Schmblau

artwo: 98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in...

Sat, 18 May 2013 01:42:38 -0400

98 year old dobri dobrev, a man who lost his hearing in the second world war, walks 10 kilometers from his village in his homemade clothes and leather shoes to the city of sofia, where he spends the day begging for money.

though a well recognized fixture around several of the city’s chruches, known for his prostrations of thanks to all donors, it was only recently discovered that he has donated every penny he has collected — over 40,000 euros — towards the restoration of decaying bulgarian monasteries and churches and the utility bills of orphanages, living entirely off his monthly state pension of 80 euros and the kindness of others.

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Sat, 11 May 2013 22:07:52 -0400

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Sat, 11 May 2013 18:58:43 -0400

schmeblau: ;D

Sat, 11 May 2013 18:52:19 -0400

schmeblau: ;D

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Sun, 05 May 2013 15:28:20 -0400

artwo: NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the...

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:59:53 -0400

The spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm resembles a deep red rose of giant proportions surrounded by green foliage in this false-color image.

False-color image of Saturn's north pole.

artwo:

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has provided scientists the first close-up, visible-light views of a behemoth hurricane swirling around Saturn’s north pole.

In high-resolution pictures and video, scientists see the hurricane’s eye is about 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) wide, 20 times larger than the average hurricane eye on Earth. Thin, bright clouds at the outer edge of the hurricane are traveling 330 mph(150 meters per second). The hurricane swirls inside a large, mysterious, six-sided weather pattern known as the hexagon.

“We did a double take when we saw this vortex because it looks so much like a hurricane on Earth,” said Andrew Ingersoll, a Cassini imaging team member at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “But there it is at Saturn, on a much larger scale, and it is somehow getting by on the small amounts of water vapor in Saturn’s hydrogen atmosphere.”

Scientists will be studying the hurricane to gain insight into hurricanes on Earth, which feed off warm ocean water. Although there is no body of water close to these clouds high in Saturn’s atmosphere, learning how these Saturnian storms use water vapor could tell scientists more about how terrestrial hurricanes are generated and sustained.

Both a terrestrial hurricane and Saturn’s north polar vortex have a central eye with no clouds or very low clouds. Other similar features include high clouds forming an eye wall, other high clouds spiraling around the eye, and a counter-clockwise spin in the northern hemisphere.

A major difference between the hurricanes is that the one on Saturn is much bigger than its counterparts on Earth and spins surprisingly fast. At Saturn, the wind in the eye wall blows more than four times faster than hurricane-force winds on Earth. Unlike terrestrial hurricanes, which tend to move, the Saturnian hurricane is locked onto the planet’s north pole. On Earth, hurricanes tend to drift northward because of the forces acting on the fast swirls of wind as the planet rotates. The one on Saturn does not drift and is already as far north as it can be.

“The polar hurricane has nowhere else to go, and that’s likely why it’s stuck at the pole,” said Kunio Sayanagi, a Cassini imaging team associate at Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

Scientists believe the massive storm has been churning for years. When Cassini arrived in the Saturn system in 2004, Saturn’s north pole was dark because the planet was in the middle of its north polar winter. During that time, the Cassini spacecraft’s composite infrared spectrometer and visual and infrared mapping spectrometer detected a great vortex, but a visible-light view had to wait for the passing of the equinox in August 2009. Only then did sunlight begin flooding Saturn’s northern hemisphere. The view required a change in the angle of Cassini’s orbits around Saturn so the spacecraft could see the poles.

“Such a stunning and mesmerizing view of the hurricane-like storm at the north pole is only possible because Cassini is on a sportier course, with orbits tilted to loop the spacecraft above and below Saturn’s equatorial plane,” said Scott Edgington, Cassini deputy project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. “You cannot see the polar regions very well from an equatorial orbit. Observing the planet from different vantage points reveals more about the cloud layers that cover the entirety of the planet.”

Cassini changes its orbital inclination for such an observing campaign only once every few years. Because the spacecraft uses flybys of Saturn’s moon Titan to change the angle of its orbit, the inclined trajectories require attentive oversight from navigators. The path requires careful planning years in advance and sticking very precisely to the planned itinerary to ensure enough propellant is available for the spacecraft to reach future planned orbits and encounters.

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI

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Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:26:27 -0400

” … Y el hombre miserable es un ángel caído, la tierra es el probable paraíso...

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:25:44 -0400

” … Y el hombre miserable es un ángel caído, la tierra es el probable paraíso perdido.” 1919 García Lorca

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Sat, 27 Apr 2013 14:21:20 -0400

Yoko: I’m in love with you. John: Unfortunately, I’m in love...

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:38:12 -0400

Yoko: I’m in love with you.

John: Unfortunately, I’m in love with you, too.

lavalamps: A baby monkey eating an apple.

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 23:37:18 -0400

lavalamps:

A baby monkey eating an apple.

actegratuit: Mario Botta This Spa is designed by Mario Botta in...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 22:59:16 -0400

actegratuit:

Mario Botta

This Spa is designed by Mario Botta in Arosa. The client is the Grand Hotel Tschuggen AG. This hotel-spa was built between 2003 and 2006. This work integrates perfectly into the alpine nature that around it.

Bear and Vodka

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:42:56 -0400

Bear and Vodka

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:39:29 -0400

hisaishi: 100!! (by krista dzialoszynski)

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:38:24 -0400

hisaishi:

100!! (by krista dzialoszynski)

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Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:38:17 -0400

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Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:37:24 -0400

Y entonces Satanás dijo ''Hay que combinar las matemáticas y el abecedario.''

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:35:12 -0400

itslarsyouguys: YOU’RE a baby I’M a baby WE CAN BE BABIES...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:21:25 -0400

itslarsyouguys:

YOU’RE a baby

I’M a baby

WE CAN BE BABIES TOGETHER

shinga-tumblr: It’s okay kitten, I too have been that drunk

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:13:38 -0400

shinga-tumblr:

It’s okay kitten, I too have been that drunk