Cristian1974

REALISTA

[Saganism @Saganismm]

“For a moment, nothing happened. Then, after a second or so, nothing continued to happen.”

— Douglas Adams

[Alice Rotelli @Rotelli_MD]

... E buona estate a tutti 😎

[Luca Bizzarri @LucaBizzarri]

@nonleggerlo percula un Senatore che chiama la “Casa Bianca” per farsi dire se quell’altro rincoglionito ha detto “pietà”, lui allora, non capendo l’assurdità (e la battuta) per dimostrare che è famoso, pubblica la sua foto lì.
Un’infinita adolescenza.

[Brian Roemmele @BrianRoemmele]

You gotta hand to them?

[Anomalous reality @spacevibex]

Obsessed with these details. 😍

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

This picture of Rockefeller Center, New York in 1933 looks like it's from the 2070s...

Art Deco architecture flourished in New York City during 1920s and 1930s. The style broke with many traditional architectural conventions and was characterized by verticality, ornamentation and building materials such as plastics, metals, and terra cotta. Art Deco is found in government edifices, commercial projects and residential buildings in all five boroughs. Architecture of period was influenced by worldwide decorative arts trends, rise of mechanization and New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution, which favored the setback feature in many buildings.

The exuberant economy of the Roaring Twenties and commercial speculation spurred a citywide building boom. The size and sophistication of Art Deco ranged from towering skyscrapers to modest middle-class housing and municipal buildings. Colorful, lavishly-decorated skyscrapers came to dominate the skyline of Manhattan before the Great Depression ended their construction. Depression and changing tastes pushed the style to more subdued applications as it spread in 1930s, becoming a style of choice for infrastructure projects and modern middle-class apartments in the outer boroughs.

A lull in construction during World War II and the rise of the International Style led to the end of new Art Deco in the city. After falling out of favor and suffering from neglect during the city's downturn in the latter half of the 20th Century, city's Art Deco has been reappraised. Among New York's most treasured and recognizable skyscrapers are Art Deco Empire State and Chrysler buildings. Art Deco skyscrapers formed the core of the city's skyline for decades and influence modern construction. Many of these buildings are protected by historic preservation laws, while others have been lost to new development or neglect.

Construction of the Rockefeller Center complex in New York City was conceived as an urban renewal project in late 1920s, spearheaded by John D. Rockefeller Jr. to help revitalize Midtown Manhattan. Rockefeller Center is on one of Columbia University's former campuses and is bounded by Fifth Avenue to the east, Sixth Avenue (Avenue of the Americas) to the west, 48th Street to the south and 51st Street to the north. The center occupies 22 acres (8.9 ha) in total, with some 17 million square feet (1.6 million square meters) of office space.

Columbia University had acquired site in early 19th Century but had moved to Morningside Heights in Upper Manhattan in early 1900s. By 1920s, Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan was a prime site for development. Around that time, Metropolitan Opera (Met) was looking for a new site for their opera house and architect Benjamin Wistar Morris decided on former Columbia site.

Rockefeller eventually became involved in the project and leased Columbia site in 1928 for 87 years. The lease excluded land along the east side of Sixth Avenue to west of Rockefeller property, as well as at the site's southeast corner. He hired Todd, Robertson and Todd as design consultants and selected architectural firms of Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, Hood, Godley & Fouilhoux, and Reinhard & Hofmeister for opera complex. However, Met was unsure about moving there and the Wall Street Crash of 1929 put an end to plans. Rockefeller instead entered into negotiations with Radio Corporation of America (RCA) to create a mass-media complex on site. A new plan was released in January 1930 and an update to plan was presented after Rockefeller obtained a lease for land along Sixth Avenue. Revisions continued until March 1931, when current site design was unveiled. A late change to proposal included a complex of internationally themed structures along Fifth Avenue.

📷© Samuel Herman Gottscho (1875-1971) was an American architectural, landscape, and nature photographer.

#archaeohistories

[GiGadgets @gigadgets_]

The Lonely Seesaw

[Science girl @sciencegirl]

Could AI data centres be making nearby areas hotter?

A new research paper suggests that large-scale AI data centres may be creating a previously overlooked environmental impact known as the “data heat island effect.”

Researchers examined two decades of NASA satellite temperature data around more than 6,000 data centres worldwide. Their analysis found that areas surrounding many facilities experienced noticeable increases in land surface temperatures after operations began.

On average, temperatures rose by around 2°C (3.6°F), while some locations saw increases of more than 9°C (16°F). The warming wasn’t confined to the data centre sites themselves evidence suggests the effect could extend as far as 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) from certain facilities.

Data centres generate significant amounts of heat because thousands of servers operate around the clock. The powerful processors used for AI workloads require vast amounts of electricity, and although cooling systems remove heat from the equipment, much of that energy is ultimately released into the surrounding environment.

The findings are particularly relevant as new data centres are increasingly being built in regions already facing challenges such as rising temperatures, water shortages, growing energy demand, and pressure on ageing electricity infrastructure.

Researchers caution that the impact is unlikely to be the same everywhere. Factors such as climate, facility size, cooling technology, local land use, and energy sources can all influence the extent of any warming effect. Additionally, the study is currently a preprint and has not yet undergone peer review.

Nevertheless, the research adds an important new perspective to ongoing discussions about the environmental footprint of expanding AI infrastructure.

Source: “The Data Heat Island Effect: Quantifying the Impact of AI Data Centers in a Warming World.”

[FreeBird 🦅 @WolneyPtak]

@JesusChryslerII Alfred E Neumann

[DaVinci @BiancoDavinci]

This Japanese restaurant logo is simultaneously a Japanese crane and a hand holding chopsticks.

[Jesus Chrysler @JesusChryslerII]

#EpsteinsBestFriend

[Sci-Fi Archives @SciFiArchives]

Stavropol, Russia

[Black Hole @konstructivizm]

Saturn's Hexagon

[Epic Maps 🗺️ @theepicmap]

Fascinating to watch.

1000 years of European borders change.

[IlGuffanti 🇮🇹 🇺🇦 @guffanti_marco]

Conte che falsifica un video.
El Gordo che si inventa torture.
Quello del Copasir che si inventa un selfie.
Quella che sembra Austin Power che sostiene il terrorista.
Quello che parla di ginocchiere.
La Appendino che boicotta Teva e poi frigna.

Il M5S è una discarica sociale.

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

A fragment of the ancient brick wall from the famous Ishtar Gate, covered in cuneiform writing and dating to around 604-562 BC, is currently housed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin...

The Ishtar Gate was a massive entryway that led into magnificent ancient city of Babylon. Ancient Babylon was located in modern day Iraq, and was at its greatest from 604-562 BC. The city was home to more than 200,000 people during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. The gate was built for Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, and was one of eight fortified gates that led into one of the greatest ancient cities of the world. The Ishtar Gate sat at the end of the Processional Way, a beautiful street paved with bricks that stretched over half a mile leading toward the city. The great Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II, built the gate in 575 BC to welcome visitors to magnificent city. The Ishtar Gate was covered in beautiful burnt and glazed bricks that featured images of dragons, lions and young bulls. The colors of the bricks were vibrant aqua blues and greens and yellows. The gate was more than 38ft high. It also featured an inscription with the words of Nebuchadnezzar saying, 'I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that people might gaze on them in wonder'.

In 1899, German archaeologists began excavating the ancient city of Babylon, which stood in remarkable condition, including the Ishtar Gate, discovered in 1902. This gate, one of eight constructed at various times, symbolized Babylon's glory. Standing 12m high, much of the walls was still intact. Excavation led to the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, considered one of archaeology's most spectacular achievements. Over 200 local workers unearthed the site, extracting tons of soil and tens of thousands of fragments, enough to fill 900 boxes. Archaeologists meticulously restored the animal figures on the gate using the best-preserved brick fragments, replacing missing pieces with modern replicas. Thousands of enamel pieces were carefully assembled at the Old Near East Museum in Berlin to recreate the majestic Ishtar Gate.

The inscription of the Ishtar Gate is written in Akkadian cuneiform in white-glazed and blue glazed bricks, and was a dedication by Nebuchadnezzar to explain the gate’s purpose. On the wall of the Ishtar Gate the inscription is 15m tall by 10m wide and includes 60 lines of writing. The inscription was created around the same time as the gates construction, around 605–562 BC.

Translation :

"Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the pious prince, appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest priestly prince, beloved of Nabu, of prudent deliberation, who has learnt to embrace wisdom, who fathomed Their (Marduk and Nabu) godly being and pays reverence to their Majesty, the untiring Governor, who always has at heart, the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the first born son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon, am I."

Reconstructions of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way are still some of the premiere objects on display at the Pergamom Museum's Vorderasiatisches Exhibit, or Exhibit for the Ancient Near East. The exhibit has 270,000 pieces that were unearthed by the German archaeologists working in the early 20th century in the ancient cities of Babylon, Assur, Uruk, and Habuba Kabira. Iraq has since requested that these priceless artifacts be returned. Mohammed Aziz Selman al-Ibrahim, an archaeologist, and official of the antiquities and heritage department of Iraq's ministry of culture, called for its return.

These antiquities have not been returned and continue to be displayed in Berlin. As, Germany contends that its excavations were legal, but modern sympathies about bad old days of colonialism make this a grey area.

© The Archaeologist

#archaeohistories

[Yugoslavian Visuals @YugoslavVisuals]

Višegrad, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1980s.

[Saganism @Saganismm]

“Real scientists are delighted when they find out they're wrong... There are too many people in this world who want to be right. And too few who just want to know.”

— Brian Cox

[Andrea Opachi @OpachiAndrea]

Non sapendo come fermare gli attacchi ucraini in Crimea, il Cremlino gioca la carta più vile: usare i bambini come scudi umani.

Organizzare la "Conferenza mondiale dei bambini" in un territorio occupato militarmente e giornalmente bersaglio di bombardamenti è da infami mafiosi.