If You Happen To Be In New York City

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New York University’s Institute For The Study Of The Ancient World is hosting an exhibition that speaks to those of us who love maps and the ideas they represent in historic as well modernistic terms. (GPS-guided navigation systems, we love you, but this is about your ancestors). Those ideas can be as simple as “Getting From Here To There, In Hindsight,” which might have been a subtitle to this exhibition:

Measuring and Mapping Space will explore the ways in which ancient Greek and Roman societies understood, perceived, and visualized both the known and the unknown areas of their world. It brings together more than forty objects, combining ancient artifacts with Medieval and Renaissance manuscripts and printed books that draw upon ancient geographic treatises. Together, they provide a fascinating overview of Greco-Roman theories of the shape and size of the Earth, ancient methods of surveying and measuring land, and the ways in which geography was used in Roman political propaganda. A specially designed multimedia display examines the increasing importance of modern technologies in mapping the ancient world. Continue reading →

Padmanabhapuram Palace – Trivandram

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Photo credits : Nujum Myannad

Photo credits: Nujum Myannad

Padmanabhapuram Palace was the capital seat of the Travancore State until 1792, when it was shifted to Trivandrum. This magnificent home of the Travancore rulers was not a single unit, but a complex of 14 palaces spread across six and a half acres. Continue reading →

Arachnophotography

/ Seth Inman / Leave a comment

Photograph by the author at Morgan’s Rock Hacienda and Ecolodge, Nicaragua.

Growing up in Costa Rica prepared me for most encounters with the eight-legged kind I’ve had later in life, so that I have to hide a smile as my housemates here in Ithaca rave about the size of our household spiders in all their sweet innocence. A few years ago when I was working in Nicaragua I made an effort to photograph many of the arachnids I came across, and I’ve included a gallery of some of those shots below. But just a couple weeks ago while browsing the great blog Colossal I found this and was stunned, not by the size of the spiders because most of them are really quite tiny, but by the incredible diversity and beauty that Nicky Bay was able to capture in the spiders of Singapore. If you have some free time and no problem with close-ups of creepers, crawlers, weavers, and stalkers, I’d highly recommend browsing Bay’s macrophotography galleries for an hour or three.

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If You Happen To Be In Austin

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An expected 3,000 attendees are gathering in Austin, Texas, for SXSW Eco next week. Photograph: Austin CVB

An expected 3,000 attendees are gathering in Austin, Texas, for SXSW Eco next week. Photograph: Austin CVB

We normally think of technology or music when we think of Austin, or SXSW.  This even provides more to think about with regard to either of them. Thanks to the Guardian for letting us know about it:

Activists and industrialists might be like oil and water, but 3,000 of these strange bedfellows are gathering together in Austin, Texas, to discuss oil and water at SXSW Eco 2013 next week. Now in its third year, the annual conference aims to encourage cross-sector collaboration between professionals in business, government, academia and nonprofits on topics ranging from policy to consumer engagement. Continue reading →

In Praise of Slowness

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Slow Food, Slow Cities, Slow Travel…the element of time and how we either squander it or savor it has become a meme for the movement toward the local, the artisanal, the responsible. The idea that doing something slowly and carefully and taking the time to enjoy it can be almost universally applied.

There’s enough evidence that the stress of fast-paced, over-programed lives take a toll on our health and happiness, no matter what our age. Continue reading →

Pooram Padayani – Neelamperoor, Alappuzha

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Photo credits : Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credits: Ramesh Kidangoor

Dedicated to the Goddess Kali, Neelamperoor Pooram Padayani is celebrated at the Bhagavathi Temple near Alappuzha. Padayani is a ritualistic dance popular in the central Kerala region but it differs from other Padayani performances as it features a swan motif called “Annan Kettu”.   Continue reading →

Capturing Behavior

/ Sudhir Shivaram / Leave a comment

elephants
One of the important points to keep in mind during wildlife photography is to observe the behavioral aspects of your subjects and capture it.

When you spend time with your subject and when they get used to you, they continue their normal behavior and that’s when you need to be alert and keep your eyes open to capture any of the behavior they exhibit.

In this image what I have captured is one of the most common means of communication between elephants: Continue reading →

If You Happen To Be In Scotland

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The 20th annual World Porridge Making Championships will take place in the Scottish Highland village of Carrbridge on Saturday 5th October 2013.

We should have known such an event existed. Now that we do, but being stuck in south India with no time to witness it first hand today, we will watch it from afar; but we have marked the calendar for next year’s championships. Meanwhile, you might find interesting how we came to know about this event.

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First Impressions of India

/ Jake / 5 Comments
A hazy Kochi view

A hazy Kochi view

Thirty hours of rigorous travel and claustrophobic flights could not prepare me for an equally strenuous culture adjustment; however, that is the appeal of being a Western foreigner today — the luxury of being able to experience contrastingly different ways of life should not be squandered, rather embraced positively — here is a chance to engage in a learning experience unparalleled by classrooms in a university.

It is always amusing to me that even before arriving in a particular foreign destination, airlines attempt to mediate “culture adjustment” by serving airplane-food versions of that culture’s culinary specialty; I actually regret not taking a picture of said “food,” but I am sure it is not hard to imagine the quality.

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Elephant Stables – Hampi, Karnataka

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Photo credit : Ramesh Kidangoor

Photo credit: Ramesh Kidangoor

The Elephant Stables are located in the UNESCO World Heritage city of Hampi in Karnataka. This long structure was constructed with majestic openings for the resting places of the royal elephants. The open area in front of the of the building was a parade ground for the elephants. The Elephant stables with their lofty domes and arches is synthesis of Hindu and Islamic forms.

Mushroom-Hunting, Russian Edition

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Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times. Guides lead a mushroom hunt in Suzdal.

Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times. Guides lead a mushroom hunt in Suzdal.

A shoutout to our mushroom guru, Milo, who has just recently relocated to the Rocky Mountains: we miss your mushroom-hunting in India!  Besides his ever-intriguing mushroom-identification excursions with the tribal guides in the Periyar Tiger Reserve, and just about everywhere else where he steps foot, Milo’s culinary oyster mushroom cultivation project in Cardamom County’s organic gardens is fondly remembered. After a thoroughly refreshing monsoon season, the time for new cultivation in those gardens is upon us again. This article, from the New York Times, makes us wonder whether Milo’s first post from his new post will be mycologically motivated:

‘If You Are Normal, You Search for Mushrooms’

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Flavours Of Kerala – Vattayappam

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Photo credit : Ranjith

Photo credit: Ranjith

The Kerala speciality Vattayappam is a steamed rice cake made with rice flour, sugar, yeast, cashews, raisins and coconut milk infused with the wonderful aroma and taste of cardamom. This is a traditional tea time snack.

Steck Back Big

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There was no question he would be back.  But when?  Where? How?  His fall from grace, with the help of a friend, was a shock. His return was quick and elegant, quintessentially Steck:

…Three times I traversed back and forth until I decided just to try. I needed at least 30 minutes until I had the feeling to finally know where I had to continue. I didn’t have any choice: I had to try. I found the right way and I reached without any problems Grand Pillier d’Angle. Now I found myself over the clouds. The summit was not far away anymore. From here I found some old traces. I wish I had them down at Col de Peuterey…

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Gandhi Jayanthi

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Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi

Gandhi Jayanthi honors the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi annually on October 2nd. Known as India’s unofficial “Father of the Nation”, Mahatma Gandhi was a national icon who led the struggle for India’s independence from British colonial rule. Continue reading →

Gandhi’s Deep Ecology

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Among the many writings about Gandhi, Thomas Weber’s books seem to be held in esteem in India, with the book to the right being the most recent:

Mahatma Gandhi and his philosophy of truth and non-violence have intrigued the world for decades. Looking at the Western and Indian influences that had gone into making Gandhi the Mahatma, and the central importance of Gandhi to non-violent activism, these essays reclaim the power of truth and non-violence, which can still change the destinies of people and nations. In this collection, Weber discusses Gandhi, his ideology, and how India and the rest of the world is interpreting and reinterpreting the Mahatma. The doctrine of conflict resolution theory, new environmentalism, peace research, deep ecology, and Buddhist economics based on Gandhian principles renews the world`s belief in Mahatma and his teachings for our lives and our times.

One of the most visible and active Gandhi-focused websites posted an essay by Weber* about Gandhi’s influence on what eventually came to be known as deep ecology, and that seems a fitting reference on our site to commemorate this year’s birthday, which is also a national holiday in India.  A few snippets: Continue reading →