nature Magazine -July 13, 2023 issue:Usually, sea urchins procure blades of seagrass or small pieces of rubble to help them blend in with the sea floor, but the fire urchin (Asthenosoma varium) on the cover has instead appropriated the remnants of a blue plastic bag and is entangled in a discarded fishing line stuck on a reef.
Coverage of wispy cirrus clouds is linked to episodes of electrical activity.
Lightning is typically seen when imposing cumulonimbus clouds fill the sky. But new research shows that these bolts of electricity can also be used to forecast thin and wispy clouds that warm the world by reflecting heat back to the surface.
Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2023) – Many retirees say they regret not focusing on more than just saving money to live out their post-working years. WSJ personal-finance reporter Veronica Dagher joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss.
Video timeline:0:00 Difficulty mapping a retirement plan 1:01 What retirees wish they did differently 2:38 Relationships and retirement 4:43 Message for future retirees
Dwell – July/August 2023 issue: The Travel Issue: Destination Homes From Bhutan to the Beach; Perfect Perches: High-Design Hiking Cabins in the Italian Alps…
Sylvia Michel Photography (July 12, 2023) – The Brienz Rothorn Railway is a tourist rack railway in Switzerland, which climbs from Brienz, at the eastern end of Lake Brienz, to the summit of the Brienzer Rothorn.
Country Life Magazine – July 12, 2023 issue: A look at the birds everyone should see once in their life, why poets make the best naturalists, plus tartan, trout and Alan Titchmarsh.
The perfect 10
From peregrine falcon to puffin and starling to skylark, Stephen Moss selects 10 birds that we simply must see in our lifetimes
Rebels and romantics with a cause
Tartan is one of Scotland’s most recognisable exports—follow the thread from Highland dress to punk fashion with Mary Miers
To the end of Wales
Fiona Reynolds explores the crashing breakers and jagged coastline of the Llŷn Peninsula
For succour and relief
Roger Bowdler visits the Royal Hospital Chelsea, London SW3, a monument to the extraordinary talents of Sir Christopher Wren
First, catch your trout
There is no finer riverside feast than freshly caught brown trout. Tom Parker Bowles is hooked
We will not plunder music of his dower
Mark Cocker says John Clare’s lyrical works resonate today more than ever—230 years after the peasant poet’s birth
Tourister Films (July 12, 2023) – Páros, island, one of the Cyclades (Modern Greek: Kykládes) in the Aegean Sea, Greece, separated from Náxos (Náchos) on the east by a channel 4 miles (6 km) wide. It constitutes a dímos (municipality) in the South Aegean (Nótio Aigaío) periféreia (region).
On a bay on the northwest lies the capital, Páros (or Paroikía), occupying the site of the ancient and medieval capital. The small harbour is excelled by that of Náousa on the north side. White, semitransparent Parian marble (Paria Marmara), used for sculpture and quarried from subterranean pits on the north side of Mount Marpessa, was the chief source of wealth for ancient Páros. Several of the marble tunnels have survived.
Páros shared the early Bronze Ageculture of the Cyclades. Traditionally it was first colonized by Arcadians and then by Ionians. In the 7th century BCE Parian colonies were sent to Thasos and to Parium on the Sea of Marmara and in 385 to the island of Pharos (Hvar, Croatia) in the Adriatic.
Times Literary Supplement (July 14, 2023) @TheTLS : The Republican presidential contenders; Noël Coward’s vortex; Techno-utopia; Too many elitists and more…
The Globalist Podcast, Wednesday, July 12, 2023: Monocle’s team in Vilnius tells us why Volodymyr Zelensky is critical of NATO.
Plus, the Finnish government’s racism scandal, the latest business news and how the Portuguese government is encouraging young people to pick up more books.
The alliance firmed up its plans to include Ukraine eventually, but gave no timetable, siding with President Biden and frustrating some East European members.
As Ukrainian troops inch forward in the counteroffensive, they are occupying positions abandoned by enemy troops. Says one: “It’s not very pleasant.”
Vermont Floods Show Limits of America’s Efforts to Adapt to Climate Change
The lack of a comprehensive national rainfall database and current flood maps hampers the ability to prepare for storms intensified by climate change.
Heat Down Below Is Making the Ground Shift Under Chicago
Basements and train tunnels constantly leak heat, causing the land to sink and straining building foundations. Scientists call it “underground climate change.”
The Local Project (July 11, 2023) – A beautiful house grounded within an extraordinary landscape setting, Matagouri House provides an immediate visual impact without taking away from the natural beauty of the surrounding environment.
Video timeline:00:00 – Introduction 00:18 – The Location of Matagouri 00:38 – The Design Process 01:23 – Defining Themes 01:56 – Inspiration Behind the Rooftop Garden 02:32 – The Client and The Brief 03:14 – The Composition of the Home 03:55 – Reflecting The Landscape 04:47 – Aspirations For The Future
Removed from the urban centre of Queenstown, New Zealand, the home sits between two natural mounds in the surrounding tussock at the foot of The Remarkables mountain range and the edge of Lake Wakatipu. Sitting upon a plateau that lies within a broader curtilage of land, interior spaces are laid out around a sheltered courtyard under an engineered timber roof plane. The main living area of the beautiful house is considered a peninsula, a singular wide space that wraps around a protected courtyard.
This courtyard has a strong sense of gravity for the overall composition of the land as it accesses the public wings of the building, including the kitchen and dining area. Bedrooms are upstairs – the elevated position and the interior design of the rooms nurture the aspect beyond the roof. As such, the powerful landscape setting is integral to the form and overall design of the beautiful house. Fearon Hay Architects draws on this in an interesting way to develop an occupation at a scale that feels comfortable for the residents.
To do this they moderate the way the house captures the view, with areas removing the view entirely – the outlook is taken away and then re-presented for its impact to be fully understood. The beautiful house remains exquisitely immersed in the landscape. For example, the engineered timber roof plane carries a planted tussock green rooftop garden and is shaped to marry into the natural landforms.
The way the home and the landscape blend into one also enables a strong sense of historic occupation. The architecture of the building isn’t read as a new structure but is instead embedded in the landscape as if it has been developed over time.
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