Amazing Feather Paintings |
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| Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples.
Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form. Known as feather art, this is the drawing or creation of images on feathers.
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Photography
Image of the Day….Titan… Saturn’s Moon !!!
Ten Years Ago, Huygens Probe Lands on Surface of TitanTen years ago, an explorer from Earth parachuted into the haze of an alien moon toward an uncertain fate. After a gentle descent lasting more than two hours, it landed with a thud on a frigid floodplain, surrounded by icy cobblestones. With this feat, the Huygens probe accomplished humanity’s first landing on a moon in the outer solar system. Huygens was safely on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.
These images of Saturn’s moon Titan were taken on Jan. 14, 2005 by the Huygens probe at four different altitudes. The images are a flattened (Mercator) projection of the view from the descent imager/spectral radiometer on the probe as it landed on Titan’s surface.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. NASA supplied two instruments on the Huygens probe, the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer and the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer.
> More: NASA and ESA Celebrate 10 Years Since Titan Landing
Image Credit: ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
SOURCE:::: http://www.nasa.gov
Natarajan
Jan 16 2015
Planes Go ” Hybrid ” Electric…. !!!
An aircraft with a parallel hybrid engine – the first ever to be able to recharge its batteries in flight – has been successfully tested in the UK, an important early step towards cleaner, low-carbon air travel.
The world’s first hybrid-electric aircraft that can recharge while flying.
A new hybrid-electric aircraft, the first ever to be able to recharge its batteries in flight, has just been tested in the UK, the University of Cambridge announced in a statement today.
The plane uses a “parallel hybrid-electric propulsion system,” where an electric motor works with a regular petrol motor to drive a propeller. It’s just been trialled at a test site in Northamptonshire.
According to Cambridge engineers, the plane uses 30% less fuel than a similar model that only uses a petrol engine. More importantly, the new design can also recharge its batteries during flight — something that’s never been achieved before.
“Although hybrid cars have been available for more than a decade, what’s been holding back the development of hybrid or fully-electric aircraft until now is battery technology,” project leader and Cambridge professor Paul Robertson said in a statement. “Until recently, they have been too heavy and didn’t have enough energy capacity. But with the advent of improved lithium-polymer batteries, similar to what you’d find in a laptop computer, hybrid aircraft — albeit at a small scale — are now starting to become viable.”
The plane uses its 4-stroke piston engine and electric motor during take off and climbing. But once in cruising mode, the electric motor switches to an electric generator in a similar way to a hybrid car. Once full height is reached, the generator mode can then recharge the batteries or be used in motor assist mode to minimise fuel consumption, the university said.
Here it is climbing after take off:
And here it is soaring over England’s patchwork fields:
The project is vital to combating the impact air travel has on the environment. The team notes that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates “aviation is responsible for around 2% of global man-made carbon dioxide emissions.”
The plane is a step “towards cleaner, low-carbon air travel,” but it’s not there yet. More research is still needed to prolong the flying time. “If all the engines and all the fuel in a modern jetliner were to be replaced by batteries, it would have a total flying time of roughly ten minutes,” the researchers point out.
Still, the Cambridge demonstrator model is a move toward creating the first fully-electric plane, which could one day be used commercially.
SOURCE:::: http://www.business insider .com.au and You Tube
Natarajan
Jan 15 2015
Coldest Place on Earth… Oymyakon , Russia…
It may look serene but the temperatures here can be seriously unbearable. Picture: Maarten Takens. Source: Flickr
IT’S been named the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth reaching a record low of minus 71.2 degrees Celsius in 1924.
The 500 or so residents of Oymyakon in Siberia live in one of the remotest places on Earth, just a few hundred kilometres from the Arctic Circle.
Wired reports that Oymyakon is a town full of extremes. It lies in complete darkness for 21 hours a day during winter yet daylight lasts for 21 hours in summer.
This brings a whole new meaning to camping. Source: Supplied
The nearest major city, Yakutsk, is a two day drive away, accessible only by road during winter when the conditions are too harsh for planes to land.
The ground remains permanently frozen meaning crops cannot grow so its population lives on a diet of reindeer and horse meat, raw frozen fish flesh and a local delicacy of frozen horse blood and macaroni.
Petrol stations in the main road stay open 24 hours a day should you get stuck. Source: Supplied
If you’re brave enough to drive a car, it must be left in idle once out of a heated garage for fear it will freeze and never start again. And trips to the bathroom are just as unpleasant, its residents must use outhouses as the indoor plumbing too often freezes.
It becomes problematic when someone dies. The ground has to be warmed for days by a bonfire to be able to bury the dead. And the town’s only school has a policy to shut if the temperatures fall below -52 degrees Celsius.
Called the ‘Pole of Cold’, the name Oymyakon ironically means ‘unfrozen water’, thought to be a reference to the thermal springs that reindeer herders would visit until it became a permanent inhabited settlement.
For more on this amazing town, visit Wired.
Not your usual type of hotel, don’t expect room service. Source: Supplied
Its animals endure and survive in unimaginable temperatures. Picture: Maarten Takens. Source: Flickr
SOURCE:::: http://www.news.com.au
Natarajan
Jan 14 2015
Automatic Aircraft Tracking System of Qatar Airways ….
Qatar Airways is the first airline in the world to test automatic aircraft tracking. Source: News Limited
QATAR airways is carrying out tests to become the first airline in the world to install an automatic tracking system that would replace the current radar system.
Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker told a press conference in Doha that the technology was being tested ahead of a fleet wide roll out.
“Once this has been proven and all the bugs have been cleared then Qatar Airways will, I hope, be the first airliner to introduce this in all our planes,” he told reporters.
Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, hopes the new system will be rolled out fleet wide. Source: AFP
In response to worldwide pressure for tighter airline monitoring after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the new system will stream flight data from a planes black box directly to an airline’s operation centre on the ground in real time.
Reported in Bloomberg, it is part of an aviation safety overhaul as the industry comes under scruity for being unable to explain the mysterious fate of MH370.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) set up an expert task force in June 2014 to review current tracking methods and highlighted three areas of concern. These were installing tamper proofing airline tracking, tracking to one nautical mile or better and giving airlines one year to implement the recommended new system.
Qatar Airways has always stayed ahead of the game and was recently delivered the new Airbus A350 at an inaugural ceremony in Doha. Source: AFP
The IATA however has come under fire from some airlines who say adopting these new criteria within a year is unreasonable. The International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations aviation regulator, has instead proposed that commercial planes be required to report their position every 15 minutes.
Qatar’s decision to install this new type of tracking means that its planes will be automatically tracked from takeoff to landing without control from pilots, removing any issues of tampering and providing real-time aircraft monitoring.
SOURCE::: http://www.news.com.au
Natarajan
Jan 14 2015
Only One Passenger On a Flight !!!… Strange But True !!!
You won’t have to worry about getting a drink on this flight. Source: Getty Images
A US man from Brooklyn flew home in style on Monday, as practically the only passenger on-board a Cleveland-to-New York flight.
Chris O’Leary tweeted in disbelief after taking his seat as the solo flyer aboard a Delta regional plane and got incredibly personalised safety instructions from flight attendants.
O’Leary’s 9:39am flight home was delayed for hours, so he stayed in his hotel until the afternoon when it was finally going to depart, according to ABC News.
By the time O’Leary reached the airport, he learned that virtually all his fellow passengers had been rebooked on other flights and he somehow missed messages offering the earlier departures.
“They rebooked everyone but me on another flight to LGA,” he tweeted, “so I am literally the only person on this plane.”
He added: “Just got a personal safety briefing from my two flight attendants.”
A flight attendant snapped a picture of O’Leary alone in passenger seats.
He tweeted out the image with: “No, I’m not joking. I’m the only one on this plane.”
O’Leary was all set to get his personalised ride home, before the Delta plane rolled back to the gate and picked up one more passenger.
O’Leary didn’t mind sharing his flight.
“Part of this is my own stupidity but it ended up working out in my favor,” O’Leary told ABC, grateful that he missed all of the airline’s messages.
It’ll be a Cleveland-to-New York flight O’Leary will never forget.
“Well, this has been a interesting day,” he tweeted. “Who knew the simple act of getting on the plane you’re supposed to could amuse so many people?”
Even O’Leary’s mum saw his picture on Twitter.
“Reaction to this story from my mum: `I’m glad you got a haircut,’ “ O’Leary tweeted.
SOURCE:::: http://www.news.com.au
Natarajan
Image of the Day…. Jan. 12, 1986 Early Morning Space Shuttle Launch !!!
On Jan. 12, 1986, the space shuttle Columbia launched at 6:55 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center on the STS-61C mission. It was the first spaceflight for now-NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden, who was a Pilot on the STS-61C crew along with Mission Commander Robert L. Gibson, Mission Specialists Franklin R. Chang-Diaz, Steven A. Hawley and George D. Nelson and Payload Specialists Robert J. Cenker of RCA and U.S. Rep. (now Senator) Bill Nelson. During the six-day flight, crew members deployed the SATCOM KU satellite and conducted experiments in astrophysics and materials processing. The mission was accomplished in 96 orbits of Earth, ending with a successful night landing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, on Jan. 18, 1986. Image Credit: NASA
SOURCE:::: http://www.nasa.gov
Natarajan
Jan 14 2015
Image of the Day…. Rare Ice Halo Display !!!
Rare ice halo display in New Mexico
Ice halo display captured by Joshua Thomas in Red River, New Mexico on the morning of January 9, 2015.
The U.S. National Weather Service in Amarillo, Texas posted this photo on its Facebook page this weekend. Joshua Thomas in Red River, New Mexico captured these magnificent arcs in the sky on the morning of January 9, 2015. Look below for a labeled version of the same photo.
Ice halos are commonly seen by those who look at the skies; we receive several photos of ice halos from somewhere in the world every week, especially in wintertime. Often, we’ll receive many such photos, across a particular region, sometimes for several days in a row. Most ice halos appear as a circle or ring around the sun or moon. Sometimes, if conditions are just right, you do see these wonderful, rare events when the whole sky is filled with halo arcs.
Ice halos are caused by ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, which both refract and reflect sunlight or moonlight.
Read more: What makes a halo around the sun or moon?
SOURCE:::: http://www.earthsky.org
Natarajan
Jan 14 2015
A Whole Village of Clay … In China !!!
Clay Riverside Park: A Whole Village of Clay |
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Located in the township of Tangshan Fengrun, the Clay Riverside Park is a famous depicting of a famous picture. Built from 2007-2011, spending $1.2m dollars and covering over 500 acres, the park opened in 2011.
 Visitors were treated to exquisite works of clay art in all shapes and sizes, reproducing over 500 lifelike characters, more than 50 horses, mules, donkeys and more than 20 vessels of various sizes, shaped tower, bridge, country, docks, and other magnificent street town life scenes.
Visitors can also enjoy walking among history as modern visitors to an ancient world, with all the clay buildings and people modeled after old paintings depicting regular village life in Ancient China.
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Source: Xu M. in http://www.ba-bamail .com
Natarajan
Jan 2015
Kids are Kids… Even if They are Baby Elephants … !!!
Baby Elephants That’ll Melt Your Heart…!!! |
| Baby animals are so cute and fun to look at, but there is one ‘baby’ that weighs more than most adult humans, has almost no fur to speak of and loves the mud, and despite these facts, the baby elephant is definitely one of the cutest of all baby animals!
So this post is all about these ‘little’ guys with great photos and also some fascinating information about the biggest land mammal. |
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| An elephant calph is around 250 pounds or 115 kgs in weight when born. Females mature at about 11 years and stay in the group, while the males, which mature between 12 and 15, are usually expelled from the maternal herd. |
| Elephants are some of the most intelligent animals on Earth. Their brains weigh 5kg, much more than the brain of any other land animal. Their brains have more complex folds than all animals except whales, which is thought to be a major factor in their intellect. They commonly show grief, humor, compassion, cooperation, self-awareness, tool-use, playfulness, and excellent learning abilities. |
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| An elephant in Korea surprised its zoo keepers by independently learning to mimic the commands they gave it by verbalizing on the end of its trunk, successfully learning 8 words and their context. |
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| The elephant trunk, a specialized nose, is analogous to an octopus tentacle in terms of dexterity. It allows them a high degree of manipulation of objects and elephants are adept tool-users. Elephants have been taught to paint with their adroit trunks and produce some fascinating artwork. In captivity, elephants easily learn how to open simple locks and many master more complex ones, something impossible for most other animals due to a lack of dexterity and intellect. |
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| Elephants in zoos have worked together to take advantage of this, by having many act as lookouts as another undoes the lock, or in one instance an elephant feigned injury as a distraction while another elephant helped the others escape. Once all the elephants were out, the distraction elephant climbed to its feet and ran for the door, surprising its tenders who had been unaware of the ruse. |
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| Female elephants live in a herd of about 10 individuals lead by the most experienced matriarch, whereas the males are normally solitary and move from herd to herd. The females in each herd help each other find food and care for calves. |
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| Adults do not lie down to sleep because of the excellent support their very straight legs give them. Elephants communicate within their herds or between herds many kilometers away mostly using sounds too low for human ears to perceive and by stamping their feet. Within their herds, elephants are believed to have the same or similar levels of cooperation as chimpanzees. |
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| A young elephant must learn how to draw water up into its trunk and then pour it into its mouth. |
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| Of all the elephant’s specialized features, the muscular trunk is the most remarkable it serves as a nose, a hand, an extra foot, a signaling device and a tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting, digging and a variety of other functions. Not only does the long trunk permit the elephant to reach as high as 23 feet, but it can also perform movements as delicate as picking berries or caressing a companion. It is capable, too, of powerful twisting and coiling movements used for tearing down trees or fighting. |
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| An elephant herd is considered one of the most closely-knit societies of any animal, and a female will only leave it if she dies or is captured by humans. Males will leave the herd as they become adolescent, around the age of 12, and live in temporary ‘bachelor herds’ until they are mature and live alone. |
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| An elephant female is fertile for only a few days each year. During this time, males will try to court her by using rituals involving various affectionate gestures and nuzzles. If she accepts one, she will respond with similar gestures and after 20 minutes or so of a courting ritual they will mate. If she conceives, she will be pregnant for 22 months, longer than any other land animal. |
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| ‘Nature’s great masterpiece, an elephant; the only harmless great thing.‘
Source::::: John Donne in www.ba-bamail.com
Natarajan
Jan 14 2015
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Take off with Natarajan 