 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
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 |
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.
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
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.
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.
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
Firmin Baes (1874-1943) was a Belgian artist who, although he also worked in oils, is primarily known for his pastel on canvas works. He was from a family of artists and began his career painting interior and exterior designs on buildings with his father. He soon moved onto paintings where he had considerable success. It is his work with pastels on canvas that he is most remembered for,
 |
| Firmin Baes |
A fellow named Ebroin runs the YouTube channel Ebroin's Miniatures. He builds dioramas and there are quite a few videos at his channel. The one above is of a small boat tied up to a pier. I must say I like the overly dramatic music used in the soundtrack -- it is rather majestic.
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
Glass is an interesting subject for a painter. Being transparent, its form is primarily revealed by the light reflecting from it, or the distortion of the light passing through it. Add water to the glass and you have two transparent layers reflecting and light distorting areas to add complexion to the composition.
The above video shows a family in Yunnan, China harvesting, processing and cooking with sugar from the sugarcane. It is obviously a staged cooking show, but it is nicely filmed and put together. If you are a diabetic, you may have a rise in your glucose levels just from watching it, but they do whip-up some tasty looking food and treats.
|
|
Detail showing the Persian and Western influences (click any image to enlarge) |
Hossein Behzad (1894-1964) was an Iranian painter who started his career painting in the style of old Persian miniature paintings. He hoped to revive the style and was part of the Neo-Safavid movement. In the 1930s he moved to Paris for some time and studied Western and Eastern painting methods. He was to fold those influences into his work.
The Neo-Safavids met some skepticism at first because at the time Western collectors were interested in antique miniature Persian paintings, and the Neo-Safavids were often conflated with the fakers who were creating forgeries for the collector market. However, over time their work was accepted as a genuine and distinct art style.
|
| Hossein Behzad by Morteza Katouzian |
This is a video of a walk through downtown La Paz, Bolivia. It starts out on a touristy looking street with shops selling colorful local fabrics, guitars, crafts, and the like. There are also a lot of shops dedicated to hiking. I suppose one of the draws of Bolivia is hiking in the mountains. As my regular readers will guess, my passion for conveyor belt sidewalks will preclude me from taking part in that activity until they install some conveyor belt nature trails.
He moves through the streets and eventually ends up in a public square. He filmed it during the Christmas season, and so there a lot of elaborate Christmas displays in the square. It is a lively looking place, with some nice old buildings mixed in.
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
Canoes are small open topped vessels propelled by oars that are used in narrow waters. Dugouts, kayaks and the Amerindian's birchbark canoe are all examples of canoes. They were used in transportation, trading and exploration. Much of the upper Midwest, with its plentiful rivers and large lakes, were explored via canoes. Today, they are widely used for recreational purposes.
This is a video about a 4,000-year-old Sumerian joke: a dog walked into a tavern and said, 'I can't see a thing. I'll open this one.' In this day and age, it is not exactly a knee-slapper. However, we don't know the context, or it may have been wordplay. In fact, it may not even had been a joke (it is from a tablet fragment). Still, it is an interesting video.
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
Starblazer was an English comic book series that published science fiction stories and eventually fantasy stories as well. It was published between 1979 and 1991 for a run of 281 issues. Along with the fiction stories it wrote about astronauts, space missions and planets. At the link you can view all of the covers as well as flip through and read the stories and articles.
The above video covers the first mass tank attack during the battle of Cambrai in WWI. It focuses on one tank, named Deborah, that was involved in the attack and met its end on the field of battle. I suppose you could call it the first combined arms operation. However, like the first of anything it didn't work as well as hoped; there were coordination and technical issues that caused the attack to fall short of its goals.
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
These are paintings of carts, stalls and trucks that serve food from the side of streets. Hotdog carts, taco trucks, and all manner of small enterprises that serve treats and meals.
As an aside, my son, Ambi Jr., at one point in his varied career decided he was going to operate a food truck. He bought a truck and spent some time adding all of the facilities inside it. He opened it and a week later the covid lockdowns started. Needless to say, that put a dent in his business. However, all was not lost, he kept working his regular job and his partner survived the lockdown on take-out business from the truck.
 |
| Click image to enlarge |
Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life. ― Ralph Waldo Emerson
 |
| Click any image to enlarge |
Aside from the times we turn them into tables by randomly piling objects on them, chairs are made for sitting. And sit in them we do. These are paintings of occupied chairs as well as empty ones. So, as you sit in your chair in front of your computer, or relax in a chair with your phone, scroll through and enjoy the pictures.
