Aptera Motors has introduced the first solar electric vehicle (sEV) that requires no charging for most daily use and boasts a range of up to 1,000 miles per full charge, shattering industry performance achievements to date. Aptera leverages breakthroughs in lightweight structures, low-drag aerodynamics and cooling, material science, and manufacturing processes to deliver the most efficient vehicle ever made available to consumers. Aptera’s Never Charge is built into every vehicle and is designed to harvest enough sunlight to travel over 11,000 miles per year in most regions.
Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the week in politics, including the Biden’s team’s transition to the White House and the impact of Trump’s election fraud claims.
In this week’s episode of “Cocktails with a Curator,” Curator Aimee Ng explores the history behind Sir Thomas Lawrence’s celebrated portrait of Julia, Lady Peel. When it was shown at the Royal Academy, in 1827, this painting was hailed as Sir Thomas’s greatest portrait—and one of the great works of modern art at the time.
It’s easy to see why: the sitter projects authority, confidence, and ease despite her flamboyant, over-the-top outfit. Sir Thomas’s depiction of Lady Peel is closely related to Peter Paul Rubens’s famous “Chapeau de Paille,” which had recently entered the collection of her husband, Sir Robert Peel. In recognition of the lavish bracelets and rings worn by the sitter, this week’s complementary cocktail is the Bijou (French for “jewel”).
Even now, the approach to the 1,200-acre property is just as it must have been centuries ago: a long, winding ride through pale, undulating fields, leading to a dignified hilltop retreat. The three-story ivy-wrapped building is ringed by 20-foot obelisk-like cypress trees — a private citadel entered through a wrought-iron gate. Beyond the vista of olive groves, another fortresslike outcropping is visible in the distance: the mottled russet city of Siena, three miles away.
WHEN RENÉ CAOVILLA, the 82-year-old Venetian shoe designer, was first shown the Tuscan villa he bought in 1977, he fell in love with it instantly. He wasn’t only taken with the house, a 15th-century red brick monastery that had undergone a slow transformation into an austere 20-bedroom private home in the 17th century, but the Chianti landscape as well — the whole of classical history evoked in a flash.
What Bofill creates with exceptional mastery are spaces or the sense of space. He describes this ability, probably jokingly, as being an escape from the claustrophobia of his childhood in Barcelona, living in bourgeois apartments crammed floor to ceiling with decorative objects.
Postmodernity in the work of Bofill does not have to be the abolishing of rules or the death of history. In his own words, postmodernity “breaks with cultural hegemony to adapt models to different cultures, considering the place and its history.” It is more of a reaction against the uniformity of modern architecture.
Ricardo Bofill was born on December 5, 1939, in Barcelona. The son of a contractor, in the dullest hours of the Franco regime. As he explains himself, the feeling of being, not in the middle of the world but the outskirts, in a periphery—a Catalonia that was not just physically isolated from the cultural capitals but also far from national, political decision-making—sparked dreams of freedom and faraway lands, and was probably what later inspired his nomadic lifestyle. The importance of the vernacular, it’s engagement with classicism, Bofill’s sense of atemporal elegance—all find their roots in this early period.
As the Sun disappears for several weeks in November and never to show up again before January, Arctic Norway prepares for the long polar nights. With them, the dramatic landscapes take on a very magical appearance as the arrival of cold and humid conditions clothes everything with ice crystals.
It seems, however, that the episodes of frost are becoming less and less numerous due to climate change and the strengthening of the Gulf stream bringing relentless mild temperatures, which in turn melt away the snow and the frost. This year has been particularly mild, but here and there, we were treated to a fleeting coat of sparkly white ice. Between pastel colors of fiery sunsets, the dance of the famous aurora borealis to glow from the night sky, the ice crystal shine and behave in a different way.
The main focus of this short film was obviously the recording of frost throughout the various landscape of northern Norway (Troms region). Unfortunately, the frost hasn’t been strong enough to show fully grown crystals, so the main interest was the thin layer of ice enveloping grass, twigs, branches, rocks, but also the small lakes beginning to freeze over. The out of focus / medium format macro techniques were used a lot in the film to amplify the diffraction of moonlight into ice crystals and reveal their twinkling. Camera motion along ramps also participated in getting this effect. Shooting macro at night is far from being the simplest, as lots of light is required to compensate for the very narrow aperture used to gain depth of field. Some sequences were shot at f/9-14 so moonlight was indispensable.
I hope you will enjoy this compilation of timelapse sequences, which are also available for licensing upon request (nightlightsfilms@gmail.com)
All was shot with the Sony a7s, a7rII and 2 Canon 6D astromodified, a variety of bright lenses ranging from 14mm to 50mm. For motion control I used the Syrp 3-axis Genie I system and also the Vixen Polarie. All post production was made in Lr with the special timelapse plus plugin, Sequence for mac, TLDF, and final production was made in FCPX. I hope you like the movie as much as I liked shooting and processing it and I thank everyone of you for your support. All content is of course copyrighted Night Lights Films (except sountrack licensed through Epidemic Music, see credits for authors and titles), and no footage can be used in any way without the author’s permission. Please share and comment if you liked the video and follow me for more videos like this one!
The Golden and Lions Gates are located on the east side of the old city of Jerusalem. Israel.
GOLDEN GATE: As it is called in Christian literature, is the oldest of the current gates in Jerusalem’s Old City Walls. According to Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) used to appear through this gate, and will appear again when the Messiah comes (Ezekiel 44:1–3) and a new gate replaces the present one; that is why Jews used to pray for mercy at the former gate at this location. Hence the name Sha’ar HaRachamim (שער הרחמים), the Gate of Mercy. In Christian apocryphal texts, the gate was the scene of a meeting between the parents of Mary, so that Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate became a standard subject in cycles depicting the Life of the Virgin. It is also said that Jesus passed through this gate on Palm Sunday. In Arabic, it is known as the Gate of Eternal Life. In ancient times, the gate was known as the Beautiful Gate. It has been walled up since medieval times. https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR…
LIONS GATE: The Lion’s Gate is located near Mount of Olives and the Via Dolorosa. This is one of the seven gates that were created in the wall of the old city, and the only one that is open towards the east. The gate was built as part of the wall of the old city during the 16th century by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. On both sides of the gate there are lion embossments. According to the legend, they were integrated into this structure following the dream of Sultan Suleiman, in which two lions were about to devour him, as a punishment for the situation of the holy city of Jerusalem, which was not protected at the time. The sultan interpreted the dream as a sign from above, and ordered to surround the city with a wall. In fact, the embossments resemble cheetahs more than lions. Some say that they were taken from a more ancient building of the Mameluke ruler Baibars, whose symbol was a Cheetah. https://www.itraveljerusalem.com/ent/…
This intricately delicate cameo features a very detailed story of the prophet Elijah ascending to heaven. In this episode of Sotheby’s Stories, discover how this delightful miniature work of art is part of a very small group of rare cameos which feature Hebrew inscriptions. Learn how it was crafted by Jewish artisans in the court of a 13th century Holy Roman Emperor.
Bikes have been a hot ticket item during the Covid pandemic as more people look for recreational activities and outdoor transportation. With more bikes and other forms of micromobility on the road, transportation experts say the moment is prime for a transit upheaval in the United States. Here’s how the Covid bike boom could change the way Americans get to work and around major cities.
The white-collar world has been forced by Covid-19 into a “work from home” experiment, and the results are in. It turns out we can be just as productive at home, if not more so, and many don’t want to go back to the office — at least not full time. So what will happen to the office? Will we see workers coming in only when they have to? And if so, what does that mean to the multibillion- dollar commercial real estate industry?
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