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Get ready for Sherlock Holmes Week!

I am a big, a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson in the late 30s were my favorites for a long time until I watched Sherlock, with the incredible (who has a near unpronounceable name but I read somewhere he chose it on purpose) Benedict Cumberbatch and the impressive Martin Freeman (aka Bilbo Baggins) as Dr John Watson.

So yes, I am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes so I was very excited when I learnt there was Sherlock Holmes Week (30th July – 5th August 2012). They explain on the website:

The first week is designed to co-incide with the Olympics in London so that the many fans that will be in the UK will have a chance to join in with London based events. It’s also in the summer as most of the time new series and movies happen in the autumn and the spring – and to be honest, we need a Sherlock fix to keep us going through a long summer.

Great Sherlock Holmes Debates

There have been two Great Sherlock Holmes Debates so far. November 2011 made history as the first time Holmes fans from 23 countries came together to talk about Sherlock Holmes.

GSHD2 in March 2012 broke all previous records for a Holmes event and was held live in London, as well as online. The third debate will take place during Sherlock Holmes Week on 4th August.

Competitions

Sherlock Holmes Fashion Awards 2012
Have you got what it takes to design an outfit for Sherlock Holmes? Whether you are a fan or an emerging or established fashion designer, this is your chance to let the Sherlock Holmes world see your work.

Steampunk Holmes – Artwork Competition
Steampunk Holmes is the most eagerly awaited interactive book in history. Several years in the making, this stunning Steampunk version of Sherlock Holmes will have a series of books in all formats, but most stunning on the iPad. This exclusive competition for Holmes fans gives them the chance to be a part of publishing history and have their artwork included in the first interactive book – Steampunk Holmes – The Legacy of The Nautilus.

Check Sherlock Holmes Week website, many events will take place around the world during this week, even in France with a ‘Week end Holmésien en Baie de Somme’… Elementary, my dear Watson!

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Why we should keep a vigilant eye on the Artic

It has been a month since I left the Earth. I already shared with you some of my new experiences up there but if I can see wonderful things, I also realize the changes on our planet due to the ice melting, will have consequences. But not only catastrophic ones it seems.

I just read an article on CNN by Bob Reiss, a former reporter at the Chicago Tribune, who just published “The Eskimo and the Oil Man“:

What happens in the Arctic as ice melts there could soon cheapen the cost of the gas you buy and products you purchase from Asia. It could help make the nation more energy independent. It could draw our leaders into a conflict over undersea territory. It is already challenging Washington to protect millions of square miles filled with some of the most magnificent wildlife on Earth, and native people whose culture and way of life is at risk as a squall line of development sweeps across the once inaccessible top of the planet.

So it could be great, but it could also go terribly wrong:

The Russian military has identified the Arctic as one of the likely places for conflict to erupt in the 21st century over resources. Even if actual combat never occurs, whoever controls the high north will wield enormous influence in the coming decades.

Reiss concludes saying:

Look to the Arctic. That’s where much of our common future is about to play out.

Needless to say everyone should keep a vigilant eye on the Artic…

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Frenchy and the Punk sing ‘Yes I’m French’

It all started with La Mécanique des rêves. The small French association is very creative and its members very talented. So while I was navigating their website, I saw the video they made for Euro-American duo Frenchy and the Punk. And I loved it!

The bio on their website says: ‘They’re one of the top-reviewed live acts in the underground cabaret scene today and they have been fan favorites at every major steampunk and faerie convention and festival in the US’ and they defintely are.

You can also read: ‘In 2011 Yahoo Music listed French-born singer and percussionist, Samantha Stephenson, as one of “25 Women To Watch” in music and guitarist Scott Helland is listed in the Encyclopedia of Punk with his legendary first band Deep Wound‘.

Isn’t it enough already?! Check their video clip below of ‘Yes I’m French’. And while you’re on the Internet, also check the Diaporamas by La Mécanique des rêves; they’re in French but the pictures tell it all 😉

 

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On board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

Universe Today knows how to catch my attention: Latest from Mars: Massive Polar Ice Cliffs, Northern Dunes, Gullied Craters. The HiRISE scientists monitor these regions to help in understand the climatic record stored in the ice sheet itself.

Several gorgeous images are in this week’s update from the HiRISE camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This lovely image shows the cliffs at the edges of huge ice sheet at the North Pole of Mars. These cliffs are about 800 meters (2,600 feet) high, and the ice sheet is several kilometers thick at its center. This is a great spot to look for ice avalanches that HiRISE has captured previously.

The HiRISE team said that the slopes of these cliffs are almost vertical, plus dense networks of cracks cover the icy cliff faces making it easier for material to break free. The team regularly monitors sites like this to check for new blocks that have fallen. You can look for yourself to see if any avalanches have occurred since the last image was taken of this area, almost exactly one Martian year ago.

Go to the HiRISE website to see all the amazing images from Mars!

Below: Light-Toned and Possible Hydrated Materials in Gullied Crater.

Light-Toned and Possible Hydrated Materials in Gullied Crater
This observation shows a gullied crater in the Southern mid-latitudes with light-toned deposits near the center of its floor.
NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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Stephen Hawking trials device that reads his mind

Stephen Hawking has a motor neurone disease related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a condition that has progressed over the years.

He currently communicates using a series of cheek twitches to select words from a screen. “It is a very, very slow process,” says Philip Low at Stanford University in California, who is founder of healthcare company NeuroVigil. More from the article on New Scientist:

As Hawking loses control of his cheek, Low hopes he might instead communicate using his company’s portable device. The iBrain records brain activity from a single point on the scalp. An algorithm then extracts useful information from this activity.

In a preliminary trial, Low’s team asked Hawking to imagine moving his hands and feet while wearing the device. They were able to identify what movement he was imagining through changes in his brain activity.

Survival for more than 10 years after ALS diagnosis is uncommon. Stephen Hawking is an amazing scientist and a figther. Let’s hope this new portable device will let him ‘talk’ again…

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A keynote lecture by Professor Peter Higgs

Everyone now knows about the Higgs boson. If you want to know more about the scientist who gave the boson its name, then you have to watch tomorrow’s keynote lecture by Professor Peter Higgs.

More than 100 scientists from around the globe are gathering at Swansea University this July, for the 10th International Conference on Strong and ElectroWeak Matter (SEWM2012).

One of the highlights is a keynote lecture by Professor Peter Higgs of Edinburgh University, after whom the famously elusive Higgs boson is named.  Professor Higgs is also an Honorary Fellow of Swansea University.

Peter Higgs’ appearance at Swansea comes in the wake of exciting announcements from the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) about the discovery of the Higgs boson.

LIVE STREAM: Thursday 12th July, 4-5pm

More information on this page. I will be connected, I hope you will connect too!

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‘Voodoo Mon Amour’ by Diablo Swing Orchestra

It’s great to be on board the Sama Airship, but sometimes I want to break the silence. Hopefully I follow some inspired people on Twitter such as Doctor Q who mentioned ‘how amazing the Diablo Swing Orchestra are’.

So I watched the video and their new album is indeed epic, I love it!

And because a video is worth a million words, just watch the video of the 2012 single “Voodoo Mon Amour” from the news Diablo Swing Orchestra album “Pandora’s Piñata“, released on May 22nd on Candlelight Records (UK/EU) and The Laser’s Edge/Sensory Records (USA/Can).

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A Victorian Steampunk Shoot by Chemistry Photography

A few days ago, Airship Ambassador tweeted about a shoot by Chemistry Photography.

The post published on Rock n Roll Bride tells it all: “Time travel. Steampunk. Victoriana. Turn of the century industrialism. If you love any of these things then you’re going to die over this shoot, sent over from Ireland by the fabulous Chemistry Photography.”

Photographer Kait told Kat Williams, aka the Rock n Roll Bride:

“I had been OBSESSING about steampunking out my iMac, my iPhone, and just about every electronic device I own for a few months. So when Kathryn contacted me and said she was dying to do a creative shoot together… it was the first idea that popped into my head. I had been waiting for a good excuse to buy steampunk goggles and a discombulating ray gun. If I were to get married again, I would definitely have a Steampunk wedding. All the elegant goodness of a vintage, Victorian wedding without sacrificing sass and quirk.”

This obsession is amazing! You can visit Chemistry Photography website, check the many photos of the shoot on Rock n Roll Bride and below, watch this exquisite video!

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Higgs boson may be a reality!

So exciting! This morning I’ve read the news everywhere on the Internet:

The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN today presented their latest results in the search for the long-sought Higgs boson. Both experiments see strong indications for the presence of a new particle, which could be the Higgs boson, in the mass region around 126 gigaelectronvolts (GeV).

Can you imagine how it would change our understanding of the Universe? Amazing!

You can visit CERN website and for the non-specialists, read this article. You can also read Max Dana’s post about it, she is even more excited than me about the Higgs boson!

A proton-proton collision event in the CMS experiment producing two high-energy photons (red towers).
This is what we would expect to see from the decay of a Higgs boson
but it is also consistent with background Standard Model physics processes. © CERN 2012

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Follow me on Twitter @MaxVonSama !

Great news, you can now follow me on Twitter! I thought it could be cool to tweet about my trip so I created a Twitter account.

I’m new to it but I’m already following 35 people. They are all very interesting, I love reading about Steampunk, science, art…

If you read this blog, then please follow me on Twitter as well: @MaxVonSama.

When you do, don’t forget to say Hi.
Talk to you later, tweeps! 🙂