#north star york

[inefekt]

Milky Way at Gilgering, Western Australia

Nikon d810a - 85mm - ISO 6400 - f/2.8 Foreground: 16 x 25 seconds Sky: 62 x 30 seconds iOptron SkyTracker - Hoya Starscape filter

[offsidenewsco]

"For the entire ‘80s and 90’s, only three different players won the Art Ross trophy for scoring lead: Gretzky, who won ten times; Lemieux, who won six times; and Jágr, who won five."

Read Part V of @sergeifyodorov's history of the #NHL here.

[satinspiderweb]

“But since when did I ever listen to my mother?” Jennifer North

[oldshowbiz]

Canadian politician John Williams was implicated in a topless dancer scandal in the late 1970s.

His son is comedian Harland Williams.

[goalhofer]

Zach Parisé retires.

[wolfephoto]

Aurora Borealis over York UK (2) by John Wolfe Via Flickr: May 2024

[thingsmk1120sayz]

Today would have been J. P. Parisé's 81st birthday

[vox-anglosphere]

On both sides of the Atlantic, crowds anxiously awaited any news.

A portrait of the white star line New York office from April 16th 1912. A crowd gathering waiting for news in the Titanic disaster.

[inefekt]

Milky Way at York, Western Australia

Nikon d810a - 50mm - ISO 6400 - f/2.8 Foreground: 11 x 10 seconds Sky: 31 x 30 seconds iOptron SkyTracker Hoya Red Intensifier filter

[reasonsforhope]

"Chicago’s 82-story Aqua Tower appears to flutter with the wind. Its unusual, undulating facade has made it one of the most unique features of Chicago’s skyline, distinct from the many right-angled glass towers that surround it.

In designing it, the architect Jeanne Gang thought not only about how humans would see it, dancing against the sky, but also how it would look to the birds who fly past. The irregularity of the building’s face allows birds to see it more clearly and avoid fatal collisions. “It’s kind of designed to work for both humans and birds,” she said.

As many as 1 billion birds in the US die in building collisions each year. And Chicago, which sits along the Mississippi Flyway, one of the four major north-south migration routes, is among the riskiest places for birds. This year, at least 1,000 birds died in one day from colliding with a single glass-covered building. In New York, which lies along the Atlantic Flyway, hundreds of species traverse the skyline and tens of thousands die each year.

As awareness grows of the dangers posed by glistening towers and bright lights, architects are starting to reimagine city skylines to design buildings that are both aesthetically daring and bird-safe.

Pictured: Chicago's Aqua Tower was designed with birds in mind.

Some are experimenting with new types of patterned or coated glass that birds can see. Others are rethinking glass towers entirely, experimenting with exteriors that use wood, concrete or steel rods. Blurring lines between the indoors and outdoors, some architects are creating green roofs and facades, inviting birds to nest within the building.

“Many people think about bird-friendly design as yet another limitation on buildings, yet another requirement,” said Dan Piselli, director of sustainability at the New York-based architecture firm FXCollaborative. “But there are so many design-forward buildings that perfectly exemplify that this doesn’t have to limit your design, your freedom.”

How modern buildings put birds in danger

For Deborah Laurel, principal in the firm Prendergast Laurel Architects, the realization came a couple of decades ago. She was up for an award for her firm’s renovation of the Staten Island Children’s Museum when the museum’s director mentioned to her that a number of birds had been crashing into the new addition. “I was horrified,” she said.

She embarked on a frenzy of research to learn more about bird collisions. After several years of investigation, she found there was little in the way of practical tips for architects, and she teamed up with the conservation group NYC Audubon, to develop a bird-safe building guide.

The issue, she discovered, was that technological and architectural advancements over the last half-century had in some ways transformed New York City – and most other US skylines and suburbs – into death traps for birds...

At certain times of day, tall glass towers almost blend into the sky. At other times, windows appear so pristinely clear that they are imperceptible to birds, who might try to fly though them. During the day, trees and greenery reflected on shiny building facades can trick birds, whereas at night, brightly lit buildings can confuse and bewilder them...

Pictured: A green roof on the Javits Convention Center serves as a sanctuary for birds.

The changes that could save avian lives

About a decade ago, Piselli’s firm worked on a half-billion-dollar renovation of New York’s Jacob K Javits Convention Center, a gleaming glass-clad space frame structure that was killing 4,000-5,000 birds a year. “The building was this black Death Star in the urban landscape,” Piselli said.

To make it more bird friendly, FXCollaborative (which was then called FXFowle) reduced the amount of glass and replaced the rest of it with fritted glass, which has a ceramic pattern baked into it. Tiny, textured dots on the glass are barely perceptible to people – but birds can see them. The fritted glass can also help reduce heat from the sun, keeping the building cooler and lowering air conditioning costs. “This became kind of the poster child for bird-friendly design in the last decade,” Piselli said.

The renovation also included a green roof, monitored by the NYC Audubon. The roof now serves as a sanctuary for several species of birds, including a colony of herring gulls. Living roofs have since become popular in New York and other major cities, in an inversion of the decades-long practice of fortifying buildings with anti-bird spikes. In the Netherlands, the facade of the World Wildlife Fund headquarters, a futuristic structure that looks like an undulating blob of mercury, contains nest boxes and spaces for birds and bats to live.

The use of fritted glass has also become more common as a way to save the birds and energy.

Earlier this year, Azadeh Omidfar Sawyer, an assistant professor in building technology in the Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture, working with student researchers, used open-source software to help designers create bespoke, bird-friendly glass patterns. A book of 50 patterns that Sawyer published recently includes intricate geometric lattices and abstract arrays of lines and blobs. “Any architect can pick up this book and choose a pattern they like, or they can customize it,” she said.

Pictured: The fritted glass used in Studio Gang’s expansion of Kresge College at the University of California, Santa Cruz, depicts the animals in the local ecosystem.

Builders have also been experimenting with UV-printed patterns, which are invisible to humans but perceptible to most birds. At night, conservationists and architects are encouraging buildings turn off lights, especially during migration season, when the bright glow of a city skyline can disorient birds.

And architects are increasingly integrating screens or grates that provide shade as well as visibility for birds. The 52-floor New York Times building, for example, uses fritted glass clad with ceramic rods. The spacing between the rods increases toward the top of the building, to give the impression that the building is dissolving into the sky.

Gang’s work has incorporated structures that can also serve as blinds for birders, or perches from which to observe nature. A theater she designed in Glencoe, Illinois, for example, is surrounded by a walking path made of a wood lattice, where visitors can feel like they’re up in the canopy of trees.

Pictured: The Writers Theatre, designed by Studio Gang, includes a walking path encased in wood lattice.

Rejecting the idea of the iridescent, entirely mirrored-glass building, “where you can’t tell the difference between the habitat and the sky”, Gang aims for the opposite. “I always tried to make the buildings more visible with light and shadow and geometry, to have more of a solid presence,” she said.

Gang has been experimenting with adding bird feeders around her own home in an effort to reduce collisions with windows, and she encourages other homeowners to do the same.

“I’ve found that birds slow down and stop at feeders instead of trying to fly through the glass,” she said.

While high-rise buildings and massive urban projects receive the most attention, homes and low-rise buildings account for most bird collision deaths. “The huge challenge is that glass is everywhere.” said Christine Sheppard, who directs the glass collisions program at the American Bird Conservancy (ABC). “It’s hard to know what I know and not cringe when I look at it.”

Tips for improving your own home include using stained glass or patterned decals that can help birds see a window, she said. ABC has compiled a list of window treatments and materials, ranked by how bird-safe they are.

Whether they’re large or small, the challenge of designing buildings that are safe for birds can be “liberating”, said Gang, who has become an avid birdwatcher and now carries a pair of binoculars on her morning jogs. “It gives you another dimension to try to imagine.”"

-via The Guardian, December 27, 2023

[reading-writing-revolution]

What The Fuck is Wrong with You?

Elect Biden and shut the fuck up about his age.

Donald J Trump is arguably the most ignorant, disgusting, demented man that anyone in America can name. Why are Democrats, news pundits and internet morons continuing to talk about Biden being old?

Donald Trump tried to overthrow the government of the United States of America and lost over 60 lawsuits to that effect. He incited and supported an insurrection that saw Americans attack the Capitol and try to capture or kill American lawmakers.

Who the fuck cares if Biden is old?

Donald J Trump named three Supreme Court Justices who ended Roe v Wade and have now rendered the Separation of Powers and check and balances in the US Constitution as "null and void."

Biden is just 3 years older than Trump, and who cares?

Donald Trump goes on insane, meandering, half-baked rants at political rallies, slurring his words, unable to complete sentences, losing track of his thoughts, and calling for Americans to be hurt, have their rights taken away and worse. He treats everyone around him, including other Republicans, like trash.

But Biden is old.

Donald Trump pretended that COVID was a hoax, suggested the American people ingest bleach to fight it, and smeared the leading scientists battling COVID, which resulted in about a million deaths in the United States in a year.

But Joe Biden is pretty old.

Donald Trump was accused of rape by over 20 women, found guilty of sexual assault in 2024 and made lurid comments about his own daughter. He also cheated on all three of his wives, including his latest wife while she was pregnant. Then he tried to cover it up by paying hush money to a porn star.

Biden is an old guy.

Donald Trump banned Muslims from America, put thousands of people in cages at the border and tried to get the Ukrainian president to lie about Joe Biden.

But Joe Biden isn't a youngin anymore.

Trump said African nations were "shithole countries" and said white supremacists were "very fine people." Trump said immigrants were taking "Black jobs". He also ignored the hurricane catastrophe in Puerto Rico, which took 3000 lives.

But Biden is old.

Trump's family foundation was found to have ripped off charities, he's banned from doing business in New York, and his daughter and son-in-law received $2 billion from the Saudis at the end of his presidency. He's bankrupted or failed in every business he's ever had, from Trump Steaks to Trump Air to Trump University to all the casinos.

But hey, Biden is old.

Trump did a deal with Afghanistan to let the Taliban out of prison so they could (and did) take over the country. He's sided with Putin against NATO. He said nothing about the Saudis killing a journalist. Donald Trump eased restrictions on loan sharks, exploded the deficit and made friends with North Korea. He told over 3000 lies.

But old Joe is old.

Biden is old.

Donald Trump is easily the worst human being anyone has ever encountered, and all anyone can talk about is how old Biden is. What the fuck is wrong with you?

[lotsoflola]

songs that feel like dating mark lee

cherry hill - russ

ivy - frank ocean

drew barrymore - sza

feather - sabrina carpenter

skinny dipping - sabrina carpenter

love yourz - j. cole

3005 - childish gambino

adore you - harry styles

all the stars - kendrick lamar, sza

sunflower - post malone

about you - the 1975

to be so lonely - harry styles

sundress - asap rocky

passionfruit - drake

sober - childish gambino

same drugs - chance the rapper

apparently - j. cole

chanel - frank ocean

nights - frank ocean

violent crimes - kanye west

act my age - one direction

cherry - harry styles

keep driving - harry styles

shirt - sza

pink matter - frank ocean

solo - frank ocean

teenage fever - drake

night changes - one direction

white ferrari - frank ocean

pink and white - frank ocean

n 2 deep - drake, future

i wanna be yours - arctic monkeys

knee socks - arctic monkeys

all of the lights - kanye west

die for you - the weeknd

good days - sza

golden - harry styles

sunflower - harry styles

dark red - steve lacy

k. - cigarettes after sex

sex drugs etc. - beach weather

grape juice - harry styles

ever since new york - harry styles

borderline - tame impala

hold tight - sabrina carpenter, uhmeer

honeymoon fades - sabrina carpenter

1957 - milo greene

you get me so high - the neighbourhood

best part - daniel caesar, her

apple juice - jessie reyez

grapes - james marriott

romanticise this - james marriott

29 - run river north

brazil - declan mckenna

canyon moon - harry styles

nothing but you - the vamos

ribs - lorde

sex - eden

gold - james marriott

babydoll - dominic fike

3 nights - dominic fike

painkiller - ruel

married in vegas - the vamps

naked - doja cat

[aftercamlann]

ACBB 10TH ANNIVERSARY RECS: In Spite of Everything, The Stars

This ACBB was recommended by PapySanzo and Clea2011:

Title: In Spite of Everything, The Stars Writer: Polomonkey Artist: mushroomtale Ship(s): Merlin/Arthur Rating: Mature Word Count: 82,243

Summary: London. 2015. The government is set to vote on ending the microchipping of magic users, and Arthur Pendragon has been tasked with kidnapping prominent Magical activist Merlin Emrys to influence the outcome.

Locked away in a house on the North York Moors, tensions rise and confrontation ensues as Arthur is forced to re-evaluate everything he’s been taught about magic, and Merlin finds himself in a struggle for his life. And the fact that they’re falling for each other doesn’t help…

Link: FIC: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4647243/chapters/10599906 | ART: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4647402

Why PapySanzo recommends this ACBB: One of the first ACBBs I read and it has remained in my heart forever. The way Polomonkey describes the violence Merlin suffered, the way she talks about Merlin and his always being worried and looking over his shoulder, and the way the one time he decides to trust he is kidnapped is perfect. 

Arthur's characterization is one of the things I like most in this story, how he always tries to keep his head down because Uther is right, how his spirit is somehow broken but not completely, how being close to Merlin helps him and how he finally sees how much of a villain his father is and tired to make the right thing.

Every now and then I keep thinking back to different scenes that touched me and I end up re-reading it. In addition, the drawings are WONDERFUL. Why Clea2011 recommends this ACBB: Polo's writing is always excellent and well worth reading. This is one of those can't-put-it-down stories, I think I must be due a re-read. Mushroomtale's art is beautiful. Want to rec an ACBB fic yourself that you feel deserves some more love? Feel free to send us your rec through our 10th Anniversary Rec form!

[goalhofer]

[wolfephoto]

Aurora Borealis over York by John Wolfe Via Flickr: Saturday 11th May 2024

[kvetchlandia]

Meryl Meisler Self-Portrait: A Falling Star, North Massapequa, New York 1975