© Eric Lafforgue www.ericlafforgue.com

The government is planning to help build 25 strong domestic upstream companies in five years to encourage exploration on a grand scale and boost oil production that’s been falling for years.

The stunning Port of Melbourne Authority Building in Market St Melbourne. It is of historical significance as an important element in the old centre of Melbourne's maritime industry. The building is adjacent to the Old Customs House, their location a reminder of the fact that Melbourne's port facilities originally extended much further upstream than they do now. The grand and imposing character of the building reflects the importance of the Harbour Authority and the port that it managed to Melbourne's commercial and maritime development. This importance was accentuated during the building's construction, during the Great Depression, when projects of such scale were valuable contributors to economic activity and employment.

The Book Bowls and Bento written by Tim Anderson democratizes a part of Japanese cuisine. Tim Anderson has the art of making Japanese recipes accessible so that they can be easily reproduced. In this book, he explains and simplifies the preparations so that we can enjoy experimenting with them. Tim Anderson strives to explain to us all the parts of the recipes that we can prepare in advance so that during the meal, we only have to make the final touches. This book is great for learning Japanese cooking step by step. The book is structured around 4 main themes listing more than 80 recipes: Side dishes Main dishes Bentos Sandwiches This book makes cooking accessible so that we can enjoy it every day. This work is published by Hachette Pratique. Find our selection of books. Read more

Ashcroft is in the Castle Creek Valley, ten miles upstream from Aspen. The picturesque old mining town at 9500 ft. elevation once housed 3500 residents. Now it is one of Colorado's most famous ghost towns. This is the old Ashcroft Hotel, the best known and most photographed of the town's remaining buildings.

Explore the architecture, design and finishes of this residential yoga structure that was inspired by the movement of flora.

Build strength and work toward pincha progressively.

Eerily beautiful abandoned places in the world include ghost towns in the US, old sanatoriums in Germany, and Soviet monuments in Bulgaria.

The WLED Sound Reactive Addressable LED  Strip Controller can control 2 independent LED strips. Available with optional IR Remote control.Supports most addressable LED strips 5V, 12V or 24. The sound reactive feature and IR Remote require the Athom fork of WLED which is pre-flashed on the unit. If you upgrade to use the upstream WLED release, you will loose these features. Could also be used with Tasmota or ESPHome. Features: ESP32 -WROOM-32E Chipset 2 Channels I2S PDM Digital Microphone Built in  IR Remote Control (optional) Sound reactive control of LED strips

Completed in 2020 in Nara, Japan. Images by Norihito Yamauchi. The client is a newlywed couple who both work. We aimed for a compact life, a lifestyle that allows you to feel close to nature even on busy days....

How It Works

For the past 45 years, this tiny little home has stood strong against the Serbian winds, water, and weather that surround it. Balancing on a rock in the

The STORY: Dress "Nature Wins" Nature always has the last laugh! No matter how much we try to pave over it or build on top of it, Mother Nature finds a way to reclaim her territory. It's like trying to hold back a tidal wave with a sandcastle bucket! We humans might think we're the masters of the universe, but when it comes down to it, nature's got the ultimate power move. So let's sit back, enjoy the show, and maybe learn a thing or two about going with the flow instead of trying to swim upstream against it. Made FROM: With 95% fine cotton and 5% premium elastane, this garment is cozy, stretchy and durable. With pockets. The FIT: Artworks are printed on most popular unisex HAPPEAK t-shirt dress model. Made IN: Made in Lithuania, it boasts superior craftsmanship and attention to detail. Printed WITH: Direct-to-Film (DTF) technology. High-Quality Prints: DTF produces vibrant and detailed designs that maintain their color and sharpness even after multiple washes. Durability: Prints created with DTF technology are known for their exceptional durability, resisting cracking and fading over time. Eco-Friendly: DTF uses water-based inks, which are less harmful to the environment compared to traditional printing methods. This design is also available IN: Unisex T-Shirt - https://www.etsy.com/listing Unisex Sweatshirt - https://www.etsy.com/shop/artHAPPEAK?ref=search_shop_redirect§ion_id=49332028 Wall art - https://www.etsy.com/listing We have a lot more great t-shirts, sweatshirts, dresses and wall arts in our shop. Please check out our shop at https://artHappeak.etsy.com for more designs.

Coming Soon: The Bingo Parlor...gray hair tinted by cigarette smoke becomes blue hair. The Importance of Being Garst I confess. I have an unusual fascination with the Garst Family, one of Roanoke’s pioneer families. I suspect that this curiosity goes back to my childhood days. I was born on Garstland, Dr. in Roanoke, Virginia back in 1960. From those earliest times, my life has been intertwined with Garst’s. Garstland Drive supposedly is named for the Garst family. One branch of their family ran a grist mill on Mason’s Creek, not far from my house while another branch ran the Garst Brothers Dairy, Roanoke’s largest dairy earlier last century. My home was on a street that dead-ended at a wide pasture. The land was all owned by “Old Man Garst.” I never knew his first name, but I suspect it was Samuel. Mr. Garst was a person to be feared in my youth. All kinds of lore rose among the neighborhood children about him. My older brothers and other kids around had tales telling of times when Old Man Garst would come out of his two-story white farmhouse and pepper kids with buckshot for trespassing in his fields. Being a naturally fearful person, I was terrified of him. I personally only dared gaze upon him when hiding behind a tree as he would sometimes drive slowly by in his ancient, green Chevy pick-up. Old Man Garst was a wrinkled, withered man with denim overalls and no teeth. His shotgun was always at the ready as he puttered around his farm tending his horses, cows, and chickens while spitting a trail of tobacco juice. Despite the fear, or perhaps because of it, I used to roam the pasture and explore its treasures. Within this 30 acre tract, there were three structures that I remember situated between two hills with a gentle brook running slowly to Peter’s Creek. This idyllic valley was filled with sweet grass and the beginnings of a scrub forest of cedar, Virginia pine, paradise trees, and blackberry briars. Rabbits roamed freely along with plodding turtles and the occasional snake (always assumed to be poisonous...but most likely not) The structures were points of fascination. Old Man Garst’s house, itself, was situated on the other side of the hill from the main valley. It was a two story white farmhouse that seemed to be in a state of some hard times. Even though it was a tall structure, the top of the house did not offer a view of the pasture on the other side of the hill. So he was not afforded a view of any trespassers on his property. This was a good thing, because we were always there. We just made a point to not stray too close to his chicken shed. On the hillside along the brook near the west end of this tract was an abandoned two story house. My father says that people lived there until the early 1960’s, but I only knew it as “The Haunted House,” completely abandoned and in a state of ruin. I never ventured there, but I always fanaticized about going up those long front wooden steps and through the broken banging front screen door and into the broken glass filled home interior. I wondered what treasure I might find in the rubble. We were told that the house had been Old Man Garst’s birthplace. I further believed that if I went too close to that place, something bad would happen to me. The most fascinating structure on the property was located across the brook from the main farmhouse and out in the middle of the field. It was the old Lackey house. The story was that the Lackey’s ran the Garst farm back in the 1850’s and they lived in the small wooden structure in the middle of the main pasture. Descendents of the Lackey’s still lived at the end of Garstland Drive, and that’s where I heard that part of the story. I used to love exploring that structure. The main building had pretty much collapsed on itself with only two stone chimneys and piles of household debris left behind. If you looked carefully, you could find old broken plates and coffee cups along with chunks of broken blue glass. Attached to the main structure was a unique springhouse. It was an open concrete bunker surrounding a place where water bubbled to the surface and trickled down to the brook. We enjoyed hanging out here capturing crawl-dads. Of course, we knew that if you crushed a big crawl-dad on rocks you could find a pearl in their head. So we spent a lot of time searching for riches in this manner. That old house was the scene of my childhood’s darkest memory, however. One day we were playing basketball at a vacant lot on the dead-end of the street when two boys, Billy and Pat, decided to go mess around in the old Lackey house. Sometime later, we all heard a ground-shaking boom, and we saw a cloud of dust rise. Next thing we knew, Billy was running through the pasture towards us yelling, “Pat’s dead! Pat’s Dead! PAT’S DEAD!” “The chimney fell on him! Oh my God!” Immediately, we all leaped into action. My older brother directed me to go to the nearest house and call an ambulance. The rest went with him to the house and began digging through the rubble of chimney rocks. I made it up there just in time to see them uncover Pat’s bloody arm then his bloody legs. They kept digging furiously and finally uncovered his head, also a mass of blood. The great news in this whole tragedy was that Pat was still alive and conscious. He was moaning and incoherent. They got him uncovered just as the ambulance approached. Pat was loaded up and taken away. After months in the hospital, Pat was able to come home, but he was never the same. He had fractured and dented his skull, plus he had broken most of his limbs. We never saw much of Pat after that day. That field also served our recreation needs in the winter time. In times of decent snow, we’d all gather in the field, on the other side of the hill from Old Man Garst’s house and sleigh ride all day and deep into the night. We’d burn a tire for warmth as we made run after run on our Flexible Flyers. I always wondered why Old Man Garst never came out to chase us away. Now that I’m older, I suspect that Old Man Garst probably wasn’t the ogre I imagined him to be. One sled run was called “Suicide Run.” It darted down the steepest part of the hill down towards the brook. You had to snake the sled at high speed through scrub growth and briars. Then you’d launch the sled over the lip of the cave and crash onto the pasture below. If you didn’t crash, you’d most likely end up in the cold brook. The cave. This playground came with a variety of haunts from houses to its very own cave. It really wasn’t much of a cave. The opening in the hillside was about four feet, but I believe that the opening has since closed. I personally only dared go into it once with my friend. We had been told that when Old Man Garst was younger, he used to run shine back in the 30’s. The story was that the cave was the secret entrance to his underground laboratory. We were convinced that the cave led right under the abandoned Garst home on the west side of the property. We also were told that Old Man Garst’s old bootleg running truck was still parked down in the secret chamber of that cave. So one day, my friend and I went out in search of the truck and the passage to the house. We took flashlights and left a rope trail. Just after we climbed into the dark opening and dropped down about four feet to a muddy and sharp rock filled cave floor, I had immediate doubts about the story. We crouched down and began mucking our way into the darkness. Almost immediately the passage shrank to the point that we found ourselves crawling through the mud and over the sharp rocks. Sharp rocks attacked my head. Sharp rocks and mud assaulted the softer parts of my body. My friend insisted that the chamber was bound to open up any time and we’d be able to stroll into the basement of the abandoned house. With fear overcoming poor judgment, I finally had had enough and turned around, forcing my brave friend to come with me. Even he, despite being the most reckless person I knew, had no desire to go this alone. We never found out if the bootlegging story was true or not, but we did spend many more happy days chasing rabbits in that field. Many years later, I was at a teaching conference in Harrisonburg, and I struck up a conversation with one of the vendors. It turns out that the man was Samuel Garst, son of “Old Man Garst.” He helped put a more human face on his father for me. Later still, I stumbled across a Garst family website and a piece about “The Old Garst Fort” (the words Old and Garst just seem to naturally go together). In that piece they talk about one of the early Garst’s in the Roanoke/Botetourt area. His name was Frederick Garst, SR, and there were many tales about him. Here’s one that the article’s author, Betty Crawford Garst wrote up. “The "tale" about how he came to be called ‘Indian Garst’ is also often written about. There are several different versions. This is one: He was on a bluff above Mason’s Creek splitting a log, when he was surrounded by six Indians. They said they were going to kill him. He could speak the language, so he told them he would go with them if they would help him finish splitting the log. He asked them to get three on each side, put their fingers in the crack and pull. As they pulled, he knocked out a wedge closing the log on their fingers. He then killed them with his ax and went home. It is unlikely it ever happened. When he came to the Roanoke Valley in the 1790's, there had been no reports of Indian sightings or raids in the valley since the Revolution. He was still in Pennsylvania in the 1780's. Records show that he was serving in the Pennsylvania Militia in 1781. His son Frederick, Jr. was born there is 1784. He is first found on Botetourt County tax lists in 1796. Nicholas and Abraham are on the tax lists in 1791 and Jacob is found on a tax list in 1793 for the first time.” After reading that tale about the wedge log killing, it occurred to me that that story probably came from a group of kids sitting around talking on a boring rainy day, much the same way that the tales of Old Man Garst came from the friends of my youth. Will tomorrow’s kids have their own folklore?

Poling is the age-old technique for propelling a canoe against rapids or up shallow streams where paddling is ineffective. Standing in the canoe, the paddler uses a straight pole, often 12′ long, to push against the streambed; a skillful poler can make this look graceful and effortless. Preparing for a 2013 through-paddle of the Northern . . .

Later this month, Barack Obama will become the first U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, 71 years after the United States dropped the first atomic weapon used in warfare on the city in 1945.

Britain

The Marsh Arabs of Iraq, Visa pour l’image

It’s been 5 years since the 2013 disaster and new upstream protection is still another 4 years away, at least.

The unforgiving tide of water obliterated tens of thousands of buildings and claimed dozens of lives as it washed away almost anything in its path.

This actionable and lively guide helps aspiring entrepreneurs to acquire a designer's mindset to transform ideas into successful products, and designers and technologists to identify entrepeneurial opportunities through a unique mix of product and business development toolkits. Unlike other books focusing either downstream on the launch of a new venture or upstream on ideation and the acquisition of an entrepreneurial mindset, Design Your Business helps innovators to cross the chasm between attractive ideas and actual products, a crucial test in any entrepreneurial endeavor and one which most innovative ideas do not pass. Throughout the book, readers will learn about methods, steps, and resources to unleash their creativity, understand users' needs, build and test prototypes, and design beautiful products. At the end of this design journey, readers will find an essential business toolkit including business model design, intellectual property protection, funding, and development of effective communication skills that will help them to lay the foundation of a successful venture built around a successful product. This book will become an essential and thought-provoking resource for aspiring entrepreneurs, makers, students of entrepreneurship and new venture creation, and professionals seeking to adopt a design mindset and agile project management in their projects and organizations. Slides and teaching materials based on this book are curated from the authors and available for free at this link: https://elegantdesignthinking.com/category/learning-resources/ 29 Tables, black and white; 12 Line drawings, black and white; 26 Halftones, black and white; 38 Illustrations, black and white

Prague Castle has been dominating the city for more than eleven centuries. Once, it was the residence of Czech kings. Today the president of the Czech Republic works here.