จำนวนการดูหน้าเว็บรวม

วันพุธที่ 6 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2565

THE WHITEST WHITE / THE BLACKEST BLACK/ ETC

      From Worldometer (new  COVID-19 deaths yesterday):

          DAY  USA  WORLD    Brazil    India    South Africa

June     9     1093     4732         1185        246       82
July    22      1205     7128         1293      1120     572
Aug    12      1504     6556        1242        835     130
Sept     9      1208      6222       1136       1168       82
Oct     21      1225      6849         571        703       85
Nov    25       2304    12025        620        518      118
Dec    30       3880    14748       1224       299      465
Jan     14       4142    15512       1151       189      712
Feb      3       4005    14265       1209       107      398
Mar      2       1989     9490        1726       110      194
April     6        906    11787         4211       631       37
May     4        853     13667        3025      3786      59 
June    1        287    10637         2346      3205      95
 July    7         251      8440        1595        817     411
Aug     4         656    10120        1118         532     423 
Sept   22      2228      9326          839        279     124
Oct      6       2102      8255          543        315       59
Nov    3        1436      7830         186         458       23
Dec     1       1633      8475          266        477       28
Jan     7        2025      6729         148        285      140
Feb     2        2990   12012          946        991      175
Mar     2        1778     7756          335        173        28 
         11        1022      6002         465           88       28
         18          721      5214         380           69       39
         24          649      5008         300           82       33
         31          676      4287         276           28       44
Apr     1          439      4056         290           52       12
           5          466      3712         205           72       15

Summary:  very little change.


Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky had a good point.  The UN needs to kick out Russia, which uses its veto power to make the organization powerless to do anything regarding the war.   Makes sense to me.  Forget the war crimes trial, the West really needs to act logically and responsibly in unison.


Zelenskyy Tells UN Security Council to Boot Russia — Or ‘Dissolve’

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave an impassioned speech to the United Nations Security Council yesterday, demanding Russia’s removal from the group. Since Russia is a permanent member with veto powers, he said it must be stopped from “blocking decisions about its own aggression, its own war.” Zelenskyy reminded members that the opening chapter of the U.N. charter aims to maintain peace, but it has been violated by Russia “literally starting with Article 1.” He ended with a warning: “If your current format is unalterable and there is simply no way out, then the only option would be to dissolve yourself altogether.” (Source: NPR)


I've said this before.  My favorite course in college was Color.  You've heard A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum.  Has a Bach-like effect and represents shades of melancholy.

Well, Purdue University has the whitest white paint, shown here by professor of mechanical engineering Xiulin Ruan.  Why try to get the whitest white?  

  • They thought this paint would remediate global warming.  
  • Their product reflects 98.1% of sunlight, from the previous high of 95.5%.  
  • Typical paints on the market only reflect from 80% to 90% of sunlight.
  • If all buildings are coated with their ultra-white paint, air-conditioning will be minimized.  For example, if you were to cover a roof of about 1000 square feet with this white, you could get a cooling power of 10 kilowatts, which is more than provided by most central air conditioners.
  • Their technique had to do with varying the size of barium sulfate particles.
  • Purdue could well end up with a lot of money from this research.

Artists have long been trying to monopolize colors.  A half century ago Yves Klein patented a blue pigment (International Klein Blue, or IKB).


So recently, a feud has developed between two artists.


What about the blackest black?

  • Normal black paint absorbs 97.5% of visible light.
  • Black itself is not really a color, but the absence of it.  Thus, the military is interested for stealth purposes.
  • In 2003, the National Physical Laboratory in the UK developed a substance called Super Black, which absorbed 99.6% of visible light at certain angles of incidence.
  • In 2009, British company Surrey NanoSystems created VantaBlack (for vertically aligned carbon nanotube array), which absorbed 99.96% of light.  This paint is concocted from carbon nanotubes and was more stable and durable.
  • In 2016, Anish Kapoor (above left) used it for painting a black circle on the floor.  That impressed Surrey NanoSystems, so they licensed Kapoor to be the only artist in the world who could use VantaBlack in art.
  • At one time British artist Stuart Semple (above right) admired Kapoor, but for that dastardly act, filed a protest.
  • In 2019 MIT engineers with visiting German artist Diemut Strebe, also using carbon nanotubes, developed a material ten times blacker, absorbing 99.9995% of incoming light.
  • In 2021, Semple got into the act and created Black 3.0 called Blink.
    • However, only 98-99% absorption.
    • Designed for calligraphy.
    • Available for $15.99/ 30 ml bottle.
    • Thus, the link between artists and basic researchers.
Pinkest pink?
  • Again created by Stuart Semple.
  • Can be used on canvas, paper, wood, plaster, fabric, masonry and any non-oily surface.
  • Sells for about five bucks, but not to Anish Kapoor.
There is a petty rivalry between Semple, who is 41, and Kapoor, 67, both from the UK.  Kapoor is that artist of Chicago's Cloud Gate, known by most as The Bean.  He was inspired by liquid mercury.


This led to Semple kiddingly trying to make The Bean pink.
How do you decide what is the reddest red?  Well, "experts" say this is cinnabar, also known as vermillion or mercury sulfide, a red ore.

Oh, Stuart Semple also has developed the yellowest yellow, etc.

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