Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere
"Bill Swets used to be a farmer. Now he's a zookeeper -- except that his zoo has no living creatures. The animals in the "Swetsville Zoo" were all built by Bill -- from car parts, farm machinery, and scrap metal."
Swetsville Zoo Address:
4801 E. Harmony Rd., Fort Collins, CO
Directions:
At Timnath, I-25 Exit 265, south of Ft. Collins on Harmony Road east, right by side of highway.
Admission:
Free, donation.
Phone:
970-484-9509
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by Huy Lam
"This is my favorite piece that I've done so far. I really wanted to do something different with lots of color and a Van Gogh painting was perfect. I had to create 42 brushes and it took me close to 40 hours to complete because of the details. It was at The National Gallery in Ottawa where I saw Van Gogh's iris series that I really appreciated his work and realized that he is truly a GENIUS."
By Carey Gillam
The heavy use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide appears to be causing harmful changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of the genetically modified crops that farmers are cultivating, a government scientist said on Friday.
August 12, 2011
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The heavy use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide appears to be causing harmful changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of the genetically modified crops that farmers are cultivating, a government scientist said on Friday.
Repeated use of the chemical glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, impacts the root structure of plants, and 15 years of research indicates that the chemical could be causing fungal root disease, said Bob Kremer, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.
by Jean LeBlanc and John W. Ehman
"These two Blue Dasher dragonflies (top photo) demonstrate the amazing aerodynamic abilities of this insect. The intricate wing structure (top and bottom photos) is apparent in the still wings of the one, while the functional capacity is illustrated in the hovering of the other in this face-off between two males at a lily pond. Dragonflies (Pachydiplax longipennis) have two pairs of independent wings that can beat either in or out of phase, modulating the amount of lift and drag. When hovering, the wings stroke back and down in a kind of rowing motion that creates vortices of air and upward drag: complex fluid dynamics instrumental in keeping the body stationary. The efficiency of the wings is increased by their capacity to flex and twist with the air. This natural action conserves energy that the insect would otherwise have to use to effect such turns by exercising muscles. The wings in the foreground also show a solidly colored (dark) cell called a pterostigma, which by its slightly heavier construction helps dampen vibrations and assists in gliding. Dragonflies can fly over 30 mph (48 km/h) and can even fly backwards. Research into their aerodynamics has been used to further the design of specialized aircraft and even wind turbines.
Dragonflies consume huge quantities of smaller flying insects, earning the nickname "mosquito hawks." Three-hundred-million-year-old fossil dragonflies are evidence of a very different atmosphere than we experience today, one so oxygen-rich that these insects' wingspans could reach two ft (0.65 m). They may have been one of the first insects and one of the first animals of any kind to evolve flight. Nearly 30,000 lenses make up the compound eye, giving the adult dragonfly a 360-degree field of vision (bottom photo). Find a favorite spot by a pond or stream and observe these wondrous creatures for yourself."
"As dreams come true, it is those who are able to see beyond their own desires that make a change, although their destiny might be to let a wish forever be unfulfilled."
"The animated shortfilm “The Tale Of Mr. Rêvus” is my graduation (Diploma) film, produced at the Georg-Simon-Ohm Hochschule – University Of Applied Sciences, Nuremberg.
The challenge of this movie was to reproduce the entire production process of an animated 3D shortfilm by myself including story development, concept design, modelling, rigging, directing, editing, animating, rendering and finally compositing.
The amazing score orchestrated by Simon Scharf student at the Hochschule für Musik Nuremberg (HfM) has been conducted by Guido Johannes Rumstadt, played by the orchestra of the HfM and recorded by Toni Hinterholzinger." Marius Herzog
