Mountain Lakes International

Archive for the ‘Friday Fact’ Category

“With images from southern and central Russia in the news lately due to extensive wildfires, [Alan Taylor] thought it would be interesting to look back in time with this extraordinary collection of color photographs taken between 1909 and 1912… Photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time – when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun. Collected here are a few of the hundreds of color images made available by the Library of Congress, which purchased the original glass plates back in 1948.” —Alan Taylor ((Link for more photos and comments.)

An Armenian woman in national costume poses for Prokudin-Gorskii on a hillside near Artvin (in present day Turkey), circa 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

A woman is seated in a calm spot on the Sim River, part of the Volga watershed in 1910. (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Alternators made in Budapest, Hungary, in the power generating hall of a hydroelectric station in Iolotan (Eloten), Turkmenistan, on the Murghab River, ca. 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

General view of the Nikolaevskii Cathedral from southwest in Mozhaisk in 1911. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC) #

A group of Jewish children with a teacher in Samarkand, (in modern Uzbekistan), ca. 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC) #

Sart woman in purdah in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, ca. 1910. Until the Russian revolution of 1917, "Sart" was the name for Uzbeks living in Kazakhstan. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Russian children sit on the side of a hill near a church and bell tower near White Lake, in Russia, 1909. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

Nomadic Kirghiz on the Golodnaia Steppe in present-day Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, ca. 1910. Google Map, (Prokudin-Gorskii Collection/LOC)

More Links: The Empire that was Russia

On this day in 1911, a dispatcher in the New York Times office sends the first telegram around the world via commercial service.

The Perseid meteor shower is reaching a spectacular peak. Venus, Mars, and Saturn are clustered in the evening sky and will be joined by the graceful crescent moon.  If weather is clear, you can view a shooting star every minute.  Hope you have a chance to enjoy the night.

It’s legal to buy poppy seeds in America and it’s legal to plant them—unless you’re familiar with the simple process of turning them into opium, that is. Then having poppies in your garden is a felony.

Your Frame of Reference changes everything!

OPIUM MADE EASY
MICHAEL POLLAN / HARPER’S MAGAZINE / APRIL 1997

Jason Edwards/National Geographic/Getty Images Once the turtles hatch, will they know where to go?

“As the oil spill coats Gulf Coast beaches, rescuers are hatching a daring plan to save as many as 70,000 sea turtle eggs from the disaster.”  Scott Simon of NPR reports that FED EX will deliver the fragile eggs, and The Kennedy Space Center will house them in a large climate-controlled warehouse. Chris Underwood of U.S. Fish and Wildlife says, “We have a lot of partners involved that normally would not all necessarily agree on something.” Working together, the hope is that the incubating turtles will emerge and can be released into the ocean.  Much is unknown.  In the new location, will they go into the ocean or go in circles?  ”Even if the little guys make it to the water, we won’t know if they’re OK for another 35 years.”  It takes that long for these turtles to mature.  Will they survive?  If they do, where will they return to lay their own eggs? The extraordinary risks have brought unlikely partners together with a common goal: to give the turtles a chance to survive.
thanks to NPR

How to Stop an Accelerating Car

Solar plane lands after completing 24-hour flight

PAYERNE, Switzerland – An experimental solar powered plane completed its first 24-hour test flight successfully Thursday, proving that the aircraft can collect enough energy from the sun during the day to stay aloft all night.  The test brings the Swiss-led project one step closer to its goal of circling the globe using only energy from the sun.

Pilot Andre Borschberg  took off from Payerne Airfield shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday, allowing the plane to soak up the sunshine as he flew gentle loops over the Jura mountains west of the Swiss Alps.

Borschberg, a 57-year-old former Swiss fighter who was wearing a parachute — just in case — dodged low-level turbulence and thermal winds, endured freezing conditions during the night and ended the test flight with a picture-perfect landing to cheers and whoops from hundreds of supporters on the ground.

“The night is quite long, so to see the first rays of dawn and the sun returning in the morning — that was a gift,” Borschberg said after touchdown.

Excerpts from ELIANE ENGELER, Associated Press Writers – Thu Jul 8, 8:14 am ET

On this day in 1964, U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs into law the historic Civil Rights Act in a nationally televised ceremony at the White House.

John Isner, at 6’9″ is the tallest American tennis player ever.
Bud Collins says, “At one time, all he could do was serve. It was like hitting the ball from the top of the tree, but he’s picked up the entire game…maybe he’ll be the best American player in a couple of years.”

John Isner vs. Nicolas Mahut—stats on the longest match in history:
Match duration: 11 hours, five minutes
Fifth set duration: Eight hours, 11 minutes
Total number of games: 183
Fifth set number of games: 138
Total number of points: 980
Isner aces: 112
Mahut aces: 103
Combined aces: 215
Isner winners: 246
Mahut winners: 244

Bud Collins: “We’ve never seen aces fall like that.”