Saturday, September 29, 2012

TEEN


They're not teens, they're named after frontwoman Kristina "Teeny" Lieberson, formerly of Here We Go Magic. Comprising Lieberson, her two sisters and a friend, they're in the vague, general ballpark of Haim – also sisters – only with extra effects pedals, and Warpaint, particularly the latter's forays into psychedelia. They're not quite as krautrocky as Warpaint, and describe what they do as "psychedelic gospel". To achieve that sound on record – they have only played a few shows together – they enlisted the help of Pete Kember, who knows a thing or two himself about psychedelic gospel and spectral droning via his work with Spacemen 3. (...)  (guardian.co.uk).               

http://soundcloud.com/carparkrecords/teen-sleep-is-noise-peaking
http://soundcloud.com/carparkrecords/unable
http://soundcloud.com/carparkrecords/huh

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/sep/26/new-band-teen

Monday, September 17, 2012

Paul Banks, Rachel Zeffira, Deptford Goth

I hope you like these 3 acts. Cheers!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

DEATH VALLEY, the Hottest Place on Earth

World Record Temperature of 56.7ºC in 1913.

Death Valley National Park is a National Park located east of the Sierra Nevada in the arid Great Basin of the United States. Parts of the park are in southern Inyo County and northern San Bernardino County in Eastern California, with a small extension into southwestern Nye County and extreme southern Esmeralda County in Nevada. In addition, there is an exclave (Devil's Hole) in southern Nye County. The park covers 5,262 square miles, encompassing Saline Valley, a large part of Panamint Valley, almost all of Death Valley, and parts of several mountain ranges. Death Valley National Monument was declared a U.S. National Monument in 1933, placing the area under federal protection. In 1994, the monument was redesignated a national park, as well as being substantially expanded to include Saline and Eureka valleys.

It is the hottest and driest of the national parks in the United States. The second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere is in Badwater Basin, which is 282 feet below sea level. The park is home to many species of plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh desert environment. Some examples include creosote bush, Bighorn Sheep, Coyote, and the Death Valley Pupfish, a survivor of much wetter times. Approximately 95% of the park is designated as wilderness. Its wilderness area covers 4,774 square miles, making it the largest in the Lower 48 states, and the sixth largest in the United States overall. Death Valley National Park is visited annually by more than 770,000 visitors who come to see its diverse geologic features, desert wildlife, historic sites, scenery, and clear night skies.

Mining was the primary activity in the area before it was protected. The first documented non-Native Americans to enter Death Valley did so in the winter of 1849, thinking they would save time by taking a shortcut to the gold fields of California. They were stuck for weeks and in the process gave the valley its name, even though only one of their group died there. Several short-lived boom towns sprang up during the late 19th and early 20th centuries to exploit minor local bonanzas of gold. The only long-term profitable ore to be mined, however, was borax, a mineral used to make soap and an important industrial compound. Today, borax is an essential component of high-temperature resistant boro-silicate glass products, for example Pyrex cookware. Twenty-mule teams were used to transport ore out of the valley; helping to make it famous and the subject of books, radio programs, television series, and movies.

The natural environment of the area has been shaped largely by its geology. The valley itself is actually a graben. The oldest rocks are extensively metamorphosed and at least 1.7 billion years old. Ancient warm, shallow seas deposited marine sediments until rifting opened the Pacific Ocean. Additional sedimentation occurred until a subduction zone formed off the coast. This uplifted the region out of the sea and created a line of volcanoes. Later the crust started to pull apart, creating the current Basin and Range landform. Valleys filled with sediment and, during the wet times of glacial periods, with lakes, such as Lake Manly.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

CATALAN INDEPENDENCE

Barcelona was a sea of red and yellow Catalan flags as more than 1.5 million people brought the city to a standstill on Tuesday at a mass rally called to demand independence for the Spanish region. (...)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/11/catalan-independence-rally-barcelona

Supporters of Catalan independence have taken to the streets in Barcelona to protest against economic policies adopted by the Spanish government, saying that they want to control their own economy.
On Tuesday, tens of thousands of demonstrators chanted slogans such as, “Catalonia, a new European state"and called for a split from the rest of crisis-hit Spain. (...)
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/09/11/261029/catalans-rally-for-econ-independence/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-19564640#TWEET224275

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/09/11/spain-storming-the-streets-and-web-on-catalonias-national-day/

http://www.expatica.com/es/news/spanish-news/crisis-hit-catalans-rally-for-independence_243404.html

Saturday, September 08, 2012

Literacy and Peace

The theme of International Literacy Day 2012 (September 8) is Literacy and Peace. This theme was adopted by the United Nations Literacy Decade (UNLD) to demonstrate the multiple uses and value that literacy brings to people.
Literacy contributes to peace as it brings people closer to attaining individual freedoms and better understanding the world, as well as preventing or resolving conflict. The connection between literacy and peace can be seen by the fact that in unstable democracies or in conflict-affected countries it is harder to establish or sustain a literate environment.