PICTURE PERFECT: INFINITE

Definitions on INFINITE:
“Unlimited or boundless, in time or space;
as, infinite duration or distance.”

Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant is over there in the distance. It was there where it was discovered that the Chernobyl accident had happened in 1986, for the Swedes thought that they had a ‘leak’ or whatever at first. I took this photo in the summer of 2002 during very hot weather.

On April 27, 1986, unusually high levels of radiation were detected in workers’ clothing at this plant, prompting concerns of a radiation leak. No leak was found, however, and the radiation was determined to have originated from Chernobyl, where a reactor had exploded the previous day. Chernobyl is approximately 1,100 km from this power plant.

Because of the sensitive instruments located in the nuclear power plant for the purpose of detecting local leaks, Forsmark was, on April 27, 1986, the first place outside the Soviet Union where the signs of the Chernobyl accident became apparent. When workers at the plant were found to carry radioactive particles, the origin of the leak was investigated and it eventually became clear that the contamination came from the atmosphere rather than from the Forsmark plant itself. (Wikipedia)

© All photos Riihele. All rights reserved

Nuclear accidents affect infinitely into the lives of all the people on the globe; even though, the usual presumption is that the effects are only local… Chernobyl still has its mark on the water we drink and bathe in, our soil where everything grows, and the air we breathe in, and will for a very long time yet to come!

This is my contribution on the Picture Perfect theme INFINITE.

Don’t use words too big for the subject.
Don’t say “infinitely” when you mean “very”;
otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. (C. S. Lewis)

Do have a grand weekend and do keep so well. Rii xx

The nuclear meltdown provoked a radioactive cloud that floated not over just Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova,
but
the European part of the Turkey,
Republic of Macedonia,
Croatia,
Bulgaria,
Greece,
Romania,
Lithuania,
Estonia,
Latvia,
Finland,
Denmark,
Norway,
Sweden,
Austria,
Hungary,
the Czech Republic
and the Slovak Republic,
The Netherlands,
Belgium,
Slovenia,
Poland,
Switzerland,
Germany,
Italy,
Ireland,
France (including Corsica)
and the United Kingdom as well. (Wikipedia)

DUSTIN The Turkey …

Ireland has won the Eurovision Song Contest so many times that it got too much for the tiny nation to cough up the dosh to make a posh do aka to arrange the competition year in, year out, so that the representatives selected on the same from the Emerald Isle have not done well at all for years and years.

But this year there is a very amusing entry, for the Irish voters picked the children’s hand puppet as the best of six finalists in a decision that is likely to ruffle some feathers – LOL!! — at the event in May. The entertainer’s song Irelande Douze Points emerged as a clear favourite in the weeks leading up to the country’s vote.

Dustin has been one of Ireland’s leading stars since he joined The Den with fellow puppets Zig and Zag in the 1990. He is no stranger to being in the limelight, having recorded six albums and performed a host of comical duets with artists such as Bob Geldof, Chris De Burgh, Ronnie Drew, Dervla Kirwan and the late Joe Dolan.

Dustin was plucked – HaHa!! very apt word as we are talking about a turkey — from six finalists to win a televised poll programme in the Republic of Ireland on Saturday night. And such is the contest’s reputation for successful novelty acts that bookmakers have made him 10-1 favourite to win in Belgrade in May. His song is entitled Irelande Douze Pointe, a reference to the maximum of 12 points which each country can award to a song.  Dustin’s song, sung in a North Dublin accent, urges the contest judges to “give douze points to Ireland, for its lowlands and its highlands, for Wogan’s wig and Bono’s leather pants. We brought you Guinness and Westlife, 800-years of war and strife, but we all apologise for Riverdance.”

The Eurovision Song Contest, now in its 53rd year, is known for its glitzy but tacky costumes, bizarre songs and outrageous performances. An estimated 100 million people from 42 countries watched last year’s gala, which took place in Helsinki.

The background of this turkey vulture loved by many is according to the Wikipedia that “Dustin was introduced as a character when one of the puppets, Zag, who was trying to join the upper classes, entered a golf tournament with Tony Fenton the 2fm DJ and came last. The prize was a Christmas Turkey, and a chance to meet movie star Dustin Hoffman.

It transpired however, that the turkey shared the name of the movie star and was not only still alive, but had a Dublin accent and his own building company. Zig and Zag intended to eat Dustin for Christmas dinner, and only changed their minds when a frequent visitor to the show, artist and children’s novelist Don Conroy, provided his taxonomical opinion that Dustin was, in fact a cross between a turkey and a vulture, and therefore unsuitable for human or Zogling consumption (Zig and Zag are aliens from the planet Zog). He makes appearances outside of The Den, including an annual appearance on The Late Late Show Toy Show special at Christmas each year.”

See for yourselves his remarkable talent in this video:.

Tis for now, Rii xx

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/neurovision124.xml

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=518091&in_page_id=1811

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dustin_the_Turkey

 

JADED!

Simon de Pud shows the way to be when one is feeling jaded! I love this picture of him for he is so knackered and peeved looking…

I do not know what happened before the photo was taken as I wasn’t there at the time. Let us just say that he ain’t happy!

I put this photo here today because I am under a dreadful dose of a cold that is trying to knock me out…

And this is the way I do feel, too, you know. No joking matter. Nope. I have not a had a cold nor flu for well a over year in fact.

Keep so well and safe. Rii –coughing away

http://www.yourdictionary.com/jaded

Photo: Family archives. All rights reserved.

Thinking, Thinking in Pictures …

When the mind is thinking it is talking to itself.

Plato

According to the Wikipedia online ”Picture thinking, visual thinking or visual/spatial learning is the common phenomenon of thinking through visual processing. Thinking in pictures, is one of a number of other recognized forms of non-verbal thought such as kinesthetic, musical and mathematical thinking. Multiple thinking and learning styles, including visual, kinesthetic, musical, mathematical and verbal thinking styles are a common part of many current teacher training courses.

Research by Child Development Theorist Linda Kreger Silverman suggests that less than 30% of the population strongly uses visual/spatial thinking, another 45% uses both visual/spatial thinking and thinking in the form of words, and 25% thinks exclusively in words. According to Kreger Silverman, of the 30% of the general population who use visual/spatial thinking, only a small percentage would use this style over and above all other forms of thinking, and can be said to be ‘true’ “picture thinkers”.

While visual thinking and visual learners are not synonymous, those who think in pictures have generally claimed to be best at visual learning. Also, while preferred learning and thinking styles may differ from person to person, precluding perceptual or neurological damage or deficits diminishing the use of some types of thinking, most people (visual thinkers included) will usually employ some range of diverse thinking and learning styles whether they are conscious of the differences or not. Wikipedia

I found this site called Visuwords while surfing the net and it is a fun site indeed! Here is how they describe themselves:

”Visuwords™ online graphical dictionary — Look up words to find their meanings and associations with other words and concepts. Produce diagrams reminiscent of a neural net.

Learn how words associate. Enter words into the search box to look them up or double-click a node to expand the tree. Click and drag the background to pan around and use the mouse wheel to zoom. Hover over nodes to see the definition and click and drag individual nodes to move them around to help clarify connections.

• It’s a dictionary! It’s a thesaurus!

• Great for writers, journalists, students, teachers, and artists.

• The online dictionary is available wherever there’s an internet connection.

• No membership required.

Visuwords™ uses Princeton University’s WordNet, an opensource database built by University students and language researchers. Combined with a visualization tool and user interface built from a combination of modern web technologies, Visuwords™ is available as a free resource to all patrons of the web.” (The Visuwords online site)

As I am rather fond of words — ye may have gathered that already, eh?! — I wanted to see the how the site works, so I put a couple of words just to see what comes up:

“Interactive”

“Blog”

Words and pictures can work together to communicate more powerfully than either alone.

William Albert Allard

I do fully agree with him! Keep so well and safe. Rii xx

Handy sites for further reading:

Visual-Spatial Resource
What’s YOUR Learning Style? ’Quizz

The lead picture is off the Shakespeare Organization online site

HAPPY VALENTINE’S!

Cartoon by Dave Walker.

Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

KALANIT — Anemones

This is the time of the year, as it is the midwinter here in Finland, that I do so miss these scenes of Israel.

In Israel, February is the month when the first trees start to blossom and also the spring flowers, like the Anemones aka Kalanit, in Hebrew, put their colourful show on all around the country after the winter rains.


Of the trees, it is the Almond tree that bursts out forth as the Numero Uno!
Oh – the fragrance and the feeling of giddiness that comes over one when tis life and warmth again after the short spell of winter in Israel! The winter in there is more like the typical Irish summer, or a terrible summer here in Finland.

Tis for now yet again – Rii xx.

Photos on Mosaic Israel: Riihele. All rights reserved. Kalanit picture: Wikipedia

Video – Friends: Joey Speaks French

I do find this episode of Friends highly entertaining!

Grand weekend. Rii xx

PICTURE PERFECT: WATER

“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink…”

It’s from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge – when the Ancient Mariner is stuck in the middle of the sea.

Planet Earth has a total surface area of close to 197 million square miles. Most of this surface is covered by water. Most of this water is salty or in the form of ice and thus is not directly usable by humans. About 97% of the total water on earth is in the oceans or salt lakes. Another 2% of the total amount is locked up in the form of ice; so that is to say that we humans only have ONE per cent of the water to use and re-use over and over again!! And, of this 1%, agriculture takes seventy per cent; thus leaving for the population on the globe just 30 per cent (of that one per cent) of the water to ‘indulge’ in!

It is estimated that at any given time only about 1/3 of 1% of the total water on earth can be used by humans for agriculture or human consumption!! (pages.prodigy.net/jhonig..)

© All photos  Riihele. All rights reserved

This photo is part of a set pics that I took  in Israel in November 2002 at the Lake Kinneret* or as it is known as well, Sea of Galilee. The town of Tiberias is on the right of the photo and the Golan Heights on the left. These boats that we had the ‘rides’ are based on an ancient model found by the lake shore some years ago.

Did you know that more than five million people die from waterborne diseases each year – 10 times the number killed in wars around the globe. (BBC online on article, Water scarcity: A looming crisis?) Here is a Quiz: World Water crisis. Go on, have a go and see how you will do on it. Intriguing information methinks. ‘

Another rather amusing article I read in a newspaper about a scientifically made testing about some of the bottled waters on the market versus the tap water in Helsinki. Guess which one came on top as the best? Tap water in Helsinki, believe it or not! (Certainly tis true that the water on tap here in Finland is both very tasty and very clean – so far, so good, that is.)

This is my contribution on the PICTURE PERFECT theme  WATER.

 Have a grand weekend and do keep so well. Rii

* The name may originate from the Hebrew word kinnor (“harp” or “lyre”) in view of the shape of the lake.

This is a video of a bunch of kids dancing the Israeli folk dance called ‘Mayim, Mayim‘ aka ‘Water, Water’. I dance it meself as well, by the way.

LIPSTICK …

…a woman’s first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick.
Carole Lombard

Would you believe that In 1770, the British Parliament passed a law condemning lipstick, stating that “women found guilty of seducing men into matrimony by a cosmetic means could be tried for witchcraft.” (Chemical & Engineering News online)

Lipstick is known to have been used around 5000 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, when semi-precious jewels were crushed and applied to the lips and occasionally around the eyes. Women in the ancient Indus Valley Civilization applied lipstick to their lips for face decoration. Ancient Egyptians extracted purplish-red dye from fucus-algin, 0.01% iodine, and some bromine mannite, which resulted in serious illness.

Cleopatra had her lipstick made from crushed carmine beetles, which gave a deep red pigment, and ants for a base. Lipsticks with shimmering effects were initially made using a substance found in fish scales called coalescence.

Lipstick started to gain popularity in the 16th century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who made blood-red lips and stark white faces a fashion statement. By that time, lipstick was made from a blend of beeswax and red stains from plants. During the Second World War, lipstick gained popularity as a result of its use in the movie industry, and it became commonplace for women to apply makeup, or “put their face on”. Wikipedia
“Did you know that we can ingest up to 20kg of lipstick in a lifetime – those synthetic dyes, with lead & aluminum are absorbed into our bodies and sit in our organs and fatty tissue? They cause nausea, headaches, skin problems, fatigue, mood swings, drying and cracking lips, and a condition called cheilitis, dermatitis of the lips, states the Be Well Stay Well site online.

In our factory, we make lipstick.
In our advertising, we sell hope.
Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Choosing lipstick colours — some helpful hints on the Beauty i love india site and here are some handy tips and and how to make lipstick last long on the same site:

• Store lipstick in the fridge, it will last longer.
• While buying lipstick never use the tester on your lips. It is very unhygienic.
• Apply the tester on fingertips. This is a better option than the back of your hand as it closer than your lips.
• Lipstick can be used as blush, but do not use blush as lipstick.
• When you are to the last bit of your favorite lipstick scrape out the last bits with an orange stick and mix it with lip-gloss or vaseline and use it.
• To prevent lipstick from sticking to the glass you are drinking from, discreetly lick the edge of the glass before touching your lips to it.
• If your lipstick has broken, the just light a match under the broken part of a while, when the lipstick melts a little then put it back on the base. Then swivel down the lipstick and put it in the fridge, uncovered for about 5 minutes.

Beauty is being in harmony with what you are.
Peter Nivio Zarlenga

Tis for now and a grand week for ye. Rii

The photo — taken by Rii — is me lipstick, by the way.

This site has a very comprehensive database on cosmetics where one can do a search to see what-is-what on any particular product and make: Skin Deep: Cosmetics Safety Database.

Here is Connie Francis with the ‘Lipstick On Your Collar’