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Okay, I totally blew this shot out and tried to fix with picnik and I just love the deep rich colors that came out when I worked on it. I hope you like as well.
Have a wonderful weekend my friends.
Fear stimulates us to take action and can be our friend, but if you act as though fear is not there-if you deny it-it will build and create barriers.
Darren L. Johnson
LL Cool J Blue, part of a set of prints of rappers including Slick Rick, Tupac, and Biggie, was originally created in 2004, and is included in the MÖTUG Collective (Monsters of the Unda-Ground) mural at Keap Street and Hope Street in Williamsburg.
OBEY Giant is a street art campaign by artist and guerrilla marketer Shepard Fairey. The campaign originated with the André the Giant Has a Posse sticker that Fairey created in 1986 in Charleston, South Carolina. Distributed by the skater community, the stickers began showing up everywhere. In 1989, while a student at RISD (Rhode Island School of Design), Fairey released his manifesto and the Obey Giant campaign was born. The campaign, an "experiment in phenomenology" pushed primarily through stickers and prints, has a mission to attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with Obey propaganda provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer's perception and attention to detail. Over time the artwork has been reused in a number of ways, most famously in with his "Hope" campaign poster for Barack Obama in the 2008 United States Presidential election.
The Sculpture Garden at Burghley originated from an initiative by the Burghley House Trustees, who were conscious that only limited garden space was regularly accessible to visitors. In 1989, Capability Brown’s lost lower garden was designated to be cleared and planted as a natural setting in which to place contemporary sculpture. Work on restoring the garden, which covers approximately 15 acres, began in 1994.
The layout and pathways of the Sculpture Garden help to provide a structure and focus for the development of the sculpture collection and add to the tradition of management and innovation within the parkland. The positioning of the sculptures, particularly those that are site specific, often accentuates and draws attention to the spaces and plantings that surround them. A symbiotic relationship has begun to develop in which neither sculpture nor horticulture dominate in an area which remains essentially natural, offering an interesting and stimulating environment in which to enjoy contemporary art or simply to wander and spend time away from the hustle and bustle of modern life.
In healing layouts A Quartz Crystal Point carried or worn is said to stimulate psychism. Placed beneath the pillow it is used to create psychic impulses throughout the deep conscious mind as dreams, and to ensure peaceful sleep. Quartz crystal is said to relieve headaches and toothaches and if held in the hand to relieve fevers. It may be placed on parts of the body in pain to rebalance and remove blockages. In Crystal Healing Clear Quartz Crystal is known to be a cleansing tool and said to clear impurities and psychic debris from the energy field that permeates the human body. It can realign and refocus the body, mind, and spirit toward clear goals and increase power of concentration, and focus, amplifying whatever thoughts have been programmed into it.
In Magic Crystal Quartz has been used for thousands of years. It has been used to magically create rain, and produce the sacred fire. The Cherokee Shamans kept it wrapped in buckskin when not in use and it is a common part of shaman's power bags or medicine bundles. In shamanistic terms the quartz crystal is the shaman and the shaman is the crystal. Its magical uses include Power, Protection, Healing, Phsycism, and Lactation. It is said that Wiccans wear quartz, because it is Goddess-symbolic. A small quartz crystal point is placed in healing sachets to increase their magical effectiveness. Wiccans will magically guard their herbs when growing them by placing a small quartz crystal in the soil. It is said one may purify and cleanse their crystals by passing sage lightly over them in a cleansing ritual. Some Wiccans may use a crystal purification incense that including an already purified quartz crystal, and herbs grown in a magically protected garden.
Jade is used to balance and support the energy of the kidneys and lymphatic system. It is used to calm the nervous system and ease over-excitement as it is linked emotionally with the heart chakra, enabling the sharing of unconditional love with all beings. It is said to encourage peace and abundance when placed in the home. Jades magical uses include love, healing, longevity, wisdom, protection, gardening, prosperity, and money. Jade is believed to have power over the weather. It was once known to be thrown into water to bring mist, rain, or snow, and is also said to attract love. Jade is also used in magic to bring money and is said in to be effective for improving the health of plants. Jade may be worn or carried when harvesting herbs to ensure protection of the herbs, a good harvest, and in the practice of Wicca Jade is used to increase the herbs magical potency. Rhodonite is used to soothe inflammation and support liver function and assist detoxification. It is also used to help rheumatoid arthritis and to ease shock; heal wounds -both physical and emotional- and to help the reproductive system. It is used on the heart chakra to heal emotional wounds and can be placed over the throat chakra to help the expression of unconditional love. Fluorite is helpful to gain structure and to help prioritize. It symbolizes changing chaos into order. Fluorite encourages logic and helps to balance the mind. Meditating with fluorite may bring peace and it may be placed in the bath to experience its calming effects. It is said to ease emotional stress and to help decision making. And if worn may bring peace and joy. In magic Fluorite is said to reduce emotional involvement in order to gain perspective, and is useful for theorizing. It is used to quell anger, and depression. Carnelian is used to speed up the healing process. It may help improve increase vitality and strength. It is said to purify the blood and improve circulation, and bring courage when facing personal challenges. Carnelian may be placed on the lower abdomen to energize the sacral and root chakras and is placed in the bath or worn over the heart for warmth and support. Tigers Eye is used to link the energy of the solar plexus chakra, to clear mental blocks and encourage focus on current issues. It supports the metabolism and prevents physical energy form becoming depleted. Tigers Eye may be used to make a gem remedy by placing a piece in a glass of fresh water and leaving it in the sun for one hour, then taking it out and drinking the water to support clear vision. Pyrite is used to clarify mental processes, and diminish confusion, and shed light on problems. It supports the immune system and is known to help with male sexual or infertility issues. In healing layouts, it is placed over the solar plexus area in the middle of the ribs or held in the right hand to balance masculine energy. It may be placed under the rib cage to assist detoxification. Pyrite may be placed in the office to help stay focused and to detoxify the environment. Onyx Is used in healing to help balance the demands of everyday life with the need to find rest and new inspiration. And helps restore the system. It is used to encourage inner stillness and helps focus during meditation. Onyx may energize the feet and legs, working on the root chakra. In healing layouts one may place Onyx between the feet or hold a piece in each hand or over the lower abdomen at root-chakra level to ground and stabilize the physical and energetic systems. It may be worn or carried to improve the balance between work and personal life. In magic onyx is used for protection and defense against negativity.
Clear Quartz, Carnelian, Tigers Eye and Onyx all have a Crystal Matrix as Seekers/Simplifiers and their Earth Powers are as Transformers. Seekers are most often used to aid in pointing the way to our desires in which to aquire what we do not yet have. Their energy structure is that which aligns the crystal to the human mind which helps to find and simplify, as to put forth with minimal effort in order to achieve goals.
Rhodonite has a Barrier Crystal Matrix and a Harmonizer Earth Power. And Fluorite has an Enhancer Crystal Matrix and its Earth Power is as a Brightener. Pyrites an Enhancer Crystal Matrix and a Mirror Earth Power. Jade has a Guardian/Dreamholder Crystal Matrix and its Earth Powers are bonding, making it great for getting consensus, working out contracts, and negotiating.
That day, the soul-stirring experience.
That day, the body has been greatly relaxed.
Get the 80-meter-high vertical roller coaster, I am very stimulating. To feel like a washed up on the same sky.
To stimulate children creativity, Art in All of Us has developed three programs:
1. The AiA Pen Pal Program: Putting children from different origins in contact.
2. The AiA World Art Book Program: Publishing art books by children.
3. The AiA Awareness Program: Teaching global awareness to children.
Stimulating afternoon at the Smith Environmental Education Center in Montgomery County.
Montgomery County educator William Kraegel demonstrates some the rock hammer for our first grade class. I was impressed with the quality of the class and only wish our son could go once a week instead of once a year.
Smith Environmental Education Center
5110 Meadowside Ln., Rockville, MD, 20855
(301) 924-3123 - Venue Website
The Outdoor Education Program, based at the Lathrop E. Smith Environmental Education Center serves students in grades K-12 throughout the county with two student-centered programs. The residential program provides on-site, hands-on environmental education experiences to the total sixth grade population. Students attend the residential program for a 3 day/ 2 night program. The two components of the day program serve students in the elementary grades, as well as secondary and alternative program students. The center is also utilized by a variety of MCPS programs and schools for staff development several times each year. The center provides teacher-training activities that include classes and workshops emphasizing environmental studies and their application to teaching in the out-of-doors as well as in the classroom.
www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/outdoored/smith_ce...
This baby black widow is only a day or two out of its egg case and is busy spinning a web. Nearly 100 babies emerged from Elvira's egg case and stayed grouped together until I put some small branches in the terrarium to stimulate web building. This youngster is bridging the gap between two twigs against a carpet of bright leaves lining the floor of the terrarium. She's so small that her legs are translucent, allowing the color of the background material to show through. What will someday be a flashy red hourglass is, at this young age, nothing more than a drab, beige shape on her abdomen. Elvira died a few years ago but not before laying eggs from a mating that must have occurred several months previously, in Texas.
Nikkor-H 85mm @ f/16, fitted with an Iscorama anamorphic lens (1968), with the objective from a Kiron 35-135mm zoom lens reverse mounted on the Isco. Nikon SB-20 flash bounced off foil covered reflectors. The Kiron objective is a difficult supplemental lens to work with, having an exceptionally curved field and a very short working distance of 2 inches when used with the 85mm and Iscorama.
DSC-5178-WS
If you are stuck for a winter project, I would like to suggest a group a FLICKR friend set up...WORD A WEEK. Pick a word from an on line dictionary and photograph something to illustrate the word! Have fun and be visually stimulated too.
www.flickr.com/groups/2559743@N25/
Processed: TopazBuzSimTonedII
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Some great quotes from a Contact in Canberra.. Pure...
"Shoot any scene at the time of realization of the highest emotional stress coupled with sense of pictorial form - is a decisive moment". Henri Cartier-Bresson
“I hope that my work will encourage self expression in others and stimulate the search for beauty and creative excitement in the great world around us.”-Ansel Adams
“True education is concerned not only with practical goals but also with values.”- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
“Buildings should keep you dry and feed the soul.” - Zaha Hadid .
"As swift as the wind, quiet as a forest, furious as fire, immovable as a mountain." - Takeda family
"Wanting to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not."- Kurt Cobain
"A friend is nothing but a known enemy."- Kurt Cobain
"The duty of youth is to challenge corruption."- Kurt Cobain
"There's nothing better than having a baby. Holding my baby is the best drug in the world." - Kurt Cobain
"We're so trendy we can't even escape ourselves."- Kurt Cobain
"Rap music's been around for too long now to be inspirational. The words are, but the music isn't."- Alexander Lee McQueen
"You can only go forward by making mistakes." - Alexander Lee McQueen
"Music assists him in the use of harmonic and mathematical proportion."- Vitruvius
"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls." - Pablo Picasso
"I am still learning." - Michelangelo
"Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings." - Salvador Dali
For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream. Vincent Van Gogh
If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. Vincent Van Gogh
I am still far from being what I want to be, but with God's help I shall succeed. Vincent Van Gogh
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. Vincent Van Gogh
I dream of painting and then I paint my dream. Vincent Van Gogh
When I have a terrible need of - shall I say the word - Religion. Then I go out and paint the stars. Vincent Van Gogh
Do not quench your inspiration and your imagination; do not become the slave of your model. Vincent Van Gogh
Do something worth remembering. Elvis Presley
Rhythm is something you either have or don't have, but when you have it, you have it all over. Elvis Presley
I'am not the King. Jesus Christ is the King. I'am just entertainer. Elvis Presley
A live concert to me is exciting because of all the electricity that is generated in the crowd and on stage. It's my favorite part of the business, live concerts. Elvis Presley
People think you're crazy if you talk about things they don't understand. Elvis Presley
You only pass through this life once. You don't come back for an encore. Elvis Presley
Ambition is a dream with a V8 engine. Elvis Presley
I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to. Elvis Presley
I believe the key to happiness is : someone to love , something to do , and something to look forward to. Elvis Presley
When things go wrong don't go with them. Elvis Presley
"Be as you wish to seem." Socrates
"Wisdom begins in wonder. " Socrates
"Worthless people live only to eat and drink; people of worth eat and drink only to live." Socrates
"A system of morality which is based on relative emotional values is a mere illusion, a thoroughly vulgar conception which has nothing sound in it and nothing true." Socrates
"Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant." Socrates
"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing." Socrates
"Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior." Socrates
"True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us." Socrates
"I decided that it was not wisdom that enabled poets to write their poetry, but a kind of instinct or inspiration, such as you find in seers and prophets who deliver all their sublime messages without knowing in the least what they mean. " Socrates
"The unexamined life is not worth living." Socrates
"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for. " Socrates
"He is a man of courage who does not run away, but remains at his post and fights against the enemy." Socrates
"By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you'll become happy; if you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher." Socrates
"I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing. " Socrates
"From the deepest desires often come the deadliest hate." Socrates
"Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us." Socrates
"He is richest who is content with the least, for content is the wealth of nature." Socrates
"I was angry and frustrated until I started my own family and my first child was born. Until then I didn't really appreciate life the way I should have, but fortunately I woke up." Johnny Depp
"The only creatures that are evolved enough to convey pure love are dogs and infants." Johnny Depp
"When kids hit one year old, it's like hanging out with a miniature drunk. You have to hold onto them. They bump into things. They laugh and cry. They urinate. They vomit."
Johnny Depp
"If there's any message to my work, it is ultimately that it's OK to be different, that it's good to be different, that we should question ourselves before we pass judgment on someone who looks different, behaves different, talks different, is a different color. " Johnny Depp
"Trips to the dentist - I like to postpone that kind of thing."Johnny Depp
"I'm not sure I'm adult yet." Johnny Depp
"There's a drive in me that won't allow me to do certain things that are easy. " Johnny Depp
"The term 'serious actor' is kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? Like 'airplane food.' " Johnny Depp
"As a teenager I was so insecure. I was the type of guy that never fitted in because he never dared to choose. I was convinced I had absolutely no talent at all. For nothing. And that thought took away all my ambition too." Johnny Depp
"I'm an old-fashioned guy... I want to be an old man with a beer belly sitting on a porch, looking at a lake or something."Johnny Depp
"People say I make strange choices, but they're not strange for me. My sickness is that I'm fascinated by human behavior, by what's underneath the surface, by the worlds inside people." Johnny Depp
"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." Francis of Assisi
"Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love." Francis of Assisi
"For it is in giving that we receive." Francis of Assisi
"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. " Steve Jobs
"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." Steve Jobs
" That's been one of my mantras - focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it's worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains." Steve Jobs
"Computers themselves, and software yet to be developed, will revolutionize the way we learn. " Steve Jobs
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.
Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it's really how it works. " Steve Jobs
"I believe life is an intelligent thing: that things aren't random. " Steve Jobs
"Things don't have to change the world to be important." Steve Jobs
"Stay hungry, stay foolish." Steve Jobs
"Innovation has nothing to do with how many R & D dollars you have. When Apple came up with the Mac, IBM was spending at least 100 times more on R & D. It's not about money. It's about the people you have, how you're led, and how much you get it." Steve Jobs
"I think money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things. It enables you to invest in ideas that don't have a short-term payback. " Steve Jobs
" Throughout my years in business, I discovered something. I would always ask why you do things. The answers that I would invariably get are: 'Oh, that's just the way things are done around here.' Nobody knows why they do what they do. Nobody thinks very deeply about things in business. " Steve Jobs
"Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them. " Steve Jobs
"You have to be very focused and work very hard, but it is not about working hard without knowing what your aim is! You really have to have a goal." Zaha Hadid
"I have always appreciate those who dare to experiment with materials and proportions." Zaha Hadid
"I don't think that Architecture is only about shelter...it's should be able to excite you , to calm you, to make you think." Zaha Hadid
“Be - don't try to become” . Osho
“Sadness gives depth. Happiness gives height. Sadness gives roots. Happiness gives branches. Happiness is like a tree going into the sky, and sadness is like the roots going down into the womb of the earth. Both are needed, and the higher a tree goes, the deeper it goes, simultaneously. The bigger the tree, the bigger will be its roots. In fact, it is always in proportion. That's its balance.” Osho
“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." and so in you the child your mother lives on and through your family continues to live... so at this time look after yourself and your family as you would your mother for through you all she will truly never die.” Osho
“Truth is not to be found outside. No teacher, no scripture can give it to you. It is inside you and if you wish to attain it, seek your own company. Be with yourself. ” Osho
“If you love a flower, don’t pick it up.
Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love.
So if you love a flower, let it be.
Love is not about possession.
Love is about appreciation.” Osho
“Experience life in all possible ways --
good-bad, bitter-sweet, dark-light,
summer-winter. Experience all the dualities.
Don't be afraid of experience, because
the more experience you have, the more
mature you become.” Osho
“Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.” Osho
“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.” Osho
“Friendship is the purest love. It is the highest form of Love where nothing is asked for, no condition, where one simply enjoys giving.” Osho
“Be realistic: Plan for a miracle”. Osho
“Listen to your being. It is continuously giving you hints; it is a still, small voice. It does not shout at you, that is true. And if you are a little silent you will start feeling your way. Be the person you are. Never try to be another, and you will become mature. Maturity is accepting the responsibility of being oneself, whatsoever the cost. Risking all to be oneself, that's what maturity is all about.” Osho
“Life begins where fear ends.” Osho
"I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.
It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.
It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.
And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.
That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.” Osho
“You feel good, you feel bad, and these feelings are bubbling from your own unconsciousness, from your own past. Nobody is responsible except you. Nobody can make you angry, and nobody can make you happy.” Osho
“Truth is not something outside to be discovered, it is something inside to be realized.” Osho
“Intelligence is dangerous. Intelligence means you will start thinking on your own; you will start looking around on your own. You will not believe in the scriptures; you will believe only in your own experience.” Osho
“Courage Is a love affair with the unknown”. Osho
“If you are a parent, open doors to unknown directions to the child so he can explore. Don't make him afraid of the unknown, give him support. ” Osho
“The real question is not whether life exists after death. The real question is whether you are alive before death.” Osho
“Whatever you feel, you become. It is your responsibility.” Osho
“You exist in time, but you belong to eternity. You are a penetration of eternity into the world of time. You are
deathless, living in a body of death. Your consciousness knows no death, no birth. It is only your body that is born and dies. But you are not aware of your consciousness. You are not conscious of your consciousness. And that is the whole art of meditation. Becoming conscious of consciousness itself.” Osho
“Be less of a judge and you will be surprised that when you become a witness and you don't judge yourself, you stop judging others too. And that makes you more human, more compassionate, more understanding.” Osho
“A little foolishness, enough 2 enjoy life, & a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do”. Osho
“You become more divine as you become more creative. All the religions of the world have said God is the creator. I don’t know whether he is the creator or not, but one thing I know: the more creative you become, the more godly you become. When your creativity comes to a climax, when your whole life becomes creative, you live in God. So he must be the creator because people who have been creative have been closest to him. Love what you do. Be meditative while you are doing it – whatever it is”. Osho
Definition of meditative - (adjective) -
of, involving, or absorbed in meditation or considered thought.
“In love the other is important; in lust you are important” . Osho
“It's not a question of learning much. On the contrary. It's a question of unlearning much.“ Osho
“All that is great cannot be possessed - and that is one of the most foolish things man goes on doing. We want to possess.” Osho
“The moment you become miserly you are closed to the basic phenomenon of life: expansion, sharing. The moment you start clinging to things, you have missed the target - you have missed. Because things are not the target, you, your innermost being, is the target - not a beautiful house, but a beautiful you, not much money, but a rich you, not many things, but an open being, available to millions of things.” Osho
“If you want to learn anything, learn trust - nothing else it needed. If you are miserable, nothing else will help - learn trust. If you don't feel any meaning in life and you feel meaningless, nothing will help - learn trust. Trust gives meaning because trust makes you capable of allowing the whole descend upon you.” Osho
“I love, because my love is not dependent on the object of love. My love is dependent on my state of being. So whether the other person changes, becomes different, friend turns into a foe, does not matter, because my love was never dependent on the other person. My love is my state of being. I simply love.” Osho
First visit 9 july 2009
For schools, students and teachers: Find at the following link a new and free lesson plan explaining how to introduce and teach Ben Heine's "Pencil Vs Camera" concept in schools to stimulate students art skills, imagination, creativity and use of new technologies: benheine.com/pencil-vs-camera-in-schools/
#lessonplan #school #student #teacher #pencilvscamera #benheineart #education #teach #learn #skills #drawing #art #learnart #teachart
I couldn't resist any longer I had to try to tie something. I'm almost 8 weeks out from UCL surgery on my right thumb on my dominant hand. I started PT last week, so I'm able to move and wiggle it a bit, pinch is very weak and my wrist is still pretty tight. I decided my first pattern back would be a Stimulator, the name seemed relevant to my situation and I had never tied one before. I only managed a few before it got kinda sore on me so I figured I had my fun. This was my favorite of the set.
Marina Bay Sands is an integrated resort fronting Marina Bay in Singapore. Developed by Las Vegas Sands (LVS), it is billed as the world's most expensive stand-alone casino property at US$ 5.7 billion, including the cost of the prime land.
Marina Bay Sands is situated on 15.5 hectares of land with the gross floor area of 581,000 square metres. The iconic design has transformed Singapore's skyline and tourism landscape since it opened on 27 April, 2010. The property has a hotel, convention and exhibition facilities, theatres, entertainment venues, retailers, and restaurants.
Marina Bay Sands was one of two winning proposals for Singapore's first integrated resorts, the other being the Resorts World Sentosa, which incorporates Universal Studios Theme Park. The two resorts aimed to meet Singapore's economic and tourism objectives, and have 30-year casino licenses, exclusively for the first ten years.
Bidders were assessed based on four criteria:
tourism appeal and contribution
architectural concept and design
development investment
strength of the consortium and partners
On 27 May, 2006, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) was declared as the winner to develop the Marina Bay site in the prime new business district of Marina South. LVS highlighted its forte in Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions (MICE). LVS's founder Sheldon Adelson is a pioneer in Las Vegas and the key to his early business success.[3] In the Design Evaluation portion of the tender, a panel of local and international architects commended Sands' design as superior to other bids in terms of pedestrian circulation and layout, and it also fit in with the Marina Bay landscape best. They liked that the hotel towers were set back from the waterfront to open up expansive views of the city and the entire Marina Bay, making the skyline for Singapore's downtown more attractive and distinctive.Construction of the property commenced in early 2007 and was expected to be completed by 2009.
Singapore Tourism Board highlighted Sands' line-up of six celebrity chefs, such as Tetsuya Wakuda, Wolfgang Puck, Daniel Boulud and Mario Batali.
LVS submitted its winning bid on its own. Its original partner City Developments Limited (CDL), with a proposed 15% equity stake, pulled out of the partnership in the second phase of the tender process. CDL's CEO, Kwek Leng Beng said his company's pullout was a combination of factors – such as difficulties in getting numerous companies he owns to comply in time, as well as reluctance of some parties to disclose certain private information in probity checks required by the Singapore government. However, Kwek was retained as an advisor for Sands' bid.
Las Vegas Sands initially committed to invest S$3.85 billion in the project, not including the fixed S$1.2 billion cost of the 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) site itself. With the escalating costs of materials, such as sand and steel, and labour shortages owing to other major infrastructure and property development in the country, Sheldon Adelson placed the total cost of the development at S$8 billion as of July 2009.
Las Vegas Sands declared the undertaking as "one of the world's most challenging construction projects and certainly the most expensive stand-alone integrated resort property ever built". It expects the casino to generate at least $1 billion in annual profit. Two months after the initial phased opening, the casino attracts around 25,000 visitors daily, about a third being Singaporeans and permanent residents who pay a $100 daily entry levy or $2,000 for annual unlimited access. Half a million gamblers passed through the casino in June 2010. In the third quarter of 2012, the revenues of the Marina Bay Sands fell almost 28 per cent from a year earlier.
For the economy, Marina Bay Sands is projected to stimulate an addition of $2.7 billion or 0.8% to Singapore's Gross Domestic Product by 2015, employing 10,000 people directly and 20,000 jobs being created in other industries.
Moshe Safdie was approached to lead the design on this massive project. Taking inspiration from the form of card decks, led to the unique design of the three hotel towers. Other key structures of the property include the 200,000-square-foot (19,000 m2) ArtScience Museum, The Shoppes, Expo and Convention center and the casino. During the resort's planning and construction phases, feng shui consultants, the late Master Chong Swan Lek and Master Louisa Ong-Lee were consulted in regards to divination.
The engineering for the project was headed by Arup and Parsons Brinkerhoff (MEP/ELV). Arup had originally worked on prestigious projects such as the Beijing National Aquatics Centre and the Sydney Opera House. In spite of their experience in constructing challenging designs, the Marina Bay Sands project was described as the 'most difficult to carry out in the whole world' due to the amount of integration of the varied and advanced technologies needed to complete the project.
The extensive background music system was installed by Singapore based contractor Electronics & Engineering Pte Ltd
The Marina Bay Sands hotel has three 55-story towers with 2,561 luxury rooms and suites, which is capped by the Sands SkyPark, which offers 360-degree views of Singapore's skyline. The SkyPark is home to restaurants, gardens, a 150-metre vanishing edge and the world's largest public cantilever housing an observation deck. This architectural marvel stands at the height of 200 metres and boasts 12,400 square metres of space. Dining options at the Skypark include local celebrity chef restaurant, Sky on 57 (by Justin Quek), restaurant and nightclub KU DÉ TA, and executive club lounge The Club at Marina Bay Sands.
To help the Skypark withstand the natural motion of the towers caused by wind, engineers designed and constructed four movement joints beneath the main pools, each possessing a unique range of motion. The total range of motion is 500 millimetres (19.68 inches). In addition to wind, the hotel towers are also subject to settlement in the earth over time, hence custom jack legs were built and installed to allow for future adjustment at more than 500 points beneath the pool system. This jacking system is important primarily to ensure the infinity edge of the pool continues to function properly.[citation needed]
Connected to the hotel towers are the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands Casino and The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The Sands Expo and Convention Centre has more than 120,000 square metres or 1.3 million square feet of meeting space, making it one of the largest and most flexible locations in Asia. It is also the biggest MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conference and Exhibitions) facility in Singapore, and the ballroom is the largest in Southeast Asia, capable of hosting up to 11,000 delegates. The Sands Expo and Convention Centre has five floors of exhibition and convention space, with up to 2,000 exhibition booths and 250 meeting rooms. It has hosted events ranging from banquets, theater-style conventions, to exhibitions and roadshows.
Located near the Sands Expo and Convention Centre is the Marina Bay Sands Casino. Spanning 15,000 square metres over four levels of gaming, the casino features over 600 gaming tables and 1,500 slot machines along with two noodle bars, The Nest and Tong Dim, and local Chinese eatery, Fatt Choi Express.
Another attraction found at Marina Bay Sands is The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands. With close to 800,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands is Singapore's first large-scale luxury shopping mall in the Central Business District with boutiques such as Ralph Lauren, Chanel, Cartier and Prada. Other luxury stores include Salon by Surrender, Gucci, Hermès, Emporio Armani, Chopard, REDValentino, Dior, Dunhill, Vertu, Miu Miu, Saint Laurent Paris, Salvatore Ferragamo, Montblanc, Blancpain, and an Hermès Watch Boutique. Also housed within the Shoppes are the five of the six Celebrity Chef Restaurants – Cut (by Wolfgang Puck), Waku Ghin (by Tetsuya Wakuda), Pizzeria and Osteria Mozza (by Mario Batali), Guy Savoy (by Guy Savoy), and DB Bistro Moderne (by Daniel Boulud).
Other attractions within The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands include a canal which runs through the length of the Shoppes, in the same style as the Venetian in Las Vegas, two Crystal Pavilions, one housing renowned nightclubs – Avalon and Pangaea and the other the world's largest Louis Vuitton boutique. An indoor skating rink (synthetic ice) measuring 6,500 square feet (600 m2) as well as the MasterCard Theatres, compromising of the Sands Theatre and Grand Theatre which seat 1,680 people and 2,155 people respectively can also be found at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands.
The MasterCard Theatres has played host to many international acts and plays since its opening, with Broadway smash musicals like The Lion King, Wicked, Annie, and The Phantom of the Opera. Other acts such as Cirque Éloize and A. R. Rahman's Jai Ho, located in the latter during their world tours.
Visitors to the Event Plaza at The Shoppes can enjoy the nightly Wonder Full show, a 13-minute light and water show featuring lasers, lights, water movements and graphics, set against the backdrop of Marina Bay Sands.
Marina Bay Sands is also home to the ArtScience Museum, With a form reminiscent of the lotus, the ArtScience Museum has been called "The Welcoming Hand of Singapore". It features an adjustable roof waterfall which uses rainwater collected when the roof is sealed in the day.
The resort also features an Art Path designed by Moshe Safdie, incorporating 11 installations by five artists including Zheng Chongbin, Antony Gormley, and Sol LeWitt. The 11 art installations were commissioned to integrate seamlessly with Moshe Safdie's iconic architecture. These art installations form the largest art commissions ever completed as part of an integrated architectual proccess
Stimulated by an AI experiment by Paul Ewing, I have created this image manually with photomanipulation software, from three layers (most obviously an 1865 photo of Lincoln by Alexander Gardner, but also two images from the interior of an active car wash).">
The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park South, NYC
by navema
The mission of the National Arts Club is to stimulate, foster and promote public interest in the arts and educate the American people in the fine arts. The club offers a variety of shows, educational programs, and awards in areas including theater, visual arts, film, literature and music. It is noted for allowing members access to a Gramercy Park key.
The National Arts Club was founded in 1898 by Charles de Kay. Charles de Kay was the literary and art critic for The New York Times for 18 years. He and a group of distinguished artists and patrons conceived of a gathering place for artists, patrons and audiences in all the arts. American art at the turn of the century had begun to look inward for inspiration, rather than to Europe, and the American art world was alive with energy. As The National Arts Club moved into its first home in a townhouse on 34th Street, American art had found a new home.
The National Arts Club is located in the historic Tilden Mansion. 15 Gramercy Park was built in the 1840's and its original flat-front, iron-grilled appearance matched the style of the houses still maintained on the west side of Gramercy Park, a landmark Gothic Revival brownstone, immediately next door and West of the Players Club, with similar interests. Samuel Tilden acquired 15 Gramercy Park in the 1860's, and in the 1870's gave the house a massive overhaul. Tilden hired Calvert Vaux, a famed architect and one of the designers of Central Park to "victorianize" the facade with sandstone, bay windows and Gothic Ornamentation. John LaFarge created stained glass ceilings for the inside of the mansion, and Italian wood carvers made the fireplaces. Glass master Donald MacDonald wrought a unique stained glass dome for the building. All of this prompted architect Philip Johnson to call the mansion, "among the most beautiful in New York." Spencer Trask and the Board of Governors acquired the Tilden Mansion in 1906 as the new home for the National Arts Club.
The Tilden Mansion is both a designated New York Landmark and a National Historic Landmark. In the 1960's, New York declared 15 Gramercy Park South a New York Landmark, and in 1976, the Federal government declared it a National Historic Landmark. The Tilden Mansion continues to inspire artists from around the world. NAC member Albinus Elskus undertook a restoration of the MacDonald dome in the 1970's, and recently, in 2000, Danish sculptor Tycho Flore created a piece inspired by and from the same material as the Calvert Vaux facade.
The National Arts Club admitted women on a full and equal basis from its inception. The National Arts Club has a long history of exclusivity through inclusivity. Charles Spencer Trask, Charles Rollison Lamb, Charles de Kay and the other co-founders recognized the importance of many female artists and saw no reason to treat them differently from male artists. The National Arts Club continues its tradition of inclusivity by welcoming minority artists and fighting for the rights of minority students.
The Club's Membership has included three presidents, and some of the most important artists and arts patrons in America. Three Presidents of the United States were Members: Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Among the distinguished painters who have been Members are Robert Henri, Edward Charles Volkert, Frederic Remington, William Merritt Chase and Cecilia Beaux. Sculptors have included Saint-Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Anna Hyatt Huntington and Paul Manship. Many renowned literary figures have also been members, including W. H. Auden, Mark Twain and Frank McCourt. The National Arts Club is proud of its early recognition of new media artforms, like photography, film and digital media, and counts Alfred Stieglitz as one of its early Members. Musicians Victor Herbert and Walter Damrosch were Members, as were architects Stanford White and George B. Post. The Dramatic Arts are currently represented by Members Martin Scorcese, Ethan Hawke, Dennis Hopper, Robert Redford and Uma Thurman.
The National Arts Club fosters young artists with a number of awards and scholarships. Many of the committees award scholarships to young artists, writers and singers. The National Arts Club Opera Competition attracts international applications. The Club is as committed to nurturing young talent as it is to recognizing established artists.
The National Arts Club is run by volunteers. The National Arts Club hosts some of the most exciting events in New York—art unveilings, award dinners, film screenings, lectures, dances and anything else you can think of. All of these programs, as well as the scholarship competitions, exhibitions and other activities are coordinated by the Membership as volunteers who act out of their love for the arts and the Club, and thus broaden the public's understanding of our broad cultural community.
Goal: Stimulate the creative minds of teenagers with a creative concept that represents the sermon series in some way. Create a sense of stylish atmosphere in the youth group with creative sermon key art.
Audience: High School Teenagers
Direction: Loudness that creates transformation in a vintage style
Project: Develop Key Art
Other important info:
A mantra is a sound, syllable, word, or group of words that are considered capable of "creating transformation"
Further Notes:
We've already moved the key art into production...
This challenge was to write a journal entry describing something "secret." Cut it up into several pieces and glue them back scrambled.
Found this to be an interesting activity to do. It wasn't one that I originally had selected to do, but am happy that I ended up doing this.
I've heard about writing a letter and burning it...kind of a "letting go" process, but not taking the journal entry and keeping it in a modified form.
This was taken as part of "Inspire the Artist Within You" challenge on Swap-Bot. It is based on Kerri Smith's website where you can find a list of 100 ideas to inspire and stimulate your artistic endeavors.
Here's the link to the website: www.kerismith.com/funstuff/100ideas.htm
This is part of a swap on Swap-Bot in which you pick at least five of the ieas on the website, execute them over a one month period, and document the process
Dendritic cells stimulated with adjuvant silicon microparticles interact with T cells.
Courtesy of Rita Serda
Image Details
Instrument used: Nova NanoSEM Family
Magnification: 16,000x
Horizontal Field Width: 18.9 um
Voltage: 10 keV
Spot: 3.0
Working Distance: 4.9 mm
Detector: SE
Gunwharf Quays is an outlet retail destination with 90 outlet stores and 30 restaurants, bars and cafés located in Portsmouth, UK. Gunwharf Quays plays host to a 14-screen Vue cinema, 26-lane Bowlplex Bowling Alley, Aspex art gallery, Grovenor casino, a Holiday Inn Express and a Tiger Tiger nightclub.
The waterfront overlooks Gunwharf Quays Marina which can accommodate all types of craft including luxury yachts up to 80 metres and has often played host to national and international sailing events. The Berkeley Group plc was responsible for the development of Gunwharf Quays, which is now owned by Land Securities. The area has also become a residential area of Portsmouth, and houses many apartment buildings. In 2012, the penthouse at no 1 Gunwharf Quays (the tall building in the background) was on sale for £2.5 million.
With a height: 29 storeys, almost 100m the building is the tallest residential skyscraper on the South Coast of England. The design of No.1 Gunwharf Quays is modelled by the architects on a large funnel and represents steam, while the nearby Spinnaker is based on a sail.
Berkeley Homes’ innovative mixed use development of luxury apartments and retail facilities at Gunwharf Quays, has resulted in one of Portsmouth’s most desired addresses. Designated a conservation area by Portsmouth City Council, this is a residential development, allowing one privacy yet convenience of the thriving commercial centre.
In 1995 Portsmouth City Council prepared a development brief to provide detailed guidance, supplementary to the Local Plan, for the redevelopment of Gunwharf Quays. This gave clear indication of what was expected in their bid to the MOD and in the subsequent planning application. The MOD sold the site to the Berkeley Group in 1996 and since then Berkeley Homes has worked closely with Portsmouth City Council to redevelop this “brownfield” site. The Gunwharf renaissance has resulted in a stimulating new environment on a site closed to the public for over 300 years, providing an important facility for both residents and visitors alike. In the first 9 months after its Easter 2001 opening, Gunwharf Quays attracted over 3 million visitors.
Gunwharf was established as an Ordnance Yard for Portsmouth Naval Dockyard in the early eighteenth century. In the days of sail, warships required periodic checking and maintenance (and often repair after a naval battle). This often necessitated the ship being placed into a dry dock; however, a ship could not be placed in dry dock with its guns on board as the weight would severely damage the wooden structure once the support of the sea water was lost and the keel took all the weight of the ship and its contents. The ship would therefore offload all of its guns at one of the Gunwharf Quays before being dry docked. (Prior to 1855, a ship's guns, as well as its small arms etc., belonged not to the Admiralty or the Navy Board, but to the Board of Ordnance, whose Ordnance Yards were therefore constructed alongside, but independent from, the Royal Dockyards.)
As ships and armaments developed, the requirement to offload the armament diminished, and the Gunwharf fell into disuse. The site was re-established as the Royal Navy shore establishment HMS Vernon in 1923.
Following several naval restructures and mergers, HMS Vernon ceased to be an independent command and was renamed HMS Nelson (Vernon site) on 31 March 1986. In 1987 it was renamed again to HMS Nelson (GunWharf) although locally it continued to be known as HMS Vernon. Following many more reorganisations and mergers, all of HMS Nelson (Gunwharf)'s operations were deployed elsewhere, and it ceased operations in 1995. The site was subsequently sold for redevelopment.
The development opened as Gunwharf Quays on 28 February 2001. The concept for the redevelopment was by the local firm HGP Architects.
At Yaksheetasri.com, experience a feeling of healing and pampering with a blend of relaxation and rejuvenation in the exotic ambiance imparting a sense of tranquility, peace and calm. Humans need touch and touch is a powerful healer. For thousands of years, many cultures have practiced some form of massage with the aim of easing physical, mental and spiritual aliment. We at Yaksheetasri.com, welcome you to undertake the journey within, through powerful and magical touch.
Choose from an intelligent mix of exotic treatments, traditional massages, detoxification, reflexology, scrubs, wraps, signature facials, hair spa, foot spa and the most indispensable dental spa, to let go your stress, completely beautify your body and unchain the abundant energy within you. The entire range of treatments/rituals has also been grouped into a variety of packages to suit your convenience, desires and precious time.
At Yaksheetasri.com, the team of masseurs/masseuse comprises of handpicked experts from all field of massages and treatments with ample experience. In today’s fast paced individualistic world with huge scarcity of time and energy, come to Yaksheetasri.com and find yourself and the abundant energy within you. Yaksheetasri Spa's treatments have been carefully designed to energize your body, mind and soul. The treatments have been customized depending on the location, by keeping in mind the guest's needs. An airport spa would incorporate express treatments keeping in mind, the traveler's limited time.
Whether it is an express Spa & Salon with a selected few treatments or a complex set-up with exotic features and a wide array of spa services, Yaksheetasri Spa has a complete solution for hospitality organization. With in-house design, training, product development, marketing and management capabilities, Yaksheetasri Spa can offer individual solutions from green field projects to complete spa management of existing facilities.
Yaksheetasri Spa is only leading "Premium Class" Chennai spa chain in existence. We have transformed a first class upscale Chennai Massage & spa concept in to a successful spa wonderland. This has turned out as a perfect gift for passengers who are on- the-go. Our spas are designed to encourage tranquility and well-being. We use warm earth tones of wenge & beige, world class leather seating, wooden floors, gentle indirect lighting and soothing background music to create a relaxing environment that attracts women’s only.
Additionally, Yaksheetasri Spa has developed numerous innovative spa practices that enhance the airport spa experience. We are very proud to have revolutionized the way to operate a spa, while having created the most relaxing destination in Chennai. In the past couple of years, Yaksheetasri Spa single-handedly transformed Indian Chennai concessions by turning spas into a must-have for any major are in Chennai.
Foot Reflexology
Foot reflexology is "pressure therapy" and involves applying focused pressure to certain known reflex points located in the foot to cure or prevent disease. Foot reflexology is based on the premise that our nerve zones or reflex points go from the bottom of our feet to the top of our head, encompassing all vital organs on the way.
Neck & Back Massage
A massage is the most basic of all healing techniques. Studies indicate that this touch therapy reduces stress, depression, lessen pain and boost the immune system. A back massage is the most preferred massage treatment as poor spine, postural defects and sleeping disorders are effectively addressed through this simple, nurturing and powerful touch therapy.
Swedish Massage
Swedish body massage is the original massage technique involving a sequence of movements working superficially and deeper into the tissue layers. The main purpose of Swedish massage is to increase the oxygen flow in the blood and release toxins from the muscles. Massage helps in flushing the tissues of harmful deposits such as lactic acid, uric acid, and other metabolic wastes . Swedish massage also stretches the ligaments and tendons keeping them supple and pliable, and stimulates the skin and sooth the nervous system at the same time. As a treatment it helps reduce stress, both emotional and physical, and is often suggested in a program for stress management. It also has many specific medical uses.
Balinese Massage
A Balinese massage uses a combination of gentle stretches, acupressure. Aroma oils used in the massage stimulate the flow of blood, oxygen and energy around your body, and bring deep relaxation and wellness. Massage is a rigorous and luxurious spa treatment and a great one to choose if you want to experience a variety of massage techniques, relax and feel spiritually renewed at the same time. Balinese massage is related to the ancient Ayurveda, the Indian holistic medical system.
Aromatherapy Massage
Aromatherapy massage is an ancient science of healing, relaxing and energizing by the use of plants and their parts. The roots, barks, flowers, fruits, seeds and nuts play a crucial part in this massage. The word aromatherapy is derived from two words aroma which means smell and therapy which stands for healing and overall relaxation and wellbeing.
Thai Massage
Thai massage is an ancient healing art. Through application of pressure on energy lines and points, and a vast array of passive stretching movements performed with the hands, feet, knees and elbows, the body experiences profound relaxation, peripheral stimulation of internal organs, increased flexibility and increased flow of energy. Thai massage is that you get the flexibility, inner organ massage, oxygenation of the blood and quieting of the mind that is attained with yoga. Through deep muscle stretching, joint release and emphasis on breath, Thai massage offers many of the same benefits as yoga.
Deep Tissue Massage
Deep tissue massage is a particularly effective massage for people with muscular pain. Massage helps to refresh and relax muscles, increasing the blood flow and therefore the oxygen flow around your body. This gets rid of toxins in very sore and strained muscles, which helps them to strengthen and heal. Deep tissue massage is often used to treat people who are recovering from accidents, and for sports injuries as it increases blood circulation in muscles that are underused, relieves chronic muscle tension throughout the body, and can also break down scar tissue and "knots" deep in the muscles.
Ayurveda Massage
According to Ayurveda each individual is a combination of the 3 doshas namely vata, pitta and kapha. These 3 govern the metabolic activity in an individual. The detoxification methods like panchakarma and other health remedies ( herbal) when applied wholly/singly make the body, more responsive to medicines thereby hastening the healing process. Various yogasanas achieve, the twin propose of strengthening the body, vital organs like heart, liver etc. as well as keep the physical and psychological condition strong. Not only do the herbal remedies play an important role in internal health and well being but also external health and beauty which is quite evident from the overall appearance.
One of the most important reasons for increasing use of Ayurveda in beauty and skin care is that this system can clearly bring out a youthful clear skin in conjunction with happiness and relaxation which otherwise can’t be achieved by cosmetics. A well regulated lifestyle along with suggesting a discerning diet according to ones doshas will go a long way to strengthen ones natural immune system. Ayurveda is perhaps the first such system that recognises that all diseases are, but the direct manifestations of one’s mental conditions. Any disturbance in the 3 states of human mind (Trigunas) namely Satwa, Rajas as and Tamas manifests in the form of physical illness.
Well stimulation vessel built 2001 by Ulstein Verft yard,Norway.
I.M.O. 9231535
Call sign - LAXK7
Gross tons - 10,979t
Deadweight - 9976t
Length/beam - 127.5m x 27.03m
Owner - Trim Triton A/S Norway
Managed by Solstad Shipping A/S,Skudenshavn Norway.
Flag - Norway
Registered - Skudenshavn
Screaming O Clitoris Stimulation Pop Vibe
Screaming O is a company that makes a ton of different toys including the clitoris stimulation specialty pop vibrator. The screaming o sex toys that I've tried are fun, exciting, and affordable. Affordable being the initial reason we...
in•spi•ra•tion /ˌinspəˈrāSHən is a noun that is defined as stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or activity. To me inspiration is simply a need, a state of natural being. To inspire and to be inspired is an elevated state that I want my soul to be in constantly.
I have been blessed with inspiration all around me. Each individual in my family continues to amaze me and inspire me throughout my life journey. My mother with her unconditional love and silent strength, my brother with his unwavering faith in me and his endless patience, my father with his endless love for us, his life experiences and passion for learning. They inspire me each day in more ways than I can possibly narrate. I am surrounded by friends who inspire me with their wit, warmth, brilliance and so much more. There are so many talented photographers who inspire me with their images, excellent writers who inspire me with their words. And not just creative people, also people who are comfortable in their skin and do not feel the need to aspire or pretend to be something they are not. I find my inspiration in the skies, from the ever shifting clouds, from the ever constant stars. I find my inspiration is the ancient wisdom of our ancestors and the new voyages that I embark on every single day. All the beauty around me, people who never give up hope, the majestic nature, fast cars, man-made structures, daydreams, music, just an endless list of things that inspire me.
I remember the first time somebody told me that I inspire them was when I was in School. I had recently moved to this city, and as always I had embraced the newness with enthusiasm of a new adventure. There was a shy girl in my class, who would not speak much to anybody. As I tend to be very friendly, I ended up being friends with her. Somewhere further during our friendship, she told me that she was suicidal when we had first met, and I had somehow inspired her to live. That was huge and so powerful for me. Maybe all that she really needed was a friend. But the fact that she felt inspired is still breath-taking. I do not think I really did something extraordinary but that’s the beauty of inspiration; it can emerge from the most regular things. I was humbled and thankful beyond words. Due to that instance, I was inspired by the sheer power of how you connect to another person and how it can transform lives.
It was then I had realised that being in a state of inspiration can really make a huge difference in your life and in the lives of people around you. Since then, I have recognised that no matter how many milestones you achieve or career heights you scale, if you are not an inspired soul, if you have not been inspiring, then it means very little. If you have been able to inspire just one person in your lifetime, I think you can consider yourself extremely successful.
To be able to inspire is fulfilling, overwhelming and humbling. It makes you want to shine brighter. Nothing is more fulfilling than knowing you have inspired someone to be their best. So always be your best, be yourself, you can never know who are inspiring today! In the same breath, never cease being amazed and inspired by life.
I hope each one of you will accept my heartfelt gratitude for inspiring me, by just being so amazingly awesome, by just being there :) Thank you so much for being an inspiration in your own right!
Keep shining bright! Inspire. Be inspired.
Hugs KK
SIEM SAPPHIRE
Tug/Supply Vessel
IMO: 9417696
MMSI: 257544000
Call Sign: LDTO
Flag: Norway [NO]
AIS Type: Tug
Gross Tonnage: 7473
Deadweight: 4250 t
Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 91m × 22m
Year Built: 2010
GO ELECTRA
Well Stimulation Vessel
IMO: 9545481
MMSI: 538005197
Call Sign: V7ZR6
Flag: Marshall Is [MH]
AIS Type: Other
Gross Tonnage: 4071
Deadweight: 3123 t
Length Overall x Breadth Extreme: 79.67m × 16m
Year Built: 2012
"stimulate the part of the brain called "Shatner's bassoon", and that's the bit of the brain that deals with time perception. So a second feels like a month."
Halestorm
Stimulate This Tour
July 14, 2009 - Boston, MA
Photos by: Mary Ouellette/TheyWillRockYou.com/All Rights Reserved
The "cinematic blossoming" has its graphic description as a greyish cloud with hints of flesh—colour tints (in fact the only truly amorphous shape on the glass) hanging from above. This aspect of the Bride also has many names including "Halo of the Bride", "Top Inscription" "Milky Way” and "Title"
This becomes, in a way, the "hanging out of flags” of the Bride so that her having achieved stripping and orgasm is made apparent, It is through this “top inscription”, which acts as a sort of score board, that she communicates her desires and their successes, but more often failures, to the Bachelors. However, this does remain a one-way communication as the males have no such organ of communication. This Halo also contains "elements of this blossoming, elements of the sexual life imagined by her, the Bride, desiring".
It exists more to reveal the Bride to herself rather than to be of erotic stimulation to the Bachelors.
(Segments in parentheses are direct quotes from Marcel Duchamp).
FORTUNE GLOBAL FORUM
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015
2015 FORTUNE GLOBAL FORUM
San Francisco, CA, USA
9:15-9:50 am
BUILDING STRATEGY AROUND PURPOSE
In some companies, corporate social responsibility is a PR exercise that ebbs and flows with the seasons. This session will highlight companies that capture, cultivate, and celebrate core values to drive business results. We’ll explore ways that purpose-driven leadership can deepen employee and customer loyalty, stimulate innovation, and build companies that excel for the long term.
Panelists:
Chip Bergh, President and CEO, Levi Strauss
Mark Bertolini, Chairman and CEO, Aetna
Walt Bettinger, President and CEO, Charles Schwab
Moderator:
Pattie Sellers, Assistant Managing Editor, Fortune, Executive Director, MPW/Live Content, Time Inc
Photograph by Noah Berger/Fortune Global Forum
In all societies we are constantly surrounded by symbols, which often contribute towards the stimulation of our creative senses. Symbolism was a 19th-century movement in which art became infused with exaggerated sensitivity and a spooky mysticism, but the symbols themselves have existed for centuries.
In Asian culture there is not such a wide gap between spiritual and material things, as there seems to exist in the western civilization of today. Therefore religious symbols are a living part of all aspects of Asian culture.
Animals may have a positive symbolism in one culture yet have a negative meaning in another. Animals in Celtic and Welsh mythology are tied in with fertility and vitality, because they are living, moving, and growing. They also provided vitality and continued life for the tribes through their meat, skins, and bones.
In ancient Egypt it was thought that some Gods and Goddesses represented themselves on earth in the form of a single representative of a specific species, and honoring that species of animal would please the God or Goddess associated with the animal.
Chinese astrology uses animal names and symbols in the Chinese lunar calendar. Astrology can be defined as a pseudo-science linking human destinies to charts associated with heavenly bodies or the recording of time. The Chinese believed the characteristics of a given zodiac animal influenced the personality of every person born in that year. They used this information to create horoscopes, daily predictions based upon the year of one's birth.
Symbols exist in every culture, in all regions of our planet.
Snakes - Many believe Snake medicine people to be very rare. In some cultures, to have Snake medicine means that the initiate has probably been bitten numerous times by poisonous snakes and survived. The power of Snake medicine is creative. It is being able to shed the old and create the new, just as the snake sheds its old skin and emerges as a whole new creature. As the snake crawls away, it leaves its old “life” or “skin” behind, never looking back and thus creating a new beginning. This medicine can serve as a powerful metaphor for those wishing to break free.
“The snake’s primordial system, functioning for well over one hundred million years, is a marvel of genetic engineering. The snake smells with its tongue, hears with its flesh, and propels itself by a locomotion of rippling muscles. It sheds its skin, has a detachable tail, and mimics death if afraid. It copulates for days with one snake or fifty at once, and can even clone itself.
With all these qualities it is easy to see why no other creature has inspired such contradictory emotions or diverse symbolism.” - Drake Stutesman, author of “SNAKE”
Models: Brother and sister, 12-year old Gabriel and 10-year old Cynthia, members of the Grupo Cultural Beija-Flor (Theatre and Circus group).
Banana Cluster almost ready to harvest
_____________________________________
A banana is an edible fruit, botanically a berry, produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. (In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains.) The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic (seedless) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name Musa sapientum is no longer used.
Musa species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea. They are grown in at least 107 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine and banana beer and as ornamental plants.
Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between "bananas" and "plantains". Especially in the Americas and Europe, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet, dessert bananas, particularly those of the Cavendish group, which are the main exports from banana-growing countries. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called "plantains". In other regions, such as Southeast Asia, many more kinds of banana are grown and eaten, so the simple two-fold distinction is not useful and is not made in local languages.
The term "banana" is also used as the common name for the plants which produce the fruit. This can extend to other members of the genus Musa like the scarlet banana (Musa coccinea), pink banana (Musa velutina) and the Fe'i bananas. It can also refer to members of the genus Ensete, like the snow banana (Ensete glaucum) and the economically important false banana (Ensete ventricosum). Both genera are classified under the banana family, Musaceae.
DESCRIPTION
The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a "corm". Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy, and are often mistaken for trees, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a "false stem" or pseudostem. Bananas grow in a wide variety of soils, as long as the soil is at least 60 cm deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. The leaves of banana plants are composed of a "stalk" (petiole) and a blade (lamina). The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath; the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, which is all that supports the plant. The edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem the edges are forced apart. Cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions. Most are around 5 m tall, with a range from 'Dwarf Cavendish' plants at around 3 m to 'Gros Michel' at 7 m or more. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres long and 60 cm wide. They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.
When a banana plant is mature, the corm stops producing new leaves and begins to form a flower spike or inflorescence. A stem develops which grows up inside the pseudostem, carrying the immature inflorescence until eventually it emerges at the top. Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the "banana heart". (More are sometimes produced; an exceptional plant in the Philippines produced five.) After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots will normally have developed from the base, so that the plant as a whole is perennial. In the plantation system of cultivation, only one of the offshoots will be allowed to develop in order to maintain spacing. The inflorescence contains many bracts (sometimes incorrectly referred to as petals) between rows of flowers. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem (closer to the leaves) from the rows of male flowers. The ovary is inferior, meaning that the tiny petals and other flower parts appear at the tip of the ovary.
The banana fruits develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called "hands"), with up to 20 fruit to a tier. The hanging cluster is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh 30–50 kilograms. Individual banana fruits (commonly known as a banana or "finger") average 125 grams, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter.
The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (the phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner portion. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit. In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks in the interior of the fruit.
Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive, more so than most other fruits, because of their potassium content and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium. The banana equivalent dose of radiation is sometimes used in nuclear communication to compare radiation levels and exposures.
ETYMOLOGY
The word banana is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word banaana, and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese.
TAXONOMY
The genus Musa was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name may be derived from Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, or Linnaeus may have adapted the Arabic word for banana, mauz. Musa is in the family Musaceae. The APG III system assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales, part of the commelinid clade of the monocotyledonous flowering plants. Some 70 species of Musa were recognized by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as of January 2013; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.
The classification of cultivated bananas has long been a problematic issue for taxonomists. Linnaeus originally placed bananas into two species based only on their uses as food: Musa sapientum for dessert bananas and Musa paradisiaca for plantains. Subsequently further species names were added. However, this approach proved inadequate to address the sheer number of cultivars existing in the primary center of diversity of the genus, Southeast Asia. Many of these cultivars were given names which proved to be synonyms.
In a series of papers published in 1947 onwards, Ernest Cheesman showed that Linnaeus's Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca were actually cultivars and descendants of two wild seed-producing species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana, both first described by Luigi Aloysius Colla. He recommended the abolition of Linnaeus's species in favor of reclassifying bananas according to three morphologically distinct groups of cultivars – those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of Musa balbisiana, those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of Musa acuminata, and those with characteristics that are the combination of the two. Researchers Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd proposed a genome-based nomenclature system in 1955. This system eliminated almost all the difficulties and inconsistencies of the earlier classification of bananas based on assigning scientific names to cultivated varieties. Despite this, the original names are still recognized by some authorities today, leading to confusion.
The currently accepted scientific names for most groups of cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata Colla and Musa balbisiana Colla for the ancestral species, and Musa × paradisiaca L. for the hybrid M. acuminata × M. balbisiana.
Synonyms of M. × paradisica include:
A large number of subspecific and varietial names of M. × paradisiaca, including M. p. subsp. sapientum (L.) Kuntze
Musa × dacca Horan.
Musa × sapidisiaca K.C.Jacob, nom. superfl.
Musa × sapientum L., and a large number of its varietal names, including M. × sapientum var. paradisiaca (L.) Baker, nom. illeg.
Generally, modern classifications of banana cultivars follow Simmonds and Shepherd's system. Cultivars are placed in groups based on the number of chromosomes they have and which species they are derived from. Thus the Latundan banana is placed in the AAB Group, showing that it is a triploid derived from both M. acuminata (A) and M. balbisiana (B). For a list of the cultivars classified under this system see List of banana cultivars.
In 2012, a team of scientists announced they had achieved a draft sequence of the genome of Musa acuminata.
BANANAS & PLANTAINS
In regions such as North America and Europe, Musa fruits offered for sale can be divided into "bananas" and "plantains", based on their intended use as food. Thus the banana producer and distributor Chiquita produces publicity material for the American market which says that "a plantain is not a banana". The stated differences are that plantains are more starchy and less sweet; they are eaten cooked rather than raw; they have thicker skin, which may be green, yellow or black; and they can be used at any stage of ripeness. Linnaeus made the same distinction between plantains and bananas when first naming two "species" of Musa. Members of the "plantain subgroup" of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to the Chiquita description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas. The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas, so would not qualify as "true" plantains on this definition.
An alternative approach divides bananas into dessert bananas and cooking bananas, with plantains being one of the subgroups of cooking bananas. Triploid cultivars derived solely from M. acuminata are examples of "dessert bananas", whereas triploid cultivars derived from the hybrid between M. acuminata and M. balbinosa (in particular the plantain subgroup of the AAB Group) are "plantains". Small farmers in Colombia grow a much wider range of cultivars than large commercial plantations. A study of these cultivars showed that they could be placed into at least three groups based on their characteristics: dessert bananas, non-plantain cooking bananas, and plantains, although there were overlaps between dessert and cooking bananas.
In Southeast Asia – the center of diversity for bananas, both wild and cultivated – the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" does not work, according to Valmayor et al. Many bananas are used both raw and cooked. There are starchy cooking bananas which are smaller than those eaten raw. The range of colors, sizes and shapes is far wider than in those grown or sold in Africa, Europe or the Americas.[35] Southeast Asian languages do not make the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" that is made in English (and Spanish). Thus both Cavendish cultivars, the classic yellow dessert bananas, and Saba cultivars, used mainly for cooking, are called pisang in Malaysia and Indonesia, kluai in Thailand and chuoi in Vietnam. Fe'i bananas, grown and eaten in the islands of the Pacific, are derived from entirely different wild species than traditional bananas and plantains. Most Fe'i bananas are cooked, but Karat bananas, which are short and squat with bright red skins, very different from the usual yellow dessert bananas, are eaten raw.
In summary, in commerce in Europe and the Americas (although not in small-scale cultivation), it is possible to distinguish between "bananas", which are eaten raw, and "plantains", which are cooked. In other regions of the world, particularly India, Southeast Asia and the islands of the Pacific, there are many more kinds of banana and the two-fold distinction is not useful and not made in local languages. Plantains are one of many kinds of cooking bananas, which are not always distinct from dessert bananas.
HISTORICAL CULTIVATION
Farmers in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea first domesticated bananas. Recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BCE, and possibly to 8000 BCE. It is likely that other species were later and independently domesticated elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation in the region.
Phytolith discoveries in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE triggered an as yet unresolved debate about the date of first cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were known in Madagascar around that time. The earliest prior evidence indicates that cultivation dates to no earlier than late 6th century CE. It is likely, however, that bananas were brought at least to Madagascar if not to the East African coast during the phase of Malagasy colonization of the island from South East Asia c. 400 CE.
The banana may also have been present in isolated locations elsewhere in the Middle East on the eve of Islam. The spread of Islam was followed by far-reaching diffusion. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths) beginning in the 9th century. By the 10th century the banana appears in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there it diffused into North Africa and Muslim Iberia. During the medieval ages, bananas from Granada were considered among the best in the Arab world. In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine. Today, banana consumption increases significantly in Islamic countries during Ramadan, the month of daylight fasting.
Bananas were certainly grown in the Christian Kingdom of Cyprus by the late medieval period. Writing in 1458, the Italian traveller and writer Gabriele Capodilista wrote favourably of the extensive farm produce of the estates at Episkopi, near modern day Limassol, including the region's banana plantations.
Bananas were introduced to the Americas by Portuguese sailors who brought the fruits from West Africa in the 16th century.
Many wild banana species as well as cultivars exist in extraordinary diversity in New Guinea, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, and the Philippines.
There are fuzzy bananas whose skins are bubblegum pink; green-and-white striped bananas with pulp the color of orange sherbet; bananas that, when cooked, taste like strawberries. The Double Mahoi plant can produce two bunches at once. The Chinese name of the aromatic Go San Heong banana means 'You can smell it from the next mountain.' The fingers on one banana plant grow fused; another produces bunches of a thousand fingers, each only an inch long.
—Mike Peed, The New Yorker
In 1999 archaeologists in London discovered what they believed to be the oldest banana in the UK, in a Tudor rubbish tip.
PLANTATION CULTIVATION IN THE CARIBBEAN,
CENTRAL & SOUTH AMERICA
In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa. North Americans began consuming bananas on a small scale at very high prices shortly after the Civil War, though it was only in the 1880s that it became more widespread. As late as the Victorian Era, bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available. Jules Verne introduces bananas to his readers with detailed descriptions in Around the World in Eighty Days (1872).
The earliest modern plantations originated in Jamaica and the related Western Caribbean Zone, including most of Central America. It involved the combination of modern transportation networks of steamships and railroads with the development of refrigeration that allowed bananas to have more time between harvesting and ripening. North America shippers like Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew Preston, the founders of the Boston Fruit Company started this process in the 1870s, but railroad builders like Minor C Keith also participated, eventually culminating in the multi-national giant corporations like today's Chiquita Brands International and Dole. These companies were monopolistic, vertically integrated (meaning they controlled growing, processing, shipping and marketing) and usually used political manipulation to build enclave economies (economies that were internally self-sufficient, virtually tax exempt, and export oriented that contribute very little to the host economy). Their political maneuvers, which gave rise to the term Banana republic for states like Honduras and Guatemala, included working with local elites and their rivalries to influence politics or playing the international interests of the United States, especially during the Cold War, to keep the political climate favorable to their interests.
PEASANT CULTIVATION FOR EXPORT IN THE CARIBBEAN
The vast majority of the world's bananas today are cultivated for family consumption or for sale on local markets. India is the world leader in this sort of production, but many other Asian and African countries where climate and soil conditions allow cultivation also host large populations of banana growers who sell at least some of their crop.
There are peasant sector banana growers who produce for the world market in the Caribbean, however. The Windward Islands are notable for the growing, largely of Cavendish bananas, for an international market, generally in Europe but also in North America. In the Caribbean, and especially in Dominica where this sort of cultivation is widespread, holdings are in the 1–2 acre range. In many cases the farmer earns additional money from other crops, from engaging in labor outside the farm, and from a share of the earnings of relatives living overseas. This style of cultivation often was popular in the islands as bananas required little labor input and brought welcome extra income. Banana crops are vulnerable to destruction by high winds, such as tropical storms or cyclones.
After the signing of the NAFTA agreements in the 1990s, however, the tide turned against peasant producers. Their costs of production were relatively high and the ending of favorable tariff and other supports, especially in the European Economic Community, made it difficult for peasant producers to compete with the bananas grown on large plantations by the well capitalized firms like Chiquita and Dole. Not only did the large companies have access to cheap labor in the areas they worked, but they were better able to afford modern agronomic advances such as fertilization. The "dollar banana" produced by these concerns made the profit margins for peasant bananas unsustainable.
Caribbean countries have sought to redress this problem by providing government supported agronomic services and helping to organize producers' cooperatives. They have also been supporters of the Fair Trade movement which seeks to balance the inequities in the world trade in commodities.
EAST AFRICA
Most farms supply local consumption. Cooking bananas represent a major food source and a major income source for smallhold farmers. In east Africa, highland bananas are of greatest importance as a staple food crop. In countries such as Uganda, Burundi, and Rwanda per capita consumption has been estimated at 45 kilograms per year, the highest in the world.
MODERN CULTIVATION
All widely cultivated bananas today descend from the two wild bananas Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. While the original wild bananas contained large seeds, diploid or polyploid cultivars (some being hybrids) with tiny seeds are preferred for human raw fruit consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months. The life of a banana plantation is 25 years or longer, during which time the individual stools or planting sites may move slightly from their original positions as lateral rhizome formation dictates.
Cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic, i.e. the flesh of the fruit swells and ripens without its seeds being fertilized and developing. Lacking viable seeds, propagation typically involves farmers removing and transplanting part of the underground stem (called a corm). Usually this is done by carefully removing a sucker (a vertical shoot that develops from the base of the banana pseudostem) with some roots intact. However, small sympodial corms, representing not yet elongated suckers, are easier to transplant and can be left out of the ground for up to two weeks; they require minimal care and can be shipped in bulk.It is not necessary to include the corm or root structure to propagate bananas; severed suckers without root material can be propagated in damp sand, although this takes somewhat longer.In some countries, commercial propagation occurs by means of tissue culture. This method is preferred since it ensures disease-free planting material. When using vegetative parts such as suckers for propagation, there is a risk of transmitting diseases (especially the devastating Panama disease).As a non-seasonal crop, bananas are available fresh year-round.
CAVENDISH
In global commerce in 2009, by far the most important cultivars belonged to the triploid AAA group of Musa acuminata, commonly referred to as Cavendish group bananas. They accounted for the majority of banana exports, despite only coming into existence in 1836. The cultivars Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain (Chiquita Banana) gained popularity in the 1950s after the previous mass-produced cultivar, Gros Michel (also an AAA group cultivar), became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum which attacks the roots of the banana plant. Cavendish cultivars are resistant to the Panama Disease but in 2013 there were fears that the Black Sigatoka fungus would in turn make Cavendish bananas unviable.
Ease of transport and shelf life rather than superior taste make the Dwarf Cavendish the main export banana.
Even though it is no longer viable for large scale cultivation, Gros Michel is not extinct and is still grown in areas where Panama disease is not found. Likewise, Dwarf Cavendish and Grand Nain are in no danger of extinction, but they may leave supermarket shelves if disease makes it impossible to supply the global market. It is unclear if any existing cultivar can replace Cavendish bananas, so various hybridisation and genetic engineering programs are attempting to create a disease-resistant, mass-market banana.
RIPENING
Export bananas are picked green, and ripen in special rooms upon arrival in the destination country. These rooms are air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. The vivid yellow color consumers normally associate with supermarket bananas is, in fact, caused by the artificial ripening process. Flavor and texture are also affected by ripening temperature. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 °C during transport. At lower temperatures, ripening permanently stalls, and the bananas turn gray as cell walls break down. The skin of ripe bananas quickly blackens in the 4 °C environment of a domestic refrigerator, although the fruit inside remains unaffected.
"Tree-ripened" Cavendish bananas have a greenish-yellow appearance which changes to a brownish-yellow as they ripen further. Although both flavor and texture of tree-ripened bananas is generally regarded as superior to any type of green-picked fruit, this reduces shelf life to only 7–10 days.Bananas can be ordered by the retailer "ungassed" (i.e. not treated with ethylene), and may show up at the supermarket fully green. Guineos verdes (green bananas) that have not been gassed will never fully ripen before becoming rotten. Instead of fresh eating, these bananas are best suited to cooking, as seen in Mexican culinary dishes.A 2008 study reported that ripe bananas fluoresce when exposed to ultraviolet light. This property is attributed to the degradation of chlorophyll leading to the accumulation of a fluorescent product in the skin of the fruit. The chlorophyll breakdown product is stabilized by a propionate ester group. Banana-plant leaves also fluoresce in the same way. Green bananas do not fluoresce. The study suggested that this allows animals which can see light in the ultraviolet spectrum (tetrachromats and pentachromats) to more easily detect ripened bananas.
STORAGE & TRANSPORT
Bananas must be transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets. To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before the fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at 13 °C. On arrival, bananas are held at about 17 °C and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After a few days, the fruit begins to ripen and is distributed for final sale. Unripe bananas can not be held in home refrigerators because they suffer from the cold. Ripe bananas can be held for a few days at home. If bananas are too green, they can be put in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight to speed up the ripening process.
Carbon dioxide (which bananas produce) and ethylene absorbents extend fruit life even at high temperatures. This effect can be exploited by packing banana in a polyethylene bag and including an ethylene absorbent, e.g., potassium permanganate, on an inert carrier. The bag is then sealed with a band or string. This treatment has been shown to more than double lifespans up to 3–4 weeks without the need for refrigeration.
FRUIT
Bananas are a staple starch for many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Both the skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. The primary component of the aroma of fresh bananas is isoamyl acetate (also known as banana oil), which, along with several other compounds such as butyl acetate and isobutyl acetate, is a significant contributor to banana flavor.
During the ripening process, bananas produce the gas ethylene, which acts as a plant hormone and indirectly affects the flavor. Among other things, ethylene stimulates the formation of amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar, influencing the taste of bananas. The greener, less ripe bananas contain higher levels of starch and, consequently, have a "starchier" taste. On the other hand, yellow bananas taste sweeter due to higher sugar concentrations. Furthermore, ethylene signals the production of pectinase, an enzyme which breaks down the pectin between the cells of the banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens.
Bananas are eaten deep fried, baked in their skin in a split bamboo, or steamed in glutinous rice wrapped in a banana leaf. Bananas can be made into jam. Banana pancakes are popular amongst backpackers and other travelers in South Asia and Southeast Asia. This has elicited the expression Banana Pancake Trail for those places in Asia that cater to this group of travelers. Banana chips are a snack produced from sliced dehydrated or fried banana or plantain, which have a dark brown color and an intense banana taste. Dried bananas are also ground to make banana flour. Extracting juice is difficult, because when a banana is compressed, it simply turns to pulp. Bananas feature prominently in Philippine cuisine, being part of traditional dishes and desserts like maruya, turrón, and halo-halo or saba con yelo. Most of these dishes use the Saba or Cardaba banana cultivar. Bananas are also commonly used in cuisine in the South-Indian state of Kerala, where they are steamed (puzhungiyathu), made into curries, fried into chips (upperi) or fried in batter (pazhampori). Pisang goreng, bananas fried with batter similar to the Filipino maruya or Kerala pazhampori, is a popular dessert in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. A similar dish is known in the United Kingdom and United States as banana fritters.
Plantains are used in various stews and curries or cooked, baked or mashed in much the same way as potatoes, such as the Pazham Pachadi prepared in Kerala.
Seeded bananas (Musa balbisiana), one of the forerunners of the common domesticated banana, are sold in markets in Indonesia.
FLOWER
Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, either raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups, curries and fried foods. The flavor resembles that of artichoke. As with artichokes, both the fleshy part of the bracts and the heart are edible.
LEAVES
Banana leaves are large, flexible, and waterproof. They are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as "plates" in South Asia and several Southeast Asian countries. In Indonesian cuisine, banana leaf is employed in cooking method called pepes and botok; the banana leaf packages containing food ingredients and spices are cooked on steam, in boiled water or grilled on charcoal. In the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala in every occasion the food must be served in a banana leaf and as a part of the food a banana is served. Steamed with dishes they impart a subtle sweet flavor. They often serve as a wrapping for grilling food. The leaves contain the juices, protect food from burning and add a subtle flavor. In Tamil Nadu (India) leaves are fully dried and used as packing material for food stuffs and also making cups to hold liquid foods. In Central American countries, banana leaves are often used as wrappers for tamales.
TRUNK
The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, and notably in the Burmese dish mohinga.
FIBER
TEXTILES
The banana plant has long been a source of fiber for high quality textiles. In Japan, banana cultivation for clothing and household use dates back to at least the 13th century. In the Japanese system, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. Harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare fibers for yarn-making. These banana shoots produce fibers of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses. For example, the outermost fibers of the shoots are the coarsest, and are suitable for tablecloths, while the softest innermost fibers are desirable for kimono and kamishimo. This traditional Japanese cloth-making process requires many steps, all performed by hand.
In a Nepalese system the trunk is harvested instead, and small pieces are subjected to a softening process, mechanical fiber extraction, bleaching and drying. After that, the fibers are sent to the Kathmandu Valley for use in rugs with a silk-like texture. These banana fiber rugs are woven by traditional Nepalese hand-knotting methods, and are sold RugMark certified.
In South Indian state of Tamil Nadu after harvesting for fruit the trunk (outer layer of the shoot) is made into fine thread used in making of flower garlands instead of thread.
PAPER
Banana fiber is used in the production of banana paper. Banana paper is made from two different parts: the bark of the banana plant, mainly used for artistic purposes, or from the fibers of the stem and non-usable fruits. The paper is either hand-made or by industrial process.
WIKIPEDIA
***UPDATE*** GAME OVER GAME OVER
I awoke with morning rosewood. The most successful piece of Norwegian designer furniture through several decades.
Thierry Geoffroy normally works with art formats like the EMERGENCY ROOM
to stimulate urgent expression by artist about today 's emergencies :
www.emergencyrooms.org/formats.html
www.colonel.dk contact : emergencyrooms@gmail.comThierry Geoffroy/ Colonel will be exhibiting in the museum Kunsthalle Mannheim from october 2018 part of the exhibition Konstruktion der Welt .Kunst und Ökonomie
Constructing the World: Art and Economy 1919-1939 and 2008-2018
10/12/18 to 02/03/19
Ten years after the peak of the global financial crisis in 2008, which profoundly shook the economic systems of America and Europe and had a lasting effect on present-day life, this topical exhibition is the first to illustrate the economy’s dramatic influence on art and to make global comparisons, demonstrating these in an analysis of two separate eras. Economic phenomena in the classical modernism of the 1920s and 30s are not only explored by focusing on art from the German Weimar Republic, the Soviet Union, and the United States, but also juxtaposed with artists of the present day.
Curatorial team: Dr. Eckhart Gillen (Berlin), Dr. Ulrike Lorenz, Dr. Sebastian Baden
Project Lead: Dr. Inge Herold, Assistence: Lisa Valentina Riedel, M. A. mult., Elisabeth Bohnet, M.A.
How does contemporary art reflect the world of work today? The catalogue for the second part of the exhibition Constructing the World at the Kunsthalle Mannheim takes a look at this question. The focus of it is primarily on artistic positions of the past decade that deal with the social, political, and economic effects of the most recent economic crisis after 2008. The works address and interrogate new production conditions and developments on the labor market as well as political conflicts. The accompanying publication provides fascinating insights into the diverse artistic positions.
Artists participating 2008-2018
Maja Bajevic - BBM (Observers of Operators of Machines) - Bureau d'Études - Claire Fontaine - Jacques Coetzer - Abraham Cruzvillegas - Szilárd Cseke - Chto Delat - Jeremy Deller - Simon Denny - Tatjana Doll - Harun Farocki & Antje Ehmann - Thierry Geoffroy - Andreas Gursky - Thomas Hirschhorn - Olaf Holzapfel - Sanja Iveković - Charles Lim Yi Yong - Maha Maamoun - José Antonio Vega Macotela - Tobias Rehberger - Oliver Ressler & Dario Azzellini - Mika Rottenberg - Superflex - Zefrey Throwell - Volume V - Maya Zack - Artur Żmijewski
Artists participating 1919-1939
Berenice Abbott - Gerd Arntz - Lester Thomas Beall - Thomas Hart Benton - George Biddle - John Biggers - Peter Blume - Margaret Bourke-White - Jacob Burck - Clarence Holbrook Carter - Charlie Chaplin - Ottilie Cieluszek - Ralston Crawford - Francis Hyman Criss - Stuart Davis - Alexander A. Deineka - Rudolf Dischinger - Otto Dix - Nikolaj A. Dolgorukow - Arthur Durston - Sergej M. Eisenstein - Fred Ellis - Walker Evans - Philip Evergood - Conrad Felixmüller - Hans Finsler - Max Gebhard - Hugo Gellert - John R. Grabach - Otto Griebel - William Gropper - Carl Grossberg - George Grosz - Hans Grundig - Kurt Günther - O. Louis Guglielmi - John Heartfield - Werner Heldt - Karl Hubbuch - Eric Johansson - Joe Jones - Grethe Jürgens - William Karp - Lewis W. Hine - Hannah Höch - Heinrich Hoerle - Edward Hopper - Hermann Otto Hoyer - Edward McKnight Kauffer - Gerhard Keil - Gustavs Klucis - Käthe Kollwitz - Pawel D. Korin - Valentina N. Kulagina - Wilhelm Lachnit - Fritz Lang - Wladimir W. Lebedew - Jack Levine - El Lissitzky - Arkadi Lobanow - Louis Lozowick - Sergej A. Lutschischkin - Reginald Marsh - Carl Mayer - László Moholy-Nagy - Dimitri Moor - Reinhold Nägele - Otto Nagel - Alice Neel - Oskar Nerlinger -Solomon B. Nikritin - Alice Lex-Nerlinger - Gerta Overbeck - Werner Peiner - Kusma S. Petrow-Wodkin - Juri I. Pimeno w - Natalia Pinus - Michail M. Plaksin - Jackson Pollock - Curt Querner - Climent N. Redko - Albert Renger-Patzsch - Serafima V. Rjangina - Alexander Rodtschenk o - Theodore Roszak - Walter Ruttmann - Leni Riefens tahl - Nikolaus Sagrekov - Alexander N. Samochwalow - Paul Sample - August Sander - Arkadi S. Schaichet - Rudolf Schlichter - Wilhelm Schnarrenberger - Georg Scholz - Franz Wilhelm Seiwert - Ben Shahn - Charles Sheeler - Georgi und Wladimir A. Stenberg - Warwara Stepanowa - Paul Strand - Miklos Suba - Ernst Thoms - Alexander G. Tyschler - Bumpei Usui - Konstantin A. Vialov - Karl Völker - Wladimir A. Wassiljew - Dsiga Wertow - Piotr W. Wiljams - Grant Wood - Gustav Wunderwald - Ekaterina S. Zernova - Heinrich Zille
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