Sky Flowers: The Explosive and Deadly History of Fireworks

As you kick back under a glittering shower of high-production-value pyrotechnics on Independence Day this year, take a second to remember how the modern firework started out: As a tiny, but startling, accident.

In China, roughly 2,200 years ago, the first firework was just a reed of bamboo roasting over a fire. And just like with corn kernels, all of that applied heat caused the air inside the reed to expand. Within minutes, the reed?s thin casing could no longer handle the internal pressure, and?bam!?fireworks. The noise gave the nearby humans such a start, they decided it could be effectively deployed to frighten away evil spirits.

An engraving shows the invention of gunpowder.

In the grand scheme of firework history, barbecued bamboo was more party trick than show stopper. That all changed when the Chinese invented gunpowder, in the 9th century. Tinkering alchemists?who had experimented with saltpeter for years?finally landed on the perfect recipe: 75 percent saltpeter (potassium nitrate), 15 percent charcoal, and 10 percent sulfur (the same ratio is used today). Their discovery held the key to a huge range of inventions?among them, modern fireworks and the multistage rocket.

Naturally, others were eager to get their hands on this explosive technology. In fact, the Mongols were so desperate to learn its secrets, they captured Chinese artisans and forced them to reveal their trade recipes. Ultimately, the Mongols used their knowledge to conquer eastern Europe, where gunpowder was unknown. And just like the invaders who brought it with them, gunpowder soon seemed to be everywhere.

A fireworks celebration, in 1686, in Brussels.

By the 14th century, both the holy festivals taking place at Christian religious sites and the chest-pounding taking place on European battlefields were often punctuated with sprays of gunpowder-fired explosions. Designing and igniting the displays took special skill (and precision), so groups of gunners were created to take on the task. But fireworks still hadn?t become an art. That didn?t happen until 1743, when five Italian brothers named Ruggieri brought this so-called ?Chinese fire? to the stage of Paris? Com?die Italienne.

The Ruggieri brothers could do magical things with a bit of gunpowder. They fixed crosses, polygons, wheels, and stars to iron axles supporting the displays, creating spinning bursts of fire behind the actors. Soon enough, the fireworks were stealing the show?they were even given their own stage names, like ?Magical Combat,? ?Gardens of Flowers,? ?The Palace of Fairies,? and ?The Forges of Vulcan.? (Way better names than ?Killer Bees,? amirite?) The brothers were born innovators, and their techniques?which focused on creating moving fireworks, rather than stationary ones?upstaged the shot-by-shot deployment of their contemporaries. The trick even earned the brothers an appointment making displays for Louis XV?s court.

A Ruggieri display at the French court.

The promotion was great for the Ruggieri, but it pissed off quite a few pyro-practitioners working locally. Tensions came to a head in 1749, when the competing factions got into an argument over which group would service an event. When neither group would step down, they both decided to set their work alight at the same time. What ensued was a disaster of epic proportions: The quarrel killed forty people and injured 300.

An illustration of the Ruggieri fireworks show, which Handel scored with Music for the Royal Fireworks.

The Ruggieri endured in the courts, though?in 1750, Georg Friedrich Handel even composed a Music for the Royal Fireworks to accompany one of their displays. Yet the intensity of the Ruggieri pyrotechnics would prove deadly more than once. In 1770, during Marie Antoinette?s nuptials, Petroni Ruggieri lit up a celebratory display that spooked the crowd. The huge group onlookers quickly transformed into a freaked-out mob, and several people were trampled to death. The Ruggieri, it seemed, were done for.

How do you stage a comeback when you?re out of favor with the court? With science?and no small amount of flair. Claude-Fortun? Ruggieri, a member of the Ruggieri family?s next generation of pyro-artists, grew up around modern chemistry?and he put this new knowledge to use in the family business. Even compared to his wild predecessors, Claude-Fortun? was a modernist, experimenting with oxygen and phosphorus and igniting his displays from hot air balloons. But his biggest contribution to his field were the special metallic salts that he engineered to manipulate color. By adding a dash to other active ingredients, Ruggieri found that he could turn a flame green. And if he added a combination of chlorinated powder and strontium, he could create red, barium green, and copper blue.

A brochure from the Unexcelled Fireworks Company, from 1887, sold items like the balloon-based fireworks seen above. Image via.

Thanks to Claude-Fortun??s chemical know-how, the modern firework had been born. By the end of the 18th century, fireworks were being used for celebrations all over the world. They took on special important in fledgling America, when John Adams requested a special display to mark the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The basic recipe for fireworks hasn?t changed much since Adams? day, though pyrotechnicians have improved the control and intensity of modern-day displays.

At-home fireworks were sold in the US beginning in the early 20th century. Image via.

Baseball became synonymous with fireworks in 1909, thanks to the Pittsburgh Pirates? owner Barney Dreyfuss. Pittsburgh's Forbes Field had opened just a few days before, and Dreyfuss requested the team?s doubleheader end with a grand display of patriotic explosions for the 40,000 attending fans. The display was a huge hit?the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette even called it "the altar upon which the marriage of baseball and fireworks was consummated."

For the fans? sake, lets hope they used protection.

Lead image, "Fireworks in Naples" by Oswald Achenbachm in 1975, from the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.

Source: http://gizmodo.com/sky-flowers-the-explosive-and-deadly-history-of-firewo-658209843

buckyballs buckyballs awake mario batali lone ranger aaron brooks dave matthews band

South Africa's Mandela still 'critical but stable'

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Ailing anti-apartheid leader and former South African President Nelson Mandela remained in hospital on Monday in a "critical but stable" condition, the government said.

Mandela has been in a Pretoria hospital for more than three weeks receiving treatment for a recurring lung infection, his fourth hospitalization in six months.

The faltering health of the 94-year-old, a figure admired globally as a symbol of struggle against injustice and racism, has reinforced a realization that the father of the post-apartheid South Africa will not be around forever.

While he lies in hospital, many South Africans are looking ahead to his 95th birthday on July 18.

"We must all be able to do something good for humanity on this day in tribute to our former President," President Jacob Zuma said in a statement.

Mandela's health also dominated a two-day visit to South Africa by U.S. President Barack Obama over the weekend.

Obama met the Mandela family on Saturday, offering words of comfort and praising the retired statesman as one of history's greatest figures.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda; Editing by Ed Cropley)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africas-mandela-still-critical-stable-053231257.html

instagram facebook chicago cubs split pea soup recipe the client list yahoo.com/mail baylor april 9

Yoga poses no risk to church-state separation, says judge

By Sophia Rosenbaum, NBC News

A San Diego judge ruled Monday that yoga poses like downward dog and ?criss-cross applesauce? are not religious, allowing a yoga program to continue in a Southern California school district.

Parents of two children in the Encinitas Union School district in San Diego County sued the district because they claim the Ashtanga yoga classes being offered in place of more traditional physical education instruction indoctrinate the children. But on Monday afternoon, Judge John S. Meyer ruled in favor of the school district.

The couple?s lawyer, Attorney Dean Broyles, told NBC News 7 in San Diego that the practice is inherently religious and is a violation of church and state.

All nine schools in the district participate in the yoga program, which launched last fall, during gym class. The program is funded completely by a $500,000 grant from the K.P. Jois Foundation.

The foundation?s website says it is looking to promote wellness, health and achievement for youth, especially those in under-served communities.

?We want them to feel that they don?t need sugar and video games to fill some kind of vacancy that they might feel,? said Russell Case, who helped recruit yoga instructors for the program and works for the Jois Foundation. ?We want them to feel that they can get that from exercise.?

As a 501(c)3 non-profit company, Case said the foundation cannot promote any sort of religious affiliation.

?The plantiffs don?t want religion in schools and neither do we,? Case said.

The school?s defense, led by attorney Jack Sleeth, followed the foundation?s sentiment, and said the program was put in place to promote a healthy lifestyle that helps students reduce stress and align their bodies.

Encinitas Union School District Superintendent Timothy Baird testified in court May 20 that he met with the yoga instructors and changed some of the names of the poses prior to the program starting.

?Initially, we made a conscious decision to remove some cultural context,? Baird said.

Yoga instructor Jennifer Nicole Brown, who demonstrated some of the yoga positions in court, said when parents complained about their children chanting, she removed it from the lesson. Brown was the first yoga instructor hired by the district, which now has 10 yoga teachers.

According to Case, the school district has received more than 5,000 emails and letters from parents asking it to continue the yoga progam. He said the foundation aims to start similar programs in other communities, citing?the program's success in Encinitas.

?

This story was originally published on Mon Jul 1, 2013 1:04 PM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/663306/s/2e0e2ad6/l/0Lusnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A70C0A10C192350A330Eyoga0Eposes0Eno0Erisk0Eto0Echurch0Estate0Eseparation0Esays0Ejudge0Dlite/story01.htm

Bumbo recall USA Basketball taio cruz taio cruz Winter Olympics 2014 freddie mercury Horshack

New apps to tame uncontrollable inboxes

By Natasha Baker

TORONTO (Reuters) - Buried under emails? Losing control of an overflowing inbox? New apps are designed to help consumers deal with seemingly endless streams of electronic mail.

Three apps, Dispatch and Boxer for the iPhone, and Boomerang for Android devices, try to make email management on smartphones fast and simple.

Another app called Sanebox, which works on any platform and costs between $2 and $20 each month, creates a folder in a user's mailbox where it filters unimportant messages. Algorithms in the app learn about a user's behavior to understand what he or she considers urgent.

"You think you're being productive by clearing stuff out of your inbox, but no matter how good you are, more emails will keep coming," said Dmitri Leonov, a vice president for Boston-based SaneBox.

The average office workers spends 13 hour each week reading, writing and replying to emails, according to the McKinsey Global Institute, the research arm of McKinsey management consultant.

The Dispatch app works by communicating with 16 other apps, such as one for note-taking and another linked to-do lists to simplify email. Users can send a link to Instapaper, an app for reading articles at a later time, and can also customize messages to help them respond to emails faster.

Boxer has a feature so users can "like" an email and put it on the app's to-do list for later processing. They can also request that a coworker handle an email, and there are templates for quick responses, such as "Good idea," and "When do you need this?"

Both Dispatch and Boxer cost $4.99 and are available worldwide.

Boomerang, for Android devices, allows users to defer messages until later, schedule emails to be sent at a particular time, and track responses. The free app only works with Gmail.

Leonov suggests people focus on dealing with urgent and important messages, rather than trying to keep up with everything that lands in your inbox.

"Email is a to-do list that other people can write on for you," said Leonov.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apps-tame-uncontrollable-inboxes-183315789.html

floyd mayweather Romina Puga Red Wedding The Fosters game of thrones michael douglas Tnt

Rachel Maddow And David Gregory Destroy The GOP?s Last Argument Against Marriage Equality

(Credit: AP)

Social conservatives came out in full force on NBC?s Meet The Press on the Sunday after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act. Former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) of the Heritage Foundation and Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) both claimed the court?s decision to recognize same-sex marriages sacrificed children?s wellbeing ? only to have their arguments promptly slapped down by MSNBC hosts Rachel Maddow and David Gregory.

DeMint said the court had privileged ?the desires of adults? over ?the best environment for children,? arguing that heterosexual marriage is ?the environment where children can thrive and succeed.? Maddow immediately pointed out that this argument ignores the children of same-sex couples, who have up til now been treated as second-class citizens under the law:

Justice Kennedy addressed that issue specifically in his ruling. He says that by denying marriage rights to same-sex couples who have kids, you?re humiliating and demeaning those kids. By denying their families equal protection under the law by the parents who are raising them and who love them and who make their family. So we can put it in the interests of children, but I think that cuts both ways. And the ruling cuts against that argument. I mean, gay people exist. There?s nothing we can do in public policy can do to make more of us exist or less of us exist. And you guys for a generation have argued that public policy ought to demean gay people as a way of expressing disapproval of the fact that we exist. But you don?t make any less of us exist, you are just arguing for more discrimination. And more discrimination doesn?t make straight people?s lives any better.

Watch it:

Later in the program, Huelskamp tried to justify his introduction of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage by touting debunked research that supposedly shows heterosexual parents are better for kids. Gregory challenged the congressman, insisting that he admit the research is bogus:

HUELSKAMP: As Senator DeMint did note, the research is very clear that the ideal way of raising our children should be the issue here, and that?s what we need to focus on in this debate.

GREGORY: Wait, but Justice Kennedy speaks to this. There?s also research that indicates that?you know, everyone talks about the interests of children. Children tend to prosper in homes where there is a loving marriage. There is really not evidence to suggest that if you are a same-sex couple or a heterosexual couple that it makes one difference one way or the other.

HUELSKAMP: Well actually the research does not show that, actually the research is very clear as we have indicated here, but ?

GREGORY: No, no. Everybody throws that out, but the research actually shows that in broken homes, it hurts the children. Which I think most people would say that would be true of same-sex couples or heterosexual couples. We don?t really know, do we? But we do have a sense that loving marriages provide a good family life for children, right?

Watch it:

Huelskamp ducked the debunk and again claimed that ?the court decided the desires of adults should trump the needs of children.? Nevertheless, Gregory is correct that the research cited by marriage equality opponents actually has nothing to do with same-sex couples. In fact, the largest study of families with same-sex parents recently concluded these children are not only thriving, but even beat the national average for overall health and family cohesion.

Source: http://thinkprogress.org.feedsportal.com/c/34726/f/638927/s/2dff5ef7/l/0Lthinkprogress0Borg0Clgbt0C20A130C0A60C30A0C22362110Cmeet0Ethe0Epress0Emarriage0Eequality0Edebunk0Ekids0C/story01.htm

statins chardon sean young juan pablo montoya free pancakes at ihop martina navratilova high school shooting

Biomedical research revealing secrets of cell behavior

July 1, 2013 ? Knowing virtually everything about how the body's cells make transitions from one state to another -- for instance, precisely how particular cells develop into multi-cellular organisms -- would be a major jump forward in understanding the basics of what drives biological processes.

Such a leap could open doors to far-reaching advances in medical science, bioengineering and related areas.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers at Arizona State University, with a partner at Imperial College London, report on taking at least a step toward better comprehension of the fundamentals of "cell fate determination" in the prominent research journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Cell fate determination relates to the mechanisms by which a cell "decides" in what direction it will go in moving through transitional phases into a final state.

Using mathematical modeling and synthetic biology techniques the team is manufacturing artificial gene networks (a collection of DNA segments in a cell that interact with each other) and introducing them into cells in the laboratory.

From there, the researchers are able to closely observe through microscopic imaging what is happening with particular cells at their "tipping point," a stage of rest right before they transition into other states.

By learning what takes place at that point, "We can get closer to a fundamental insight about all biology," says biomedical engineer and synthetic biologist Xiao Wang.

Once the mechanisms determining the fate of cells are better understood, Wang says, "We could make gene networks or devices that do what we want them to do," such as create cells that produce medicinal drugs or that kill diseased cells, or create cells that act as sensors to detect environmental hazards.

Wang is an assistant professor in the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, one of ASU's Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering. He is the senior author of the PNAS paper.

Wang's fellow authors are: biomedical engineering research scientists Min Wu and Xiaohui Li, who work in Wang's lab; electrical engineering graduate student Ri-Qi Su; Ying-Cheng Lai, a professor in ASU's School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering; and synthetic biologist Tom Ellis from Imperial College London.

Their article, "Engineering of regulated stochastic cell fate determination," is available online.

The research team is studying the molecular-level interactions within the DNA sequences of cells, through which the products of one gene affect those of other genes. This helps to trace the lineages of cell development and reveal what drives them in the direction of what kinds of cells they will be in their final states.

Within deeper knowledge of the workings of such processes lays the key to more effectively engineering cells and gene networks.

Wang's team is focused on investigating the intricate properties of gene networks with the goal of learning new ways of regulating the mechanisms behind cell fate determination.

"Our research could be built upon to look at more complicated gene networks and more complex cellular behavior," paving the way for expanding the capabilities of bioengineering to protect and maintain human health, Wang says.

Support for the team's research has come from the National Science Foundation and the American Heart Association.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/UJzKzAFGc7E/130701163851.htm

ellen degeneres tomb of the unknown soldier tomb of the unknown soldier HMS Bounty dominion power Heather Clem Con Edison

Nigella Lawson returns to Twitter for son's birthday

30 JUNE 2013 Nigella Lawson has returned to Twitter for the first time since images emerged of an argument between herself and her husband, Charles Saatchi. To celebrate her son's 17th birthday the celebrity chef and writer posted a photogaph on the social networking site of the birthday cake she made for Bruno.

The chocolate cake, studded with candles in the shape of miniature bottles of champagne, read 'Happy Birthday Bruno' and has since been re-tweeted 163 times and 'favourited' by 657 of Nigella's fans.

Many of her followers replied to the tweet with positive messages about her return.

"Good to see you back," wrote one user. "Hope Bruno had a wonderful birthday."

Nigella's fellow celebrity chef, Gizzi Erskine, was also pleased to see the Nigellissima author back online.

"second this xxxxxxx" wrote Gizzi, responding to a Twitter user who said "Welcome home Lady."

The picture of Bruno's cake is in keeping with Nigella's usual tweets, which include images of her culinary masterpieces of a near daily basis.

Bruno is the younger of Nigella's two children. She also has a daughter, Cosima, both from her marriage to former journalist, John Diamond, who died from throat cancer in 2001.

Nigella's relationship with her second husband, Charles Saatchi, became the subject of attention two weeks ago when shocking photograph were published of art collector Charles gripping his wife's throat during an argument.

Charles, who is worth a reported ?100million, said the photos depicted a "playful tiff" and that Nigella was unharmed.

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children," claimed Charles. "And I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point," he told the Evening Standard.

"There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."

Charles has since been cautioned for his actions and late last week Nigella was seen moving her things out of the family home.

The TV chef had removal men take belongings from the ?12million house in Mayfair that she had shared with her millionaire husband and has also been spotted without her wedding ring on.

Prior to Nigella's tweet on Saturday, the only word from the TV chef was in a statement last week from her publicist which confirmed she had "left the family home with her children".

"Her heart is bleeding right now," a source close to Nigella told The Sunday People. "She wants out.

"Neither she nor Charles are interested in counselling or trying to save the marriage. It seems they?re done and she is broken and desolate."

'; for(i = 0; i ' + google_ads[i].line1 + '

' + google_ads[i].line2 + ' ' + google_ads[i].line3 + '

' + google_ads[i].visible_url + ''; } } document.write(s); return; } google_ad_client = 'pub-4504953094998606'; google_ad_channel = '12345678'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '3'; google_ad_type = 'text'; //google_image_size = '728x90'; google_feedback = 'on'; // -->

'; FB.XFBML.Host.parseDomTree(); } FB.init('cec90ab38f945a78dc2865af1d0164f7', '/fb-connect/xd_receiver.html', { 'ifUserConnected' : updater_user_box });

Source: http://www.hellomagazine.com/celebrities/2013063013284/nigella-lawson-returns-to-twitter/

bonobos charles manson al sharpton actuary elon musk fox mole manson