Eclectic Perambulations in the Noosphere
Chanel No. 5
"Fragrances, also known as perfumes, have been around since the beginning of civilization. They were first used in funeral rites and religious ceremonies, especially in the form of incense, which is burned to produce an aroma. Indeed, the modern word, perfume, stems from the Latin per fumum, which means "through smoke." Over time, personal use of perfumes began to become popular, especially in Greece, where floral oils were first used and even the dead were provided with a vial of their favorite fragrance to accompany them into the afterlife. The inhabitants of Rome, an empire often associated with extravagance, also thoroughly enjoyed perfumes, and the public treasury ensured that the bathhouses they used were continuously stocked with fragrances. Scents were also often applied to pets, such as dogs and horses, which were kept by Romans. After the fall of the Rome, the art of perfumery was essentially lost to Europe, but during the Crusades of the Middle Ages the knowledge was once again obtained from the East."
"Krazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run. The characters had been introduced previously in a side strip with Herriman's earlier creation, The Dingbat Family.[1] The phrase "Krazy Kat" originated there, said by the mouse by way of describing the cat. Set in a dreamlike portrayal of Herriman's vacation home of Coconino County, Arizona, Krazy Kat's mixture of offbeat surrealism, innocent playfulness and poetic, idiosyncratic language has made it a favorite of comics aficionados and art critics for more than 80 years."
Monster Prominence Credit: NASA/SDO
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this view of a powerful M3.6 Class solar flare on Feb. 24, 2011 during a 90-minute sun storm. NASA scientists called the display a "monster prominence" that kicked up a huge plasma wave.
The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face Credit: NASA
A full-disk multiwavelength extreme ultraviolet image of the sun taken by SDO on March 30, 2010. False colors trace different gas temperatures. Reds are relatively cool (about 60,000 Kelvin, or 107,540 F); blues and greens are hotter.
Loop the Loop Credit: NASA/STEREO
An AIA image in 193 A after a solar eruption and a flare. The dark regions show the site of evacuated material from the eruption, and the large magnetic loops were formed during the flare.
Click It to Dig It !
Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Color composite by Jason Major.
"This beautiful new image, captured June 16 by NASA’s Cassini orbiter, highlights the stark differences between Saturn’s two largest moons.
Rhea, the grey rock in the foreground, is a cratered, icy world about 950 miles wide. By contrast, Titan, the hazy yellow behemoth in the background, is the largest moon in the solar system at 3,200 miles across.
Despite their differences in size and composition, both have the potential to host complex chemistry, and even the precursors for life. Rhea has a tenuous, oxygen-rich atmosphere created by charged particles from Saturn’s magnetic field striking and splitting apart water molecules. Titan has lakes and rivers of liquid methane and ethane, a thick hydrocarbon atmosphere, and may have a subsurface ocean, making it one of the best hopes for extraterrestrial life in the solar system."
