Merry Christmas says Google as it unveils animated Jingle Bells Doodle | Metro.co.uk

The Google letters, outlined in multi-coloured Christmas lights, each have a coloured box underneath them.

As you click on the little squares the background turns black and Google's 'G' is replaced by a snowflake at the sound of a chime.

As you progress through the buttons, each letter follows suit and morphs into a Christmas picture - and it soon becomes clear that you are in for a rendition of Jingle Bells. 

The Doodle's characters dance to Jingle Bells (Picture: Google)

After clicking the last box, the various pictures - including a snowman, a ringing bell, and a Father Christmas head, candle and a gift box -  dance in tune to the Christmas song.

via metro.co.uk

Merry Christmas from Google Doodle!

Mark Twain celebrated in Google doodle | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Mark Twain celebrated in a Google Doodle

Google celebrates Mark Twain's 176th birthday today with its latest doodle, which depicts a famous scene from The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

The full-width illustration greeting web users logging on to the search engine portrays an episode in the novel in which the protagonist is made to whitewash a fence. Resembling a drawing from a children's story book, the picture appears to show Tom and his friend Ben at various stages of the paintwork job, with the 'e' and half the 'l' of "Google" subjected to their brush.

Although the writer's 176th birthday may seem a somewhat arbitrary milestone to mark, he remains a towering figure in American literature whose works enjoy an enduring popularity today.

via guardian.co.uk

Google Doodle celebrates Mark Twain's 176th Birthday today.

Stanislaw Lem gets animated Google doodle treatment | Books | guardian.co.uk

Stanislaw Lem's anniversary Google tribute. Photograph: Google

A spiky-haired, bespectacled animation of the Polish science fiction author Stanislaw Lem marches across Google's doodle this morning, as the search engine marks the 60th anniversary of the publication of his first book, The Astronauts.

Lem remains best known for his cult novel Solaris, the story of an incomprehensible intelligence encountered on an alien planet. It has been adapted for cinema twice, by Andrei Tarkovsky in 1972 and by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney, 30 years later, and was first published in 1961, during the author's most fertile period, when he also produced his most famous works including Hospital of the Transfiguration, The Invincible and Tales of Pirx the Pilot.

via guardian.co.uk

60th anniversary of Polish author Stanisław Lem's first book, The Astronauts.

Google Doodle honours Louis Daguerre | Technology | guardian.co.uk

Google's Louis Daguerre doodle. Photograph: Google

Inventor Louis Daguerre, who created the world's first commercially successful way of capturing permanent photographs, has been celebrated with a Google doodle marking his 224th birthday.

The French physicist is credited for developing the daguerreotype photographic process which enabled images from a camera to be captured on a silver-coated copper plate.

He experimented with earlier processes which were able to capture images but would subsequently fade in order to create an effective method of producing permanent images.

via guardian.co.uk

224th birthday of Louis Daguerre

BBC - Schools - Festivals & Events: Remembrance Day

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch, be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

John McCrae

via bbc.co.uk

Remembrance Day 11/11/11

Edmond Halley's birthday celebrated in Google Doodle - Telegraph

Edmond Halley's birthday celebrated in Google Doodle 

The search engine's logo on it home page has been transformed for the day to depict Halley's comet soaring past planets hanging on strings.

The nursery-like scene shows the comet, whose orbit Halley famously calculated, passing Saturn with the Sun, Moon, stars and a rocket in the background.

The Google doodle honours the mathematician, who became Britain's second Astronomer Royal.

via telegraph.co.uk

Edmond Halley 335th Birthday today!

Halloween Google 'Doodle' Features Time-Lapse Pumpkin Carving

"To celebrate Halloween this year, the doodle team wanted to capture that fascinating transformation that takes place when carving a pumpkin," Sophia Foster-Dimino, a Google doodler, wrote in a blog post. "Instead of picking up a few pumpkins from the grocery store, however, we decided to work on six giant pumpkins, specially delivered from nearby Half Moon Bay (some weighing well over 1,000 pounds)."

The music, Google said, is performed by Slavic Soul Party and composed by Matt Moran. For more, Google also posted a behind-the-scenes video of the carving.

Last year, Google celebrated Halloween with five different Scooby Doo-themed doodles, all of which featured the crime-fighting gang trying to solve various mysteries.

According to the History Channel, U.S. growers produce 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins each year, which is more than twice the weight of the Empire State Building. The top pumpkin-producing states are Illinois, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan.

Halloween has its roots with the Celts, who celebrated the new year on November 1 with a festival known as Samhain.

via pcmag.com

Google Doodle celebrates Halloweeen

Emmerdale Atkins' farmyard phobia

Emma Atkins has revealed she got scared during filming

Emma Atkins has starred in rural soap Emmerdale for more than a decade, but the actress has confessed she has a fear of cows.

The 36-year-old actress has been in the countryside show - formerly known as Emmerdale Farm - as Charity Tate on-and-off since 2000.

But Emma revealed to Inside Soap magazine: "I have a phobia about cows! I've been filming scenes where there have been cows and I had to make sure that I could see them at all times so I knew what they were up to.

"I was paranoid they were going to get close."

Feisty Charity has had one failed marriage and three failed weddings in the soap, but she is now engaged to Jai Sharma.

via tv.uk.msn.com

Charity is scared of cows!

Simple fitness tests for men - Health and Fitness - MSN Him - MSN UK

Duncan Smith-Photodisc-Getty Images

Think you're fit? These easy fitness tests will tell you the truth.

So you have no moobs to speak of, you still fit the same size jeans you always did, and running for the bus doesn't leave you gasping for breath. In other words, you feel pretty good.

But how fit are you really? To find out you could pay for a raft of expensive tests, or you could find a stopwatch and a spare 10 minutes and test yourself at home (or on the street). They're not perfect, but they'll give you a pretty good idea of just how fit - or not - you really are.

A quick note. Apart from the first one, these tests are aimed at those with a normal level of fitness and no serious health problems. If in doubt, have a quick chat with your doctor first.

via him.uk.msn.com

How fit is your man?

ART CLOKEY ‘GUMBY’ DOODLE: Google celebrates birthday of late clay-animation pioneer - Comic Riffs - The Washington Post

On Wednesday, Google’s home-page “Doodle” celebrates what would have been the 90th birthday of the late clay-animation pioneer ART CLOKEY with an interactive logo of Gumby & Friends.

The clickable animation also marks the launch of the website GumbyWorld, which features anecdotes, pictures and rare film clips.

The Gumby Doodle — which starts off with several clay balls and a child’s wooden block — was created by top animator Anthony Scott (“Coraline,” “Corpse Bride”) and puppet/prop maker Nicole LaPointe-McKay for the Clokey Productions Premavision studios.

(Click on each ball or block and a figure springs to life — including the galloping Pokey, Prickle the yellow dinosaur, the Blockheads and Goo, the flying blue goo-ball mermaid. Or click on Gumby himself and he bounces into a ball, a block and then a heart. Because, as the theme song says: “If you’ve got a heart, then Gumby’s a part of you.”)

“The Google Doodle is the perfect tribute to my father’s work,” Joe Clokey, Art Clokey’s son and creator of Gumby’s new website, said in a statement. “Art’s life and film career were ahead of their time. My dad would have been thrilled to be connected with Google in this way.”

via washingtonpost.com

Google Doodle in celebration of Art Clokey's 90th Birthday

Is she a toxic friend? - MSN Life and Style - MSN UK

Getty

Have you ever felt that a friend who's supposed to bring fun and laughter into your life actually brings you down?

Sometimes it's hard to spot the kind of friend where you 'don't need enemies' so here are the seven key signs to look out for:

Toxic friend sign no 1: Second best - when something better comes up you'll see the back of her and definitely feel second best. If a man asks her out or she's invited to a party she'll ditch your plans faster than you can say toxic friend.

Toxic friend sign no 2: Me, me, me - it's all about her no matter what. Even if you've lost your job, been dumped, etc, she'll somehow turn the conversation to her problems.

Toxic friend sign no 3: Sabotages the good things - when something good happens to you she'll always find a 'downside'. For instance, she meets your new boyfriend and immediately has loads of criticisms.

Toxic friend sign no 4: Very possessive - when you're invited to something (your cousin's wedding, an old pal's birthday party, etc), she gets all funny about it.

via style.uk.msn.com

How to tell if your friend is toxic

Cosmetic Surgery Ipswich | Featured Cosmetic Surgery in Ipswich

Welcome to Cosmetic Surgery Ipswich.

If you have found this website then it is likely that you are looking for a cosmetic surgeon in the Ipswich area of Suffolk.

This website is designed to help you find the best Cosmetic Surgery in Ipswich and make an informed choice.

Whether you are looking to have a full face lift, a tummy tuck, breast augmentation, liposuction,  rhinoplasty or are simply looking for some good information, I feel sure this website will be able to help you.

A New Era In Cosmetic Surgery

Cosmetic surgery has a long history that dates back to the time of the Romans and the Greeks when they used different cosmetic procedures to treat disfigurements that occurred during a war, or as a punishment for any crime or at birth. Since then, cosmetic surgery has undergone massive developments and has introduced newer and advanced methods. Perhaps, the main reason behind the rapid development of cosmetic surgery procedures is the increasing people demanding superior looks.

via cosmeticsurgeryipswich.co.uk

If you are considering cosmetic surgery, this website will give you some helpful information.

Google

via google.com

Happy Birthday Google!

Google is 13 years old day - how time flies.

FREE Spiritual Online e-Meditation For Your Inner Peace And Spiritual Growth

Currently we only have one free online e-meditation for your enjoyment; however, we plan to add more. If you would like to be notified when we have any new online e-meditations available, Click Here.

You can also find other guided meditations in our bookstore. Click Here to visit the bookstore now.

Find the Peace Within As You Help Contribute To World Peace! 

We invite you to join us in praying for peace. 

During these volatile times prayer is an essential ingredient for peace.  People all over the world are praying for peace.

As part of our contribution to world peace, we have created this e-meditation for your enjoyment. Not only will this e-meditation help create world peace but it will help you find the peace within.

Turn off the telephone ringer and make arrangements to not be disturbed for 15 minutes while you listen to this recording. All you need to do is click on the graphic below, close your eyes, relax, and listen to this guided meditation.

 

A Prayer Meditation for  Peace

Click here for an mp3 file of the Peace Meditation

via ifcl.com

Free online Peace Meditation.

World Peace begins within each one of us.

Google Doodle Features Jim Henson's Muppets with Special Animations - International Business Times

Not only would the Muppets move their mouths and eyes according to the mouse, two of them would perform something special - for the pink bespectacled head to lose his glasses, and the far-right red Muppet to eat the long-necked green Muppet next to it.

Special animation 1

Special animation 2

The doodle was made through the collaboration between Google and the Jim Henson Company, using the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio, which prides its "immediate real-time performance of 3-D generated characters by a puppeteering system."

via newyork.ibtimes.com

Google celebrates Jim Henson's 75th birthday with a Muppet Doodle. Have fun!

Make money selling your photos online - How to make money

Do you love taking photos? Are you the one your friends always ask to "bring your camera with you" to parties or weddings? You could make money out of it!

I'm certainly not a good photographer. I even have trouble taking photos with my mobile phone. I keep pressing the 'off' button when I want to press the shutter

But if you're a bit of a David Bailey on the sly, you could make a regular little income out of it.

How do you do it?
Thanks to the internet your digital photos can be uploaded to an online photo agency and sold to anyone around the world. If your photos are popular (and you'd be surprised what is!) you could keep getting commission from them year after year.

You don't have to be a professional either. Digital cameras are so good nowadays that anyone with an interest and a bit of an eye for a picture can take good shots. But they're not generally interested in your holiday snaps (unless there are some really cool close-ups of tropical birds or perhaps a classic deserted beach with a single palm tree shot among them). They want photos that could be used in a professional context anywhere in the world.

via money.uk.msn.com

Make some extra money

10 ways to boost your immune system

Getty Images

As Boots pharmacist Angela Chalmers says: "If you support your immune system as early as possible your body will have a better chance off fighting off the cold and flu virus, and you'll be able to deal with the symptoms better."

Give yourself a fighting chance with our top 10 immune-boosting tips...

1. Get your five a day
The days may be getting shorter but that's no excuse to stop eating healthily. "As soon as summer ends, we eat less salad and fruit, and start on comforting puddings and stodgy food. But we need the vitamins and antioxidants that fresh produce supplies," says Angela.

Antioxidants boost the body's natural defences against free radicals, which have been shown to contribute to ageing, cancer and heart disease, as well as common infections.

via style.uk.msn.com

With winter on the way, here are some good ways to stay healthy!

Albert Szent-Györgyi - Biography

Albert von Szent-Györgyi Nagyrápolt

Born: 16 September 1893, Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary)

Died: 22 October 1986, Woods Hole, MA, USA

Affiliation at the time of the award: Szeged University, Szeged, Hungary

Prize motivation: "for his discoveries in connection with the biological combustion processes, with special reference to vitamin C and the catalysis of fumaric acid"

via nobelprize.org

118th Birthday of Albert von Szent-Gyorgyi

Robert Downey Junior

I do love a man with a cigar. A cowboy hat? Not so much... but then again...it's RDJ - he is forgiven almost everything.

Photographed by Inez and Vinoodh and styled by Lady Gaga’s main man, Nichola Formichetti.

via hurricanevanessa.com

Robery Downey Junior still looking good!

15 Freddie Mercury Quotes to Honor Queen Frontman's 65th Birthday

Here's a little tidbit that might just make you feel old. It's been 20 years since complications from the AIDS virus claimed Freddie Mercury. The Queen frontman should be celebrating his 65th birthday this week, on September 5. Instead the man who taught us to worship the power of a fat bottomed girl and provided every winning sports team for the past three decades their pick of anthems to play while they cart their new trophy off the field (Another One Bites the Dust or We are the Champions both do nicely) passed away in 1991. 

He left us with the likes of Lady Gaga and Katy Perry -- who dressed as Mercury this week to raise money for his charity -- to give audiences both a singer and a character onstage. But really, can anyone ever match Freddie?

via thestir.cafemom.com

Freddie Mercury's 65th Birthday today

Cheryl Cole’s movie debut!

Larger image

Big Pictures

Cheryl Cole is set to make her first big screen appearance in a small role in the up-and-coming romantic comedy What To Expect When You're Expecting. We doubt that Cheryl's performance will be Oscar worthy, but it could be the start of her movie career... watch this space

via movies.uk.msn.com

Movie for Cheryl Cole

Jorge Luis Borges 112th Birthday

The 112th birthday of Jorge Luis Borges, the famed Argentinian author known for his works that explored dreams and unreality, has been celebrated with a colourful Google Doodle.

Google's doodle to celebrate Jorge Luis Borges 112th birthday 

Users visiting the search engine’s home page are met with a colourful montage appearing to show a maze of “magical realism”.

It shows an ageing man standing in front of a complex scenery including a large library, as he views labyrinths and staircases and “forking paths”.

When the illustration is clicked on it returns search results on the literary giant and poet who is credited with pioneering the science fiction genre.

He was born in Buenos Aires on August 24 1899 and during his early year he was taught at home by his parents before attending school in Geneva, Switzerland.

After returning to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in surrealist literary journals.

via telegraph.co.uk

Google Doodle marks 112th birthday of Jorge Luis Borges

Zoom

Tahitian Costume Niau Comb

This listing is for the comb only matching hip belt is available in a separate listingplease note** the band in the picture is only for display my mannequin doesn’t have hair so I needed to put a band on her so the comb could attach to something for the picture =) This head piece is attach to a french twist comb no band

(I can attach it to a band for $3 more contact me for details).

The Niau Comb Consists of 2 large 5″ lauahala roses 6 mini lauahala roses stripped lauhala leaves and over 3 dozen niau strands attached to a french twist comb with assorted feathers.

***choose your own colors contact me for color choices**

As shown in the picture You may choose to wear the piece so the niau hangs forward or back wards.

via tahitiancostumes.net

If you are looking for a Tahitian Costume, then this website has a great selection to choose from.

Google Street View trike takes to Amazon to map rainforest

Some of Google's Brazil and US Street View and Google Earth Outreach teams are currently in the Amazon, Google said in a blog post this week, where they'll be gathering images of the Amazon river, its surrounding forests and the nearby communities.

The first piece of the Amazon to get the Google Street View treatment will be a 50km section of the Rio Negro River, between the Tumbira community near Manaus to the Terra Preta community, according to Google.

Google will be employing the Street View trike – a more lightweight vehicle than the Street View car typically used to gather images of urban areas – in the Amazon, where it will be pedalled "along the narrow dirt paths of the Amazon villages and manoeuvre[d] up close to where civilization meets the rainforest", Google said. The camera will also be mounted on a boat travelling the Amazon to photograph the river itself.

via silicon.com

Google goes to Amazon

Bath Time For Teddy and Friends

Bath Time For Teddy and Friends

This week at Yew Court I have been having a spring clean. I washed all the windows and curtains and next decided it was about time the cuddly toys had a wash too.

I have a new washing machine so in they all went in like brave little soldiers.

It was a nice sunny day and they soon got dry on the clothes line.

It wasn't long before they were all washed and dried and looking as good as new again!

via yewcourt.blogspot.com

Aw how sweet!

Prayer of Love

Take a few minutes to watch this beautiful youtube video.

An easy target - When is a sign not a sign? Your photos

Daniel and Danielle Epurescu 

This is possibly my favourite sign, so a huge thank you to Daniel and Danielle Epurescu for sending this to us. If the sign was not there, would anyone throw stones?

via news.uk.msn.com

This sign is asking for trouble lol!

Radiating Love To You: The Clouds

The Clouds

Another beautiful video from Draccun

via radiatinglovetoyou.blogspot.com

Relax and watch this lovely video

How I Stopped Smoking

Why I Started Smoking

In this lens I want to share with you how I stopped smoking and why.

It still seems incredible but it really is true that I have finally become an ex smoker and at the time of writing (8 August 2011) I have not smoked for 5 weeks.

I hate to admit it, but I had been smoking cigarettes for most of my adult life. I started smoking when I was just 13 years old. Me and two of my school friends used club together and buy cigarettes to share. I actually didn't really enjoy smoking very much and soon stopped, but then I discovered menthol cigarettes and I liked the taste of them. So I started smoking again and soon I was hooked on nicotine.

But I enjoyed smoking, it seemed a cool thing to do and I liked being a rebel and sticking two fingers up at the world!

via squidoo.com

If you are a smoker who wants to stop, this web page will give you some good information and advice.

Jedward interview - Features | MSN Music

PA

What can you say about Jedward? The Irish twins looked certain to be headed for obscurity after the 2009 series of X Factor but no, they're still around and on their second album.

We caught up with them for a chat about this and plenty more... but not until they'd blow-dried their hair.

It was that kind of interview.

via music.uk.msn.com

The crazy Jedward twins!

Maz London - Who Is She?

Who is this mysterious woman only know as Maz London?

Tall, dark and sophisticated, it is rumoured that she was once a high flyer in the Legal world in London, but now lives a quiet incognito life in the rural Suffolk countryside with her partner Richard.

Richard is believed to be a talented local photographer, one time comedian and heartthrob among the local ladies.

Maz London and Richard now devote most of their time to wild life conservation and world peace.

Best friends - Week in pictures - 5 August 2011

Larger image

REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang

Two-year-old chimpanzee Do Do feeds milk to Aorn, a 60-day-old tiger cub, at Samut Prakan Crocodile Farm and Zoo in Samut Prakan province on the outskirts of Bangkok. The crocodile farm, used as a tourist attraction, houses some 80,000 crocodiles and is the largest in Thailand.
Find out more about this odd animal couple with Bing

via news.uk.msn.com

Sweet!

Car Sales Portsmouth | Featured Car Sales Dealer in Portsmouth UK

Car Sales Portsmouth

Featured Car Sales Dealer in Portsmouth UK

Featured Car Sales Portsmouth

Car Sales Portsmouth.com is proud to feature our premier choice of used Car Sales Dealer in the Portsmouth, Hampshire and surrounding area of the UK.

We can help you avoid the pitfalls often encountered when purchasing a used car and help you to find a highly recommended and trustworthy local Portsmouth Car Dealer with a big selection of all makes and models to suit all budgets.

If you're looking to find a reputable and trustworthy Used Car Sales Dealer in the Portsmouth area of UK, your search is over.

via carsalesportsmouth.com

If you are looking for car sales in the Portsmouth area of the UK, then this website will give you some great information and advice.

Radiating Love To You: The Awakening Light

The Awakening Light

via radiatinglovetoyou.blogspot.com

Relax and watch this beautiful video

We'll make you love water, ads for blumarea dive school.

No. I don't believe them either, but, I'd LIKE to.

Via Hello You Creatives.

via hurricanevanessa.com

What a cute cat

Top 10 summer trends men hate

Rex Features

10. Too short shorts
The summer trend is to wear shorts so short that the pocket lining pokes out the bottom. We love this catwalk trend but according to our poll, there is a line - the bottom line. Men prefer your denims a little longer - the thighs the limit - not your buttocks. Ladies it's time to step away from gynaecological chic...

via style.uk.msn.com

Don't wear your shorts too short girls!

Music world mourns Amy Winehouse - News | MSN Music

Singer Amy Winehouse has been found dead at her north London flat

Fans, friends and family are mourning the death of Amy Winehouse after her body was found in her flat.

The 27-year-old singer had been troubled by drink and drugs problems throughout her career and news of her death was quickly followed by suggestions that it could be related to one or the other.

The troubled Back To Black artist cancelled all tour dates and engagements last month after a series of erratic public appearances. But news that she had been found dead at her north London home just before 4pm on Saturday came as a shock to many.

Her father, taxi driver-turned jazz singer Mitch Winehouse, was returning to the UK from New York where he had been due to give a concert on Monday.

A spokesman for the soul star said: "Everyone involved with Amy is shocked and devastated. Our thoughts are with her family and friends. The family will issue a statement when ready."

via music.uk.msn.com

Amy Winehouse RIP

Alexander Calder

Alexander “Sandy” Calder was born in Lawnton, Pennsylvania, on July 22, 1898. His father, Alexander Stirling Calder, was a well-known sculptor who created many public installations, a majority of them in Philadelphia. Calder’s grandfather, sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, was born in Scotland and immigrated to Philadelphia in 1868. He is best-known for the colossal statue of William Penn on top of Philadelphia’s City Hall tower. Calder’s mother, Nanette Lederer Calder, was a professional portrait painter who studied at the Académie Julian and the Sorbonne in Paris from around 1888 until 1893. She then moved to Philadelphia where she met Alexander Stirling Calder while studying at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Calder’s parents were married on 22 February 1895. His older sister, Margaret “Peggy” Calder, was born in 1896. Her married name was Margaret Calder Hayes, and she was instrumental in the development of the UC Berkeley Art Museum.

via psdmate.com

American sculptor Alexander Calder born 113 years ago today.

Radiating Love To You: Voice of the Heart

Voice of the Heart

Life is in this moment.

via radiatinglovetoyou.blogspot.com

A beautiful video

Gregor Mendel

Gregor Mendel AKA Gregor Johann Mendel Born: 22-Jul-1822 Birthplace: Hynice, Czechia Died: 6-Jan-1884 Location of death: Brno, Czechia Cause of death: unspecified Remains: Buried, Central Cemetery, Brno, Czechia Gender: Male Religion: Roman Catholic Race or Ethnicity: White Occupation: Scientist, Botanist, Religion Nationality: Czechia Executive summary: Discovered the laws of inheritance Teacher, priest, and scientist Johann Mendel was born in 1822 in what was then Austria (now Czechia). His parents were farmers, and as a boy working on the farm he became fascinated with fruit trees and gardening. He was a brilliant student in grade school, and his family struggled to pay his tuition to high school and, later, the Olmutz Philosophical Institute. When he could not afford to attend university, he instead joined the Augustinian monastery, becoming a priest and adopting the new Christian name Gregor. He twice failed the exams required to become a high school science teacher, but still taught on a part-time basis. He was also assigned work as a hospital chaplain, but found it frustrating and difficult, and soon returned to the monastery. At the monastery Mendel tended the garden, and beginning in 1856 he conducted extensive experiments with pea pod plants, tracking some 28,000 individual plants over several years and focusing his attention on seven basic characteristics of the plants. In his experiments, Mendel crossed peas of different varieties — tall, short, various seed shapes and colors, etc. — and kept detailed records of how these characteristics were seen or vanished in subsequent generations. He conducted similar experiments on other plants and on mice, and having been educated in mathematics, Mendel noticed recurring ratios in his analysis of how traits were inherited, ratios which could only be explained through dominance and segregation of genes.

via nndb.com

189th Birthday of Gregor Mendel who was an Austrian scientist and father of genetics

Delete Ruthlessly

If I were to only be allowed to share one bit of photography advice it would be: Shoot what you love and share it with others.

If allowed to share a second bit of advice, it would be: Then delete ruthlessly.

Digital photography’s nearly limitless capacity for storing photos is both a boon and a curse. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are many unseen pitfalls to having massive amounts of storage at the ready for any person getting into the art. To help avoid the pitfalls, it is important to delete ruthlessly. I speak from the experience of having started shooting digital 10 years ago (not as long as some, I know, but eons in the age of digital photography).

I often get asked, “How many pictures do you have?” or, more to the point, “How much space do all your shots take up?” The correct answer to both is: too many. Many of us have this problem. When digital first came to the masses and out of the hallowed halls of photojournalists and sports photographers (whose employers could afford the highly expensive gear) its novelty was that you could shoot, oh, I don’t know, maybe 80 pictures on a single card!

via digital-photography-school.com

Some tips on digital photography - delete ruthlessly

Liz Hurley Pulling a Face

Rex 

Liz Hurley pulls a face on her first day at work on the set of Gossip Girl. The lucky lady filmed scenes alongside Chace Crawford.

via celebrity.uk.msn.com

How pretty lol!

Sir George Gilbert Scott - Victoria and Albert Museum

Detail from an original design for the Albert Memorial, watercolour by George Gilbert Scott, England, about 1863. Museum no. E.2601-1962

Sir George Gilbert Scott was the leading architect of the Gothic Revival, a man of phenomenal energy, influence and success.

George Gilbert Scott (1811–1878) was born in Buckinghamshire in 1811. His father, the Reverend Thomas Scott, was an amateur architect. In 1827 Scott moved to London to begin formal training with the architect, James Edmeston, who later complained that Scott 'wasted his time sketching medieval buildings'. In the early 1840s Scott began to take a serious interest in the medieval Gothic style of architecture. Travelling around Europe he studied medieval art first hand, finding inspiration in both architecture and in metalwork shrines and reliquaries. His first Gothic-style building was the Martyrs' Memorial, Oxford, built in 1840.

The term 'Gothic Revival' applies to the 19th-century use of designs based on the art and architecture of medieval Europe. Designers drew on Gothic architectural features such as pointed arches, trefoils, quatrefoils and naturalistic foliage. During the 1860s fashion favoured the 'Reformed Gothic style' which was based on 13th-century French models. Scott particularly admired French Gothic architecture, notably the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris of about 1241-8 with its brilliantly painted interior, stained glass and delicate tracery.

via vam.ac.uk

Sir George Gilbert Scott, born 200 years ago today!

Beckhams welcome new baby girl - Celebrity News and Gossips | MSN Celebrity UK

David and Victoria Beckham are the proud parents of a baby girl

Victoria Beckham has given birth to a baby girl - the first daughter for the former Spice Girl and her husband David.

The baby, weighing 7lb 10oz, was delivered on Sunday morning at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles.

The Beckhams, who married in 1999, already have three boys - Brooklyn, 11, Romeo, eight, and Cruz, five.

Their spokesman Simon Oliveira announced the happy news on Twitter.

"David & Victoria Beckham are delighted to announce the birth of their daughter," he wrote. "Happy and healthy she arrived at 7.55am this morning at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles and weighed 7lbs 10oz."

via celebrity.uk.msn.com

New Baby Beckham and it's a girl!

Feeding Wild Birds Blog | Wild Bird Feeding

It has been a very good year for wild birds, at least it has in our garden.  Earlier on the birds were very busy flying around and collecting leaves and twigs for their nests.  Now their efforts have paid off and our garden is filled with the sound of baby birds squawking and crying to their parents for food.

The starlings have done particularly well and every day we have visits from a large starling family with all their baby chicks at different sizes of development.  They are so funny to watch as they strut around the garden looking for food.

via feedingwildbirdsblog.com

Baby Birds and Starlings.

Radiating Love To You: In The Light

In The Light

via radiatinglovetoyou.blogspot.com

A beautiful video!

Kate Moss wedding: 'Glastonbury meets the Ritz' as supermodel prepares to marry Jamie Hince - Telegraph

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Kate Moss and Jamie Hince in Lechlade Photo: REX FEATURES

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Preparations for the wedding of Kate Moss and Jamie Hince, Little Faringdon Lechlade Photo: REX FEATURES

By Andy Bloxham

7:32AM BST 01 Jul 2011

The celebrations will reportedly feature trapeze artists, 6ft 5ins transvestites and, undoubtedly, a slew of paparazzi photographers.

The ceremony will be held at a 12th-century church near her country home in Little Faringdon, near Lechlade, in the Cotswolds, according to The Times.

Among the expected guests are the fashion designers Stella McCartney and Dame Vivienne Westwood. Dame Shirley Bassey is due to perform, according to other reports.

Mario Testino, the photographer, is understood to have been commissioned to document the event.

via telegraph.co.uk

Kate Moss is getting married!

Wild Facts

The Tawny Owl is also known as the Brown Owl, which make sense since the upper parts of their feathers are typically brown (but can also be grey).  The under parts of those same feathers are usually a nice light beige colour and will have those awesome dark streaks.  Compared to other owls, the Tawny Owl is basically right in the middle with regards to their size as their average height is around 40 cm (16 inches).  This short stocky look they possess is often used in distinguishing the Tawny Owl from other species such as the Great Grey or the Eagle Owl which look similar but are much larger. Personally, I just like to ask the owl which species they are but to each their own, I guess.

Photo by Artur Miko?ajewski (Wikimedia)

Like most other owls the Brown Owl is also nocturnal and has great night vision and hearing.  These features let them easily catch small rodents, reptiles, insects and probably some amphibians as well.  This means our poor little Pool Frog could potentially be eaten by the Tawny Owl, but they are definitely not responsible for the demise of Britain’s rarest amphibian.  The Tawny Owl will typically consume their prey whole and then simply regurgitate the bones they could not digest.  I think this is pretty gross but I bet it is effective.  I am going to try this the next time I BBQ up a nice steak.

via wild-facts.com

Some facts about the Tawny Owl that you may not know.

George Harrison

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Harrison

I look at the floor, and I see it needs sleeping, still my guitar gently weeps...

It would have been completely criminal on my part to write a list of my favorite Beatles songs and not include a single Harrison tune. Featuring absolutely stellar guitar work from George's friend Eric Clapton, the haunting melody and lyrics pierce straight through. To me, this is Harrison's "Across the Universe" - his way of watching everything around him change as the band gradually fell to pieces, and using his music as an outlet.

The result is a powerful piece with beautiful chemistry between George's desperate vocal stylings and Clapton's masterful "weeping" lead guitar. Inspiration for the song came to Harrison when reading the I Ching, which, as he put it, "seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else...opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental." Taking this idea of relativism to his parents' home in northern England, Harrison committed to write a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a random book. Those words were "gently weeps", and he immediately began the song.

via squidoo.com

Some info on George Harrison's While My Guitar Gentle Weeps.