charisstoma: (default)
Get Lost in the Stacks of These 10 Beautiful University Libraries
These stunning historic libraries will vanquish any back-to-school gloom.


By Molly McBride Jacobson AUGUST 29, 2016

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/get-lost-in-the-stacks-of-these-10-beautiful-university-libraries

I didn't post the text to this, just the photos.

Duke Humfrey’s Library at Oxford University
OXFORD, ENGLAND
Read more... )
charisstoma: (default)

Oxford Union Library (William Morris painted that ceiling himself.)

more photos within )
charisstoma: (default)

Baby owl learning to fly or 'eeek! there's a worm.'



Old Books Bodleian - some of which have clasps to keep them closed.



Sumac which I've learned is a spice. Not the poison sumac version which has white berries and is poisonous.
charisstoma: (default)
Was looking for how to make a living through photography, freelance and stumbled on this site. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

Thought, oh that's a nice photograph of a new baby in the family and then I twigged to what it really was. The baby had died and this was a photo memory for the family.



Recruit a Photographer Month

Join our Affiliated Photographer community!


A family in your community needs you and there's never a better time to do something bold and extraordinary for yourself and others!

Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep (NILMDTS) photographers capture special moments of love for parents experiencing the loss of an infant. This precious gift helps provide healing for a family while honoring the baby's legacy.

There's a link for the parents to click.

A walk for those impacted by
Miscarriage, SIDS, Stillbirth or Infant Loss
Join us in honoring your baby
charisstoma: (default)
Glowing Termite Mounds of Emas National Park Impressive by day, dazzling by night... these termites have a well-decorated (and deadly) abode


Day


Night


Termites thrive all over the world, building sprawling nests and wreaking occasional havoc on local lumber supplies. In Brazil, they build tall towers of cement-like Earth.

These termite mounds can grow quite large with diameters up to 30 meters, and towers reaching heights of 7 meters or more. Not only do they provide a home for up to several million termites, they’re also used as nesting sites for the Buff-Breasted Paradise-Kingfisher and as home to hundreds of glowing Pyrophorus beetle larvae. At night, the termite mounds look like they’re wrapped in Christmas lights.

Read more... )
charisstoma: (default)


Last evening we lost power for an hour. Of course some caller who I don't know drained my cell phone battery.

After the wind and the fast moving rain the sunlight was a golden glow that lit up everything against the dark sky to our east. No I have no pictures of that. One of my friends posted the photo I put here.
This is almost as good, posted by another friend.
charisstoma: (default)

Monument Valley, Arizona, USA. (All Photos: © Tom Jacobi)

There is a technique in art known as grisaille, in which an artist will create a work entirely from shades of grey. Sometimes it is used simply because it’s cheaper; sometimes it is an undercoat; and sometimes it is employed to create a three-dimensional effect.

In his new book Grey Matter(s), Tom Jacobi's work could be described as photographic grisailles: tranquil scenes composed entirely of landscapes that are devoid of color.

Jacobi’s interest in a monochrome palette began on a trip to the Antarctic. Instead of finding a world of blue and white, he discovered that much of what he saw was grey. “No color was screaming for attention," Jacobi recalls in the introduction to his book. “That grey landscape radiated unbelievable energy and meditative calm.”

To capture this de-saturated world in landscapes as wide-ranging as Arizona, New Zealand and Iceland, Jacobi photographed as light shifted between day and night. As twilight fell, landscapes seemed, he writes, “like mystical enactments from some other world.” Atlas Obscura has a selection of Jacobi’s worlds of hushed grey.


charisstoma: (default)

Palacio de Cristal (Crystal Palace), Madrid, Spain.
Built in 1887, the architect Ricardo Velazquez.
Read more... )
charisstoma: (default)
NISHIYAMA ONSEN KEIUNKAN
Hayakawa-chō, Japan http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/nishiyama-onsen-keiunkan


Fifty-two generations have maintained this spot, often recognized as the world's oldest inn. Channel your inner samurai as you repose yourself and commune with nature in the splendor of ancient hot springs and mountain vistas.

THE DARK HEDGES
Armoy, Northern Ireland http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-dark-hedges


When this tree tunnel appeared shrouded in mist on season two of Game of Thrones, it looked too fantastical to be real. But the spooky thoroughfare actually exists in Northern Ireland, where it is known as the Dark Hedges—or, more mundanely, Bregagh Road. —Ella Morton, Associate Editor

OKINAWA'S STAR-SHAPED SAND
Taketomi, Japan



On a beach in Okinawa, the sand is made of stars. Each multi-pointed grain is a shell produced by microscopic, unicellular protists known as Foraminifera. Where else would you have the opportunity to let a million stars sift through your fingers? —Ella Morton, Associate Editor

Awesome ocean photography
FB Fascinating Pictures
charisstoma: (default)

Virginia House, from the dismantled Warwick Priory, Warwickshire, England, c. 1929. (Photo: Library of Congress)


The interior of Virginia House, 1929. (Photo: Library of Congress)


Agecroft Hall, in Richmond, Virginia. (Photo: Fopseh/WikiCommons CC BY-SA 3.0)


The Elizabethan knot garden at Agecroft Hall. (Photo: Fopseh/WikiCommons CC BY-SA 3.0)

IN THE EARLY 1900S, ROBBER BARONS BOUGHT DOZENS OF CENTURIES-OLD EUROPEAN BUILDINGS. WHERE IS MEDIEVAL AMERICA NOW?
charisstoma: (default)

--- George Takei commented: Thou shalt not load.


photos courtesy of George Takei's Face Book
charisstoma: (default)
Follow this link is you want but I think the first photo pretty much does it.

http://www.swifty.com/destinations/7681/17-nope-animal-pics-that-prove-australia-is-absolutely-terrifying

Zombie Koala
They didn't label it but I'm pretty sure it's a Zombie Koala or a very pissed off one.
charisstoma: (default)
http://news.yahoo.com/magnificent-blue-glow-hong-kong-seas-disturbing-212943493.html
Read more... )
This Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 photo made with a long exposure shows the glow from a Noctiluca scintillans algal bloom along the seashore in Hong Kong. The luminescence, also called Sea Sparkle, is triggered by farm pollution that can be devastating to marine life and local fisheries, according to University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye. Noctiluca itself does not produce neurotoxins like other similar organisms do. But its role as both prey and predator tends can eventually magnify the accumulation of toxins in the food chain, according to R. Eugene Turner at Louisiana State University. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)

Eerie fluorescent blue patches of water glimmering off Hong Kong's seashore are magnificent, disturbing and potentially toxic, marine biologists say.

The glow is an indicator of a harmful algal bloom created by something called Noctiluca scintillans, nicknamed Sea Sparkle.

It looks like algae and can act like algae. But it's not quite. It is a single-celled organism that technically can function as both animal and plant.

These type blooms are triggered by farm pollution that can be devastating to marine life and local fisheries, according to University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye, who was shown Associated Press photos of the glowing water.

"Those pictures are magnificent. It's just extremely unfortunate that the mysterious and majestic blue hue is created by a Noctiluca," Joye wrote in an email Thursday.

This is part of a problem that is growing worldwide, said Joye and other scientists.

Noctiluca is a type of single-cell life that eats plankton and is eaten by other species. The plankton and Noctiluca become more abundant when nitrogen and phosphorous from farm run-off increase.

Unlike similar organisms, Noctiluca doesn't directly produce chemicals that can attack the nervous system or parts of the body.

But recent studies show it is much more complicated and links them to blooms that have been harmful to marine life. Noctiluca's role as both prey and predator can eventually magnify the accumulation of algae toxins in the food chain, according to oceanographer R. Eugene Turner at Louisiana State University.

Profile

charisstoma: (Default)
charisstoma

October 2023

S M T W T F S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031    

Syndicate

RSS Atom

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 20th, 2025 05:47 pm
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios