2011 has broken the record for the most billion-dollar weather disasters. By Dan Shapley

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For years, scientists have predicted that climate change, fueled by heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, would lead to more extreme weather. More floods in our amber waves of grain, more wildfires in the shadow of our purple mountains. Stronger storms from sea to shining sea.

2011 lived up to those predictions, with well over $46 billion in damages tallied, according to the final tally by the National Climactic Data Center. The previous record, set in 2008, was barely half as disastrous, with nine billion-dollar disasters.

While it’s hard, if not impossible, to pin any weather event or group of weather events on global warming, scientists warn that we’ve loaded the dice: These extreme weather events are more likely than before. And the dice aren’t loaded in our favor, as the high cost of these weather events demonstrates.

“); LoadDefaultMainPage(); }); /* * THESE CALLBACKS ARE THE OTHER EVENTS, TO BE POSSIBLY USED FOR OTHER SITES */ /* Hide – Unhide Most Stories in last slide */ fb.callback.viewMain(function(){ LoadDefaultMainPage(); $(“#content_sec_mostpopularstories”).hide(); }) fb.callback.viewFinalFrame(function(){ LoadDefaultMainPage(); $(“#content_sec_mostpopularstories”).show(); }); /* Init Hover Event on button top, bottom */ fb.callback.init(function(){ //Image arrow left: $(“.fb_frame_image img:first”) //Image arrow right: $(“.fb_frame_image img:eq(1)”) $(“#fb_button_top_next”).hover( function(){ $(“.fb_frame_image img:first”).addClass(“arrowhide”); $(“.fb_frame_image img:eq(1)”).addClass(“arrowhide”); }, function(){ $(“.fb_frame_image img:first”).removeClass(“arrowhide”); $(“.fb_frame_image img:eq(1)”).removeClass(“arrowhide”); } ); $(“#fb_button_top_back”).hover( function(){ $(“.fb_frame_image img:first”).addClass(“arrowhide”); $(“.fb_frame_image img:eq(1)”).addClass(“arrowhide”); }, function(){ $(“.fb_frame_image img:first”).removeClass(“arrowhide”); 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More Environmental News

From wildfires to ice caps melting, the signals of global warming are all around us. Read More

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Learn the facts behind 6 common misunderstandings about climate change. Read More

Source: http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/billion-dollar-weather-disasters-2011?src=rss

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MINI?s slow march to fill every gap in the automotive market has continued with the addition of the Clubvan concept. The Clubvan is a compact van designed for business and leisure use. MINI claim it is the first premium model in the small car-based van segment ? and I think they?re probably right.

The Clubvan concept is based, quite obviously, on the MINI Clubman. In order to increase the cargo space the rear seats have been removed leaving a flat load area. Just like the MINI Clubman, the Clubvan Concept is a five-door car with a party trick. Two front doors for the driver and front passenger, two side-hinged rear doors and the rear-hinged Clubdoor on the right-hand side all create useful access. The Clubdoor gives owners the option of loading smaller items from the side of the car as well as the rear.

Six attachment loops recessed into the load floor use elasticated straps to hold cargo in place. The fixed partition grille, made from solid aluminium in the lower part and a stainless steel honeycomb grating, ensures items stowed in the rear won?t fall into the front cabin. The side walls, floor and roof lining of the load area in the Clubvan Concept are trimmed in high-quality anthracite-coloured cloth. In addition, the load compartment features several 12-volt plug sockets for added practicality.

The Mini Clubvan concept will be unveiled at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show next month.

Source: MINI

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/disenoart/~3/K9eaNxyscoA/

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The days of aspiring to be a corporate executive seem to be over.

Of the 1,075 people responding to Intelligent Office?s Work IQ survey, not a single one expressed any desire of spending his or her career as an office leader. Nearly 65 percent said they preferred to be an entrepreneur or independent worker instead.

Tom Camplese, chief operating officer of Intelligent Office, said the study points to an evolution driven by the desire for mobility and flexibility.

“We believe there is a paradigm shift happening in our culture as it relates to work style,” Camplese said.

No longer are people looking for a traditional workday.  More than 60 percent of those surveyed want more-flexible work hours than the customary 9 to 5.

[Want a Promotion? Change Your Name]

Additionally, the research found that people overwhelmingly aspire to have more mobility in their daily life rather than be tied to working eight hours in an office.

More than 65 percent are looking for a job where they have a laptop computer or tablet that affords them the freedom to work anywhere they choose.

The survey participants were asked about four different work styles: corporate executive, professional, entrepreneur and independent.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Chad Brooks is a Chicago-based freelance writer who spent 10 years working as a newspaper reporter before working in public relations. You can reach him at chadgbrooks@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @cbrooks76.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ceo-now-less-desirable-title-entrepreneur-152203266.html

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Felrath Hines’s Abstract Landscape When you hear the name Felrath Hines, you may at first say “Who?” but after viewing some of his work, including the recently acquired Abstract Landscape and Radiant, you may ask why you hadn’t heard of…

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/eyelevel/~3/s3UPVI6YOv4/new-acquisition-abstract-landscape-by-felrath-hines.html

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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? The name Jaya in Hindi means victorious. And little Jaya Maharaj was just that, when she became one of the smallest recipients of a pacemaker when she was just 15 minutes old.

A team of doctors at Stanford University‘s Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital determined the girl born nine weeks premature had only hours to live if they did not perform the surgery.

Jaya, who was diagnosed in the womb with a severe heart ailment, entered the world with a heart rate of 45 beats per minute. A health newborn heartbeat is 120 to 150 beats per minute.

“The only way to save this baby was to deliver the baby right away and then the pacemaker,” said Dr. Katsuhide Maeda, the surgeon whose steady hand stitched the pacemaker’s electrical leads to Jaya’s walnut-sized heart. Stanford announced details of the operation this week.

During a routine prenatal visit, doctors told Leanne Maharaj, 26, and Kamneel Maharaj, 31, that their first child’s heart rate was dangerously low. They learned that their daughter suffered from congenital heart block, in which the mother’s immune system mistakenly attacks the nerve fibers that cause the fetus’ heart to beat.

The prognosis was grim: Doctors would have to induce labor and force the baby to be born as early as possible to correct the ailment before her heart failed. But Jaya grew and gained weight as her parents waited, giving them hope.

“We were worried, but at the same time we were hopeful that she was fighting inside and doing the best she can,” said Kamneel Maharaj, an information technology manager in Silicon Valley.

Dr. Valerie Chock, the neonatologist who counseled the couple, said determining when the baby should be born involves a delicate set of calculations. The baby should be delivered as soon as possible while still allowing her to gestate so her organs develop enough to support life outside the womb.

“Unfortunately, a lot of babies in this position don’t even survive childbirth,” Chock said.

The doctors settled on 31 weeks as the delivery date. About team of about 20 assembled to handle the complex procedure in which both speed and caution were essential.

The delivery of the 3.5-pound baby went smoothly. But Jaya’s heart was beating so slowly that surgeon Maeda decided to open her chest immediately to perform the operation.

Typically in such cases, a surgeon would connect wires attached to a pacemaker outside the body then perform a second surgery weeks later to install a permanent device. Maeda decided to tackle the more difficult challenge of inserting the permanent pacemaker immediately to avoid the second surgery. The whole process took about an hour.

The current pacemaker should last Jaya about 10 years, Maeda said.

Dr. Michael Artman, the chief pediatrician at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., and a neonatal cardiologist not connected to the Stanford operation, described the surgery as an impressive accomplishment that could encourage other children’s hospitals to undertake similar efforts.

“What really distinguishes this is just the fragility of this premature baby and the condition in which this baby was born,” Artman said. He said that while inserting a pacemaker is not itself the most technically challenging kind of surgery, the coordination of the large team needed to pull off the entire procedure poses a major challenge.

Today, at a little less than three months old, Jaya weighs more than 8 pounds and is thriving.

“Whenever we were worried, she would kick from inside and say, ‘I’m here; I’m alive!’” Kamneel Maharaj said. “We thought maybe she was trying to tell us that everything was OK, so we were always hopeful.”

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/surgeons-place-pacemaker-15-minute-old-newborn-020014428.html

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Hanged Man taking shape.

It?s been a busy week introducing new students to their classes and getting everything in order. We?ve been experimenting with the camera obscura to see what kind of results we can get out of it, finding that having some theatre lights aimed at the model really helps to create a stronger image. Joe wants to put together a research project in the summer to build a box like the one Vermeer used in his studio. I?d like to see that very much.

I?ve found some time to paint, despite being so busy, getting a bit further with the Hanged man, producing a roughed head and arm to add to the body. He?s coming along nicely, and will be quite dramatic when he?s done. He?s led to some really interesting research into Medieval North Italian legal practices. I?m thoroughly enjoying writing about him and the other cards that I?m exploring. My book is now a tad under 50,000 words.

Because the image illustrates the punishment for treachery I want to find symbolism that emphasizes the hanged man?s lost fidelity. Watch the blog to see how it emerges.

Source: http://gildedraven.com/2012/01/hanged-man-head/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hanged-man-head

body paintings illustration painting veduta

As a beginning illustrator and very “wet behind the ears” in 1980 when I set out at 22 to make a living right out of art school, all I knew was “fast media” ? I had only used oils in a few figure painting classes, and didn’t know the medium well. None of the instructors I had really talked much about the inherent properties of oil, drying time, block-ins, washes, etc., so Oils were a mystery to me until 2000, 20 years later, when I decided to learn them “for reals.”

Old Acrylics

Click the picture for a larger view

Acrylics dry fast, so that’s what I used when doing all my time-sensitive commercial work. I did a lot of airbrush work back then, so It was an obvious choice. Still, the darks in acrylic dry a step or 2 lighter, and the lights dry a bit darker by the time the water has “flashed off” ? so it was always a wait-and-see game, for me.

I decided to try a small figure painting in acrylic, using washes, glazes and scumbling to achieve an atmospheric effect. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane. For starters, some of the still-good tubes of acrylic I have are older than many of the people on my mailing list. In the picture of some tubes of mine, you can see that I dated them, sometimes, so I would know when I bought them ? never thinking I would actually have them nearly 30 years later. The tube in the middle, dated 9/85 is a sure tell. But if you’re a Pasadena local, you know that the tube to the left (Modular Color) was from an old product line that was hue and value-based, sold in metal tubes, and in this case, from “Standard Brands” paint store on Orange Grove in Pasadena ? that store long ago having changed hands. (The $1.03 price tag is certainly nostalgic!) That store tag means I bought it during my school years, 1977?1980. Yikes-squared!

And it still flows.

I put the near-full “Portrait Pink” tube in the picture to show how useless therefore largely-unused it is.

But I digress…

Stage 1 ? The drawing in pencil and then brownish acrylic

I started with a canvas glued to 1/8″ luan mahogany plywood. You can’t see it here, but the canvas has been highly textured with modeling paste, knifed? and bushed?on, coated in gesso, and sanded.

Stage 2 ?  A quick, warm/neutral wash of acrylic:

Raw Umber, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna, greatly thinned with water

Stage 3 (2.5, really)  ? I pat it and wipe it down quickly before it dries to get rid of

the drips and brush marks.

Stage 4 ? I start re-working the darks before I completely lose my drawing,

then do another 2 or 3 washes over it.

Stage 5 ? I alternate between warm and cool washes of color.

Here, a Payne’s Gray wash has been added mostly at the top. By the way, Payne’s Gray is merely a premixed Ultramarine Blue and Ivory Black ? it says so right on the label.

Stage 6 ? A Yellow Ocher wash has been added, plus some reworking

of the lost highlights using Titanium White Gesso and water.

Burnt Sienna is used in the shadows to keep them from going too dark, for now.

Stage 7 ? Creating atmosphere with more thin washes.

Yellow Ocher and Burnt Sienna both have a slight opacity to them ? they are not true transparent colors, like Ultramarine is. Therefore, they tend to lighten. This begins to create a “foggy,” more unified look to the lights and darks. This also ties the cool highlights back to the color scheme.

Stage 8 ? I wash in some local color and re-enforce the highlights.

I want a warm-to-cool graduated background, and I want something light behind the head to bring out the profile, so I start working the cool light on the wall. I also add the red of the drape on the chair, while reinforcing the satin white.

Close-up ? A bit blurry, sorry!

Stage 9 ? Oil Wash or Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine Blue and Raw Umber, Turp and Linseed Oil

What???

You may object to oil paint being used in an acrylic painting since one cannot paint with both. This is mostly true. The astute among you will know that you cannot paint acrylic over oil ? ever. But the reverse is not true. You can paint oil over (dried) acrylic. This is completely archival.

The really super-astute among you will realize that this last stage ? where I am leaving off for now ? is where I became frustrated with the way the acrylic painting was going, seeing the seemingly endless work ahead to get what I wanted, therefore I “changed horses in the middle of this stream.”

Goodbye acrylic, for now. This painting has plenty of potential, and it’s only going to be realized if I enjoy painting it, so… I did what I had to do. For now, I like oils better, and I believe I can finish this faster/sooner and with greater artistic freedom in oils.

Paint Smarter?

?Dave

Source: http://everydaypaintings.blogspot.com/2011/08/draped-in-satin-acrylic-figure.html

body paintings illustration painting veduta

This series is brought to you by Levi?s® Curve ID. Find your custom fit at Levi?s®  stores or Levi.com.


So here?s a little fact: I steered clear of button-up shirts for many, many years. I couldn?t get them to look very flattering on me. My waist and hips practically blend in to each other, so if I paired a button-up with low-waisted pants or jeans (which is pretty much all that was available for ages), it made for a very un-curvy silhouette on me.

Anyway. Last month, when I was shopping for Alt Summit, I realized that if I wore a mid-rise jean, plus a fitted button-up, that I looked (and felt) great! So I ended up buying both: a pair of mid-rise jeans + two button-ups. And I?ve been wearing the heck out of them every since.

I know it?s a little thing, but it?s been this major wardrobe realization to me ? button-ups went from my no-buy-list to my closet-favorite-list simply by changing the shape of the jeans I was wearing. Definitely makes me pay more attention to the fit of my clothes! Have you ever had a wardrobe breakthrough like that?

Above is one of the outfits I wore to the conference. And I felt super hot in it! Here are the sources in case you?re curious: 1- tiny Oro necklace from Leslie Lewis Designs, 2- $5 silk polka-dot scarf from an open market in Florence (I just made myself jealous when I typed that), 3- stretch broadcloth stripe shirt by Uniqlo, 4- classic demi-curve mid-rise denim by Levi?s®, 5- nude platform pumps by Simply Vera Wang.

Tell me, Dear Readers: what is your favorite thing to pair with denim these days? A v-neck tee? A pristine sweater set? The perfectly worn-in hoodie you?ve had since college?

Adding highlights in Foundation White to the flesh that went down yesterday is making the figure start to come to life. I?ve extended the flesh across his belly and all the way down the lower arm. I?ll need to move the platform over so I can get to the top of the painting and work on the other arm. The painting?s going really fast!

Source: http://gildedraven.com/2012/01/just-hanging-around/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=just-hanging-around

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It’s a parent’s nightmare: a stark, modern living space so clean it practically sparkles that, after the intervention of 1,000 children, ends up looks like the world’s largest finger painting. This awesome installation by artist Yayoi Kusama at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane, Australia let kids go wild with stickers over a [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WebUrbanist/~3/b7RHihUeSJ8/

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