Yummy Wakame Weblog
Archive: environment
Amateur Astrophotographer Creates Largest True-Color Night Sky Panorama
WOW! What an adventure! What an achievement!!!
Gizmodo.com: One day, Nick Risinger, a 28-year-old marketing director from Seattle, felt like he needed a change. So he quit his job, packed up six professional astronomical cameras, and hiked 60,000 miles through western United States and South Africa, taking 37,000 color pictures of the night sky.
The result? This 5000-megapixel, interactive, zoomable map showing our full Milky Way galaxy, stars, planets, and the nebulae surrounding it. It’s the largest-ever, true-color, 360 degree panorama of the heavens—all created by this first-time astrophotographer.
Wet Dream
The Big Blue, my favourite childhood movie, I can’t think of any I loved more than this. The soundtrack was one of the first CDs I owned. Every single track boomed with the sounds of the ocean.
It scared me that I could understand his insanity, his obsession, and that I would forever be drawn to other people like this. I’ll never forget his dream, and the scenes that follow…
Oh boy
Spring is driving me crazy. My nesting instincts are kicking my butt. I’m about to leave on a trip, may end up travelling by land all the way from Nicaragua to Brazil over the next few months and instead of packing light I’ve bought a double hammock with mosquito net and bedding, massage oil, herbal medicines and oils, all these cosy things that smell nice and feel good. This is not a good time for me to be packing for a major trip like this. Clearly. I just crave having and sharing home comforts right now. It will be interesting to see if I can pull it off, do both travel and have home comforts, without much effort.
And I keep seeing things like this. Which isn’t helping. I am homesick. I want to rest. I. want. to. nest. But I don’t want to settle just anywhere… somehow I will know when I find it.
Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream
Since World War II North Americans have invested much of their newfound wealth in suburbia. It has promised a sense of space, affordability, family life and upward mobility. As the population of suburban sprawl has exploded in the past 50 years, so too has the suburban way of life become embedded in the American consciousness.
The End of Suburbia is available for download at Amazon.com for only $2.99.
Runtime: 1 hour 18 minutes
The most alien-looking place on Earth
Socotra, Republic of Yemen:
It is very isolated with a harsh, dry climate and as a result a third of its plant-life is found nowhere else, including the famous Dragon’s Blood Tree, a very-unnatural looking umbrella-shaped tree which produces red sap. There are also a large number of birds, spiders and other animals native to the island, and coral reefs around it which similarly have a large number of endemic (i.e. only found there) species. Socotra is considered the most biodiverse place in the Arabian sea, and is a World Heritage Site.
Look at those awesome juicy plant lumplings!! Like something out of Dr Seuss. I WANT to be there.
San Francisco | Future Ecotopia
The location is San Francisco. The year is 2106. The city is powered by geothermal energy “mushrooms” and algae-harvesting towers produce hydrogen, which is stored and distributed via a series of carbon nanotube walls. Fog catchers capture moisture from the atmosphere to distill fresh water.
A network of above ground and underground systems “fulfill infrastructural needs for the movement of people, water, hover-cars, and energy throughout the city”. Taking cues from nature, a giant super system resembling seaweed and chantrelle mushroom will hold together this network to collect water, power and distribute it across the city…more on gliving.com
Total Lunar Eclipse, 21 December 2010
I couldn’t believe how lucky I was last night, to find myself alone this 2am, because for the first time in 372 years, a total lunar eclipse occurred on the date of the northern winter solstice.
The clouds had parted for the occasion and the sky was at its blackest black, framed by the edges of lush jungle trees on this sleeping island. It was a spectacular show with blinking and shooting stars, with only one wish made. On every one of them. I couldn’t believe the colours. Or how long she hung in the sky, swollen like this. I waited an hour before falling sleepy so I never got to watch her final exit. I wish I had.
I am so grateful to be here. So grateful.
Forward the (r)evolution
About a month ago I was really lucky to meet these guys. They shared a few meals with the family and I at Hospedaje Central, the hostel where I’ve been living the past month. Forward the (r)evolution is two couples who are living and traveling the world without money. It started as a fun idea to do for a few months and now they have gone past their end date and are now living a life of travel without money. They aren’t bums. They aren’t trust fund kids. They are respectfully dressed, clean, ordinary people like you and me who live with little to no impact on the earth, catching rides that were going somewhere anyway and eating good food that would have gone to waste anyway. All the while they are giving talks on how other regular people can do the same. How ultimately we could all live in a world without money and evolve to a new system.
I’m not quite ready for this drastic step and all that it implies, like letting go of my career which I love, and the vulnerability of a single woman traveling alone without money worries me. But a seed was planted. And I admire them so much. I have a feeling I would do this for a few months, and then never want it to end. Who knows…
If you’re curious, check out their amazing travel blog, and the links where they give full information on how they did it and how you can too.
Cristiano’s Bees
My 3 month live-in trade swap at InanItah is over. After an incredible weekend where we all went on a ritualistic journey together for Halloween, I gathered the things I wanted to keep and left on Monday feeling 100% ready to leave the lovely cocoon that was my home for a little while and take on the world!
I’m really lucky to be staying at my friend Cristiano’s in his awesome loft space. On a firm mattress. His house is made completely out of recycled and reclaimed resources and when I wake up I look up at the plantain leaf roof, the wooden stairs that go to the very top, and feel like I’m in a treehouse. The light streams in from all sides. I love living here. Cristiano is a really special guy.
He lives on his hostel and eco farm El Zopilote on Ometepe Island. It’s incredibly beautiful here, he’s done an amazing job, and it attracts tons of interesting volunteers from all over the world.
Today he showed me some of his bee hives — he has african bees, non-stinging bees and teeny tiny mini bees too!
The Door To Hell
The Door to Hell, as local residents at the nearby town of Darvaza have dubbed it, is a 70 meter wide crater in Turkmenistan that has been burning continuously for 35 years. In 1971, geologists drilling for gas deposits uncovered a huge underground cavern, which caused the ground over it to collapse, taking down all their equipment and their camp with it. Since the cavern was filled poisonous gas, they dared not go down to retrieve their equipment, and to prevent the gas escaping they ignited it, hoping it would burn itself out in a couple of days. Unfortunately, there was a slight miscalculation as to the amount of gas that was trapped, and the crater continues to burn to this day.
You can see it on Google Earth at 40°15′8″N 58°26′23″E
I think it’s worth visiting in this lifetime. Perhaps.
Help Save Japan’s Dolphins!
More than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises are being slaughtered each year and their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is being sold as food in Japan, often times labeled as whale meat. Send a letter to President Obama, Vice President Biden and Japanese Ambassador to the United States Ichiro Fujisaki urging them to address this issue »
February 2012 / January 2012 / December 2011 / November 2011 / October 2011 / September 2011 / August 2011 / July 2011 / June 2011 / May 2011 / April 2011 / March 2011 / February 2011 / January 2011 / December 2010 / November 2010 / October 2010 / September 2010 / August 2010 / July 2010 / June 2010 / May 2010 / April 2010 / March 2010 / February 2010 / January 2010 / December 2009 / November 2009 / October 2009 / September 2009 / August 2009 / July 2009 / June 2009 / May 2009 / April 2009 / March 2009 / February 2009 / January 2009 / December 2008 / November 2008 / October 2008 / September 2008 / August 2008 / July 2008 / June 2008 / May 2008 / April 2008 / March 2008 / February 2008 / January 2008 / December 2007 / November 2007 / October 2007 / September 2007 / August 2007 / July 2007 / June 2007 / May 2007 / April 2007 / March 2007 / February 2007 / January 2007 / December 2006 / November 2006 / October 2006 / September 2006 / August 2006 / July 2006 / June 2006 / May 2006 / April 2006 / March 2006 / February 2006 / January 2006 / December 2005 / November 2005 / October 2005 / September 2005 / August 2005 / July 2005 / June 2005 / May 2005 / April 2005 / March 2005 / February 2005 / January 2005 / December 2004 / November 2004 / October 2004 / September 2004 / August 2004 / July 2004 / June 2004 / May 2004 / April 2004 / March 2004 / February 2004 / January 2004 / December 2003 / November 2003 / October 2003 / September 2003 / August 2003 / July 2003 / June 2003 / May 2003 / April 2003 / March 2003 / February 2003 / January 2003 / December 2002 / November 2002 / October 2002 / September 2002 / August 2002 / July 2002 / June 2002 /
Site Map { snoop snoop dee doop! }
Freelance Portfolio: Latest Portfolio » About
Expertise: My Background » My Coding Standards » Testimonials » Accessibility & SEO » Custom WordPress Template Design
Love & Karma: Discount for Non-profits & Charities That Love » Environmental Policy » Ethical Policy » Sharing the Bounty » Site Credits
{ 2002 - 2012 © yummy-wakame.com | all rights reserved }
