so you think a gallon of gas is too expensive?

how would you feel to learn that a barrel of crude oil, a liquid that is scarce and valuable in so many industries from plastic to fabrics etc, is less expensive than its equivalent in coca cola, which is basically water high fructose corn sugar and carbon dioxide? i don’t know, but some how i feel if we were selling oil and the arabs were selling coke the balance would have been a little bit tilted? and then we wonder why they are so pissed off while we bitch about the prices at the pump. here are a few price metrics to put it into perspective:

1) a barrel of brent oil ($117).
2) a barrel of coca cola ($126)
3) a barrel of budweiser beer ($447)
4) a barrel of starbucks juice ($954)
5) a barrel of chanel perfume ($1,666,560) thanks Karl
by pr

CATEGORIES: earth related

moon: how the moon was created and why its not much different than earth in composition

the moon has remained largely unchanged during human history

for a long time it has been thought that the moon was result of an impact between the early earth and another planet-sized object, thea, 4.5 billion years ago.  this is of course, way before god actually created earth in just three days leaving the other three for the heavens.

“but this theory predicts earth and its satellite, the moon, should have a quite different chemical make-up – but the data shows in fact they are very similar (the oxygen isotope, or atom type, compositions on earth are identical to that on the moon.). now, new modeling, explored in two papers published this week by the journal science, reveals that if the earth had a much faster spin before the impact, the theory fits the chemistry.

the giant impact hypothesis was first posited in the 1970s. it holds that the moon formed from the debris kicked into orbit by the collision of a smaller proto-planet with the infant earth. but the early models indicated that much of this debris would have originated from the impactor, whose composition would most probably have differed substantially from that of earth.

the new run simulations show that the early earth was rotating on its axis in just a few hours prior to the impact – compared to the present 24 hours. in such a scenario, the team could get debris material thrown into a moon-forming disc around the earth that had the right chemical make-up. in other words, it was substantial earth material from its mantle that was ejected in the collision.

after the impact, the gravitational interaction between the sun and the moon could then have slowed the fast rotation of the earth to the speed we now experience. a different team simulated a different route, their simulations involved larger impactors hitting an earth of comparable size and at comparatively lower speeds. again, the team was able to produce a moon with the same chemical composition as the earth. addressing the questions about the impact theory and why the compositions where so close.” from BBC by xy

CATEGORIES: clips, earth related

Dunlavy SCIV loud speakers: customized and altered

just over 500 pounds a pair, here are the legendary pair of dunlavy SCIV loud speakers in oak that i wrote about earlier (original article)

like most of the amazing audio designers, john dunlavy had no patience for aesthetics, and while the speakers, are world renowned for their sound, their cosmetic design cues belonged to the likes of raymore flanagans.

some cosmetic intervention was necessary before blessing them into the house of god.

this started with stripping the speakers and taping off the front panel for protection. several coats of epoxy paint was applied. enough layers to mask the wood with out hiding the oak grain.

the final result was a gorgeous lacquered white ash finish including the vertical wood grains on these over 6 feet tall speakers

next was the question of what to do with the base planks?

we thought of discarding them and using a straight edged plank of wood sans the curvature but at the end we decided to keep them and modify them.

what we did was that we sand-blasted and stained them into dark walnut to contrast the white speakers and blend into the hard-wood floors below.

next, what about the aging black grills? white of course was the way to go, but what material could we use that was acoustically transparent yet visually opaque to hid the metal structure and the drivers?

when in doubt call france. we sourced these white sturdy acoustic fabrics from texaa in france with thanks to flow labs, and had them shipped. next was the issue of stretching them and adhering them to the metal structures.

 this proved to be the hardest part, as the fabric has no elasticity. on round one the fabric was stretched and adhered to the metal bars using super 77 and tack glue on the edges. it was held into place with micro clips to dry. it worked great at first. but a month on, the stretch is losing its grip and the super 77 is proving not to be very super. another solution must be out there and well come back once we find it. until then. by dd

CATEGORIES: audio-electronics

saint laurent sans yves : /


oh hedi…. amazingly beautiful shots for the latest saint laurent, we may one day forgive you for getting rid of the incredibly designed YSL logo and replacing it with kinko’s laser print version, but for now we will hold a grudge. hope that’s ok xx. by cm

CATEGORIES: fashion

R.I.P. Emmanuelle


the emmanuelle film, based on an original novel by emmanuelle arsan, must have been every adolescent’s dream in the 70’s when it came out. released in 1974, the soft-focus french film was one of the first erotic movies to be shown in mainstream cinemas in europe…well, not all countries in europe. in the UK it was banned from the mainstream, and the unedited version did not appear in the country until 2007. today, the dutch actress sylvia kristel, died, aged 60. above a great picture of her at the 1977 cannes film festival. by uh

CATEGORIES: fashion birds: women of style, must be considered films