books, documentary, quotes, Uncategorized

348 – Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses by Robin Wall Kimmerer

“attentiveness alone can rival the most powerful magnifying lens.”

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Living at the limits of our ordinary perception, mosses are a common but largely unnoticed element of the natural world. “Gathering Moss” is a beautifully written mix of science and personal reflection that invites readers to explore and learn from the elegantly simple lives of mosses.
In this series of linked personal essays, Robin Kimmerer leads general readers and scientists alike to an understanding of how mosses live and how their lives are intertwined with the lives of countless other beings. Kimmerer explains the biology of mosses clearly and artfully, while at the same time reflecting on what these fascinating organisms have to teach us.

Drawing on her experiences as a scientist, a mother, and a Native American, Kimmerer explains the stories of mosses in scientific terms as well as in the framework of indigenous ways of knowing. In her book, the natural history and cultural relationships of mosses become a powerful metaphor for ways of living in the world.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/87040.Gathering_Moss

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“the tiny pool of water held in a spoon-shaped leaf is the perfect resting place for a waterbear, as plump and gelatinous as a candy gummy bear. the moisture in a moss mat is as vital to the moss as it is to the waterbear. but, since mosses are non-vascular, their water content fluctuates with the amount of water in the environment. the moss leaves shrivel and contort as water evaporates, leaving them crisp and dry. the waterbears too, simply shrink when desiccated to as little as one-eight of their size forming barrel- shaped miniatures of themselves called tuns. metabolism is reduced to near zero and the tun can survive in this state for years. the tuns blow around in the dry winds like specks of dust, landing on new clumps of moss and dispersing farther than their short waterbear legs could ever carry them.”

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog_body 

Timeline –  Bog Bodies on youtube

4000 Year Old Cold Case – The Body in the Bog 


Carved idol from the Urals shatters expert views on birth of ritual art – “Only the freak conditions of the peat bog of Yekaterinburg permitted the idol’s survival.” read more

movies

311 – Nova Zembla (2011)

novazemblaNova Zembla is a 2011 Dutch historical drama film directed by Reinout Oerlemans. It is the first Dutch feature film in 3D.

The film describes the last journey of Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerk through 1596-1597 when they and their crew tried to discover the Northeast Passage to the Indies. However, due to the sea ice, they are stranded on the island of Novaya Zemlya and have to spend the winter there in Het Behouden Huys (The Safe Home). The story is told through the eyes of Gerrit de Veer, and is loosely based on a diary he published in 1598 after his safe return. Gerrit is portrayed as having a relationship with Catharina Plancius, the daughter of the astronomer, cartographer and reverend Petrus Plancius, who pioneered the concept of the North East passage to reach the Indies. The Novaya Zemlya effect, first described by De Veer, is shown in the film, albeit in a non-historical fashion.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1911607/

movies

0288 – The Martian (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 2035 Ares III mission to Mars

the martian.5

The Martian is a 2015 US-UK science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott. The screenplay by Drew Goddard is based on Andy Weir‘s 2011 novel of the same nameMatt Damon stars as an astronaut who is mistakenly presumed dead and left behind on Mars. The film depicts his struggle to survive and others’ efforts to rescue him.

#NASA_involvement

#Scientific_accuracy

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series

0256 – The 100 (TV Series 2014– )

the 100_1

The 100 (pronounced The Hundred) is an American post-apocalyptic science fiction/ teen drama television series that premiered on March 19, 2014, on The CW. The series, developed by Jason Rothenberg, is loosely based on the 2013 book of the same name, the first in a series by Kass Morgan.

the 100_2

The series follows a group of post apocalypse survivors, representing many age groups: Clarke Griffin (Eliza Taylor), Bellamy Blake (Bob Morley), Octavia Blake (Marie Avgeropoulos), Jasper Jordan (Devon Bostick), Monty Green (Christopher Larkin), Raven Reyes (Lindsey Morgan), Finn Collins (Thomas McDonell), John Murphy (Richard Harmon), and Wells Jaha (Eli Goree) as they are among the first people from a space habitat, “The Ark”, to return to Earth 97 years after after a devastating nuclear apocalypse; the series also focuses on Dr. Abby Griffin (Paige Turco), Clarke’s mother; Marcus Kane (Henry Ian Cusick), a council member on the Ark; and Thelonious Jaha (Isaiah Washington), the Chancellor of the Ark and Wells’ father.

the 100

In March 2016, The 100 was renewed for a fourth season of 13 episodes, which premiered on February 1, 2017. In March 2017, The CW renewed the series for a fifth season.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2661044/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_(TV_series)

movies

0177 – Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close (2011)

spacetime coordinates: 2001-2002  New York City

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Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is a 2011 American drama film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Jonathan Safran Foer, directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Eric Roth.


http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477302/

movies, quotes

135 – Life (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 2017 International Space Station (ISS)  low Earth orbit

Life-illustrated-poster-600x900

Life is a 2017 American science fiction film (inspired by Alien  1979) directed by Daniel Espinosa, written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson and Ryan Reynolds. The film follows a six-member crew of the International Space Station that uncovers what initially seems to be the first evidence of life on Mars.

Space policy experts positively noted the film’s warning about extraterrestrial contact. – http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3240/1

In March 2017, it was noted that stock footage of a crowd reacting to Spider-Man catching Gwen Stacy from Spider-Man 3s B-roll was used in Life.  This announcement led to theories that Life was secretly an origin story for the symbiote featured in Spider-Man 3, a theory made more popular by the announcement of a Venom film for 2018 the day after the story broke, and that Lifes screenwriters, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, had previously written a Venom script.

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Goodnight room. Goodnight moon. Goodnight cow jumping over the moon. Goodnight light. And the red balloon. Goodnight nobody.   Goodnight_Moon

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animation, documentary, quotes

0091 – In the Realms of the Unreal (2004)

spacetime coordinates: 1892–1973 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. 

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In the Realms of the Unreal is a 2004 documentary film directed by Jessica Yu about American outsider artist Henry Darger.

An obscure janitor during his life, Darger is known for the posthumous discovery of his elaborate 15,145-page fantasy manuscript entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred watercolor paintings and other drawings illustrating the story.

The film’s style is atypical of a documentary. Because there are only three known photographs of Darger, and because of his reclusive lifestyle, the film is mostly a narrated biographical account, accompanied by animated versions of events from his magnum opus, which is also surveyed in detail. Interviews with his few neighbors and other acquaintances are included.

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In the last entry in his diary, he wrote: “January 1, 1971. I had a very poor nothing like Christmas. Never had a good Christmas all my life, nor a good new year, and now… I am very bitter but fortunately not revengeful, though I feel should be how I am…”


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