Master of Contagion [Image: Measles-infected immune cells (green blobs) pass on the viruses to epithelial cells lining the nose.] Measles is among the most contagious viruses on Earth. Every infected person infects between 12 and 18 other people. As a virus, it has to do three things in order to avoid extinction: it has to invade a new host, make copies of itself, and get those copies to another host. People get infected with measles viruses by breathing them into their lungs. The lining of the lungs contains immune cells that destroy incoming invaders and kill off infected cells. The measles virus boldly attacks these very sentinels. It uses a molecular key to open a passage into the immune cells. Once inside, it starts making new viruses that infect other immune cells. The virus-laden cells then creep from the windpipe to the lymph nodes, which are crowded with still more immune cells. It's like a walk in Disneyland, except inside a person's body. From the lymph nodes, infected immune cells spread the virus throughout the body. If the virus manages to slip into the nervous system, it can cause permanent brain damage. After several days of multiplying, the virus starts making preparations to leave its host. Some of the infected immune cells creep up into the nose. The interior lining of the nose is made up of sheets of epithelial cells. The immune cells nuzzle up to the epithelial cells. A protein on their surface, made by the viruses, fuses them to the epithelial cells, allowing the virus to cross over. Now the measles virus is another step closer to leaving its host and finding a new one. Each infected epithelial cell starts making huge numbers of new measles viruses, which it dumps out into the nasal cavity, where they can get exhaled. Meanwhile, the infection also damages the upper airway, causing infected cells to rip free and get coughed out of the body. People sick with measles release clouds of virus-laden droplets. The big droplets fall quickly to the ground or other surfaces, where they can stay infectious for hours. The small droplets meanwhile rise into the air, where they are lofted by currents and can deliver measles to people far away. The sheer number of viruses produced by each sick person, along with the adaptations the viruses have for penetrating deep into the airway, make them tremendously contagious. If someone gets sick with measles, up to ninety percent of people in the same home who aren't already immune will get sick, too. And because infected people can transmit the virus for days before symptoms emerge, the virus can spread to many homes before anyone realizes an outbreak is underway. And the virus droplets remain contagious in a room for several hours after the infected person has left. The contagion of measles is part of a "one-and-done" strategy that the viruses have evolved. After people recover from measles infections, their immune systems will protect them for life. As a result, the virus needs to be highly contagious for its long-term survival. This strategy also means that measles vaccines can be extremely effective. By teaching people's immune systems what the measles virus looks like, vaccines provide protection for life. Measles only infects humans. If we could make our species measles-free, that would mean the virus had become extinct, never to return. And the life cycle of measles actually makes it possible to block its transmission from person to person. It's very rare for infections to last more than a couple weeks, so that there isn't the risk of people surreptitiously spreading the disease for years. People who do get sick won't get sick again, which takes them out of the pool of potential hosts. And we are fortunate to have a safe, effective way to break measles transmission: a vaccine. Before the development of measles vaccines in the early 1960s, 7 to 8 million children died around the world every year. In 2014, that figure was down to 145,000 deaths. The World Health Organization estimates that between 2000 and 2013, measles vaccination prevented 15.6 million deaths. ~excerpt and image from: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2015/02/05/how-the-measles-virus-became-a-master-of-contagion/ Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		Artist Kelvin Hair Kelvin Hair was born into art. His father was Alfred Hair, the founder of the Highwaymen. The Highwaymen is the name given to a loosely associated group of young African-American artists living in the Fort Pierce area of Florida. They would sell their works, often still wet, door to door to various businesses, on the roadside or out of car trunks. They painted on Upson board and they painted fast, often painting many works simultaneously. They painted what they felt: no rules. Alfred Hair was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame in 2004. I met Kelvin Hair yesterday, at an excellent art show, and am now the very happy owner of the painting shown here. To me, this painting encompasses what I envision when I think of Highwaymen paintings. Kelvin created paintings from an early age and has honed his skill through the years. He is well known and shows his vision, expressiveness, imagination and artistic integrity in each work he creates. The information here is excerpted from Kelvin Hair's brochure, but you can read more and see more at his website: http://www.khairart.com/ Another excellent source of information is: http://www.floridahighwaymen.com Send this link to anyone you think would be interested in reading this entry.




		What is Art? This is a photo of two little girls not looking at modern art in the San Francisco Museum of Art. (Perhaps they are looking for art in unseen places.) As Clement Greenberg, a strong champion of abstract expressionism, once said: "To hold that one kind of art must invariably be superior or inferior to another kind means to judge before experiencing; and the whole history of art is there to demonstrate the futility of rules of preference laid down beforehand: the impossibility, that is, of anticipating the outcome of aesthetic experience." The photographer of this image is unknown. It is thought to have been an image in Life Magazine prior to 1975.




		Bansky Banksy is a pseudonymous English graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humour with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique. His works of political and social commentary have been featured on streets, walls, and bridges of cities throughout the world. Banksy displays his art on publicly visible surfaces such as walls and self-built physical prop pieces. Banksy does not sell photographs or reproductions of his street graffiti, but art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder. Banksy's first film, Exit Through the Gift Shop, billed as "the world's first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The above image is: The Key to Making Great Art is all in the Composition, 2005, Bansky ~excerpts above are from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy and you can see much more of Bansky's work at: http://banksy.co.uk/ Take some time to go to his site and see the film. It's inventive, original work.




		An Iceberg Flipped Over and Its Underside Is Breathtaking Snow-covered icebergs dominate the scene near the shore of the Antarctic Peninsula, the northernmost part of the icy south polar region. Between the sun, the water and icy peaks, the beauty can be quite literally blinding. This mass rose about 30 feet out the water. Whereas most iceberg tips are covered in snow or have been weathered by the elements, this one is free of debris, exposing glassy, aqua-green ice with water flowing through it. Icebergs form when chunks of freshwater ice calve - or break off - from glaciers and ice shelves, as well as other icebergs. Because of the varying densities of ice and saltwater, only about 10 percent of an iceberg will ever show at the surface, and that protruding tip will gather dirt and snow. Melting can trigger calving, but it can also change the equilibrium of an iceberg, causing it to flip. In the case of this jewel-like iceberg, the ice is probably very old. In glaciers, years of compression force out air pockets and gradually make the ice denser, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. "When glacier ice becomes extremely dense, the ice absorbs a small amount of red light, leaving a bluish tint in the reflected light, which is what we see." In addition, minerals and organic matter may have seeped into the underwater part of the iceberg over time, creating its vivid green-blue color. Flipping icebergs are occurring more frequently now due to climate change. Outlet glaciers are rivers of ice that flow outward from an ice cap or ice sheet and into the sea. Outlet glaciers have been retreating in Antarctica and Greenland and this contributes to iceberg flipping. ~excerpt and photo from: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/photographer-captures-stunning-underside-flipped-iceberg-180953951/?utm_source=twitter.com&no-ist




		Lamborghini Countach The Lamborghini Countach is a mid-engined supercar that was produced by Italian automaker Lamborghini from 1974 to 1990. Its design both pioneered and popularized the wedge-shaped, sharply angled look popular in many high-performance sports cars. The "cabin-forward" design concept, which pushes the passenger compartment forward in order to accommodate a larger engine, was also popularized by the Countach. The word countach is an exclamation of astonishment in the local Piedmontese language. The Countach was styled by Marcello Gandini of the Bertone design studio. Gandini was then a young, inexperienced designer - not very experienced in the practical, ergonomic aspects of automobile design, but at the same time unhindered by them. Gandini produced a striking design. The Countach shape was wide and low (42.1 inches), but not very long (only 163 inches). Its angular and wedge-shaped body was made almost entirely of flat, trapezoidal panels. The doors, a Lamborghini trademark first started with the Countach, were scissor doors: hinged at the front with horizontal hinges, so that they lifted up and tilted forwards. The main reason is the car's tubular spaceframe chassis results in very high and wide door sills. It was also partly for style, and partly because the width of the car made conventional doors impossible to use in an even slightly confined space. The superior performance characteristics of later Lamborghini models appealed to performance car drivers and engineers, but they never had the originality or outrageousness that gave the Countach its distinction. ~excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamborghini_Countach original photos by dmdart




		Gems If you thought gems were beautiful to the naked eye, take a look at them under a microscope. To collectors and sellers, an ideal gem is devoid of excess minerals called inclusions, which are seen as detractors of value or beauty. To many gemologists, inclusions are tools that can help them determine where a gem is from or under what conditions it formed. ~excerpt and photo from: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/gems-minerals-inclusions-inside-photography-art-science-180953662/




		New Mexico Ice Halos Ice crystals high in Earth's atmosphere can shape light in unexpected and beautiful ways. It's not quite like finding diamonds in the sky, but a photographer in Red River, New Mexico, was lucky enough to catch rainbow-like arcs and pillars of light blazing over a snowy landscape. This example of sunlight run amok is caused by the collision of light and ice crystals high in Earth's atmosphere. Those frozen specks of water bend or refract light in myriad ways to produce arcs, halos, and pillars of light. Air temperatures, as well as the shape and arrangement of ice crystals, fine-tune the phenomena that we see. One of the most prominent features in the New Mexico picture - just above the tree line in the center of the image - is a bright, vertical mass called a sun pillar. Cooler air temperatures boost the brightness of phenomena like these. The circle of light ringing the pillar is a 22-degree halo. These halos are fairly common and are so named because they occur at a 22-degree angle from the sun. They're created by six-sided, or hexagonal, ice crystals. The glaring blob of light to the right of the pillar is called a sun dog, which is the result of ice crystals that are only partly aligned with each other. The delicate strands of light winging out from the top of the sun pillar are tangent arcs. They're formed when tube-shaped hexagonal ice crystals are oriented on their sides. ~excerpt and photo from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150114-ice-halo-weird-weather-phenomena-science/




		Saving the Colorado River Delta, One Habitat at a Time A trickle of water is being returned to a few parts of the dried-out delta and those parts are blooming. Thanks to a bi-national agreement, a "pulse flow" of water eventually made its way to the sea, the first time the Colorado River reached the Gulf of California in years. This is part of an innovative effort to restore small parts of the two-million-acre Colorado River Delta. Thanks to dams and canals that have diverted water to farm fields and cities, the Colorado no longer reaches the sea, and its delta has been desiccated. But now a coalition of environmentalists, community leaders, and governments, working under a U.S.-Mexico agreement that is allowing them to reclaim a small fraction of the river's water for the environment, are trying to reverse some of the damage in a few places. Since the pulse release, migratory birds like warblers, sparrows, and woodpeckers have begun showing up again. Those animals have been followed by raptors, rattlesnakes, and coyotes. What's more, the return of water is refilling the groundwater aquifer below. Two-thirds of the water has already been provided, in equal parts by the U.S. and Mexican federal governments, as a single pulse of 105,392 acre-feet. It was released last March from Lake Mead through Hoover Dam. Over a period of about eight weeks, it flowed down the Colorado and into the river's original channel at Morelos Dam in Mexico. The results have been dramatic. Thousands of trees sprang up along the banks. Groundwater was recharged. For the first time in many years, the Colorado River reached the sea - and a lot of people along the way. The goal is to restore blocks of each type of original habitat, from the riparian forest at Miguel Aleman to brackish marshes in the middle of the delta to mud flats where the river once emptied into the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California). ~excerpts: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/12/141216-colorado-river-delta-restoration-water-drought-environment/ Photograph by Peter McBride, National Geographic Creative




		Stephen Hawking (Jan 8, 1942) Stephen Hawking has worked on the basic laws which govern the universe. With Roger Penrose he showed that Einstein's General Theory of Relativity implied space and time would have a beginning in the Big Bang and an end in black holes. These results indicated that it was necessary to unify General Relativity with Quantum Theory, the other great scientific development of the first half of the 20th Century. One consequence of such a unification that he discovered was that black holes should not be completely black, but rather should emit radiation and eventually evaporate and disappear. Another conjecture is that the universe has no edge or boundary in imaginary time. This would imply that the way the universe began was completely determined by the laws of science. Among the popular books Stephen Hawking has published are his best seller A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, The Universe in a Nutshell, The Grand Design and My Brief History. Professor Hawking has twelve honorary degrees. He was awarded the CBE in 1982, and was made a Companion of Honour in 1989. He is the recipient of many awards, medals and prizes, is a Fellow of The Royal Society and a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences. Professor Hawking was diagnosed with ALS, a form of Motor Neurone Disease, shortly after his 21st birthday. In spite of being wheelchair bound and dependent on a computerised voice system for communication Stephen Hawking continues to combine family life (he has three children and three grandchildren), and his research into theoretical physics together with an extensive program of travel and public lectures. He still hopes to make it into space one day. ~excerpt from www.hawking.org.uk There so much more to read about Professor Hawking on the Internet and in his books. You can start with the above link, but don't stop there. The artist's concept above shows a supermassive black hole with millions to billions times the mass of our sun. Supermassive black holes are enormously dense objects buried at the hearts of galaxies, and fundamental aspects of their behavior have baffled scientists. Image by NASA/JPL-Caltech: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/jpl/news/nustar20130227_prt.htm




		Monarch Butterfly May Join Endangered Species List I mourn for each creature that is harmed by mankind's actions, whether well-meaning or senseless. I will admit that some losses affect me more strongly. (I'm human.) The killing of Rhinos to utilize their horns for virility enhancement disgusts me, though some people who follow this practice base their beliefs on ancient medicinal arts. The fact that there are less than 100 Florida Panthers left in the wild is heartwrenching. I once created an art piece that incorporated the Carolina Parakeet that had inhabited a good portion of the U.S., a most beautiful bird of yellow and bright green: the species was declared extinct in 1939. I have watched Monarch Butterflies during the summers of my life. They are ethereal. Their patterns are phenomenally bright, crisp and artistic. And now the news is that these creatures of our life may be added to the Endangered Species list. What a tragedy. --- The Monarch Butterfly's numbers have declined dramatically in North America. Over the past 20 years, North America's population of monarch butterflies has declined by a catastrophic 90 percent, a plight that may be caused by pesticides and loss of the once-vast acres of wild milkweed that are the creatures' food source. On Dec. 29, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it is launching a scientific review to determine whether the monarch butterfly should be protected by law under the Endangered Species Act, a 1973 law designed to protect species from becoming extinct. The Xerces Society said the North American population of monarchs has declined from 1 billion in 1996 to just 35 million this past winter, the lowest number ever recorded. Xerces tied the decline of monarchs to the widespread planting of genetically modified corn and soybean crops in the U.S. Midwest, where most of the butterflies are born. The GMO plants are designed to be immune to an herbicide that kills off milkweed. Over the last two decades, monarchs have lost more than 165 million acres of habitat - an area roughly the size of Texas. In addition, butterflies are threatened by climate change, drought, urban sprawl and logging on their Mexican winter range. Monarchs need a very large population size to be resilient to threats from severe weather events and predation. Nearly half of the overwintering population in Mexico can be eaten by bird and mammal predators in any single winter; a single winter storm in 2002 killed an estimated 500 million monarchs - 14 times the size of the entire current population. ~excerpt and photo from: http://news.discovery.com/animals/monarch-butterfly-may-join-endangered-species-list-141231.htm. Additional excerpt from www.xerces.org/




		Turquoise Turquoise is the most wonderful stone: the polished color ranges through blues and greens with designs of matrix (the brown/tan) running throughout. I "found" this piece in Window Rock, AZ and I saw a pendant living in it. The simple beading around the edge is merely a finishing element: 5 rows deep of tiny glass beads catches the color of the matrix and frames the lovely blues of the stone. The history of turquoise is interesting in itself and adds to the stones allure. Turquoise is perhaps the oldest stone in man's history, the talisman of kings, shamans, and warriors. It is a stone of protection, strong and opaque, yet soothing to the touch, healing to the eye, as if carved from an azure heaven and slipped to earth. Its unique shade of blue, often blue-green, lends it name, Turquoise, to all things of this tranquil hue. The delicate veining or mottled webbing in cream or brown is inherent to the stone and serves to enhance its character. The name Turquoise is derived from the French, pierre turquoise, meaning "Turkish stone," because the trade routes that brought Turquoise to Europe from the mines in central Asia went through Turkey, and Venetian merchants often purchased the stone in Turkish bazaars. For thousands of years, Turquoise has spanned all cultures, prized as a symbol of wisdom, nobility and the power of immortality. Among the Ancient Egyptians, Persians and Chinese, Aztecs and Incas of South America, and Native North Americans, Turquoise was sacred in its adornment and for power, luck, and protection. Turquoise beads dating back to 5000 B.C. have been found in Iraq, and the Egyptians were mining the stones in the Sinai in 3200 B.C. The death mask of Tutankhamun was studded with Turquoise, as were the mosaic masks dedicated to the gods, the fabulous inlaid skulls, shields and power statues of Moctezuma, the last ruler of the Aztecs. For nearly a thousand years, Native Americans have mined and fashioned Turquoise, using it to guard their burial sites. Their gems have been found from Argentina to New Mexico. Indian priests wore it in ceremonies when calling upon the great spirit of the sky. Many honored Turquoise as the universal stone, believing their minds would become one with the universe when wearing it. Because of its ability to change colors, it was used in prophesy or divining. To the prehistoric Indian, Turquoise, worn on the body or used in ceremonies always signified the god of the sky alive in the earth. This excerpt is from www.crystalvaults.com/crystal-encyclopedia/turquoise but there is much to read about turquoise (including "Tiffany turquoise") and many different ideas about it's meanings. original photo and beadwork by dmdart




		New Year's Contemplation Storage It is a simple thought to say the soul, in a way, must be quite like an old cellar. A space to hold things or hold space for light or shadow to shine forth. A place of whole acceptance, cradling all until filled or over filled -- boxes stacked and shelves stuffed, webs and mold and micro worlds proliferating the unattended darkness. To most folks, the things feel put away, dealt with, yet a burden appears plainly in the heavy eyes and heavier steps of the attending body. The cellar can, of course, be cleaned and cleared, swept out and lit up, the stacks slimmed, the files trimmed, the shelves relieved and lightened. The door can be opened to new air, a window dug and built to permit sunshine and moon glow, a song hummed into the bare walls and cold floors. All that is surely good, it seems -- a refreshment, a warming, an illumination. It is also good, essential really, to descend into the storage space on a moonless night and feel the crawling and prowling of animal and spirit, to stand silently before the long shut-up boxes on leaning shelves and simply weep until morning or sleep sweeps you up and carries you back into the comforts of the living room. ~by Timothy P McLaughlin, a poet and spiritual teacher. He taught in Native communities of South Dakota, Montana, and New Mexico for 13 years and founded the Spoken Word Program at the Santa Fe Indian School. He and his students received numerous awards and were featured in many publications and programs, among them the New York Times and the PBS News Hour. ~excerpt from THE, Santa Fe, NM's monthly magazine to and for the Arts: August 2014 original photo by dmdart




		Northern White Rhinos In October this year, a 34 year old male, Suni, was found dead in his enclosure in Kenya, presumed of natural causes. He was one of two breeding males of his subspecies left on Earth. The northern white rhinoceros is a "victim of evolution". It was a remnant population cut off from the southern white rhinoceros by the Great Rift Valley and the dense forests of Central Africa. Already isolated and occurring in low numbers, the northern subspecies got caught up in political turmoil in Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Uganda, and its numbers quickly dwindled because of poaching and habitat loss. With just one breeding male left, the outlook for the subspecies is grim. Rhinoceroses are key to keeping grasslands healthy, as they eat and keep in check particular species of savanna plants. It's not just another charismatic animal,it's also a species that has a very clear ecological role, and we need to be very worried that we have lost that. Rhino Lessons The story of the northern white rhinoceros is a fantastic lesson on what not to do, and how we need to avoid getting to this point with the other rhinos. The black rhinoceros, which has four subspecies, is doing relatively well, though widespread poaching for the animals' horns, which are used in Asian traditional medicine, continues to flourish. Conservationists are now focusing their efforts on ensuring the safety of these animals and reducing the demand for rhino horn in Asian countries such as Vietnam. But scientists aren't ready to give up on the northern white rhino. If the last breeding male doesn't mate, scientists may be able to breed the northern white rhino females with the southern subspecies. That would preserve some of the genes of the northern white rhino, even if the genes are mixed with those of their relative. ~excerpt and photo: news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141020-rhinoceros-death-suni-kenya-science-world-endangered-animals/




		Sun's Sizzling X-rays An "X-ray eye" designed to study distant galaxies and black holes has turned its attention to our own star and snapped a remarkable portrait. Nasa's Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (Nustar), launched into orbit in 2012, views the universe in very high-energy X-rays. Because of its very high sensitivity, Nustar could solve some long-standing puzzles, such as whether "nanoflares" exist. These proposed smaller versions of the Sun's giant flares could help explain why its outer atmosphere is many times hotter than its surface-a decades-old question. Nustar will give a unique look at the Sun, from the deepest to the highest parts of its atmosphere. As well as probing the Sun, the Nustar team will also use the mission extension, which runs to 2016, to continue studying more far-flung objects including black holes and supernova remnants. ~excerpt and photo from www.nustar.caltech.edu/




		On this Christmas Day I bring you a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Published in 1850, the year he was appointed Poet Laureate. It is recited throughout the world at this time of year. It is partially an elegy to a friend of Tennyson's, but also brings a feeling of renewal and hope: the spirit of Christmas. *** Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more, Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. Ring out a slowly dying cause, And ancient forms of party strife; Ring in the nobler modes of life, With sweeter manners, purer laws. Ring out the want, the care, the sin, The faithless coldness of the times; Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes, But ring the fuller minstrel in. Ring out false pride in place and blood, The civic slander and the spite; Ring in the love of truth and right, Ring in the common love of good. Ring out old shapes of foul disease, Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; Ring out the thousand wars of old, Ring in the thousand years of peace. Ring in the valiant man and free, The larger heart the kindlier hand; Ring out the darkness of the land, Ring in the Christ that is to be. original photo by dmdart




		Ancient Cave Art A new study dates these Indonesian handprints to at least 40,000 years old. The world's oldest cave art may not lie in Europe but rather halfway around the globe in Indonesia, according to a new study of the long-known art. Thousands of years ago, people on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia spray-painted stencils of their hands on the walls and roofs of caves by blowing red paint out of their mouths. They also painted strange-looking pigs in red and mulberry hues. Archaeologists assumed the paintings, discovered in the 1950s, were less than 10,000 years old. Now, a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers has found that the paintings are startlingly ancient. The hand stencils are at least 40,000 years old and the animal paintings at least 35,400 years old. That makes them about the same age or even slightly older than the famous cave art in Europe, which was until now the most ancient in the world. The discovery has important implications for how and when humans developed the ability for symbolic expression. There is much more information about this art and other ancient art at: news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2014/10/indonesian-cave-art-may-be-worlds-oldest




		Winter Solstice Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere will begin today, Dec. 21 at 6:03 p.m. EST. Officially the first day of winter, the winter solstice occurs when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun. This is the longest night of the year, meaning that the days get progressively longer after the winter solstice until the summer solstice in June. The bougainvilla image above shows the flower of one of the most profuse winter flowers on Sanibel Island and areas in similar temperate zones original photo by dmdart




		Earthship From whatever direction you travel on Route 64, west of Taos, NM, as you approach the Greater World Earthship Community, you could think you are entering another world entirely. The structures seem organic, as if they are growing right out of the ground. The colors are earthy and light glints off the cans and bottles used in the construction. Staying overnight in an Earthship is enlightening. This is off-the-grid living. To many, it is surprising that there are no compromises. The structures are wonderfully light and colorful, with excellent furnishings, design and all the amenities you'd want, along with a view of the mountains that will inspire. Earthships are primarily designed to work as autonomous buildings using thermal mass construction and a natural cross ventilation that is assisted by thermal draft to regulate indoor temperature. They are designed to be off-the-grid ready homes, minimizing their reliance on both public utilities and fossil fuels. They're made of earth-rammed tires, cement, steel, bottles and cans. It is the epitome of sustainable design and construction. No part of sustainable living has been ignored in this ingenious building. Visit the Earthship web site for many photographs and in-depth explanations. Earthships are being built throughout the world and the Earthship organization is currently raising funds to build in low income and impoverished areas. original photo by dmdart




		I am going to be away for a few days. This link: saganseries.com : includes 10 videos in The Sagan Series, a collection of tribute videos dedicated to the late, great Carl Sagan. The Sagan Series is an open source project intended to promote scientific literacy. Please take the time to view the videos on this link. Not only is the photography phenomenal, but the music and the narration is inspiring. Viewing all the videos should hold you until I return. The videos are: The Frontier is Everywhere Life Looks for Life A Reassuring Fable Per Aspera Ad Astra Decide to Listen End of an Era: The Final Shuttle Launch The Long Astronomical Perspective Gift of Apollo The Humans The Pale Blue Dot Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934-December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, science popularizer, and science communicator in astronomy and other natural sciences. He is best known for his contributions to the scientific research of extraterrestrial life, including experimental demonstration of the production of amino acids from basic chemicals by radiation. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books. Sagan always advocated scientific skeptical inquiry and the scientific method, pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He spent most of his career as a professor of astronomy at Cornell University, where he directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. excerpt from en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Sagan Have fun viewing! original photo by dmdart




		The Watts Towers Sabato Rodia was born in Serino, Italy in 1879 and arrived in the United States around 1894. He came to Watts in 1921at age 42. The Watts Towers of Simon Rodia, his masterpiece and the world's largest single construction created by one individual, was his obsession for 33 years. He called it "Nuestro Pueblo" or "Our Town". It is located on a residential lot in the community of Watts in South Central Los Angeles, California. The Watts Towers structure consists of seventeen major sculptures and was created out of steel covered with mortar and embellished by the decorative finishings of mosaic tiles, glass, clay, shells and rock. There is no welded inner armature. Rodia wired rebars together then wrapped this joint with wire mesh and hand packed it with mortar and his mosaic surface. Two of the towers rise to a height of nearly 100 feet. In 1959, the International Conference of Museum Curators resolved that Rodia's Towers are a unique combination of sculpture and architecture and the paramount work of folk art of the 20th century in the United States. The Towers are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are a National Historic Landmark, a State of California Historic Monument, a State of California Historic Park and, in March 1965, the Watts Towers were officially designated as Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Monument Number 15. ~excerpts and photos from: www.wattstowers.org and www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=613




		Orion Do you have your boarding pass? 1.3 million people will "fly" into space on Orion. If you had the foresight to submit your name before the deadline, you are part of a group of adventurers whose names will accompany the Orion maiden voyage. Engineers "wrote" 1.3 million names on to an 8mm square silicon wafer microchip that is aboard the Orion and will take flight. (How you could have sent your name on this trip!) NASA's Orion spacecraft is built to take humans farther than they've ever gone before. Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. On December 5, 2014, Orion is scheduled to launch atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex Flight Test on the Orion Flight Test: a two-orbit, four-hour flight that will test many of the systems most critical to safety. The Orion Flight Test will evaluate launch and high speed re-entry systems such as avionics, attitude control, parachutes and the heat shield. In the future, Orion will launch on NASA's new heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System. More powerful than any rocket ever built, SLS will be capable of sending humans to deep space destinations such as an asteroid and eventually Mars. Exploration Mission-1 will be the first mission to integrate Orion and the Space Launch System. ~excerpt from www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/orion/




		The Art of News and Event Reporting SantivaChronicle.com has taken news and event reporting to an elevated level for Sanibel and Captiva Islands, FL. Paper newspapers that cover the islands are printed once a week, meaning that much of the news in the papers is old by the time it's delivered. SantivaChronicle.com delivers news and event coverage immediately. At a recent very active, very long City Council meeting, SC posted 4 items during the meeting, as the discussions and important decisions were taking place. As SC has evolved over the past year, it is evident that there is a real art to putting an on-line news source together from scratch, to designing the site, to updating the site, to delving into the islands' environmental, artistic and political concerns and being able to deliver SC all the time, everyday to islanders and visitors who care deeply about Sanibel and Captiva. The entry to this blog is here today because SC has a new web site. Not entirely new in look, but new in functionality and ease of use. This behind the scenes art of on-line design and production is often overlooked, but is remarkable and worthy of mention. It is vision, it is design, it is technology, it is passion: it is art. ~ Read SantivaChronicle.com for news, art, community, historical, videos, environmental and political stories of the islands.




		The Art of Fine Drinking Chocolate Kakawa Chocolate House is a specialty chocolate company located in the beautiful high desert town of Santa Fe, New Mexico. "Our passion is authentic and historic drinking chocolates." Historic drinking chocolates include traditional Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican Mayan Aztec drinking chocolates; 1600's European drinking chocolates, Colonial American and Colonial Mexican drinking chocolates. Kakawa Chocolate House drinking chocolates are representative of these historic recipes and span the time period 1000 BC to the mid-1900s AD. Do not think that this chocolate is "hot chocolate" as you know it. This is truly a voyage into Chocolate, with a capital "C". Flavors envelop your senses and bring you a unique experience. I've been there. I've enjoyed it. There is no chocolate like it. If you aren't in Santa Fe where you can stop in, then visit the Kakawa Chocolate House web site: KakawaChocolates.com original photo by dmdart




		Corita Kent Corita Kent, aka Sister Mary Corita Kent, an activist and artist who used screen printing to create thousands of posters, murals, and serigraphs in support civil rights, feminism, and the anti-war movement during the 1960s and 1970s. She is credited with being a significant figure in American graphic arts. She worked almost exclusively with silkscreen, or serigraphy, helping to establish it as a fine art medium. Her artwork, with its messages of love and peace, was particularly popular during the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s.Kent designed the 1985 United States Postal Service annual "love" stamp. -partial excerpt from Wikipedia




		Artist's "Booth" at the Tesuque Flea Market One of the greatest flea markets anywhere opens every summer just north of Santa Fe, NM on the Tesuque Pueblo. If you are lucky enough to walk through the gates, you will be treated to leather bags; oil paintings; Middle Eastern rugs; African baskets, glass beads, weavings, carved wooden animals and figures; hand-made jewelry; turquoise jewelry; western wear and boots; lavender soaps and creams; tangy jalepeno sauces; Talavera tiles; metal sculpture; photography; silk clothing; vintage items of all kinds; fresh ground chili powder (green, red, mild, medium, hot, hot hot hot); roasted pinon; jams and jellies; and everything else I've forgotten. This "booth" enchanted me and the artist allowed me to photograph it. I would wish for his prolificness. original photo by dmdart




		Sanibel & Captiva Luminary December 5 & 6, 2014 For more than two decades, island businesses, organizations, residents and visitors have gathered for one of Sanibel and Captiva's most treasured annual events, the Luminary Festival. Our tropical islands sparkle with illuminated candles from end to end as we mark the launch of the Holiday season. The complimentary trolley service brings guests to various shopping centers, island businesses and galleries along a Luminary Trail, where they can enjoy refreshments, music, holiday activities and most importantly, connect with the community. During the Luminary celebrations, the streets will be lined with glowing luminaries, decorated trees and other festive trimmings. Santa will pay his traditional visit on his fire truck to visit shopping centers, galleries, and local businesses. Sanibel and Captiva visitors and local residents can enjoy these two magical nights on our islands. -excerpts from the Sanibel-Captiva Chamber of Commerce: http://sanibel-captiva.org/ original photo by dmdart




		International Folk Art Alliance: Folk Art Market Takes Place in Santa Fe Annually It has been said that talent is universal, but opportunity is not. Over the past 10 years, the organization you have known as the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market has been providing opportunity to folk artists at the world's largest market of its kind. Our organization has expanded programs to meet the specific challenges that folk artists are facing in the global marketplace. What was born out of Santa Fe as a small grass roots organization focused on one weekend a year, has now grown into a nonprofit empowering international folk artists year-round. Allied with the world's master folk artists, participation in IFAA results in communities around the world having clean drinking water, education for girls, improved health care and thriving folk art communities. The IFAA mission is to celebrate and preserve living folk art traditions and create economic opportunities for and with folk artists worldwide. IFAA envisions a world that values the humanity of the handmade, honors timeless cultural traditions, and embraces dignified livelihoods for folk artists across the globe. And that, after all, is ... The Work of Art. There will be future entries to this blog about the Market. Stay tuned and check back often for this and other Art\|Centric topics. -excerpts from Folk Art Alliance Web Site: www.folkartalliance.org




		Santa Fe Indian Market The Santa Fe Indian Market is a 93-year-old Native art market. It is the largest and most prestigious juried Native arts show in the world and the largest cultural event in the southwest. The yearly event is held during the third weekend of August. Over 1,100 Native artists from the U.S. and Canada sell their artwork. The Indian Market attracts 150,000 visitors to Santa Fe from all over the world. Buyers, collectors and gallery owners come to Indian Market to take advantage of the opportunity to buy directly from the artists. For many visitors, this is a rare opportunity to meet the artists and learn about contemporary Indian arts and cultures. Quality and authenticity are the hallmarks of the Santa Fe Indian Market. What is Indian Market Week? Indian Market Week precedes the Indian Market. It is a series of events in Native film, literature, music, fashion and visual art that lead to Indian Market weekend. Who are the artists? The artists are Native/Indigenous people from over 220 U.S. Federally recognized tribes and First Nations' Tribes (Canada). It's important to remember that the Indian Market is above all a family event. To the causal observer, it may not be evident that there may be generations of artists sitting together under the same booth. Some artists have been participating in Indian Market 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and even 60+ years. The Indian Market is a direct reflection of the lives of Native people and the communities they represent; their artwork is the universal language, which speaks and becomes a part of our lives. There will be future entries to this blog about the Market. Stay tuned and check back often for this and other Art\|Centric topics. -excerpt from SWAIA web site: www.swaia.org

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