May 2009 - Photos

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Photos - May 2009

Sunspot

May 29th 2009 07:30

A sunspot is a region on the Sun's surface that is marked by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection, forming areas of reduced surface temperature. They can be visible from Earth without the aid of a telescope. Although they are at temperatures of roughly 4,000–4,500 K, the contrast with the surrounding material at about 5,800 K leaves them clearly visible as dark spots.

Sunspot populations quickly rise and more slowly fall on an irregular cycle about every 11 years. Significant variations of the 11-year period are known over longer spans of time. For example, from 1900 to the 1960s the solar maxima trend of sunspot count has been upward; from the 1960s to the present, it has diminished somewhat. The Sun is presently at a markedly heightened level of sunspot activity and was last similarly active over 8,000 years ago.

See below how sunspots have varied over recent years.

April 29, 2008

April 29, 2005

April 29, 2003

April 29th, 2000

April 29th, 1999

*This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article for Sunspots.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: satellite & space

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Blind Photographers

May 27th 2009 06:54

Sight Unseen: Photographs by Blind Photographers

Annie Hesse, Eiffel Tower

A perpetual wanderer, Hesse has lived all over the world, a camera never far from her side. She says that she sees "rough impressions, like Matisse at his vaguest" and only with one eye. She makes photos based on hunch, conjecture and curiosity. "In the chaos of a foreign place," she says, "I might be attracted to something about the color, or the sound, or vague forms. I'll be right in front of it and not know what it is. So I'll capture it. Later, I use the picture to figure out what it was that I saw."

Evgen Bavcar, The Flow of Time

Renowned in Europe but little known in the United States, Bavcar lost his eyes in two separate childhood accidents. Of his work, he says, "I have a private gallery, but, unfortunately, I am the only one who can visit it. Others can enter by means of my photographs, but they do not see the originals, just the reproductions."

Alice Wingwall, Lapidarium

Though her images appear to be constructed of photographs, the primary building blocks of Wingwall's work are actually memory. Once an architectural history major, she lost her sight, gradually, to retinitis pigmentosa. Now completely blind, she is the archivist of a private memory museum. Only after combining, reordering and reimagining does she release a work into the world of the sighted. "Though I've lost my sight, I haven't lost my vision," she says.

Pete Eckert, Electroman

"I'm a very visual person" says photographer Pete Eckert, "I just can't see." Based in Sacramento, California, Eckert began to pursue photography only after going completely blind in 1980. To him, blindness gives him an advantage. "Sighted photographers always talk about the difficulty of what they call 'seeing.' I tell them 'If you can't see, it's because your vision is getting in the way." One of Eckert's techniques involves using a composite body view camera mounted on a tripod. Focusing with notches carved into a focus rail, he throws his studio into total darkness, opens the shutter, and roams the space "painting" his image with light, using flashlights, candles, lasers and other devices.

Bruce Hall, Limpet

Afflicted with numerous eye conditions, Hall retains highly limited sight. For him, cameras and other optical devices are a means of better perceiving the world around him. "It's beyond being in love with cameras," he says. "I need cameras."

*Images and information sourced from Time here.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: art

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Celebrating 50 Years of the Mini

May 25th 2009 05:42

The distinctive two-door car was designed for the British Motor Corporation (BMC) by Sir Alec Issigonis. The car came about because of a fuel shortage caused by the 1956 Suez Crisis (petrol was being rationed in the U.K. and sales of large cars had slumped). Leonard Lord, the head of BMC, reportedly decreed: "God damn these bloody awful Bubble Cars. We must drive them off the road by designing a proper miniature car."

Today we celebrate 50 years since the first Mini rolled off the production line in 1959. Thanks to Time for these images. Obtain more information here.

The narrow streets of London made for the perfect environment for a nimble car and its low fuel thirst made financial sense. But Issigonis's first design sketch for the Mini was drawn on a napkin while in Switzerland. The name Mini did not appear at first as the first models were marketed under two of BMC's existing brand names, Austin and Morris.

Mark I Mini cars on the assembly line at a BMC factory, circa 1960. Mark I sales strengthened across most of the lines during this decade. Sold at nearly below cost, it barely made any money for its owners. Rival automaker Ford once took a Mini apart to see if they could produce a viable alternative. Their conclusion? They wouldn't be able to sell it at the same price.

The Mini wasn't just cute to look at. It could perform too, winning the 1964 Monte Carlo Rally; this came just a year after triumphing at the automobile version of the Tour de France.

This still is taken from the classic 1969 British heist movie The Italian Job, which put the humble Mini on the silver screen and into film folklore forever.

And this still is taken from the 2003 Hollywood remake, featuring the new look Mini Cooper. BMW took the essential designs of the classic Mini and repackaged them into a best selling vehicle for the 21st Century after production of the classic Mini ceased in 2000. As for the movie remake, one snarky review would note that Ed Norton's was "the most perversely magnetic performance" outside of the Mini Coopers.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: motoring

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Inside A Nuclear Power Plant

May 22nd 2009 10:43

Here are photos from inside a modern Russian nuclear power plant. It is difficult to receive permission to take photographs inside a station so these pictures are rare indeed.
This particular plant is located near Smolensk city and it can generate up and 3 Megawatts with three reactors. This is one of 10 nuclear power plants in Russia.

The entrance to the station is protected by a few security levels including palm scans and weight checks.

These are the turbines.

The main reactor hall, the reactor itself is in the concrete reactor cavity.

The main control point.

*Info and images sourced from English Russia.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: technology

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Flu Pandemics

May 20th 2009 10:17

An influenza pandemic is an epidemic of an influenza virus that spreads on a worldwide scale and infects a large proportion of the human population. In contrast to the regular seasonal epidemics of influenza, these pandemics occur irregularly, with the 1918 Spanish flu the most serious pandemic in recent history. Pandemics can cause high levels of mortality, with the Spanish influenza estimated as being responsible for the deaths of over 50 million people. There have been about three influenza pandemics in each century for the last 300 years. The most recent ones were the Asian Flu in 1957 and the Hong Kong Flu in 1968.

Influenza pandemics occur when a new strain of the influenza virus is transmitted to humans from another animal species. Species that are thought to be important in the emergence of new human strains are pigs, chickens and ducks. These novel strains are unaffected by any immunity people may have to older strains of human influenza and can therefore spread extremely rapidly and infect very large numbers of people.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that there is a substantial risk of an influenza pandemic within the next few years.
There is current concern that the spread of a new strain of H1N1 influenza, also known as "swine flu", might develop into a pandemic.

The image below graphically demonstrates recent flu pandemics and their effects on world population.

Flu Pandemics. Swine flu pandemic. Russian flu. Spanish flu. Asian flu, hong kong flu, bird flu, sars. Death count. Population. Deaths per thousand people. Population density.

Click on the image to view the full version

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Posted By: Ian - Category: history

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Essential Herbs to Grow in Your Garden

May 18th 2009 09:53

Thanks to the Reader's Digest, here are some of the most useful and popular herbs that you can plant in your garden.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: food

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North Korea

May 15th 2009 11:45

North Korea from the Outside

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Posted By: Ian - Category: places

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Extreme Sports

May 13th 2009 11:19

Dan Vojtech is a young man with a passion for extreme sports and photography. He can combine the two brilliantly as these inspirational shots below demonstrate. See more of Dan's work at abduzeedo.com here.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: sport

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Tilt Shift Photography Miniatures

May 11th 2009 10:50

Tilt-shift miniature faking is a process in which a photograph of a life-size location or object is manipulated so that it looks like a photograph of a miniature scale model. By distorting the focus of the photo, the artist simulates the shallow depth of field normally encountered with macro lenses making the scene seem much smaller than it actually is. Many miniature faked photographs are taken from a high angle to further simulate the effect of looking down on a miniature.

Here are some excellent examples of tilt-shift photography miniature fakes, sourced from jalnopik here.
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Posted By: Ian - Category: art

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Superfoods

May 8th 2009 09:18

Superfoods are those considered especially nutritious or otherwise beneficial to health and well-being. There is no legal definition of what constitutes a superfood and some believe the term is overused as a marketing tool. Nonetheless, thanks to the Chicago Tribune, here are some Superfoods that we all could be eating more of.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: food

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Falling Photography

May 6th 2009 08:57

As reported in the Daily Mail online, using hidden ropes and harnesses artist Kerry Skarbakka's photos show him plunging from bridges, tripping down the stairs or even slipping over in the shower.

stunt photography - falling from a building

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Posted By: Ian - Category: art

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Marathon of the Sands

May 4th 2009 08:34

The Marathon des Sables also known as the Marathon of the Sands or MDS is a six-day, 254 km (156 mile) ultramarathon (equal to 5.5 regular marathons) over sandy and rocky terrain. This year saw the 24th annual event. Considered the toughest foot race on earth, the Marathon des Sables takes place in the southern Moroccan desert

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Posted By: Ian - Category: sport

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Recent scenes from Afghanistan

May 1st 2009 09:00

As reported on Boston.com , Barack Obama has ordered an additional 21,000 U.S. troops to be deployed to Afghanistan, which will bring the full U.S. deployment there to a total of 60,000 troops, joining 39,000 coalition troops from 43 countries. The U.S. administration plans to impose benchmarks for progress on both Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, who struggle with problems tied to tribal rivalries, illegal drug production and distribution, religious factions, general instability and poverty. Below are photos from the last few months in Afghanistan and the people whose lives are affected by the conflict. Many more images can be seen here.

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Posted By: Ian - Category: places

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