danipretto

happy summer everyone! it’s leslie again from spotted sf. i hope you’re away adventuring somewhere or planning some great upcoming escapes. i just returned from the land of fire and ice (which i’ll be sharing on a future post) and now i’m desperately seeking warmer weather and some fun in the sun! maybe like my last summer. this same time last year i retreated to the east coast and ventured out to montauk. located just about 100 miles from nyc, it’s an oceanfront playground full of amazing sites, plenty of relaxation, outdoor activities, and yummy fresh seafood. while there i camped out at this darling place: the surf lodge.

getting to the surf lodge was quite easy: i took the hamptons train to the very last stop and and it’s a quick 10 min walk from there. you can rent a car to explore the island or borrow a bike and hop on/off the train to get around as i did. and the lodge is also near the town center, too. onsite it is equipped with the essentials, including a bar, restaurant, plenty of lounging areas and a boutique full of chic beachwear and accessories. you don’t have to surf to stay here, but i sure wish i knew how to! it looks likes so much fun and they publish the surf report each morning. since i was seeking a quiet escape for my trip, i stayed during the earlier part of the week. but if nightlife and live music is what you’re in the mood for, join the festivities with the weekend crowd or come up for concert nights.

• all photography by leslie santarina.

On July 9th, 2009, the restaurant community in Gastown was significantly smaller than it is now, but the amount of good will and camaraderie within was very high. To wit, during the construction of Pourhouse – five years ago today – young restaurant owners and staff from across the DTES gathered in the mess of the construction site to put the bar in place, together, and anoint it in ceremony as a family. We were lucky enough to catch it on video (above)…

EVERYTHING SEEN IN VANCOUVER

This is a video of a house in Florida whose previous owner died. So a new couple bought the home and began the process of renovating it when, OH SHIT, massive yellow-jacket nest attached to the recliner. The video was shot by the bee-removal expert they hired, who, from the sound of things, is more of a good ol' boy with nothing left to lose than any kind of expert. You want me to get rid of em? I can get rid of em. *circles house with gasoline, throws match* Ta-da, your problem will be over shortly. "We kind of wanted to still live there." With those yellow-jackets? Are you crazy? That was their house now. Keep going for the video, but feel free to skip around because it's not as exciting as an action-adventure movie.

Lately we’ve been daydreaming about Portugal. We’ve fallen a little bit in love with Areias do Seixo: an easy hour’s drive from Lisbon, right on the coast, it’s the sort of laid-back and breezy boutique hotel that has you kicking off your shoes within minutes of arriving.

Fresh from a recent visit to this gorgeous concrete-and-glass stay, Smith editor Madévi Dailly recommends just giving in to the glamorous earth-child vibe: take a dip in the mirror-smooth pool, breathe in the scents of rosemary and lavender in the bountiful kitchen gardens or tag along on a mussel-picking expedition to the beach. And what a beach it is: a golden, unspoilt stretch of crashing Atlantic waves, framed by peaceful dunes and meandering clifftop paths. Once you’ve worked up a thirst, order a mojito, if only for the pleasure of watching the barman wander off into the garden to pick some fresh mint for your glass.

Fancy a taste of Portuguese bliss? UK Smiths, you’re in luck: this month, we’re giving away five nights at Areias do Seixo and £1,000 to spend at Harvey Nichols. Enter the competition before 24 July 2014 but hurry – we’re right on your heels.

All photos by Ross Duncan.

 

 

 

 

 

When you think of earthquake country, you probably picture California with its all-too-frequent seismic rumblings. These days the state you should be imagining is Oklahoma. Between 1978 and 2008, the state experienced only two 3.0-magnitude or greater earthquakes, but in just the first four months of this year, it has already had 145 earthquakes. The likely cause? According to one new study, the problem is fracking.

Read the rest of Why Oklahoma is the New California When it Comes to Earthquakes

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Post tags: fracking earthquakes, fracking faults, fracking groundwater, fracking problems, fracking research, fracking risks, fracking studies, hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing earthquakes, hydraulic fracturing groundwater, hydraulic fracturing Oklahoma, midwest earthquakes, oklahoma earthquakes, Oklahoma fracking, Oklahoma fracking earthquakes, Oklahoma seismic activity

Times were tough before the GoPro. [x]

lizawithazed:

sometimes you see a pun so artfully constructed you just have to stand back in awe.

In the next few years self-driving cars will finally become a reality, and while several automakers have revealed prototypes with autonomous technology, Mercedes-Benz is taking it a step further. Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz has announced plans to launch a self-driving semi truck on the market by 2025. They’re calling it the Mercedes-Benz Future Truck, and it could make freight distribution safer and more efficient while lowing fuel consumption.

Read the rest of Mercedes-Benz’ Self-Driving Future Truck Completes its First Autonomous Test on the Autobahn

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Post tags: autonomous driving, autonomous truck, autonomous vehicle, daimler, green car, green transportation, Mercedes-Benz, Mercedes-Benz autonomous vehicle, Mercedes-Benz Future Truck 2025, self-driving truck

A world devastated by climate change is like a night where The Day After Tomorrow, Planet of the Apes, and A Clockwork Orange turn on some Marvin Gaye, burn some incense, and hit the bed to breed a mega dystopia. A lot of people know about the dangers of fossil fuels, the importance of recycling, and why it’s healthier to be a vegetarian, but everyone asks “how does climate change affect me?” Let’s put it this way: with the amount of change we’re gonna see, your children won’t be playing outside much, you probably won’t be eating sushi three times a week anymore, and Game of Thrones’ North of the Wall will quickly become a reality.

Read the rest of Why You Should Personally Give a Damn About Climate Change

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Post tags: ac, act on climate, affected, agriculture, air conditioning, article, beef, Buzzfeed, CAFO, CAFOs, carbon, carbon footprint, climate, Climate Change, coast, coastal communities, college, Drought, dystopia, earth, Economic, economy, electric cars, extraction, factory farms, Farmers Markets, food, fossil fuels, fracking, Future, future children, future generations, game of thrones, garbage, global warming, grass-fed, Health, heat, humanity, hydraulic fracturing, lessons, long run, netflix, New Girl, ocean, Organic, parents, personal impact, pizza, rainforest, recycling, risky business, sea level rise, shorts, sink, sun, sun damage, supermarkets, sushi, tesla, tesla model-s, Tumblr, vegetarian, Venice Beach, wildfires, windows, world

The first supertyphoon of 2014 is sweeping across Japan, bringing violent waves and devastating 150 mph winds. Areas have been evacuated and airports closed as the storm landed on the southern islands of Okinawa. The storm is expected to continue across Japan, gaining strength over the next few hours before slowing as it continues over the next week, and some worry that the once-in-a-decade typhoon could leave major damage in its wake or even threaten several of the nation’s already-troubled nuclear power plants.

Read the rest of Massive Supertyphoon Neoguri Pummels Southern Japan

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Post tags: category 5 supertyphoon, category 5 typhoon, Fukushima disaster, Fukushima typhoon, global warming, japan nuclear power, Japan nuclear reactors, Japan storm, Japan supertyphoon, Japan typhoon, massive Japan storm, Okinawa storm, Okinawa typhoon, Pacific storm, Pacific supertyphoon, supertyphoon 2014, Supertyphoon Neoguri, supertyphoons, typhoon Neoguri, warming water

 

Installing a green roof on your home or business is not a matter that can typically be resolved by consulting the Yellow Pages. Companies that specialize in this subject are few and far between, but if you live in the metro Boston area, you are in luck: Recover Green Roofs can make your dream roof design a reality.

Read the rest of Need a Rooftop Farm? Call This Company

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Post tags: "sustainable architecture", Architecture, Bio-Architecture, Boston urban farm, Eco Architecture, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green home, green renovation, green roof, living roof, Living Walls, passive cooling, Recover Green roofs, Recover Greenroofs, rooftop farm, sustainable design, urban agriculture

In what will no doubt go own in history as the world’s most adorable scientific study, scientists have uncovered the secrets of how koalas keep themselves cool in the sweltering Australian summer. The little marsupials have quite possibly the cutest method ever of cooling down, because when things get hot, they don’t pant or wallow in the mud like other animals. Instead, koalas just hug a tree.

Read the rest of Scientists Find That Koalas are Officially the Original Tree Huggers

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Post tags: animal behavior, animal cooling, Australia animals, Australia heat, cooling behaviors, cooling down, cooling in Australia, global warming, how animals cool off, how animals stay cool, koala behavior, koala cooling, Koala research, koala tree huggers, koala tree hugging, koala trees, temperature, tree huggers, tree hugging

It’s like something you would expect out of a horror movie, but this story is unfortunately all true. A professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – ignoring every virus-related thriller ever – recently created a strain of the H1N1 virus that can escape the human body and spread practically unchecked. Professor Yoshihiro Kawaoka says that he wanted to study the virus so that he and his fellow researchers could get a better understanding of how viruses change in nature and, like any good thriller movie requires, he did it in a lab with a relatively low biosafety rating.

Read the rest of Scientists Just Created a Virus With the Potential to Wipe Out Humanity

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Post tags: bio manipulation, biohazard, changing viruses, Contagion, creating viruses, h1n1, H1N1 evolving virus, H1N1 supervirus, horror movies, Kawaoka, Professor Kawaoka, Professor makes supervirus., spreading supervirus, supervirus, university of wisconsin-madison, virus contagion, virus evolution, virus movies

Read the rest of The Biggest Hospital in North America to Feature a Green Roof with Medicinal Herbs

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Post tags: "energy efficiency", "sustainable architecture", CHUM hospital, eco design, green architecture, Green Building, green design, green roof, Montreal, Sustainable Building, sustainable design, Urban design

A Sri Lankan newspaper may have just found a a way to sustain the struggling print business – and it’s helping to stop the spread of mosquito-borne diseases at the same time. Mawbina newspaper teamed up with Leo Burnett Sri Lanka to create mosquito-repelling newspapers for a public health campaign – and once those papers hit newsstands, sales increased by 30 percent. In fact, the mosquito-fighting newspapers were so popular that they sold out by 10 am and brought lots life-saving attention to the fight against dengue fever.

Read the rest of World’s First Mosquito-Repelling Newspaper Boosts Print Sales 30% in Sri Lanka

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Post tags: citronella ink, citronella posters, dengue fever, dengue fever awareness, Leo Burnett Asia, mosquito repellant, mosquito repellant newspaper, mosquito repellant patches, mosquito repellant posters, National Dengue Week, social advertising, social design, social good, sri lanka, Sri Lanka newspaper

This is the series of Game of Thrones house themed soccer uniforms imagined by Spanish designer Nerea Palacios. She did a great job. I would play for any of those teams. Jk jk, I would only play for House Targaryen. I want the dragons on my team. "Dragons can't play soccer." No, but they can roast and eat all the opposing players, making it real easy for me to score goals. Aww shucks, MVP again? Keep going for eight more houses.

via http://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/7/28563944846

(Source + merci à Robin pour la suggestion)

This interesting blend of paint and typography by Warsaw-based designer Pawel Nolbert was created by photographing actual paint splatters and merging them with digital illustration techniques. Titled Atypical, he describes the series of posters as an exploration of the form and rhythm of letterforms “presented as half-realistic, half-illustrative figurative sculptures.” You can see more on his website, and prints are available on Society6. (via Illusion)

well, if this isn’t the prettiest power outlet i’ve ever seen, right? OKUM’s oon power outlet makes me want to plug things in, right out there in the open (which, i can attest to, is not my usual M.O.). i despise power cords, and until the day comes that everything is wireless, this little power outlet may be the answers to my decor prayers. the oon is designed by OKUM, an industrial design brand based in Los Angeles, California creating objects for everyday living that embody the ideals of long lasting – great design. well, thank goodness for that.

(NSFW Language) Nick Offerman plays a disembodied, omnipotent, and (presumably) much-mustachioed Voice in a short comedy film that sees a typical Wild West gunfighter face off against a saloon brimming with seemingly predictable characters. Hilarity ensues, et cetera.

TAKE ANOTHER BREAK

These are several shots of Migaloo (one of only two known albino humpback whales), during his migration up Australia's eastern coast. Scientists are concerned that a red rash near his dorsal fin (closeup after the jump, apparently all the yellow are natural algae blooms) may be indicative of skin cancer, although they're also considering the possibility he just ran into something. I am hoping for the latter. It's hard enough being a white whale, and now you've got to worry about skin cancer? I'll call Poseidon and see if we can't get this figured out. Hello, Poseidon? Yeah, it's me -- GW. What? No, that wasn't me in the dolphin costume trying to take topless photos of your mermaids. Why would I ever -- you say you found a camera with my name on it? It must have been stolen. I would like it back though with the memory card. Also, nobody happened to find a rubber dolphin tail, did they? Keep going for several more shots.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) just released its 24th annual Beach Report, “Testing the Waters 2014,” which identifies the most polluted beaches in the U.S. Shockingly, 10 percent of the nation’s beaches failed to meet water quality standards for safe swimming. The NRDC has released an interactive map to accompany the report, so you can see whether your favorite beaches are safe, or if they are going to give you something more than sunburn to worry about this summer.

Read the rest of 10% of U.S. Beaches Are Too Polluted for Swimming: How Does Your Favorite Rate?

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Post tags: bacteria, beaches, contaminated beaches, contaminated water, great lakes, interactive map, most polluted beaches in the US, Natural Resources Defense Council, nrdc, safe swimming, sewerage, swimming, water issues, water pollution, water quality

image by Chris

Have you ever wanted to be a bento box master but don’t know where to start? Most food art we see on Pinterest can take hours to create, so we’ve tracked down a recipe that’s not only easy to make but adorable and healthy as well! These onigiri panda are fun to make with your kids and easy way to spice up an ordinary lunch box. Click through to see the step-by-step directions for how to make these cute panda bears!

READ MORE>

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Post tags: bento box, DIY, how-to, Onigiri, panda bear, pickled ginger, rice ball, Seaweed