Russ Thompson Hummingbird Photographs

         Hummingbird photos taken by Russ Thompson. Some hummingbirds are literally landing on people in some of these up close shots. Just some of many on this site.

Sources:

http://rthompson8.homestead.com/stillphotos.html

Beautiful Nature Photography

         This website features beautiful travel and adventure photography by Jerry Monkman. It is truly an inspirational collection of photographs from around the world. Due to copy right issues I can not show you these pictures on my site. I urge you to check out the site here. Also this site is listed under Environmental Science Education Resources tab above. This tab includes many many links of which I am still compiling.

Sources:
http://archive.ecophotography.com/gallery-list

Amazing Poetry: Lewis Carroll

        One of the many subject of my interest is poetry. I have a couple different posts I will be sharing with you about poetry. My favorite poems and so forth. Here is one I came across by Lewis Carroll. I picked it to post because not only are the words beautiful but the construction of the physical paragraph is stunning. 

Sources:

http://www.futilitycloset.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/2009-05-18-square-stanza.jpg

How to Get Creative With Sharpies

      Sharpies are one of my favorite brand of pens to play around with. With a variety of colors, and permanence if makes the best tool to draw on a variety of surfaces. I actually have at least one Sharpie of every color, and most last me at least 2-3 years before going bad. The black Sharpies usually do not last that long, only because they are used more frequently.
      Every year I try to do some sort of self portrait sketch using solely Sharpies on paper. This may seem odd to some of you, Sharpies do not blend well, they bleed (slightly, depends upon surface), and are not the finest tipped pens within existence. None the less, I love them.
      Here are some of my self portraits, keep in mind these are not professional art pieces at all, merely an exercise in material and an effort to keep my creative abilities up.

      You can see from these images, I tried various moods and lighting. The middle piece is an attempt to fade out to white in a not so "fade-able" marker. You can see where I really try for the third dimensional perspective in the last one, using grey to shadow areas that may have been blocks of color. This last one is my favorite, but not because of my facial expression, and the ties it has to my life at that point in time, but the way my sweatshirt is done. It turned out great, way better than the face. 

      As you can probably realize, once Sharpie is put down, it can not be erased. At least not easily. This is why it is a favorite among graffiti artists. Easy to walk up do a little doodle, stick the marker back in your pocket and walk away. Not only is this easy, but Sharpies are usually more accessible than actual paint markers, and other specialized markers specifically for graffiti style art. Many years ago I used to go to a local park and hang out with my friends during the summer. We would meet there, swim there, even got into trouble there, ahh those were the good ol' days. Anyway the summer of 2006 I noticed all these benches just filled with graffiti, all of them. Started with one or two little sketches in sharpie, mostly of naked women or pot leafs or "420" in graffiti style letters. Still at that young age it was so interesting to me and my friends. We could literally "follow" the graffiti artist as new pictures were left everyday. We even occasionally added to them. Later that summer the parks department ended up resurfacing all the tables in order to deal with the graffiti. Being 16 at the time and having just got a camera phone I had taken a picture of one of my favorite pieces and posted it on my online social site. Years later I was able to find it. Here it is, you will have to excuse the color, I used to think saturation was so cool.

      Just another one of the great surfaces Sharpies can do anything on. Wood, plastic, metal, even clothe. I decorated my whole back pack in high school. Sharpies are a great way to stay creative. Another way to use Sharpies is through decoration. Check out the candle holder I made back in high school with a terra cotta pot, some hot glue, and Sharpies. I still use it today!

      I am not saying Sharpies are the way to create a master piece. None of the photos listed here are anywhere close to master pieces. Sharpies are just simply a way to exercise creativity. I would encourage everyone to get a pack and try them out!

Evolution Poster

One to print out. Thank you Stumble.

Art and Science... Together?

      Yes, believe it or not art and science is not unheard of. My last trip to New York City was a few years ago but I vividly remember seeing a whole gallery devoted to the science and art combo. Rings grown from your own human bone, take one of your cells and through the "magic" of science grow you a ring with your own bone. This is one example of what I saw many years ago. Today I Stumbled Upon this artists website. Fantastic! As someone who is going to school for science, and already has an art degree this is something I can see myself doing someday, maybe. I remember I used to paint and label giant cells on a canvas for my Dad for gifts when I was younger. I used molds and biological models in my metal work, my latest piece being a model of a 5 month old fetus, I took a complex three part mold of and cast 7 tiny babies in solid bronze.
      The artists name is Gary Carlson. I hope you can appreciate art like this as much as me.

www.gcarlson.com/

TED Talks, The Importance of Science Online

  Scientists and internet surfers everywhere are discovering the wonders of TED Talks. This site consists of short videos on a range of topics. From science to design, you can find videos relating to almost anything you find interesting. TED holds a conference, and has guest speakers to speak on their area of expertise. The speech or lecture is usually short, detailed and interesting. Some are humorous, some informative. Something for everyone. Really.
Say you are into online gaming. As someone in my 20s it has appeared many of the generations greatest minds have been lost to this past time. Even I picked up playing online games on the Xbox 360, in order to compete with my boyfriends over infatuation with gaming. Instead we argued over who got to play when because neither of us wanted to play on split screen. When I started trying to do more outdoors activities I had to quit video games cold turkey. For me there was no playing an hour a day, it was all I wanted to do if I was awake and home. So I quit playing and started seeing it as an evil impact on my generation and society in general. I just played for a couple hours this week for the first time in over 10 months. It was a video on this site that made me think twice about online gaming.

Say you are into art, maybe sculpture? Want to get to know some great modern sculpture artists? Here are the videos and lectures from the artists about their work. One I particularly liked was Reuben Margolin: Sculpting Waves in Wood and Time. An amazing sculptor that combines both art, mechanics, and math all in one amazing piece of work. The movement is stunning. I liked that all his pieces in this lecture came from one inspirational source of water and fluid movements, waves. Yet every piece is unique and has variety within his work. Pieces have variety in speed, size, material, and shape. Truly an inspirational artist.

Just want to relax and watch something funny? Many comedians has done short routines on videos for TED, including Maz Jabroni. Jabroni is a Iranian American comedian, who jokes about stereotypes and his experiences as someone of middle eastern descent. Not entirely politically correct, nor educational, but for the comedy lover this is one example of what TED Talks has to offer.

Need science in your life? Love to learn? Then watch one of the many science videos. From interesting species to inspirational and motivating videos from today’s top scientists. One of the Scientists is Noah Wilson, an expert on honey bees and how the mysterious vast disappearence of bees in urban areas has been affecting the ecosystem.

I use TED Talks daily, I like to say I learned something new everyday. I just select a short video I haven’t seen before when I have 10-15 minutes to spare online. To me it is a valuable resource online waiting to be utilized. I know several high school teachers who used TED Talks to get conversations about science flowing in the classroom. My Dad when he taught Biology used to show a video once a week just to relax the students and get them thinking about different areas of science. Not only for science teachers would this site be useful, but for design classes, engineering, and even humanities. This is a great way to supplement your knowledge if you are in one of these courses. Please share this video collection of knowledge with your friends. You might spend hours on the site your first visit so be careful! Learning online is addictive!

     Sources:
http://www.ted.com/