2012
In a paper published in the journal Science, biologists wrote that the tendrils of cucumbers have the ability to entwine and attach themselves to the branches of trees, to “jump” towards warm spots by “springing” special fibres in their cells, flexing their antennae into a spiral to “dry out”, subsequently leading to the compression of these cells.
31 August 2012
RIA-Novosti
Look at the following:
Bishop of Orthodox Church Placed on Leave Pending Investigation
The local bishop of the Orthodox Church in America has been placed on administrative leave amid allegations of “inappropriate” behaviour with a woman. The action comes more than a month after the church’s national leader, from Chicago, was forced to resign. In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Matthias, 63, denied the accusations, which he said came to light in a formal complaint submitted to the church last week. He wrote, “The allegations are that I made unwelcome written and spoken comments to a woman that she regarded as an inappropriate crossing of personal boundaries and an abuse of my pastoral authority”. Born David Lawrence Moriak, Bishop Matthias was consecrated bishop of the Chicago and Midwest diocese last year. In accord with the denomination’s policies, Bishop Matthias will remain on paid administrative leave until a church investigation is completed. The complaint comes a little more than a month after Chicago native Metropolitan Jonah resigned from the head of the church at the unanimous request of leaders, including Bishop Matthias. A week after his resignation, the bishops disclosed that he failed to remove a priest accused of rape in 2010 and urged the accuser and her family to stay quiet. They blamed Metropolitan Jonah for exposing the church to legal liability.
31 August 2012
Manya Brachear
Chicago Tribune
I believe that Leonid Kishkovsky, John Jillions, and John Matusiak all deserve le sabot for conspiring to keep this news off oca.org. The purpose of an official website is to pass on news of vital importance to the Church, its believers, and the world at large. The suspension of a bishop is such news. As of 16.25 EDT, the news is still not posted on oca.org. That’s intentional and incorrigible malfeasance, and Lyonyo, Jillions, and Slacker Matusiak all deserve to swing at the end of a rope (metaphorically) for such a criminal action.
What shall it take to prove that the OCA is an unthrifty beast only fit for the humane killer? I’m not feeling well (a touch of the flu), yet, this news has to get out. Anyone who supports the autocephalist fantasies of Schmemann et al after this point is crackbrained beyond redemption. It’s time to go home… am I the only one to see that? Pass me the jug. I know that the world’s crank, but this?
Barbara-Marie DrezhloFriday 31 August 2012
Albany NY
The house of the blacksmith Sergei Ivanovich Kirillov, located in the village of Kunara in Sverdlovsk Oblast, is justly famous for its striking beauty… tourists are riveted to the spot.
Another view of the Kirillov House.
The house resembles a fairytale tower; Kirillov built it in the middle of the 20th century… he began work in 1954 and he finished it in 1967.
Kirillov inherited the house from his grandfather. The building was in poor condition and needed repair.
Since then, Kirillov hasn’t stopped working on the house and decorating it. In the image above, Kirillov’s daughter Lyudmila touches up the paint on the house’s façade.
Figures of children, riders, birds, missiles, Soviet symbols, heroes, different phrases, and many other items decorate the house.
Today, Kirillov’s widow, Lydia Kharitonovna, lives in the house.
In all of Russia, you won’t find another house that’s just as beautiful as this one is. In 1999, it won an award as the most beautiful house in the country. In the image above, we see Kirillov’s daughter Lyudmila in the courtyard getting ready to refresh the house’s paint.
The house stands on a busy highway, but Kirillov’s widow never locks it up.
Lydia has plenty of help with the upkeep of the house from people who appreciate her late husband’s creation; he was a master who spent his entire life creating this fairy tale house.
30 August 2012
RIA-Novosti
Arctic ice levels, August 2012
The National Snow and Ice Data Centre in the USA confirmed that data presented by its Japanese colleagues show that Arctic sea ice shrank to its lowest point since satellite records began in 1979, down to 4.1 million square kilometres (1.58 million square miles) in August. This is 70,000 square kilometres (27,000 square miles) less than the previous record low set on 18 September 2007. Foreign experts forecast that by 2040, the Earth’s ice cap might disappear, but Russian scientists disagree with these pessimistic forecasts. Experts from various countries are closely monitoring the state of the Arctic sea ice because this region is the “weather kitchen” of the planet. Since 1979, they’ve used satellite images, but applied different methods to assess the area covered by ice. Scientists from the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute (AANII) in St Petersburg are leaning on rich experience gained by field studies, which foreign experts don’t have.
Dr Genrikh Alekseyev said, “The findings show that the Arctic sea ice is ‘renewing’ itself; this is a seasonal change, it’s not the disappearance of the icepack. The reason is that in the summer, the ice melts, whilst in the winter, ice is formed. Practically, the area covered by winter ice shrinks very slowly. In the winter, the ice layer is restored. However, this concerns especially newly-formed ice in the process of formation, and, by next year, its thickness can reach up to 1-metre (@40 inches) or more”.
In winter, the newly-formed ice actively can form a 1.2-metre (@47 inches)-thick layer, whilst the coastal ice can grow up to 2.0 metres (79 inches). Consequently, the Arctic sea ice layer doesn’t change significantly. Moreover, according to Dr Alekseyev, in the summer, ice melts seas unequally in different places. This year, the seas through which the Northern Sea Route passes were covered with an unusually-thick ice layer. A thin ice layer covered the Barents Sea, but the amount of ice in the Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, and Chukchi Seas exceeded the level of 2007. The conditions in the Arctic in a warm summer can be considered abnormal, but the Northern Sea Route hasn’t been completely freed from ice yet. Dr Alekseyev noted, “This means that we’d still need icebreakers in future. According to forecasts made by using calculations on global models, by the end of the century, ice might disappear almost completely in the summer, but ice will be formed up to the previous borders in the winter”.
The extreme melting of ice in the summer 2012 is most likely the last sign that the warming is ending. In fact, ice is a product of climate, and Dr Alekseyev pointed up that when you compared the graphs of the air temperature and melting ice, one can see that they coincide. The long-term monitoring by experts at the institute confirmed the presence of a 60-year climatic fluctuation cycle, where reorganisation of atmospheric processes and the circulation of oceans related to them take place. At present, according to their calculations, another period of warming is ending, whilst the previous warming peak was registered between 1930 and 1940. We only know the nature of these cycles in a vague way, and scientists are still unaware of many of the natural processes of the oceanic environment.
31 August 2012
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_08_31/Arctic-sea-ice-rejuvenating/
Voices from Russia 
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