Kazuaki Horitomo is a California-based Japanese artist who combines two of his great passions – tattoos and cats – into one. As an illustrator and tattoo artist, Horitomo is steeped in the Japanese tradition of tebori (a technique of tattooing by hand) and his illustrations reflect that. Some of our favorites works are the humorous and surreal depictions of cats performing tebori on other cats.
Today is the Festival of Sleep . . . so grab your warmest quilt and your softest pillows and celebrate! (This photo was taken of someone, somewhere in Edinburgh.)
It is tattoo Tuesday . . .
“St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means ‘light’ so this is a very appropriate name.
December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old ‘Julian’ Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia’s Day.” – Christmas in Sweden
Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers and students in various cities and countries around Europe. Today is his feast day. Christmas is just around the corner.
Today is Louisa May Alcott’s birthday. She was born in Philadelphia in 1832.
“Alcott, a suffragist, abolitionist and feminist as well as a writer, was born in Pennsylvania in 1832. She volunteered as a nurse during the American Civil War and was active in the women’s suffrage movement; she became the first woman to register to vote in Concord, Mass.
As a novelist, Little Women was her first success. The book is a semi-autobiographical account of the lives of four sisters, Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March, from childhood to womanhood. Written in two parts in 1880, the novel was so successful initially that it sold out and it has remained a popular children’s classic more than 100 years later.” – Time
This quotation is from Little Women.
This morning on the way to work at Fancy-pants University, which is in what we call an urban setting, I spied this guy off on the grass – actually there were two of them. I quickly took a photo and if you zoom in on it you will see . . .
I don’t know where they came from, but clearly they were making a break for it.
“… in Sitka, Alaska, on October 18, 1867, the great land of Alaska was transferred from Russia to the United States.
The Russian Double Eagle was lowered for the last time, and the Stars and Stripes made their first appearance over Alaskan soil in a ceremony formalizing the transfer of the territory of Alaska from Tsarist Russia to the United States of America at the incredible purchase price of approximately two cents per acre.”
I suggest celebrating with a . . .
Or, get a tattoo . . .
A new source of helium has been found . . . and it is Tuesday, so tattoo.
This story is reposted from ZME Science
“Scientists have warned for years that a helium shortage crisis is looming. While this is technically true, we just bought some time in delaying the inevitable after geophysicists discovered a new helium reserve in Tanzania, Africa.
Most of us are familiar with helium balloons, but the gas is far more valuable than a cheap party trick. About 20 percent of all the processed helium in the world is used by the medical sector which depends on it to cool superconducting magnets for MRI machines. Liquid helium is also used to cool just about every important physics experiment, and is hence indispensable to scientific efforts.
Technically, helium is a renewable resource constantly being replenished by radioactive materials like uranium which eventually decay into lighter elements. But helium is in short supply accounting for only 5 parts per million in our atmosphere. Moreover, being lighter than air it leaches out into space. Coupled with extensive use, this means we’re using more helium than the planet is generating — yet another classic example of unsustainability.
According to a 2010 study, all of the known helium reserves should run out in the next 25 years. Bye, bye helium balloons — unless you’re prepared to pay hundreds of dollars for one.
We just bought some time, though. Speaking at the Goldschmidt geochemistry conference, researchers from Durham and Oxford University claimed they have identified a massive helium reserve in the East African Rift Valley, a highly active volcanic area in Tanzania.
“We sampled helium gas (and nitrogen) just bubbling out of the ground in the Tanzanian East African Rift valley. By combining our understanding of helium geochemistry with seismic images of gas trapping structures, independent experts have calculated a probable resource of 54 billion cubic feet (BCf) in just one part of the rift valley.” Chris Ballentine, a researcher on the project said. “This is enough to fill over 1.2 million medical MRI scanners. To put this discovery into perspective, global consumption of helium is about 8 BCf per year and the United States Federal Helium Reserve, which is the world’s largest supplier, has a current reserve of just 24.2 BCf. Total known reserves in the USA are around 153 BCf. This is a game changer for the future security of society’s helium needs and similar finds in the future may not be far away.”
If the findings are confirmed, then the helium stockpile from Tanzania is at least 50 times bigger than the previous record holder, a one-billion-cubic-feet reserve near Amarillo, Texas.
Other such stockpiles might be found elsewhere in the world, where volcanic activity is strong. This is how the researchers, who partnered with a specialized Norwegian company called Helium One, discovered the reserve in the first place.
“We show that volcanoes in the Rift play an important role in the formation of viable helium reserves. Volcanic activity likely provides the heat necessary to release the helium accumulated in ancient crustal rocks. However, if gas traps are located too close to a given volcano, they run the risk of helium being heavily diluted by volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide, just as we see in thermal springs from the region. We are now working to identify the ‘goldilocks-zone’ between the ancient crust and the modern volcanoes where the balance between helium release and volcanic dilution is ‘just right’,” said Diveena Danabalan, lead author of the research.”
Today is the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi. Born in 1226, St. Francis is the patron saint of Italy, of animals, and the natural environment. He is also the founder of the Franciscan order of friars. Although he followed an ascetic life style, it is rumored that he had a fondness for honey cake. Here is a recipe (which is also appropriate for Rosh Hashana):
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup honey
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup warm coffee or strong tea
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup rye or whisky (or orange juice)
1/2 cup slivered or sliced almonds (optional)
Preparation
This cake best baked in a 9-inch angel food cake pan, but you can also make it in a 10-inch tube or bundt cake pan, a 9 by 13-inch sheetpan, or three 8 by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease the pan(s). For tube and angel food pans, line the bottom with lightly greased parchment paper. For gift honey cakes, I use “cake collars” (available from Sweet Celebrations) designed to fit a specific loaf pan. These give the cakes an appealing, professional look.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices. Make a well in the center and add the oil, honey, sugars, eggs, vanilla, coffee, orange juice, and rye or whisky.
Using a strong wire whisk or an electric mixer on slow speed, combine the ingredients well to make a thick batter, making sure that no ingredients are stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan(s) and sprinkle the top of the cake(s) evenly with the almonds. Place the cake pan(s) on 2 baking sheets stacked together and bake until the cake springs back when you touch it gently in the center. For angel and tube cake pans, bake for 60 to 70 minutes; loaf cakes, 45 to 55 minutes. For sheet-style cakes, the baking time is 40 to 45 minutes. This is a liquidy batter and, depending on your oven, it may need extra time. Cake should spring back when gently pressed.
Let the cake stand for 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Then invert it onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Wouldn’t the debates be more fun if our presidential candidates were tattooed like Vladimir Franz who is in third place in the Czech presidential race?
Firearms, fibers, any news or behaviors that make me say, "hmm, let me take another look at this."
I still miss my man, but my aim is getting better.
Gunsmoke and Knitting 