Despite the
fact that filming a time-lapse of a stormy derecho from his Chicago home, the
talented videographer and Thread less creative director Craig Shimala able to
capture magnificent and rare occurrence of a triple lightning strike on three
of the city's tallest buildings. In the below video and stills images, three
bolts of lightning can be seen remarkably striking Willis Tower, Trump Tower,
and the John Hancock Building at the same time, illuminating the Chicago
skyline in an amazingly dynamic way. Incredibly, this isn't the first time Craig
Shimala has captured this unusual phenomenon. He filmed the same thing almost
exactly four years ago back in 2010, and he says lightning never strikes the
same place twice?
Friday 11 July 2014
Sunday 6 July 2014
“Hyperion” World’s Tallest Knowing Living Tree
Hyperion is the name of a coast
redwood (Sequoia Sempervirens) in Northern California that was measured at
115.61 metres (379.3 feet), which ranks it as the world's tallest known living
tree. Hyperion is the world’s tallest tree, who was discovered in 2006 and
discovered three trees taller than the former world record holder “Stratosphere
Giant 113.11m tall in late 2009”. The most successful discovery of “Hyperion
tree”; when naturalists Chris Atkins and Michael Taylor discovered the first
known living tree on Earth exceeding 115m height. Latest measurement of
Hyperion is from late 2009 then the tree was 115.61m tall. Hyperion is in good
shape and seems still to be growing up.
Traditionally the exact location
of the tree has not been publicized due to the fear that human traffic would disturb
the ecosystem the tree inhabits. This is done to avoid the temptation to
develop this part of national park or simply to prevent disturbance to the
forest by the crowds of motivated nature lovers wading towards the tree. It is
only come to know that it takes hard walk to reach this remote location in
Redwood National Park. The tree is estimated to contain 18,600 cubic feet (530
m3) of wood and to be roughly 700–800 years old. Therefore; in Feb 2012,
Hyperion was featured in the BBC Radio 4 documentary James and the Giant
Redwoods by James Aldred.
Even though the part of the
scientific community is not pleased with this stance (location of the tree is
not disclosed even in scientific publications), there’re several sad cases when
delicate information from deeply scientific publications easily becomes VERY
public. But, definitely the heated debates about ethics in science and personal
intrigues form the prosaic side in the lives of scientists. The splendid
Hyperion stands tall above this.
Friday 4 July 2014
Magnificent Interactive Cloud Lamp Will Bring A Thunderstorm Into Your Living Room
This magnificent interactive
audiovisual fixture by Richard Clarkson’s inter-disciplinary design studio
brings beautiful thunder but none of the rain of a summer storm to your home’s
interior. The superb “Cloud” thunder storm lamp and speaker system similar to a
rain cloud on a leash that can even interact with people and sounds around it.
This creative little lamp is
replete with lights, microphones, motion sensors, and a potent speaker system.
A remote control permits user to set it to diverse modes, getting it to act alike
a simple thunder cloud, to respond to movements in its surroundings, or to
respond to sounds or music that it hears around it. The poufy outer layer
definitely brings to an end the illusion that we are looking at a cloud. Check
out this beautiful gifs and video below to see it in action! You can also check
out our post about an artist who tried to create real clouds indoors!
Wonderful Birds “Cormorant” Fishing at Nagaragawa River in Japan
In this traditional fishing method
“ukai” a cormorant master called “usho” succeeds cormorants to capture ayu or
sweetfish. The ushos of River Nagara have been the official staff of the
Imperial Household Agency of Japan since 1890 famous for its limpid stream, in
Gifu Prefecture. Master trainers of cormorants dressed in ancient costume
freely manipulate 10-12 wild sea cormorants to skillfully catch small trout and
this fishing is performed every night between May 15th and October 15th
except during a full moon or in heavy rain. This 1300-year-old occasion is
protected by the Japanese government.
You can look out the whole
spectacle aboard a small wooden boat while dining and drinking sake. Cormorant
fishing normally starts at 7:30 in the evening. The wooden boats are
illuminated with pine torches lit on the boats. The master trainers slowly down
to boat sail out into the river, and when the cormorants swallow small trout
all at once at the shouts of the master trainers, the audiences applaud and cheer.
The evening closes with six boats sailing side by side to corner the small
trout into the shallows, which is a quite incredible view. Famous comedian actor
Charlie Chaplin visited Nagaragawa River two times to see this cormorant
fishing, kept on exclaiming "Wonderful!" throughout the spectacle.
Master trainers of cormorants
belong to the Imperial Household Agency, and a vital duty of theirs is to make
offerings of small trout to the Emperor. It is well prescribed that in every
generation the eldest son succeeds his father, and these men live with
cormorants in order to educate them every day. At the Ukai-no-Sato home of
cormorant fishing nearby the river, you can take a close look at the lifestyle
of these cormorant fishermen.
Thursday 3 July 2014
Elegant Discarded Wood Tables Embedded with Glass Rivers
Greg Klassen is a furniture maker in the
Pacific Northwest who catches motivation in its landscape and
translates that into his work. His beautiful River Collection is a
series of intricately designed and handcrafted tables that feature
embedded bluish-green glass “rivers” running throughout each piece. The
lovely jagged edges of the wood and their clear grains offer the perfect
“shore” to mimic bodies of water.
Each
of Klassen’s tables showcases stunning details within the wood; we
grasp knots, swirling grains, and other imperfections that make his
tedious work truly one-of-a-kind. It’s complemented by the specially-cut
glass that attaches two separate pieces of wood or fills in its natural
holes. Greg Klassen used trees that were sustainably harvested from the
banks of the Noonsack River, so with every new table he made; discarded
trees have a natural new life through his functional art.
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