Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the greatest architects of the late 19th and all of the 20th centuary!!He developed several architectural styles which were aesthetically pleasing as well as functinal.He believed that' the reality of the building is not the container but the space within'.Thus all this structures had interiors which gave a sense of an entirely different environment.His own house was one of the first examples of "Praire Architecture" which he developed.Here are a few pics of his house and some elements that he used!Later I will try and give a fast trip through some of his renowed works...

First anniversary!

An year has just flown by....Yesterday we celebrated our first anniversary:)...It was really fun.This year has taught me a lot of things...I learned a lot of new things...like cooking,looking after household stuff...plan for things etc.It will always remain one of the most memorable year in my life!!

winter is here early...

Winter officially starts on 21st dec but this year it started quite early...Temperatures dropped upto 1 degree F which is around -25 degrees Celcius!!It was really cold....

Fall colours

Winter is approaching fast....but before that the fall season here(Chicago) is spectacular....very colourful!Here are some pics taken in the Fermilab campus.As this is my first fall season here it the first time that I am seeing these colours in reality...its really beautiful. In the areas where they don't experience nice fall colours, people go the adjacent areas as a trip to enjoy this scenery!

Strange Church

Maybe you can consider this entry as Halloween special!!
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction, and how about 70 kilometers east the capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, lies a small town called Sedlec.It might have been an ordinary enough town, if not for its extraordinary church.The inside of this church is decorated with artworks made of real human bones.The story begins in 1218, when a certain Abbot Henry made a pilgrimage to the holy land and brought back a jar full of soil from cemetery, which he spread over the Church.As a result the church came to be regarded as more sacred and turned into
a popular burial spot .By 1318, more than 30,000 bodies were buried there and by 1511, it had
become necessary to remove the older bones to make place for the new ones.These later became the material for the macabre creations.In 1870 a local woodcarver was hired by the Duke of Shwartzenberg to decorate the inside of the church with the human remains (approximately 40,000 sets of human bones).Now it is one of the most extraordinary church in the whole world....
Boney Church - isn't it morbidly amazing???

Attached are some of the pictures of this Boney Church - its simply

astonishing...

some more...

Each of these empty pockets once held a Culex mosquito larva. The eggs are laid in rafts on the surface of still water. Culex is the most widespread mosquito in the world, and can transmit several
diseases.
LEO 1430 VO scanning electron microscope at 20 kV. Enhanced using Adobe Photoshop 7.01

The surface tension of water can support even a metal paperclip. By photographing it using a grill in front of the light source, the deformation of the water caused by the clip's weight can be seen. This bending of light is similar to the bending of light by strong gravitational fields, as predicted by Einstein's theories. Surface tension is due to an attraction between the molecules in water, which cause its surface to act in an elastic manner.

35mm SLR with tilt and shift lens, f22. Enhanced using PhotoDraw

You can check the site for many more great pics here .

When science converges with art....

Science and art converge in the Visions of Science competition.Pretty amzing photos of stuff.

Blue ink diffusing into water takes on the appearance of jubilant figures with raised arms, as if in prayer.
Canon 300D
What is Visions of Science?

Visions of Science is a photographic awards scheme organised by Novartis Pharmaceuticals to encourage ongoing discussion about science.

So, what is a Vision of Science? To the judges of the Awards, a Vision of Science is an attention-grabbing image that gives new insight into the world of science and the workings of nature. It may show something never seen before, it may explain a scientific phenomenon, it may illustrate scientific data or it may simply be an image that shows the beauty of science.

The panel of judges remains a sound mix of scientists, photographers and picture editors.

Visions of Science is organised by Novartis Pharmaceuticals. The Daily Telegraph is the key media partner. The category prize money of £7,000, together with support and advice comes from the Science Photo Library. Special awards this year have been sponsored by the Institute of Physics, the BMJ, Science Learning Centres and Kodak Ltd.
Some more examples in the next post....

continued...

Among the traditions associated with umbrella, the Borsarng umbrella festival, held in Chiangmai province of Thailand deserves a special mention. The village of Borsarng has earned fame for the art of umbrella making for more than 200 years. It is said that a Buddhist monk brought this art to Thailand from China. It went into the Guinness Book of Records, when the villagers made the world's largest umbrella to honour the Southeast Asian Games of 1999.

Whatever, its purpose may be, from a shield against rain and sun to a status symbol to a fashion accessory, umbrellas will always be held high across the globe by young and old, rich and poor, alike. In the reign of Queen Anne, the umbrella appears to have been in common use in London as a screen from rain but only by women
Back home in India whenever we talk of umbrellas, we are invariably reminded of the scene from the classic 1950s Hindi movie, Barsaat, where Raj Kapoor and Nargis are shown singing 'Pyar Hua', on a rain-drenched night under the protection of an umbrella. Here, the umbrella symbolises warmth and camouflage for lovers. The scene has become a virtual symbol of the 'black and white' golden era Hindi Films.

Interesting bit...

We really don't think or don't know that a everyday objeat like an umbrella has a history....some facts that are interesting!There are quite a few things so I will divide in 2 posts...
Mostly used during rains now, umbrellas were initially invented to protect the skin from scorching sun. The earliest use of umbrella dates back to the civilisations of Egypt, Assyria, Rome, Greece and China. Roman women oiled the umbrella cloth and used it for protection from the rain too.

However, its modern avatar, i.e, a contraption of cloth and iron, has its origin in the medieval England. The word 'umbrella' comes from the Latin root word 'umbra', meaning shade.The first English painting with an umbrella appeared in 1596 AD. Initially, considered as a female accessory, it was popularised among the male strata by a Persian traveller, Jonas Hanway (1712-86). He carried it publicly for 30 years. In as late as the 19th century the English gentry referred to their umbrellas as 'Hanway'.

An Englishman, John MacDonald, is credited with the use of silk cloth in an umbrella for the first time. The first umbrella shop, 'James Smith and Sons', was opened in 1830 and is still located at 53, New Oxford Street, in London. It was some 20 years later that Samuel Fox invented the steel-ribbed umbrella design in 1852. Since then the basic umbrella design has undergone various changes, becoming compact, collapsible and lightweight. In the fashion ensemble of women, light coloured cloth with floral or other designs is used to make sleek umbrellas that serve as protection against both the sun and rainTechnically speaking, an umbrella made for protection from the sun is called a parasol. These are often meant to be fixed at one point and often used with patio tables or other outdoor furniture on beaches, besides swimming pools and luncheons in lawns.

Giant smoke rings

A post after a long time now....but I hope that I can keep posting more often!Here are some pics of Mt.Etna(Italy),Europes most active volcano.It is known for periodically belching forth lots(upto 100 per day) of gigantic(upto 600 feet in diameter),long lasting (upto 15 minutes) smoke rings that bellow skyward(upto 18,000 feet).You can check out more pics and movies here