New Travel Books: “Hong Kong – Trope City Edition”

January 8, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

This carefully curated and bound collection offers a unique modern perspective of Hong Kong. Each chapter in Trope Hong Kong is accompanied by a map of the area along with the locations where the photographs were taken. In many cases, there are several photographs of the same location, shot at different times of the day, in different seasons, with different tones.

Trope Hong Kong, the third volume in the Trope City Editions series, celebrates the juxtaposition of colorful chaos and architectural order of this iconic, constantly changing city. The collection highlights the work of 17 emerging photographers from Hong Kong and beyond, who through their passion for the craft, creative development, and social media smarts have amassed a collective Instagram following of 1.3 million.

Vintage: “1955 Cadillac Eldorado Convertible” (Classic Driver)

January 8, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

From Wikipedia:

The Cadillac Eldorado is a premium luxury car that was manufactured and marketed by Cadillac from 1952 to 2002 over twelve generations. Competitors and similar vehicles included the Continental Mark series, Buick Riviera, Oldsmobile Toronado and Chrysler’s Imperial Coupe.

The Eldorado was at or near the top of the Cadillac line. The original 1953 Eldorado convertible and the Eldorado Brougham models of 1957–1960 had distinct bodyshells and were the most expensive models that Cadillac offered those years. The Eldorado was never less than second in price after the Cadillac Series 75 limousine until 1966. From 1967 on, the Eldorado was built in high volumes on a unique two door personal luxury car platform.

For 1955, the Eldorado’s body gained its own rear end styling with high, slender, pointed tailfins. These contrasted with the rather thick, bulbous fins which were common at the time and were an example of the Eldorado once again pointing the way forward. The Eldorado sport convertible featured extras such as wide chrome body belt moldings and twin round taillights halfway up the fenders. Sales nearly doubled to 3,950.

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Environment, Nature, Travel, Videos

Travel & Nature Videos: “Castleton Tower”, Utah (Conservation Alliance)

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This The Conservation Alliance success story is a classic. In 2001, funding by The Conservation Alliance lead to the acquisition of 221 acres surrounding iconic Castleton Tower in Castle Valley, Utah—home to one of the “Fifty Classic Climbs of North America.”

In the clip, you’ll see Dave Erley, former two-term mayor of Castle Valley, and Wendy Fisher, Executive Director of Utah Open Lands, explain the history of the Castleton Tower Preservation Initiative. Once threatened by development, the climbing community and Utah Open Lands worked together to secure permanent access to Castleton Tower.

https://uncagethesoul.com/

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Innovations, Technology, Videos

Tech Videos: “Impact Through Disruptive Innovation” (Harvard)

Video January 7, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

At the Wyss Institute, we leverage insights into how Nature builds, controls and manufactures to develop disruptive technology solutions for healthcare and the environment. Our innovations make an impact in the world through commercialization by new startups and corporate alliances.

Learn more about technology translation at the Wyss Institute

Innovations, News, Technology, Videos

Technology: Preview Of Innovations On January 7 At CES 2020 (Video)

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See some of the CES exhibitors who kicked off CES 2020 by showcasing their consumer technology innovations at CES Unveiled. This is just the start of what you’ll see at CES.

Health, Medicine, Profiles, Videos

Physician Profiles: Best-Selling Author Abraham Verghese MD (JAMA Video)

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In this video, best-selling author Abraham Verghese, MD, discusses the origins of the study he coauthored identifying 5 practices that foster meaningful connections between physicians and patients.

Arts & Literature, Literature, Podcasts

Lyrical Essays: “Return To Tipasa” By Albert Camus (Poetry Channel Podcast)

Audio January 7, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

Albert Camus’ lyrical essay… where he found In the midst of winter, there was, within himself, an invincible summer.

Excerpt from “Return To Tipasa” by Alber Camus

You have navigated with raging soul far from the paternal home, passing beyond the sea’s double rocks, and you now inhabit a foreign land.

–Medea

For five days rain had been falling ceaselessly on Algiers and had finally wet the sea itself. From an apparently inexhaustible sky, constant downpours, viscous in their density, streamed down upon the gulf. Gray and soft as a huge sponge, the sea rose slowly in the ill-defined bay. But the surface of the water seemed almost motionless under the steady rain. Only now and then a barely perceptible swelling motion would raise above the sea’s surface a vague puff of smoke that would come to dock in the harbor, under an arc of wet boulevards. The city itself, all its white walls dripping, gave off a different steam that went out to meet the first steam. Whichever way you turned, you seemed to be breathing water, to be drinking the air.

Environment, Nature, Travel, Videos

Nature Videos: Steelhead Sanctuary, Oregon (Conservation Alliance)

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The first video in our six-part success story series celebrates the new 99,000-acre Steamboat Creek Steelhead Sanctuary along Oregon’s Umpqua River.

The backstory: Frank and Jeanne Moore are decades-long stewards and conservation champions for the Steamboat Creek watershed, located in the northeastern portion of the Umpqua River basin, and recognize it as a sanctuary for wildlife, plants, and people.

While recent protections identify the wild steelhead as the preeminent beneficiary, Frank also discovered that spending time fly fishing along the river in this area acted as therapy for PTSD induced by his service in World War II.

https://uncagethesoul.com/

See the full video here and follow the grantees who helped protect this wild place: Pacific Rivers and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers.

Aging, Health, Medicine

Health: “Multimorbidity” Is Rising, Creating Greater Demand For “Cluster Medicine” Expertise (BMJ)

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From a The BMJ online editorial:

The proportion of patients who have two or more medical conditions simultaneously is, however, rising steadily. This is currently termed multimorbidity, although patient groups prefer the more intuitive “multiple health conditions.” In high income countries, multimorbidity is mainly driven by age, and the proportion of the population living with two or more diseases is steadily increasing because of demographic change. This trend will continue.

Cluster medicine

The cluster around diabetes is a good example, with the common serious disease affecting the heart, nervous system, skin, peripheral vasculature, and eyes. Diabetologists already provide care for the cluster of multiorgan diseases around diabetes, and some specialties, such as geriatrics or general practice, have multimorbidity at their heart. For most, however, training and service organisation are not optimised to face a multimorbidity dominated future.

The shift includes moving from thinking about multimorbidity as a random assortment of individual conditions to recognising it as a series of largely predictable clusters of disease in the same person. Some of these clusters will occur by chance alone because individuals are affected by a variety of commonly occurring diseases. Many, however, will be non-random because of common genetic, behavioural, or environmental pathways to disease. Identifying these clusters is a priority and will help us to be more systematic in our approach to multimorbidity.

Arts & Literature, Photography

Photography: “2019 Nikon Small World Competition – Photomicrography”

January 7, 2020 She Seeks Serene Leave a comment

1st Place Fluorescent turtle embryo

Teresa Zgoda & Teresa Kugler

Location: Campbell Hall, New York, USA; Technique: Stereomicroscopy, Fluorescence; Magnification: 5x (Objective Lens Magnification)

For microscopy technician Teresa Zgoda and recent university graduate Teresa Kugler, microscopy is a discipline that allows them to blend their dual passions of art and science. The 2019 winning image is a spectacular example of that, featuring a colorful turtle embryo captured using a combination of fluorescence and stereomicroscopy.

The pair captured this image while assisting in the Marine Biological Laboratory’s embryology course. It was here they learned the precise technique required to properly prepare various types of embryos to be observed and photographed. Creating this image was a unique challenge, largely due to the size of the sample. Over an inch long, and thick, it took time and precision to ensure the entire subject was photographed completely. What’s more, the magnification used meant only a small part of the turtle could be imaged on the focal plane. The final image is a compilation of hundreds of images that had to be stacked and stitched together.

When they are not taking photos through the microscope, both women enjoy being creative (for Kugler, that means cosplay, and for Zgoda it means photographing the landscapes, plants, and animals she sees on her hikes). Zgoda has recently started a job in a Boston hospital in a lab focused on neurology, while Kugler is excited to see what the world of science has in store for new Rochester Institute of Technology graduate. “Microscopy lets us get a better look at the small things in life,” said Kugler, “It allows me to do science with a purpose.” “We are inspired by the beautiful images we see through the microscope,” added Zgoda, “It’s amazing to be able to share that science with other people.”