Sweet dreams: Newborn babies are picture perfect as they are captured sleeping peacefully

By Joanna Corrigan

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Some would argue that sleep is a foreign concept for most newborn babies - but not according to these incredible pictures.

Tiny children, some just days old, have been pictured in various states of blissful repose and the results are adorable.


One 13-day-old girl lies on a flower bed, another rests its chin on its hand as if contemplating the mysteries of life.

Adorable: A four-week old baby takes a nap on a pink blanket 

Pensive: This 13-day-old baby girl looks like she has a lot to think about

Further pictures show a baby resting in a plant pot, eyes tight shut, and one snuggled up in a small white basket - with a little hat to keep it's head warm.


They have all been taken by photographers Yvonne Watt and Fiona Potter of Fusion Baby Photography in Strathblane, Glasgow.


The pair ask clients to bring in babies between four and ten days-old so that they can produce a picture to capture the very earliest stage of their lives.

Peaceful: A baby Fairy Queen asleep in her crown, aged just under two weeks

Comfortable: A 13-day-old baby girl takes a nap in a little flower nest 

Ms Watt said: 'This special time comes along only once in the lifetime of a child. Before we know it, this stage is finished and we move on. People come to us because they want to capture this moment and savour it forever.'

The photographers manage to get the babies to sleep because they make them as comfortable as possible, using blankets made of natural fibres.

Carried away: A baby girl wearing a cosy hat takes a nap in a little basket

Blossoming: A baby girl even managed to get some shut eye in this large pot 

The women have five children between them so realise the importance of capturing the early moments before it is too late.


Ms Watt said: 'Often there is so much that is new going on people may overlook the importance of sitting down and doing something special to record this time.

'I didn't do this myself but now at least I have the chance to give other new parents this opportunity.' 

Where did I get my hat? Let me think...zzzzzzzz

Peace at last: Suddenly it's all gone quiet

Feds Sign Off on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner

• By Jason Paur
• From http://www.wired.com/

EVERETT, Washington — The flight testing is done, the Federal Aviation Administration has issued its approval and as of today Boeing can say the 787 Dreamliner is certified to carry passengers.

The FAA presented Boeing with a type certificate and production certificate for the innovative composite airliner during a ceremony at Boeing’s factory north of Seattle. The pieces of paper mean the Dreamliner can begin commercial service, and they represent the culmination of several billion dollars of investment for the aerospace giant and almost as many headaches.

Boeing attempted a grand experiment with the Dreamliner, one that proved far more difficult to execute than anyone imagined. The 787 project took more than three years longer than expected, and the delays cost Boeing untold amounts of money in lost sales. Still, the company has orders for more than 800 Dreamliners and hopes customers will find the airplane was worth waiting for.

“This is going to be an airplane that changes the game,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh told the crowd gathered around the first 787, airplane ZA001. “Once our customers get this airplane, I think they’ll forgive us for the fact that it was a little bit late.”

The hard work is only beginning, and more headaches may be ahead. Boeing has shown the composite airplane works as promised. Now it has to prove it can build Dreamliners quickly and efficiently in order to see a profitable return on its investment.

“This doesn’t magically open up the flood gates and release a torrent of cash,” says Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group. “If anything, the financial part could get worse as they try to ramp up production. It’s going to be a very difficult 18 months.”

Boeing 787s await finishing and delivery to customers at the company

The flight testing of the 787 program has gone fairly well since the Dreamliner’s first flight in December, 2009.
There have been a few hiccups, including an in-flight fire and quite a few delays, but Boeing has shown the 787 will perform as claimed. This was key to securing sales, because Boeing claims the 787 is about 20 percent more fuel efficient than similar aircraft and will therefore save airlines a lot of money.

The fuel efficiency comes thanks to new engines from Rolls Royce and GE, along with improved aerodynamics, primarily in the wing. The engines with their serrated cowlings are also dramatically quieter than existing airliners. In fact, they’re so quiet that during testing, many have commented it sounds like the engines are shut down entirely.

The composite fuselage should make passengers more comfortable. It allows for bigger windows, as well as a lower cabin altitude and higher humidity.

But building the 787 has been anything but smooth. Parts shortages, design defects (including a problem with how the wing joined the fuselage) and a global supply chain caused several delays.

Boeing took a huge risk when it decided not only to design and build an entirely new airplane, but to come up with a new way to design and build that airplane. In an unusual move, the company outsourced the design and construction of major components to firms in countries around the world. Many point to that as the cause of many delays, which ultimately made the plane three years late.

But Aboulafia says the real problem was Boeing let outside firms do too much design work.
“Outsource production,” he says. “Don’t outsource design.”

All the 787s completed so far have been assembled from complete subsystems on an assembly line in Everett, Washington, alongside the 747, 767 and 777 lines. The company also opened a second 787 assembly line in South Carolina where airframe number 46 is currently being put together.

But unlike other Boeing models, in which much of the manufacturing occurs in Everett, the 787 is assembled from subassemblies manufactured in several countries and flown to Washington in modified 747s called Dreamlifters.

A short list of the parts built outside Everett include fuselage sections made in Italy, Japan, South Korea and the United States. Floor beams are built in India. Wing sections come from Japan. The doors and landing gear are made in France and Sweden. Portions of the tail are made in Italy and South Korea.

In addition to distributing some of the cost and risk, the global supply chain was also a way to make friends in countries where Boeing wanted to sell the 787.

A model of a Boeing 787, presented to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, stands in front of ZA001, the first 787 ever built.

The process hasn’t gone smoothly, and the challenge now is to build airplanes fast enough to keep customers happy. Boeing has orders for more than 800 Dreamliners, and will have to build them quickly and efficiently enough to start making money. List price for the current 787 is $185.2 million. But it is widely understood that airlines receive various discounts on orders.

“Boeing has to start building this plane for the price they charge,” Aboulafia says, and “it might take the majority of the decade” for Boeing to accomplish that.

When FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt handed over the type certificate, 787 chief project engineer Mike Sinnett held it over his head like a coach hoisting the Super Bowl trophy (below).

The type certificate from the FAA means the airplane has been tested and meets all of the federal requirements for a passenger carrying aircraft. The agency has approved the airplane as a certified airplane suitable for its intended use. But as Babbitt noted, the production certificate is no less important, because it means Boeing can actually produce and sell the 787 as well.

The eighth airplane off the assembly line will be delivered to All Nippon Airways on September 26 and is expected to enter passenger service in Japan weeks later.

FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt hands Boeing

Photos: Jason Paur/Wired. Lead photo: The second 787 off the assembly line performs a flyby during a celebration today in Everett, Wash., where the FAA issued final approval for the aircraft. The first 787 ever built is in the foreground.

MasterImage 3D: The best glasses-free 3D technology yet

 Dean Takahashi

inShare

Most stereoscopic 3D experiences are weak. The glasses-free Nintendo 3DS turned out to be a disappointment, forcing Nintendo to slash the prices on that handheld gaming device. But the glasses-free experience MasterImage 3D has developed is something altogether different. From what I’ve seen so far, it’s going to offer an outstanding 3D experience on smartphones and tablets.

Roy Taylor (pictured below), executive vice president and general manager for MasterImage 3D, showed me a working prototype of the company’s new screen based on what it calls “cell matrix parallax barrier” technology. The quality blew me away. On a 4.3-inch WVGA screen, Taylor showed a 3D movie running in stereoscopic 3D. I didn’t need to wear glasses to see the sharp 3D imagery. When I moved my head, it didn’t get blurry. And if I moved my head too far to the side, it gracefully transitioned to a two-dimensional image.

“We’ve measured their alignment accuracy and we believe we’re 500 percent more accurate than the 3DS,” Taylor said in an interview at the recent Emerging Display Technologies conference. “We don’t have any issues with eye strain” (eye strain has proven to be a significant issue with the 3DS).

The cell matrix parallax barrier is more sophisticated than the glasses-free, or autostereoscopic, parallax barrier technology from Sharp that Nintendo used in its handheld, which debuted in March but sold so poorly than Nintendo cut its price $80 to $169 last week. The MasterImage 3D solution presents an image to your left eye and a different image to the right eye. Human eyes then form the two images into a single 3D image. But while the 3DS uses a striped approach to its parallax barrier, MasterImage 3D uses a matrix of cells that block one eye and not the other, which is a more fine-grained approach.

The result is high brightness, and no ghosting or cross talk (which makes the viewer see two images instead of one).

Both 7-inch and 10-inch tablet screens are coming later this fall. MasterImage 3D uses a Texas Instruments OMAP 4 processor that can handle 15-inch screens, but Taylor doesn’t expect anyone to ship those because the larger screen size forces you to sit too far back to be able to see the 3D effect. Rivals include Sharp and LG Electronics. But MasterImage 3D scored a $15 million investment in March from Samsung.

There is a decent 3D viewing angle to the technology, which is probably ideal for watching in an airline seat. Only one person can watch in 3D at a time on the four-inch to 10-inch screens.

MasterImage 3D was founded in 2004 in Seoul, South Korea by Younghoon Lee. It first developed a digital 3D cinema system and got its first installations in 2006. by 2009, it had its 3D cinema projectors in 800 movie theaters. It now has more than 4,000 digital 3D cinema installations in 70 countries and ships more than 8 million 3D glasses per month. It moved its headquarters to Hollywood, Calif. last fall and has now extended to mobile screens.

The company shipped the autostereoscopic 3D technology in 2009 in the Wooo phone made by Hitachi. That device was ahead of its time, so it only sold about 300,000 units. Now MasterImage 3D has prototypes ready for the improved cell matrix technology, which is easier to manufacture. Taylor is hopeful because movie studios are readying content for the devices via streaming technology.


“We have relationships with the movie studios and they love what we’re doing,” he said. “We are also talking to almost every major manufacturer in the world. They are all rushing to do 4.5-inch screens that can do true 720p images.”

MasterImage 3D has patented the technology, including the technology for aligning the images so that they aren’t blurry.

Overall, 3D has faced a struggle. About 21 million 3D TVs sold in 2011, but many of those are simply the latest high-end TVs. By 2015, that number is expected to grow to 100 million units.The only problem for MasterImage 3D is that many of the 3D experiences it has shipped so far have turned consumers off.

But Taylor said 40 3D movies will be released in 2012 and 70 by 2014, partly because the movie studios love the fact that a 3D experience can’t be easily pirated. On top of that, studios are also streaming 3D movies to mobile devices.

“3D is definitely out of the bag,” Taylor said. “The challenge is consumer hesitation, the lack of 3D content, health concerns, and a need for industry-wide investment.”

Mobile phones just might be the right devices to help the market take off, Taylor said.
“Hollywood needs a new outlet they can sell movies into, now that the DVD market is declining,” Taylor said.

Four Amazing Green Greenhouses Built 40 Years Ago By Michael Jantzen

by Lloyd Alter
from http://www.treehugger.com/

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All images credit Michael Jantzen
Artist and designer Michael Jantzen is best known for his visionary building ideas like his M-House, covered recently in Fast Company, but I was really excited by his older stuff like his Autonomous House, that I called a Thirty-year old green wonder. Trolling the older work on his site, I found some amazing looking greenhouse structures, and called him to find out more. What he built and what he said is really remarkable. In fact, it's amazing.

In 1980 he built this commercial greenhouse to raise seedlings prior to the beginning of the gardening season in Illinois. The structure is designed to conserve energy by moving the plants from the outside to the greenhouse to an insulated section,

There is a large mound of earth and it is connected to the greenhouse. There is a steel culvert under the mound of earth insulated with foam insulation. At night the plants roll into this underground space to keep them at the temperature they need so we wouldn't have to heat the greenhouse at night.

This is a commercial greenhouse for growing seedlings. There is a track where you can slided the plant outside into a 35' glazed section, during the day when it was too cold outside, so you could pull the plants from the underground section to the glazed section. When it was warmer outside and you want to harden the plants to the climate, you could move the plants outside.

It was a machine for growing plants, where they could go from a superinsulated cave environment where you didn't need any energy at all. There was an insulated lid that closed up after the plants were in. As the temperature moderates and in the daytime, they would stay inside the glazed section.

Experimental Greenhouse 1987

Experimental Greenhouse 1987 was built for the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It was a modular, transportable unit.

This was much more complex; the white section at the end is super-insulated with foam.

The whole thing was automated; there is a little computer that monitored the air temperature and light levels, and moved the plants in and out depending on the available of light and heat.

And then further, the drawers where plants are sitting on stainless steel benches, there were plastic tubes with phase change material in them. That was the thermal mass that would absorb the heat in the rods while it the material liquified, and that would provide the heat needed at night. It was also designed to self-water and inject CO2.

There is a cable that runs to the back of the insulated tube to the opposite end, and pulls the tray out into the sun.

Note that there is only one section in the middle that is tall enough for a person to step in, so idea was to design the shape of the structure is designed so that you don't have to heat a large volume that the plants don't need, you only need one small section where a person can tend to the plants as they were moving past. In the summer, all of the panels slid open so that it could ventilate naturally. A very complex little structure.

There is a lot more; the early greenhouses that he designed to minimize the interior area, with wings for the plants and a lane down the middle for the gardener, minimizing the air that has to be be warmed.

Just room for plants and people.

The other greenhouses, like experimental greenhouse 1980, I was designing for the mass market. I was experimenting with growing plants in a cold climate. it was built with 2x4 and plywood and sprayed with foam on the outside to insulate. there were two layers of corrugated translucent plastic and in between was a blanket that rolled in between the airspace at night and rolled to the back in the daytime.

The corrugated section that you see you could close up like a roll-top desk. the side had a rock wall that would absorb heat during the day and you would blow air through it at night.

And there is still more material for yet another post to come. As I said, amazing stuff.

Hurricane Irene 'Big, Scary Storm,' Astronaut Says

by Andrea Mustain
from http://www.livescience.com/

Hurricane Irene seen from the International Space Station. CREDIT: NASA. View full size image

Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) got an eyeful of Hurricane Irene's increasing might today (Aug. 25) as their space capsule streaked over the monstrous Category 3 storm, which is barreling toward U.S. shores.

Ahead of the flyover, ISS video cameras revealed placid views of wispy white clouds scattered over the blue of the ocean. Then a huge mass of white appeared on the horizon: Hurricane Irene, a powerful debut storm for the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season.

Even from 220 miles (350 kilometers) above the Earth, the storm's muscle was on full display.

"This is a big storm," said astronaut Mike Fossum during a live video feed from the ISS this afternoon. As the ISS moved closer, a dense swirl of thick clouds filled the frame. [See the video of Irene here.]

"This storm is doing a good job of filling up the Caribbean here," Fossum said, and pointed out what he called the "classic pinwheel structure" of the storm.


It took the ISS roughly six minutes to traverse the breadth of Hurricane Irene, which has organized itself into a colossal storm with a diameter one-third the length of the entire U.S. eastern seaboard.

"We're used to traveling a long way in a short amount of time," Fossum said, "and if this storm is stretching from Cuba to the Carolinas, this storm is one big, scary storm."

Fossum noted that even over North Carolina's outer banks, a region not projected to feel the effects of the storm until Saturday morning, "there's thin stuff that's actually spiraling way out here."

Hurricane Irene is packing winds of 115 mph (170 kph) with higher gusts, and could potentially strengthen in the coming day, according to the latest report from the National Hurricane Center.

The ISS crew has been watching Hurricane Irene's development for several days now.

Although the ISS circles the Earth every 90 minutes — 16 times a day — because it travels at a slight tilt in relation to the equator, the panorama on view below changes with each pass.

During a video interview earlier today with SPACE.com, a sister site to OurAmazingPlanet, Fossum noted that yesterday (Aug. 24) the storm appeared to undergo a pronounced change, and its structure became very uniform.

According to the NASA ground crew, Hurricane Irene has a wind field 300 miles (480 km) wide, and shows no signs of weakening.

"Our prayers and our hopes are with the people who are hunkering down," Fossum said. "Good luck.

• Video: See Irene from the International Space Station 
• Infographic: Storm Season! How, When & Where Hurricanes Form 
• In Photos: Hurricane Irene

Andrea Mustain is a staff writer for OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience. Reach her at amustain@techmedianetwork.com.

Beavis and Butthead make fun of Jersey Shore

Beavis and Butthead are back and they couldn’t have found an easier target to pick on. Watch as the rip into the STD infested cast of Jersey Shore with all of the awesome jokes you grew to love. MTV is currently still making the episodes, stay tuned for more clips like this as they start to air.

How To Be A Successful Homeless Person

By: Maurice
From: http://socialhype.com/
In today's economy we don't know what can happen to us. Many of us have too much pride to go running home to our parents or seek government help so instead we decide to become a hobo.

Well if you chose to be homeless or get stuck in that unfortunate situation, here are some useful tip that can help you become a successful homeless person.

10 beatboxers with ridiculous skill

By Kristin ConardFrom http://matadornetwork.com/

Doug E. Fresh, beatboxing pioneer, performing in Brooklyn. Photo: Jason Persse.

Using little more than their mouths and a mic, beatboxers turn themselves into musical instruments.

BEATBOXING started in the 1980s as an element of hip hop. Since then it has progressed with beatbox competitions and world championships, and people such as these 10 ultra talented beatboxers turning it into an art form in itself.

Beardyman

He got his nickname from a show early in his career where a name was needed for the flyer, and at that exact moment, he had a beard. And a star was born. He was the 2006 and 2007 UK Beatbox Champion, and he has a touch of the tongue-in-cheek comedian to him when he performs – check out his “Kitchen Diaries” clip on youtube.

Nathan “Flutebox” Lee

I remember in high school band that only girls would every play the flute. So wrong – another UK beatboxer, Nathan “Flutebox” Lee makes the flute manly and, frankly, bad ass.
Here’s a bonus to working at Google – they apparently bring in some pretty wicked live entertainment.

Doug E. Fresh

Doug E. Fresh was one of the pioneers of beatboxing in the 1980s. His website proclaims him as “the original human beat box.” I don’t know if he was the first person ever, or just the first one to popularize it, but I don’t know that I care – he’s still around, and he’s good.

Rahzel

This New Yorker beatboxer and former member of the group The Roots is known for his ability to rap/sing and beatbox at the same time. He does it here at the 2005 Red Bull BC One.

Eklips

French beatboxer, performing since 1990, Eklips is also a member of Le Remède. Watch him perform the history of hip hop in 4 minutes.

Bellatrix

Men may be able to hit bass notes easier, but there are some amazing women beatboxers out there, like Bellatrix. She started performing in 2004, and in 2007, she formed The Boxettes – an all female beatbox group. In 2009, she became the Female World Beatbox Champion. Watch her face off for that prize with Swiss beatboxer Steff la Cheffe.

Biz Markie

Biz Markie is another beatbox pioneer and legend. Along with more traditional performance venues – concerts, clubs, etc., he’s also performs on the American children’s TV show Yo Gabba Gabba with the “Biz’s Beat of the Day” segment. (Rahzel’s also been on the show.) At first, I thought it was a bit off putting that he’d be on a kid’s show, but then as I thought about it, it makes sense – he’s introducing kids to the genre.

Matisyahu

Matisyahu is a Hasidic Jewish musician who blends reggae music with beatboxing, Jewish musical motifs, and rap. He came onto the scene in 2004 with his first album “Shake Off the Dust…Arise.” Skip to the 2:30 mark in this rendition of “One Day” for his freestyling.

Kenny Muhammad

An old school beatboxer, Kenny Muhammad is known as the “Human Orchestra” after performing in a score composed by conductor and composer David Eaton. He’s also the originator of the “wind technique,” which is basically audible breathing while simultaneously making other noises – try it for yourself with this tutorial, though it make take you quite awhile to have the breath control and skill to do it well.

SkilleR

SkilleR is one of the world’s fast beatboxers, and while a relative newcomer to the scene (he’s in his early 20’s), he was Bulgaria’s first national beatbox champion and he’s performed worldwide.

Reporter Asks Soccer Player to Autograph Her Bare Ass, Is Turned Down (Video)

From: http://www.totalprosports.com/

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Well, I guess we’ve got another sideline correspondent to add to our list of sexy international sports reporters. While we’re at it, we should probably also add her to our list of sexy Latin American sports babes.
The only problem? I can’t seem to figure out what her name is.

Ah, who cares. Like Shakespeare said, what’s in a name?

The point is this: at end of this sexy reporter’s interview with (now former) CD Saprissa player Wilson Munoz on the field at a Costa Rican soccer game, she asks him for an autograph. Then she hands him a pen, unzips her pants, pulls them down, and points her thong-clad rear end at the guy. Flabbergasted, he politely declines, gives her a peck on the cheek (the one on her face), and bids her farewell.

Of course, after Munoz leaves, the sexy reporter becomes the story, and is immediately interviewed by other reporters. I don’t speak spanish, but from what I can tell, she generously offers to reenact the entire encounter.


So now the ethical question of the day. Wilson Munoz: gentleman or idiot?
Hat Tip – [Off the Bench]

Brutal Knockout By US Army Taekwondo Captain

Uploaded by blackoreaninja

US Army Taekwondo team captain knocks out some weak kid @ 0:51

Why even wear them?

 

imgur.com

Exploring the Eerie Underworld of Belgium's Abandoned Crypts

From: http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/
Written by Michele Collet

Photo: Sven Fennema
A dark, eerie corridor leading to the resting places of the dead.

Treading deep underground, Sven Fennema explores the realm of the dead – a place where people were buried long ago. The labyrinthine tunnels of an old, abandoned crypt lie before him, full of mementos, grave plates, and the traces left by those who loved and came to pay their respects to the deceased.
Photo: Sven Fennema

Dripping icicles seep into the dark dank confines of the crypt.

Do the souls of the long departed also inhabit these subterranean corridors? Ask the man who took these haunting pictures, Sven Fennema, a leading light in urban exploration photography whose work tells the story of this forgotten underworld.

Fennema was born in 1981 in Xanten and now lives in Krefeld near Duesseldorf in Germany. Since 2007, the art of creative photography has been his passion. He loves exploring lost and abandoned places as he much as he loves modern architecture, and his knowledge of both serves him well.
 Photo: Sven Fennema 

In these images, Fennema captures the essence of a crypt in a small town in Belgium, conjuring the ghosts of the people who died and those who came to visit as well as the rack and ruin in which it now lies. We can feel the eeriness of this vault, a place abandoned to the skeletons hidden behind the crumbling walls and the spiders that now make it their home. This image of green mold creeping over the concrete above plastic flowers – beside the resting place of a long forgotten body – is a perfect example of the way the photographer captures atmosphere.

 
Photo: Sven Fennema

 A lone chair beside a plaque, as if waiting for a loved one to come and pay their respects to the deceased.

Crypts have a mood all to themselves at the best of times. They are sad and lonely spaces, especially for those visiting their loved ones. Yet abandoned, they become even more atmospheric, especially for an urban explorer: "The mood of a place creates an overwhelming feeling,” Fennema told us. “And the best example for this would be the old crypt, featured in the second chapter of our book [Anderswelten (Other Worlds)]. I never experienced something like this before. Seeing this unique place with the decaying graves and remains of remembrance – like the old crosses and flowers – was already special, but the rest is hard to describe."

 
Photo: Sven Fennema

Light shines in from skylights in another long corridor filled with the remains of the long dead. Water marks and mildew stain the crypt.

Crypts, of course, are stone burial vaults, most often built below ground, underneath church grounds or beneath the church itself. Some are even constructed on the grounds of private estates, though this particular crypt was part of a church and dates back to the 19th century.

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

Spiderwebs cover plastic flowers left behind long ago.

Fennema told us a bit about the history of this crypt: "In the past, when it was built, the crypt was one of the most popular places for underground graves in the country. When it was first expanded, it consisted of star-shaped hallways [when viewed from above] and was made for up to 400 graves. But the upkeep of it grew expensive, and these kinds of tombs became more and more unpopular, so the authorities stopped maintaining it and it was abandoned."

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

A fallen flower holder lies on the floor behind a chair for visitors.

This particular history mirrors what has happened to many crypts in our modern world. They are built increasingly less often, as cremation becomes ever more popular; and while regular cemeteries may remain with us, crypts are dying as places for burying the dead. The expense of crypts is a major consideration given the extra work it costs to build them and maintain them for visitors... This eerie image speaks volumes: how many people sat on this chair grieving for their loved ones?

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

In black and white, the timelessness of a bygone era is captured.

History notwithstanding, Fennema cannot help but return to the atmosphere unearthed in the crypt: "There was the sound of dripping water everywhere, which also dropped on us and which gave us goose bumps, together with the silence. The air was very cold and wet, and you could see your every breath – also an experience I will never forget. It was as if death was close beside you somehow. The crypt was full of those strange plastic flowers – still with their bright colors – but it was also full of spiders' webs and other kinds of decay.”

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

Withered old leaves line the cracked floor of the crypt.

The bodies are still entombed in the crypt even though it has been abandoned. Perhaps there were no longer any relatives to come and visit or perhaps the lack of upkeep stopped visitors from coming. Either way, the rot set in.

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

A decorative finial and picture holders attest to the care this lost place was once given.

At one time, someone cared for these long dead people, and the reminders of this can arrest the heart and mind, as Fennema explains: "There were the old crosses in front of the graves and other remains like figures and pictures; even some grave plates, already fallen. And then there was that lonely old little chair, perhaps made for past visitors – but for a long time nobody has used it as a seat in which to remember their lost ones. The most fascinating thing can be a direct motif which is just overwhelming, but also simply the mood or history of a place can catch me totally."

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

A cracked ceiling above the tombs of the dead add to the sense of desolation in the hall.

Fennema told us that after many years of abandonment, the crypt has now become too dangerous to access, and the authorities have actually closed up the entrance. One of the last photos Fennema saw of the crypt showed it to be full of half a meter of water.
 

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

As you can see from these images, Sven Fennema turns abandonment, decay and ruins into things of beauty. We asked him how he achieved this: "My simple answer would be: The beauty is there, you only have to see it. Abandoned places carry a lot of beauty and many stories; for me it's important to look at them over time and think about it, then the way I will present them grows in my mind. The natural decay is something unique, and of course another very important matter is the right light and moment, which can make a huge difference. I work with several exposures which I merge manually – my best way to manage the light."

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

Fennema not only takes photos; he has also published a book, with a friend, Bjoern Pretzel, called Anderswelten (Other Worlds): "The idea to create a book came to me, together with my friend Björn Pretzel, in mid-2009," he explains. "I met Björn on a tour in spring 2009 and since then we have gone on most of our tours together. These tours are very special and sometimes unforgettable. It's not only about taking pictures, but the adventures, stories and special moments."

“All this we wanted to gather together to make something really special,” Fennema concludes. “On the one hand, it was about showing a special collection of pictures, but the book also gives some background information and speaks of the overall mood.
 

 

Photo: Sven Fennema

A long, sad hallway replete with decay and ruin, with bodies resting in peace behind the walls.

Fennema explains the process: "We started talks with our publisher, who liked our idea, and immediately we started working on it. After a year involving a lot of work, we finished and were very happy in the end. We are glad we could convince the publisher to produce the book in such high quality so that we can now say it is exactly how we wanted it to be. Now it's been on the market for a year, and already more than half of our first edition is sold out, which is really a wonderful feeling, telling us that what we did was right.”

Sven Fennema has a number of series depicting abandoned and lost places that you can see on his website. His superb work has turned heads around the world and caught the attention of urban exploration lovers everywhere. We want to thank him for being kind enough to take the time to answer our questions.

Do you want some Wi-Fi with that beer?

By Om Malik

From http://gigaom.com/

Wi-Fi is everywhere, and thank goodness for that, otherwise we would all be stuck paying through the nose for minuscule bandwidth from greedy carriers that want to overcharge for overloaded and poor 3G networks. Now there are a lot of places where you can get Wi-Fi: coffee shops, fast food joints, some train stations and shopping malls. The latest place to join the Wi-Fi revolution, according to entrepreneurial blog Springwise? Pubs, the epicenter of British social life.

Dutch beer maker Heineken has sponsored free Wi-Fi in 100 London pubs and will add another 200 pubs across the U.K. by the end of 2012. British newspaper The Independent will provide location-specific content on the network. This is a brilliant idea; sponsoring free Wi-Fi access is much better and cheaper advertising opportunity for big brands, something we’ve been saying forever.

However, what Heineken has done right is targeting its ideal audience/customer demographic in the right location. Google sponsoring Wi-Fi on Virgin America, and at some airports, was another such clever co-branding/marketing effort that targeted the right audience.

Hey Nike, how about coming up with free Wi-Fi at baseball stadiums?

Ghostbusters 3 Hopes To Shoot This Spring, Moving Forward Without Murray?

Author: Eric Eisenberg
From: http://www.cinemablend.com/

 

 

Back at the start of this year I had the chance to sit down in a one-on-one interview with director Ivan Reitman when the subject of Ghostbusters III came up. While rumors were flying around involving potential casting and story, Reitman said with authority that, "Virtually everything you’ve read on the internet [about Ghostbusters III] is not accurate." It was a pretty eye-opening statement about Hollywood's rumor mill, but now Dan Aykroyd has opened up a bit about the project and if we can't trust one of the stars of the film who can we trust?

The veteran comedian was recently a guest on Denis Miller Radio where he said that the project hopes to begin production in the spring and talked both about the film's plot and what's going on behind the scenes. One aspect that Aykroyd confirmed is that the film will indeed see the older Ghostbusters passing the torch to a group of youngsters, but the reason is because the original group is not doing so great. Said Aykroyd, "My character, Ray, is now blind in one eye and can't drive the cadillac. He's got a bad knee and can't pick up the pack. Harold [Ramis], Egon, is too large to get into the harness. We need young blood and that's the promise. We're gonna hand it to a new generation. Production in the spring, I hope."

So with that aspect of the story confirmed, who might we see in the new group? One actor that has caught Aykroyd's eye is Matthew Gray Gubler, who plays Dr. Spencer Reid on Criminal Minds and was Joseph Gordon-Levitt's friend Paul in (500) Days of Summer, but Aykroyd didn't say if they've approached him yet or if he's just on a list somewhere. He then continued by saying that they will be casting and that the new group will include three guys and one woman. "We're going to see everyone that wants to do it," said Aykroyd.

The most interesting thing the comedian said on the program, however, was about the development of the project and the involvement of Bill Murray. For as long as the project has been around Murray has been the lone hold-out and the solely responsible for holding up production. At the start of the audio Aykroyd said, "Yes, we will be doing the movie and hopefully with Mr. Murray. That is our hope." He then continued by saying that while Murray is the lead character and "contributive to it in a massive way," he alone does not make up the entire picture. "The concept is much larger than each individual role and the promise of Ghostbusters 3 is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood."

Is Aykroyd suggesting that they Ghostbusters 3 could move forward without Murray? While it's entirely speculative at this point, it almost sounds like Aykroyd is trying to butter us up so that when it's announced that the sequel won't have Dr. Peter Venkman the blow will be softened. I know there's thousands of fans out there who want to see another Ghostbusters, but will they go see it without Murray?

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