Just an amusing old illustration of an octopus by Ulisse Aldrovandi, a 16th century Bolognese naturalist. (source)
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August 2010 Archives
Just an amusing old illustration of an octopus by Ulisse Aldrovandi, a 16th century Bolognese naturalist. (source)
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I for one am disappointed that they removed the EXIF data from the photos
It's worth seeing the rest of the pictures...
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Pilot Capt. Brian Bews ejects as his a CF-18 fighter jet plummets to the ground during a practice flight at the Lethbridge County Airport on Friday, July 23 for the weekend airshow in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. "He is alive and we believe right now that his injuries are non-life-threatening," Canadian Forces Capt. Nicole Meszaros told CBC News.
It's worth seeing the rest of the pictures...
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Hill, Jonathan. The History of Christian Thought. Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity Press. 2003.
This book is a survey of Christian Thought, but more of Christian thinkers. It is a history of the important theologians and writers who influenced Christianity, from the early Greek fathers to the end of the 20th Century(although it covers up to the late 20th C, it doesn't cover many specific thinkers past the 1970s). Interspersed are short essays on the larger philosophical and political movements of the time, to provide a context for the religious thinking.
Despite, or perhaps because of the publisher, there is not much really said about the modern fundamentalist evangelical movement, but the coverage of the early fathers is quite good, explaining some of the earliest stages of the evolution of doctrine like the trinity. One thing I am not able to judge is whether any important people were omitted, but it seems all the names I recognize were included.
One critical flaw in the book is a failure of editing. There are multiple errors I caught in the text, including a paragraph that was printed twice, on pp. 102-103. There is a more underlying flaw, and that is the way the sections on schools of philosophy, cities or other background information. These are inset at gray boxes, which is a fine way to separate them from the text, but are simply dropped in the text, sometimes interrupting a sentence for 2 entire pages. It is quite distracting, you either interrupt the topic at hand, or jump ahead and then jump back, neither being quite satisfactory.
Though the book is not footnoted at all, there is a good "further readings" section at the end, with both general purpose titles and more specific titles by category. There is also a short glossary and an index, though a short cross reference of thinker to timeperiod would have been nice.
All told a good introduction to the foundational theologians of Christianity and though it doesn't quite delve into the current generation of thinkers, it provides a basis for understanding the evolution of Christianity that led to them. A second edition, with some of the editorial issues remedied would be quite an excellent book
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This book is a survey of Christian Thought, but more of Christian thinkers. It is a history of the important theologians and writers who influenced Christianity, from the early Greek fathers to the end of the 20th Century(although it covers up to the late 20th C, it doesn't cover many specific thinkers past the 1970s). Interspersed are short essays on the larger philosophical and political movements of the time, to provide a context for the religious thinking.
Despite, or perhaps because of the publisher, there is not much really said about the modern fundamentalist evangelical movement, but the coverage of the early fathers is quite good, explaining some of the earliest stages of the evolution of doctrine like the trinity. One thing I am not able to judge is whether any important people were omitted, but it seems all the names I recognize were included.
One critical flaw in the book is a failure of editing. There are multiple errors I caught in the text, including a paragraph that was printed twice, on pp. 102-103. There is a more underlying flaw, and that is the way the sections on schools of philosophy, cities or other background information. These are inset at gray boxes, which is a fine way to separate them from the text, but are simply dropped in the text, sometimes interrupting a sentence for 2 entire pages. It is quite distracting, you either interrupt the topic at hand, or jump ahead and then jump back, neither being quite satisfactory.
Though the book is not footnoted at all, there is a good "further readings" section at the end, with both general purpose titles and more specific titles by category. There is also a short glossary and an index, though a short cross reference of thinker to timeperiod would have been nice.
All told a good introduction to the foundational theologians of Christianity and though it doesn't quite delve into the current generation of thinkers, it provides a basis for understanding the evolution of Christianity that led to them. A second edition, with some of the editorial issues remedied would be quite an excellent book
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Prosecutors say a drunken Utah mortgage company employee opened fire on the firm's computer server, then called police and told officers someone stole his .45-caliber weapon and shot the server.(source)
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Piaget has put together a collection of cocktail-inspired cocktail rings. I'm particularly a fan of the slice of lime on the Mojito and the straw, set with diamonds of course, in the "Blue Ocean" In their facebook app for the collection (sigh) they've even included recipes, which I've transcribed here ('s' in the recipe means shot).
Ref. G34LP200 Mojito Inspiration
18-carat white gold ring set with 182 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx 1.57 ct), 1 cushion-cut green tourmaline (approx 24.56 ct) 1 carved citrine (approx. 3 ct), 16 round-cut tsavorites (approx. 1.56 ct),120 round-cut emeralds (approx. 1.01 ct), 8 marquise-cut emeralds (approx. 0.61 ct)
3 s white rum
12 mint leaves
1 s sugarcane juice
1 lime
club soda
Put mint leaves, crushed ice and lime juice in a tall glass. Pour the rum over it and top with club soda
Ref. G34LP300 Whisky On The Rocks Inspiration
18-carat yellow gold ring set with 100 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx 0.83 ct),1 cushion-cut citrine (approx 27 ct) and 2 carved quartz ( approx 2.64 ct)
Even they don't bother with a recipe for this
Ref. G34LP400 White Tonic Inspiration
18-carat white gold ring set with 44 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx 1.56 ct), 1 round-cut bead peridot (approx 7.22 ct)
4 s Vermouth
3.5 s Lemon Juice
1t sugar
olive
mix vermouth, sugar and lemon juice directly in glass with a spoon, garnish with a dusting of sugar and olive
Ref. G34LP500 Blue Ocean Inspiration
18-carat white gold ring set with 122 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx 0.9 ct), 1 cushion-cut blue topaz (approx 37.5 ct), 1 bead cornaline (approx 1.43 ct)
1 s vodka
1 s blue Curacao
3 s grapefruit juice
Shake with ice and strain into glass, garnish with a cherry
Ref. G34LP700 Blueberry Daiquiri Inspiration
18-carat white gold ring set with 121 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx 0.89 ct), 1 cushion-cut amethyst (approx 35 ct), 30 brilliant-cut pink sapphires (approx 0.31 ct), 1 cabochon-cut ruby (approx 0.04 ct)
3 s blueberry schnapps
1 s white rum
1 s lime juice
2 s simple syrup
Mix in a blender and serve in a chilled glass, garnish with blueberries on a toothpick
Ref. G34LP800 Cosmopolitan Inspiration
18-carat white gold ring set with 197 brilliant-cut diamonds (approx 3.07 ct), 1 cushion-cut pink rubellite (approx 15 ct) and 1 carved citrine (approx 3 ct)
1 s Vodka
1 s Orange Liquor
1 s Cranberry Juice
1/2 s Lime juice
shake with ice and serve with a lime twist.
All photos from PuristsPro, all recipes from Piaget's Facebook page
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Every year for the past few years there has been an auction of watches to benefit research into Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, the Only Watch Auction. The idea is that a bunch of companies donate watches, unique in some way, to the auction, and they're sold, with all proceeds donated. Sometimes the watches are truly unique, sometimes they are a variant on a production model (red dials seem to be popular as red is the color of Monaco, where the auction is held) and sometimes they are simply the first of a numbered edition.
In 2009 Piaget's contribution was a variant on their Emperador Coussin moonphase watch. As 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, they modified the lunar display to be a more realistic lunar surface and added an engraving of Neil Armstrong's bootprint. The moon on this model is made of 18kt white god that has been reticulated, a process that causes the thin surface of the material to melt, flow a bit and then crumple on itself when it cooled. There are still traces of the oxidization that is a side effect of this on the outer edges of the moon.
Here is the full dial
And a closeup showing more detail of the moonphase
In 2009 Piaget's contribution was a variant on their Emperador Coussin moonphase watch. As 2009 was the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, they modified the lunar display to be a more realistic lunar surface and added an engraving of Neil Armstrong's bootprint. The moon on this model is made of 18kt white god that has been reticulated, a process that causes the thin surface of the material to melt, flow a bit and then crumple on itself when it cooled. There are still traces of the oxidization that is a side effect of this on the outer edges of the moon.
Here is the full dial
And a closeup showing more detail of the moonphase
Sifis Stavroulakis is a Greek jeweler who has been based in Chania, Crete since 1990. He works in 18k gold (always yellow) and silver. He frequently reticulates (a process for creating a "crumpled" looking surface through the careful melting of the surface layer) the silver and oxidizes, or in other ways, colors it.
From his website, here are some samples. First some broaches, Sifis seems to be fond of animal and plant forms, so here are some of each. (For all the images below, from his website, click through for a larger version)
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The final broach is abstract, though clearly organic in form. It is set with diamonds in an old-fashioned cut known as the Rose cut, which renders the stone almost without fire.
The use of the vegetal forms is not limited to the broaches, but appears as necklace-pendents as well
The following ring is particularly interesting, it takes a common Roman form, the bezel set, barely polished aquamarine, and gives it an interesting modern twist with the square form to the body of the ring
There is also a series of small sculptures of plants in his collection, reminiscent in form of Faberge's flowers but that will have to wait for another post
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These are Their Stories was an exhibit in LA that ran from July 24-30 of this year at the Gallery Meltdown (part of Meltdown Comics). The idea was to illustrate the one-sentence summary of a Law and Order, and a bunch of artists took part.
I particularly liked RADIATION KILLS A TORMENTED SCIENTIST by Lacy McCune, but they are all worth a look.
(via)
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I particularly liked RADIATION KILLS A TORMENTED SCIENTIST by Lacy McCune, but they are all worth a look.
(via)
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From a current campaign for the Eurostar to London
The rest of the campaign is not quite as strange, but amusing
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The rest of the campaign is not quite as strange, but amusing
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Here is just one example of the total wrongness of something I tend to be automatically sure of: everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe; the realist, most vivid and important person in existence.
- David Foster Wallace from his commencement speech at Kenyon University, 2005. Retrieved from Webarchive, since the original seems to be gone
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