valspace

2005-12-23T12:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays!

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Holiday)

2005-12-07T00:06:00.000-08:00

Blue

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Blue)

2005-10-13T20:57:00.000-07:00

Lost

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Lost)

2005-09-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

Escape

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Escape)

2005-09-03T18:31:00.000-07:00

Roots

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Roots)

2005-09-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Irma Thomas the Soul Queen of New Orleans

It's raining so hard
It brings back memories
Of the time
That you were here with me
Counting every drop
About to lose my top
I wish the rain would hurry up and stop

I've got the blues so bad
I can hardly catch my breath
The harder it rains
The worse it gets
This is the time
I'd love to be holding you tight
But I guess I'll just go crazy tonight

--From It's Raining (written by Naomi Neville, sang by Irma Thomas)

2005-08-27T15:13:00.000-07:00

Dreams

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Dreams)

2005-08-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

Reflection

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Reflection)

2005-08-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Ron Gremban and Plug-in Hybrids

Californian Ron Gremban, an electrical engineer and environmentalist, showed that he could increase the mileage of his Toyota Prius hybrid by adding a stack of brick-sized batteries in the trunk. The additional batteries, which he can recharge by plugging the car into a wall outlet at his home, provide an extra electrical charge helping the car burn even less fuel.

2005-08-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Wisdom

"Wisdom is like a diamond. While nothing is able to harm it, it can cut through all things."

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Wisdom)

2005-08-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

Emptiness

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Empty)

2005-07-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

Overfishing and the Decline of Fishes

The variety of species in the world's oceans has dropped by as much as 50 percent in the past 50 years, according to a study published last week in the journal Science. This can be attributed to a combination of overfishing, habitat destruction and climate change.

"Where you used to put out a fishing line 50 years ago and catch 10 species, now you catch five species for the same amount of effort. That's a recipe for ecological collapse and disaster," said one of the study authors, biologist Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

2005-07-29T15:03:00.000-07:00

Impermanence

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Aging)

2005-07-29T07:02:00.000-07:00

Jellyfish as Model for Human Biology

2005-07-24T23:19:00.000-07:00

The Toast of Cycling

Lance Armstrong ends his amazing career with a record seventh consecutive Tour de France win today.

The 33-year-old cyclist, who in 1996 was diagnosed with testicular cancer that spread to his brain and lungs, has also given hopes to millions of people with the disease.

"He brought recognition to the fact that even with a very advanced type of cancer you can survive."

2005-07-19T23:17:00.000-07:00

Glaciers in a Box

Glacial covers have been used as a way to slow glaciers' melting in Austria. They are large blankets of plastic or foil put over glaciers that work like a picnic cooler, deflecting the summer sun while keeping the contents cool.

Andrea Fischer, an Innsbruck University researcher involved with the project, agrees that climate change caused by pollution must be reduced, but she is not bothered by glaciers' retreat.

"The climate has changed in the past, and it will change in the future," she says.

"The problem with most people is that they don't want anything to change - not their jobs, not their relationships and definitely not the weather."

(For this week's Illustration Friday topic: Tranquility)

2005-07-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

Global Poverty

John Cassidy of the New Yorker estimated that if each American would contribute less than the cost of buying a cappuccino from Starbucks once a week, the United States would meet its share of the United Nation poverty plan of forty billion dollars a year by 2015.

2005-07-06T18:33:00.000-07:00

London to Host 2012 Summer Olympics

London was chosen today by the Olympics Committee to host the 2012 Summer Games. London's presentation was centered on the theme of inspiring young people. "More than six million young people visit our city every year, and more of them choose our city for their education than any other," said London Mayor Ken Livingstone. "If you wish to mobilize the youth of the world, start in London."

2005-07-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Sandra Day O'Connor

First woman Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retires today, who is widely viewed as the critical swing vote for a quarter-century on major legal issues of our time ranging from environmental protection to affirmative action to abortion and states' rights.

"Over the years, she has never lost her humility and humanity."

2005-06-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

France to be Site of World's First Fusion Reactor

France has been selected by an international consortium on Tuesday to be the site of the world's first large-scale, sustainable nuclear fusion reactor, an estimated $10 billion project that many scientists see as crucial to solving the world's future energy needs.

2005-06-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

John Berton and Solar Power

Chicagoan John Berton, who lives his whole life on solar power, is an extreme devotee among a growing number of people across Illinois taking steps toward renewable energy systems, which include both wind and solar power.

"People have been using the sun for thousands of years, but we sort of lost our way after the thermostat."

2005-05-19T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hidden Dimensions (or Calabi-Yau Spaces)

2005-05-07T22:40:00.000-07:00

Psychic Energies

2005-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Limbic System

2005-04-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

The Unconscious and the Intangible

2005-04-17T19:19:00.000-07:00

Abstraction and Spirituality in Modern Art II

2005-04-17T19:16:00.000-07:00

Abstraction and Spirituality in Modern Art

2005-04-10T09:49:00.000-07:00

Whisper of the Universal Constants

2005-03-27T19:04:00.000-08:00

Spring Flowers

2005-03-24T16:11:00.000-08:00

Easter Egg

A recent international study by 1,360 researchers in 95 countries
has concluded that humans are damaging the planet at a rapid rate
and raising risks of abrupt collapses in nature that could spur disease,
deforestation or "dead zones" in the seas.

The study urged changes in consumption, better education, new
technology and higher prices for exploiting ecosystems.

The report is available online at www.millenniumassessment.org.

2005-03-13T13:11:00.000-08:00

Garry Kasparov in The King (Putin) and I

Garry Kasparov, who is arguably the greatest chess player of all time,
announced his retirement from professional chess play on Friday. He
said he planned to write books and become more active in the politics
of Russia.

"As a chess player, I did everything I could, even more. Now I want to
use my intellect and strategic thinking in Russian politics. I will do
everything in my power to resist Putin's dictatorship. My opinion is that
the country is headed down the wrong path now."

2005-03-07T00:22:00.000-08:00

Attendees of a Save the Seals Benefit

2005-03-02T00:36:00.000-08:00

Els Cooperrider

Co-Owner of the first organically certified restaurant in California, where everything served is organic from the burgers and beer down to the salt
and pepper.

"How else would my customers know that things are really organic?"

2005-02-27T21:34:00.000-08:00

Green Car

2005-02-24T00:24:00.000-08:00

Wangari Maathai

"Activities that devastate the environment and societies continue unabated.
Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so
that humanity stops threatening its life-support system."

Nobel peace laureate Wangari Maathai on the environment-threatening
impact of human activity.

2005-02-16T01:27:00.000-08:00

Christo and Jeanne-Claude at The Gates

The husband-and-wife team created "The Gates, Central Park, New York,
1979-2005" as a democratic installation. No one can own the work, no one
must pay to see it, and everyone who visits "The Gates" will own the experience.

What about the environmental impact of their project?

2005-02-12T13:58:00.000-08:00

Roses Are Organic, Violets Are Blue

2005-02-02T14:15:00.000-08:00

Easter Island Monuments of Our Time

Two friends discussing the book Collapse by Jared Diamond at a cafe.

2005-02-01T19:15:00.000-08:00

Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

In the book, Diamond describes societies that perished due to climate change and deforestation. Easter Island is one of them. A competition between chiefs to erect the large stone statues led them to cut down every tree on the island to build rollers for moving and raising the statues. The island ecosystem was wrecked. As the soil became infertile, and, with no big logs left to build ocean-going canoes, the islanders had no means of escape. They ate their land birds to extinction, and then they starved and fought one another and cannibalism resulted...

2005-01-27T20:57:00.000-08:00

Local Warming