Shell

The original image is available at the link

https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?rawid=1927MH0002970020703406C00_DXXX&s=1927

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity acquired this image using its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm, on January 7, 2018, Sol 1927 of the Mars Science Laboratory Mission, at 06:40:59 UTC.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 

Some processing of the image is giving this "shell".

Mimetic "animal"

The original image is available at the link

https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01928/mcam/1928MR0100610000900537E01_DXXX.jpg

The image was taken by Mastcam: Right (MAST_RIGHT) onboard NASA's Mars rover Curiosity on Sol 1928 (2018-01-08 04:04:28 UTC). Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS 

Some processing of the image is giving this mimetic "animal".

Astronomical Analysis of Diagonal Avenues of Washington

An Astronomical Analysis of Some of the Diagonal Avenues of Washington
PHILICA, 2016,Article 613 Available at SSRN

 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2789700

Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

Here we are proposing an astronomical analysis of the directions of some of the diagonal avenues of Washington, made by means of satellite images and a modern ephemeris, the Photographer’s Ephemeris, a well-known software used for planning outdoor photography. Some diagonal streets of Washington seem had been aligned along the northern moonrise azimuth of 1791, the year the engineer Pierre Charles L’Enfant started the survey for planning the town for George Washington, and along the southern moonrise azimuths of 1792, the year the surveyor Andrew Ellicott revised the plan. In this manner, in the directions of some diagonal avenues, the engineers that worked on the urban project, introduced a reference to the years of their plans for the Capital of the United States.
Keywords: Astronomy, Satellite Images, Architecture, Modern Ephemerides, Urban Planning

 Copy of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washington, D.C. (1887).

Detail of Figure 1, with some diagonal avenues of L’Enfant Plan and angles.

A detail of the faint original map of 1791 (https://www.loc.gov/item/88694205/) after a processing of the image.

Google map of Washington.

Snapshot of the Photographer s Ephemeris for Washington on October 3, 2015.  The blue lines are the moonrise and moonset azimuths, the yellow and orange lines those of sunrise and sunset. Note the coincidence to the diagonal avenues.

Snapshot of the Photographer s Ephemeris for Washington on October 3, 2015. 

  

Snapshot of the Photographer s Ephemeris for Washington on October 18, 2015.  

Shwedagon Pagoda and the Zenith Passage of the Sun on Vesak Day of Buddha

An article discusses the orientation of the Shwedagon Pagoda, the gilded stupa situated on Singuttara Hill in Yangon, Myanmar, and a possible link with the sunrise on the days of the zenith passage of the sun. These days are also linked to the Festival of the Full Moon of the month of Kason, the second month of the traditional Burmese calendar. In Myanmar, this is the festival of the Vesak Day of Buddha.

https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01700519

 PHILICA, 2018, Article number 1233.

The south-eastern side of Shwedagon Pagoda. Image Courtesy: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen

A monk is walking on the facade. Image Courtesy: Bjørn Christian Tørrissen.

Sunrise direction on the day of the Kason Festival, 29 April 2018 (Courtesy SunCalc.org).

Image Segmentation - Phloem and Xylem

Measuring the size of tubules in phloem and xylem of plants Philica, 2017, n.1104.The paper is showing how to measure, by means of the segmentation of a SEM image, the cross-sections of the tubules in phloem and xylem of plants. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01578826

Archaeoastronomy at Alexandria

The town-planning of the ancient Alexandria has an astronomical orientation according to sunrise. This orientation was proposed by Robert Bauval in 2004, as that of the direction of the sunrise on the day of Alexander's birthday as a solar Horus-king. The same orientation was also considered in 2012 by Luisa Ferro and Giulio Magli.

Mora at 

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3138100

The Zenith Passage of the Sun at Candi Borobudur

The Zenith Passage of the Sun at Candi Borobudur

• December 2017

• Projects 
 
• Stellarium software for simulating the sky seen by ancient people
 
• Buddhism, Art and Architecture

• Amelia Carolina Sparavigna

An article where I discuss the link of the 72 stupas on the top platform of the Borobudur temple to the number of days between the solstice and the zenith passage of the sun. This link is strengthened by the recent find of an alignment of Borobudur and the satellites Mendut and Pawon temples, along the sunset azimuth on the day of zenith passage of the sun, proposed by G. Magli in arXiv.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322555927_The_Zenith_Passage_of_the_Sun_at_Candi_Borobudur

Torino non è soltanto un nome

Torino è un coro grande di persone.
E' la più bella canzone su Torino, scritta da un romano, il grande Antonello Venditti.

Stormi di uccelli al tramonto

Totò

Una bellissima foto del principe Antonio De Curtis, in arte Totò.

Totò  (Napoli, 15 febbraio 1898 – Roma, 15 aprile 1967), è stato un grande attore italiano. Attore simbolo dello spettacolo comico in Italia, soprannominato «il principe della risata», è considerato, anche in virtù di alcuni ruoli drammatici, uno dei maggiori interpreti nella storia del teatro e del cinema italiani. Si distinse anche al di fuori della recitazione, lasciando contributi come drammaturgo, poeta, paroliere, compositore, cantante.

Forse ricordate la sua frase, detta come Zazà: "Signore si nasce, e io lo nacqui, modestamente!"

Ebbene tra i suoi aforismi c'è anche questa variante "Dove l'ignoranza urla, l'intelligenza tace. È una questione di stile: Signori si nasce... St...zi pure!"
E' vero che l'ignoranza urla, ma anche una signora urla quando uno st...zo le pesta i calli!