Walking in Thimphu

This is an afternoon walk in Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. Thimphu is in a river valley, but it is high in the mountains (7,000 - 8,500 feet) making it one of the highest capitals in the world. The mountains in the background combined with the skyscape are quite striking. 

The city itself is very clean and well maintained. The architecture and decorative flourishes are very attractive. For the most part the people do not dress in western style clothes, instead the women wear an ankle length dress called a kira, and the men a gho which is a sort of robe that reaches to just above the knees. 

The city is comparatively very quiet, with little traffic or crowd noise, which gives it a very tranquil feeling. 

 

Santiago Rusiñol

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Santiago Rusiñol (1851-1931) was a Catalan artist, poet, playwright, and journalist active in the modernisme movement. His colors are interesting, sometimes unnaturally bright as he plays with light and shadow.  

Santiago Rusiñol

Surfer Girl

Get ready for a rip tide weekend with Dave Alvin.

 

Nuclear cooling towers

This video discusses hyperboloid shaped nuclear cooling towers and explains how they operate. He builds a clear model of one so you can see how the water and air flows within it to cycle cooled water back to the reactors. He also briefly discusses other methods of cooling nuclear power plants.   

   

Explorers

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It took a long time to flesh out the map of the Earth. For most of human history travelling any distance has been slow, arduous and frequently dangerous. In California Spanish missions were spaced about 30 miles apart because that was a day's travel on horseback. In these days of airplanes, automobiles, and passports that is a hard fact to grasp. Our ancestors had a greatly diminished horizon. 

Of course, there were always people who wandered far to see what was beyond their homeland's borders. The Romans and Chinese knew of each other, the Vikings pushed west to Newfoundland, The Polynesians opened up the South Pacific, the Chinese explored the Indian Ocean, and so forth. 

However, when we think of explorers we tend to think of the Age of Exploration -- that period when Europeans spread out and explored the globe, leading to the colonization of the New World, the seizing India, scrambling for Africa, and imposing Concession areas in China. 

Regardless of the outcome (and cultural admixtures are frequently very disruptive) the original explorers are quite fascinating. To leave one's home on a long and uncertain trip just so see what's there is a special sort of an ambition.     

Runtah (Trash)

Get ready for a strumpet shaming weekend with

3 Pemuda Berbahaya and Sallsa Bintan.

 

Gigantic bugs

The above animated video show insect sizes in comparison to each other. To portray the insects at a human scale, he concocts a scenario where space aliens land, zap the bugs with an embiggening ray, where they then rampage about causing mayhem. I felt sorry for the poor office workers who got stuck in the spider's web. 

Come to think of it, this would make a pretty good plot for a Sci-Fi channel movie of the week. They might even be able to top the CGI of this video. They would need a washed-up actress to play the female lead. Rachel Zegler comes to mind, now that she tanked her career, she probably could come for cheap.