Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Animated Earth With Pixar

The seventh topic we had during class was about glaciers, deserts and wind, the following topics after that include plate tectonics, volcanoes, ocean floor and the like. As we go further with our subject, I wanted to showcase the earth through the eyes of Pixar Animation Studio and show you the earth through their works. With already 13 featured length movies you can see how they depicted and shown the environment. From lands, and seas to space, Pixar has done it all.

With A Bug’s Life (1998) the viewers are given a perspective of how ants live, showing the environment.



In Monster’s Inc. (2001) Mike and Sally were banished from the monster world and was sent to the Himalayas.

The ocean shown in Finding Nemo (2003) was spectacular.    


Forest, caves, running water and lava from The Incredibles (2004).




The Desert in Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011).



WALL-E (2008) has shown us the space as he followed Eve.




We followed Mr. Fredricksen and Russell in the skies of UP (2009).


Here's photos from the newest Pixar movie, Brave.




Photos from: 
Almost all screen caps are from : http://disneyscreencaps.com/

Monday, August 6, 2012

Sleeping With Rain

It has come, thy rainy season. Some people would love to curl up, stay in bed, read a good book and have a cup of hot tea or coffee. I for one am very fond of the rainy weather because I feel very soothed and I love the beautiful sound of raindrops. With one of our class topics being running water and ground water, it has reminded us how the water cycle work and with this perfect combination of weather I got interested in knowing more about the sound of rain and connection with babies sleeping and adults.   


Baby Photo source from: Anne Geddes

Babies get stressed out a lot, being overwhelmed with the new world they’re in, the new faces, lights and excitement around them. Even though they stay asleep longer than they stay awake, with an average of 14 to 18 hours a day, it is normal for them to wake up every now and then, they may cry and cry until you’re left out not knowing what else to do already giving them milk, rocking and singing them lullabies.

White noise can help babies sleep because it reminds them of their time in their mothers’ womb. It is even said that you should use it until one year of age. The womb being deafening loud, it is just slightly less loud than a lawnmower. Anything from a clock, to a fish tank and radio static can help a baby sleep tight, so one can definitely use the sound of rain pouring as a white noise for calming babies.  



You don't need to spend money on fancy devices, you can use hairdryers, or just make your shushing more louder than the babies crying. Or use videos from YouTube just like the one above. Though this make work for babies, some adults may find it annoying or uncomfortable listening to this noises such as the sound of continuous rain pour. As one grows older, they can develop an ear condition called Tinnitus, it can affect how one's perception of sound is. It can be caused by an ear infection, and foreign objects inside the ear. So be careful, and take care of your ear and you can enjoy staying asleep with the rain!

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