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Our technicolour dream world | Technology | The Observer.

via Our technicolour dream world | Technology | The Observer.Meighen Island – 14 June 2000. A veil of blowing snow nearly obscures Meighen Island (left) off the northern coast of Canada. Across the Sverdrup Channel lies the much larger Axel Heiberg Island, where glaciers (blue) huddle among mountain peaks (yellow) and flow into deep fjords. No evidence of human occupation has ever been found on Meighen Island

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Living with a lawn-free garden – The West Australian.

via Living with a lawn-free garden – The West Australian.

With water restrictions getting ever tougher, the dream of a lush lawn all year round is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain.

Replacing at least part of your lawn can reduce both your water bill and your maintenance to-do list, according to landscape designer Patrick Johnson, of Allure Landscapes.

“Mowing every two weeks is not all that needs to be done on a lawn – you also have to edge, brushcut, fertilise and weed every fortnight for that perfect lawn look,” Mr Johnson said.

Fortunately, there are plenty of other low-maintenance and water-wise options when it comes to ground-covers.

Here are some options for a low-maintenance, lawn-free garden.

Plants:

Replacing turf with ground-covering plants and native grasses can save a lot of water and maintenance while also adding colour and texture, according to Bunnings national landscape buyer Trent Emmins.

“Choose warm-season grasses, as they will survive best in summer, and ensure you have 10cm of good top soil and a quality lawn aerator to promote root growth,” he said.

Waldecks group retail manager Hilton Blake said using plants would also help retain the cooling effect of lawn and feature pots, water bowls and other plants could also be added.

On the downside, Mr Johnson said these kinds of plants could not always handle heavy traffic or full sun.

BEST FOR: A lush feel.

Decking:

A well-constructed deck was a low-maintenance choice, said Paul Oorschot, director of WA Timber Decking.

However, it was critical to get the position right and Mr Oorschot advised against areas that would interfere with reticulation or get a full watering from sprinklers.

“Full sun exposure should also be avoided unless you are planning to cover it with a pergola or other shade structure,” he said.

Mr Emmins said there were many DIY decking options available, although some ongoing maintenance with timber oil was required.

To ensure longevity, Mr Oorschot recommended choosing a durable, termite-resistant hardwood such as jarrah, merbau, spotted gum or blackbutt

 

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You do realise that the only thing between us and the jaws of a great white shark is a piece of string?” observed my fellow passenger. Until then I had been happy lounging on the safety net below the bowsprit of Royal Clipper, photographing the dolphins riding the bow wave beneath us. I put my camera away sharpish and clambered back on deck.

I had boarded Royal Clipper the day before, in Grenada, for a five-day tour of the Grenadines. The 227-passenger Royal Clipper is the world’s largest five-masted ship, its small passenger count meaning you get to know fellow travellers: the two minutes it takes to walk around the ship – along elegant corridors and up and down Edwardian-style staircases – means you can’t fail to meet and talk to everyone else.

via Caribbean cruise: Master of the high seas – Telegraph.

via Caribbean cruise: Master of the high seas – Telegraph.

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Shock of the old … Eric De Maré’s ‘skyscrapers‘ in Hastings. Photograph: Eric de Maré

In the 1990s, the award-winning British architect Michael Hopkins was searching for someone to take black-and-white photographs of his buildings. He contacted Eric de Maré, the visionary chronicler of the postwar British landscape, then in retirement. “It was like watching an old�gunslinger back in action,” says Hopkins. “The first shots were a little off the mark. Then he found his aim and was bang on target. Those photographs are some of my proudest possessions.”

Richard MacCormac, architect of the Ruskin Library in Lancaster and other jewel-like buildings, shares Hopkins’s reverence. “Did Eric de Maré influence me?” he says. “Funny you should ask. I’ve just been using his shot of ‘skyscraper’ fishermen’s sheds at Hastings as inspiration for a housing scheme.”

This foreboding image shows a cluster of improbably tall sheds with pitched roofs, all tilting haphazardly. Referred to as “skyscrapers” by De Maré, their scale is revealed by two young women floating by in summery frocks. It was taken in 1956, when De Maré, an architect-turned-photographer born in London of Swedish parents, was in his mid-40s and working for the Architectural Review, on a mission to record venerable yet largely forgotten industrial buildings. The shot seems to be saying that architecture, no matter how unexpected, is for everyone: the women couldn’t be less like the fishermen for whom the sheds were built, yet they seem in curious harmony with the hulking structures that they are ambling past almost without noticing.

via Eric de Maré’s secret country | Art and design | The Guardian.

via Eric de Maré’s secret country | Art and design | The Guardian.

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Fighting the battle of Blair Mountain | Beth Wellington | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

via Fighting the battle of Blair Mountain | Beth Wellington | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Last week, with Massey Energy under siege from federal safety officials, yet still proposing to stripmine the site of the Battle of Blair Mountain, I recalled standing on battlefields at Gettysburg and Manassas, haunted as the landscape somehow revealed what had once happened there. I was listening to David Rovics sing:

The hills of West Virginia will long remember… the Battle of Blair Mountain.

A Massey subsidiary, the Aracoma Coal Company, is seeking a permit to obliterate a 554-acre site that includes parts of the battlefield in West Virginia. This land bears traces of the second largest insurrection after the Civil War – and the largest labour uprising – in US history. Here, in 1921, the miners of West Virginia, seeking the right to unionise (that is, organise, assemble and speak freely), took on the coal operators and their mercenaries.

According to historic preservationist Barbara Rasmussen, the origins of the battle of Blair Mountain lay in anger over conditions in the southern coalfields, where the “company store” system ruled and unions had been denied the right to organise. The 2 August 1921 shooting in cold blood of Matewan police chief Sid Hatfield by mine operators’ agents provided the spark. A year earlier, Hatfield had defended the miners when the Stone Mountain Coal Co tried to evict striking workers from their homes. After several weeks of protest and unrest, battle lines were drawn on 26 August 1921; ten days later, the rebellion was over. Michael Meador describes the melee:

As many as 15,000 men were involved, an unknown number were killed or wounded, bombs were dropped, trains were stolen, stores were plundered, a county was invaded and another was under siege. The president had to send in federal troops…

The miners’ rising was suppressed, after an estimated million rounds were fired. The defeat was a setback for the unionisation campaign in the short term, but raised public awareness of the appalling conditions borne by miners and paved the way for the political victory of full recognition of union rights under the New Deal in 1933.

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In 1906, American photographer Edward S. Curtis was offered $75,000 to document North American Indians. The benefactor, J.P Morgan, was to receive 25 sets of the completed series of 20 volumes with 1,500 photographs entitled The North American Indian. Curtis set out to photograph the North American Indian way of life at a time when Native Americans were being forced from their land and stripped of their rights. Curtis’ photographs depicted a romantic version of the culture which ran contrary to the popular view of Native Americans as savages.

Born in 1868 in Wisconsin, Curtis moved with his father to the Washington territory in 1887 where he began working at a photography studio in the frontier city of Seattle. Curtis began work on his series in 1895 by photographing Princess Angeline, the daughter of Chief Sealth and published the first volume of The North American Indian in 1907. The last volume wasn’t published until 1930. In more than three decades of work documenting Native Americans, Curtis traveled from the Great Plains to the mountainous west, and from the Mexican border to western Canada to the Arctic Ocean in Alaska.

Below are selected images of the Native American way of life chosen from The Library of Congress’s Edward S. Curtis Collection. Some were published in The North American Indian but most were not published. All the captions are original to Edward Curtis.

 

1

Title: Sioux chiefs. Date Created/Published: c1905. Summary: Photograph shows three Native Americans on horseback. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

2

Title: Ready for the throw–Nunivak. Date Created/Published: c1929 February 28. Summary: Eskimo man seated in a kayak prepares to throw spear. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

3

Title: The mealing trough–Hopi. Date Created/Published: c1906. Summary: Four young Hopi Indian women grinding grain. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

4

Title: The scout in winter–Apsaroke. Date Created/Published: c1908 July 6. Summary: Apsaroke man on horseback on snow-covered ground, probably in Pryor Mountains, Montana. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

5

Title: At the old well of Acoma Date Created/Published: c1904 November 12. Summary: Acoma girl, seated on rock, watches as another girl fills a pottery vessel with water from a pool. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

6

Title: Mizheh and babe. Date Created/Published: c1906 December 19. Summary: Apache woman, at base of tree, holding infant in cradleboard in her lap. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

7

Title: On the Little Big Horn. Date Created/Published: c1908 July 6. Summary: Horses wading in water next to a Crow tipi encampment. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

8

Title: When winter comes. Date Created/Published: c1908 July 6. Summary: Dakota woman, carrying firewood in snow, approaches tipi. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

9

Title: A burial platform–Apsaroke. Date Created/Published: c1908 July 6. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

10

Title: The Oath–Apsaroke. Date Created/Published: c1908 November 19. Summary: Three Apsaroke men gazing skyward, two holding rifles, one with object skewered on arrow pointed skyward, bison skull at their feet. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

11

Title: Drilling ivory–King Island. Date Created/Published: c1929 February 28. Summary: Eskimo man, wearing hooded parka, manually drilling an ivory tusk. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

12

Title: Drying meat. Date Created/Published: c1908 November 19. Summary: Two Dakota women hanging meat to dry on poles, tent in background. Photograph by Edward S. Curtis, Curtis (Edward S.) Collection, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

http://blogs.denverpost.com/captured/2010/11/15/north-american-indian-photographs-by-edward-curtis/2551/

 

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Famous British Weddings: Slide Show : Discovery News.

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Da Vinci’s ‘Magi’ Hides Master’s Original Vision: Photos : Discovery News.One of Leonardo Da Vinci’s strangest paintings, “The Adoration of the Magi” was commissioned for the altar of the monastery of San Donato a Scopeto, near Florence, in 1481. The work was never finished. CLICK LINK FOR PHOTOS

 

 

 

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• Garlic – is absorbed into the bloodstream and secreted by the lungs. While not everyone is affected, I certainly am
• Bacteria – volatile sulfur compounds (VSC), such as hydrogen sulfide and methyl mercaptan,  harbors on the teeth, gums and tongue
• Food particles – become lodged between teeth
• Plaque – on or below the gum line
• Dieting – to excess may cause ketoacidosis, the breakdown of chemicals during fasting, which smells awful
• Smoking – dries out the mouth and contributes to periodontal disease
• Diseases – such as lung infections, kidney failure and chronic reflux of stomach acids produce odors
• Milk Intolerance

20 Natural Ways to Keep Your Breath Fresh

If you’re not ready to drop $2,000 on a Halimeter, which will analyze the VSC’s in your mouth and let you know if your breath is offensive, here are natural ways to clean up your act.

1. Brush – after every meal, and be sure that your toothbrush is in good shape. A chewed-up, disfigured brush will miss those hard-to-reach areas.
2. Herb Pharm Breath Tonic – is my all time favorite. The non-aerosol spray is made from a sugar-free blend of certified organic peppermint, cinnamon, ginger, and clove extracts that leave my mouth feeling fabulous and clean.
3. Tongue Scraper – This smooth plastic or metal tool glides over the tongue and removes dead cells and bacteria
4. Floss – removes plaque and food that you may not even realize was stuck. I keep a container in my office desk
5. Water – According to the Mayo Clinic, drink water – not coffee, soft drinks or alcohol. Chewing gum or sucking on candy (preferably natural) also stimulates saliva, washing away food particles and bacteria.
6. Fenugreek “” put one teaspoon of fenugreek seeds in four cups of cold water, boil, then simmer for fifteen minutes over a low flame. Strain and drink like tea.
7. Guava – unripe guava has been said to aid bad breath as it contains tannic and phosphoric acids.

According to health 911, there are a few off-the-beaten-path remedies, including:

8. Apple cider vinegar – swallow a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar just before each meal (you may want to add it to a glass of water)
9. Alfalfa – alfalfa tablets have been said to aid bad breath
10. Anise – the licorice-flavored seed, may aid in reducing bacteria
11. Chlorophyll – Try liquid or chlorophyll tablets. Chlorophyll has a deodorizing effect
12. Clove Tea/Mouthwash – Cloves are a powerful antiseptic. Make a tea by putting three whole or 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves in two cups of hot water and steep for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour through a fine strainer and use as a mouthwash or gargle twice a day.
13. Fennel – Slowly chew the leaves and allow the saliva to build up in your mouth. Or, mix the contents of a fennel capsule with baking soda, make into a paste, and brush your teeth, gums and tongue with it.
14. Lemon – If you can stand it, a lemon wedge sprinkled with salt will help stop onion or garlic breath.
15. Parsley & Mint – Chewing parsley or mint leaves has been a remedy used for thousands of years. These herbs are especially good if garlic and onions are the source of your bad breath. Parsley is very high in chlorophyll. Chew a few parsley sprigs dipped in vinegar for immediate relief. If you swallow the leaves after chewing them they will be digested and continue to provide breath freshness for quite a while. These plants seem to reduce the production of intestinal gas by promoting better digestion.
16. Natural gum – such as glee, is made with spearmint or peppermint essential oils. These oils kill odor-causing bacteria, and the chewing action stimulates the production of saliva which helps combat bad breath.
17. Sage – contains essential oils with antibacterial properties that help neutralize one of the causes of bad breath. Chew raw leaves.
18. Spirulina – is a very good source of chlorophyll and can be purchased either in capsule or loose form. It’s suggested to start with 500 mg three times a day, but please check with your medical professional first!
19. Tea tree oil – derived from the leaves of the native Australian Melaleuca alternifolia tree, tea tree oil contains antiseptic compounds, which make it a powerful disinfectant. Try using atoothpaste containing tea tree oil, or put a few drops of tea tree oilon your toothbrush alone, or with your regular toothpaste. It has a strong aromatic flavor.
20. Baking Soda – Brushing your teeth with baking soda will help reduce the acidity in your mouth, which is less inviting for bacteria. Combine two tablespoons of dried lemon or orange rind, 1/4 cup of  baking soda, and two teaspoons of salt.
21. http://www.ecosalon.com/20-natural-ways-to-keep-your-breath-fresh-and-kissable/

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