Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Fabulous Images Taken Through Fisheye Lens
Wow!!! Topsy-turvy images...
This collection of superb landscape photos were taken by Randy Scott Slavin, a New Yorker photographer. With the use of a fisheye lens, he created fabulous and stunning images from different scenic places of America.
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Curved: Photographer Randy Scott Slavin captured this stunning picture of the Empire State building in New York with a fisheye lens which enables him to get all 360 degrees of the city into view |
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| Topsy turvy: This amazing photographs show Battery Park in New York as it's never been seen before with the ground warped around the sky |
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Creative: Snapper Randy Scott Slavin not only used his technique to photograph iconic landmarks across the U.S. he also captured other picturesque locations, including this dock in Westport, Connecticut |
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On tour: The 34-year-old headed to all four corners of the U.S. as part of his Alternate Perspective, taking this picture of the Big Sur, in California |
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Vision: The New Yorker, who has also directed music videos for bands including Foo Fighters, took himself out of his comfort zone with this landscape photography project |
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| Enveloping: The Everglades, in Florida, appear to close in on the viewer in this picture, which forms part of the Alternate Perspective series by photographer Randy Scott Slavin |
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Painstaking: Randy Scott Slavin can take up to a hundred pictures of a scene to build up a 360 degree image before using clever computer software to stitch them together to make what is called a stereographic projection |
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Clever: Technology is used to turn sometimes hundreds of pictures, in this case Redwood trees in Big Sur, California, into a single image A fisheye lens is an ultrawide-angle lens that produces strong visual distortion intended to create a wide panoramic or hemispherical image. |
The term fisheye was coined in 1906 by American physicist and inventor Robert W. Wood based on how a fish would see an ultra-wide hemispherical view from beneath the water.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Family with Hypertrichosis
A story of a Nepalese family touched my heart and made me realize that if there are people who are so blessed in almost every aspect of their lives, there are also those who seem to be cursed. Their story circles around their journey, with the hope that there would be a concern citizen who would help them cure their rare condition.
This family suffers from what is called as Hypertrichosis, also known as Ambras Syndrome. Hypertrichosis is an abnormal amount of hair growth on the body. Extensive cases of hypertrichosis have informally been called werewolf syndrome. It has two distinct types: generalized hypertrichosis, which occurs over the entire body, and localized hypertrichosis, which is restricted to a certain area.
The family had been teased for their condition; so they traveled to Kathmandu, their country's capital, to look for assistance for the cure of this congenital condition.
With the consultation they attended, they found out that they could be cured by a laser therapy. This gave them hope that, at least, they could still live life normally -free from constant taunts from others.
"My children have talked about the new life ever since we received the word the hospital is going to treat us."
"My son has told his friends that he will be back with a new face and they can no longer tease him."
They are only among those who feel so intimidated and scorned because of their "peculiarity". They often become the subject of mockery. For sure, if they could only choose, they would not want to be like that. It's a great lesson for every one of us. We should realize that even if sometimes we feel that life is unfair, still we have to be thankful because we are more blessed for we are given such kind of life --a life that is far better than others'. Aside from that, we should also learn to understand and respect what we see in others as "different from the rest". We must put ourselves in their shoe instead of teasing or mocking them. At least we could help them feel that they are accepted and that they are not different.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Things You Should Know About Coffee
Are you a coffee drinker? Well, you must check this out!
Things you should know about coffee!!! Learn, learn, learn...
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| 1. Ethiopian shepherds first noticed the effects of caffeine when they saw their goats appearing to become frisky and dance after eating coffee berries. 2. Coffee was eaten. African tribes mixed coffee berries with fat which formed edible energy balls. |
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| 3. The rise of Islam contributed greatly to the popularity of coffee. The religion prohibited drinking alcohol, but coffee was considered an acceptable drink. 4. All coffee in the world grows in the Bean Belt, an area between Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. 5. Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows coffee. |
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6. In 1675, the King of England banned coffee houses, claiming they were places where people met to conspire against him. 7. 70% of the world consumes Arabica coffee, which is mild and aromatic. The remaining 30% drinks Robusta, which is more bitter-tasting but has 50% more caffeine than Arabica. |
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8. Coffee grows up to 30 feet tall, but is cultivated to be around 10 feet (3 meters) tall for easy-picking. |
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| 9. Coffee is the second most traded commodity on earth. Oil is the first. 10. Coffee berries are picked, dried and stripped down until all that's left is a green bean. Once shipped, the beans are roasted at around 500F. After a few minutes, the bean will pop and double in size. A few minutes after that, the bean will pop once more. The second pop means the bean is done. The bean is now ready to fulfill its destiny... |
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| 11. George Washington invented instant coffee in 1906. |
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| 12. Espresso is not a particular type of bean, roast or blend. It is just a way that coffee is prepared. |
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| 13. The term "Americano" comes from America GIs during WWII. They would order espresso with water to dilute the strong flavor. 14. Furthermore, the term "cup of joe" comes from American serviceman (GI Joes) in WWII being seen as big coffee drinkers. |
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| 15. (How does caffeine work?) In your brain there is something called Adenosine and it only wants to hang out with certain receptors. When these two get together, you get drowsy. When caffeine show up, it attaches to the receptors so that Adenosine cannot. Your pituitary gland sees this and thinks there's an emergency, so it tells the adrenal glands to produce adrenalin. In addition, caffeine bumps up your dopamine levels.(And what is the result?) As a result, you become a caffeine high... |
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
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