A Timeline of Imagery Firsts

clipped from www.maxpower.ca First “Photograph” | 1826 First Nude Photographs | 1839 First Underwater Photograph | 1856 First Aerial Photograph | 1858 First Colour Photograph | 1861 First Image from Space | 1946 On October 24, 1946, not long after the end of World War II and years before the Sputnik satellite opened the space age, a group of soldiers and scientists in the New Mexico desert saw something new and wonderful—the first pictures of Earth as seen from space. [source] First image of the Entire Earth | 1968 The Apollo 8 mission’s impressive list of firsts includes; the first manned flight using the Saturn V rocket, the first humans to journey to the Earth’s Moon, and the first to photograph the Earth from deep space. [source] First image obtained on another planet | 1975 On October 20 1975, Venera 9 (a Russian spacecraft) made a soft landing on the surface of Venus and took the first digital images on another planet. First image of planet outside solar system | 2005

10 Greatest Major-Impact Craters on Earth

clipped from www.environmentalgraffiti.com 10. Barringer Crater, Arizona, US 9. Bosumtwi, Ghana 8. Deep Bay, Canada 7. Aorounga impact crater, Chad 6. Gosses Bluff, Australia 5. Mistastin Lake, Canada 4. Clearwater lakes, Canada 3. Kara-Kul, Tajikistan 2. Manicouagan, Canada 1. Chicxulub, Mexico Buried underneath the Yucat�n Peninsula in Mexico, near the Chicxulub village (which means “the tail of the devil” in Mayan), this ancient impact crater is simply huge at 105 miles (170km) in diameter. The impact happened roughly 65 million years ago when a comet or asteroid the size of a small city crashed (equivalent to 100 teratons of TNT) on Earth and caused destructive mega-tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions around the globe. The Chicxulub impact is widely believed to have led to the extinction of dinosaurs, because of a global firestorm or because of a dramatic and widespread greenhouse effect that caused long-term environmental changes.

Ice and Water Refractions

clipped from www.environmentalgraffiti.com Circumhorizontal Arc Brocken Spectre Circumzenithal Arc Fog Bow Glory 22� Halo Iridescent Clouds Moonbow Parhelic Circle Rainbows

Treasures From the Mughal Empire

clipped from www.nytimes.com An Emperors’ Art: Small, Refined, Jewel Toned WASHINGTON — Muraqqa is the Persian term for a patched garment traditionally worn by Sufi mystics as a sign of poverty and humility. Yet it is also the word for a gilded and lavishly calligraphed album. This type of muraqqa, a luxury object from the Mughal empire in India, is a patchwork of imagery: portraits of emperors and courtiers, Eastern mystics and Western religious figures; examples of plant and animal life. clipped from www.nytimes.com “Akbar Fights with Raja Man Singh,” from a copy of the Akbarnama. (circa 1600-03) clipped from www.nytimes.com “Mu’in al-Din Chishti Holding a Globe” clipped from www.nytimes.com “The Women at the Well of Kanchinpur,” clipped from www.nytimes.com “Raja Udai Singh (Mota Raja) in a Gold, Flowered Jama” clipped from www.nytimes.com “Majnun in the Wilderness” clipped from www.nytimes.com The young Jahangir also commissioned an album called the “Shikarnama,” or “Hunting Book.” clipped from www.nytimes.com “A Garden Gathering with a Prince in a Green Jama” clipped from www.nytimes.com “Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan with their Ministers,” clipped from www.nytimes.com

What the World Eats (2)

What’s on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe?
from the book “Hungry Planet”

clipped from www.time.com What the World Eats Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or $151.27 Family recipe: Pig’s knuckles with carrots, celery and parsnips clipped from www.time.com Egypt: The Ahmed family of Cairo Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or $68.53 Family recipe: Okra and mutton clipped from www.time.com Mongolia: The Batsuuri family of Ulaanbaatar Food expenditure for one week: 41,985.85 togrogs or $40.02 Family recipe: Mutton dumplings clipped from www.time.com Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or $189.09 Favorite foods: pizza, crab, pasta, chicken clipped from www.time.com China Food expenditure for one week: 1,233.76 Yuan or $155.06 Favorite foods: fried shredded pork with sweet and sour sauce clipped from www.time.com Great Britain Food expenditure for one week: 155.54 British Pounds or $253.15 Favorite foods: avocado, mayonnaise sandwich, prawn cocktail, chocolate fudge cake with cream

What the World Eats (1)

clipped from www.time.com What the World Eats What’s on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe? from the book “Hungry Planet” clipped from www.time.com Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo Food expenditure for one week: $31.55 Family recipe: Potato soup with cabbage clipped from www.time.com Japan: The Ukita family of Kodaira City Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or $317.25 Favorite foods: sashimi, fruit, cake, potato chips clipped from www.time.com United States: The Revis family of North Carolina Food expenditure for one week: $341.98 Favorite foods: spaghetti, potatoes, sesame chicken clipped from www.time.com Bhutan Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or $5.03 Family recipe: Mushroom, cheese and pork clipped from www.time.com Chad Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or $1.23 Favorite foods: soup with fresh sheep meat

10 Revolutionary Computers

clipped from www.livescience.com 10 The Difference Engine 9 ENIAC 8 IBM System/360 7 Datapoint 2200 6 Xerox PARC Alto 5 TRS-80 4 Apple II 3 IBM PC 2 Apple Macintosh 1 IBM Roadrunner The title of fastest supercomputer has become hard to retain for long, but the current champ is also notable for being the first machine with sustained throughput exceeding a petaflop — more than a quadrillion floating point operations per second. Physically, it’s bigger than the ENIAC computer unveiled in 1946, but, if history is any guide, we’ll see equivalent power on a desktop in a few decades.

Ancient Inventions

clipped from www.smith.edu Distaff Deep Antiquity Warp-Weighted Loom 7000 BCE Woven Cloth 7000 BCE String Skirt 6000 BCE clipped from www.smith.edu A person who spins needs two things, in addition to time: the raw material (wool, flax, cotton) that is to be spun, and a spindle or wheel with which to spin it. Throughout history, most spinners have also used a simple device called a distaff. A distaff is a wooden board, sometimes plain but often intricately carved, to which the raw material is tied, and from which the spinner draws as she spins. (Most spinners, in all times and places as far as we know, have been women. That’s why the matrilineal side of your family is called the “distaff side”.) clipped from www.smith.edu Earth-fired Pottery (fragment) 5000 BCE Eyeliner 4000 BCE Sumerian Bull Lyre 3200 BCE Cuneiform Cylinder Seal 3000 BCE clipped from www.smith.edu a different animal head protruding from the front of the sound box to denote its pitch: the bull lyre was bass, the heifer lyre was tenor and the stag lyre was alto clipped from www.smith.edu Sumerian Harp 2500 BCE Coiled Ceramics 2500 BCE Potter’s Wheel 2400 BCE