A spectacular display of lightning decorated the Southern California night sky on Tuesday. At one point, 1,489 pulses of lightning in just five minutes off the California coast has been recorded by the National Weather Service (NWS).
A heavy group of thunderstorms created the beautiful visual effect. Earth Networks detected More than 20,000 pulses of lightning from 6 p.m. to midnight according to WTOP meteorologist Steve Prinzivalli.
Three terminals at Los Angeles International Airport also experienced the lightning and it struck a plane. Reports said that no harm were happened to the passengers and the Delta flight to Seattle returned to the airport, where passengers later boarded a different plane.
Image/Video courtesy : youtube, accuweather.com / images are subject to copyright
Forbes has officially announced the list of Billionaires in the World on Tuesday! Despite his pending divorce, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon retains his top spot for now.
The Forbes World’s Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from February 8, 2019.
Kylie Jenner becomes the world’s youngest self-made billionaire ever at her age of 21 with $1 B. Chang Yun Chung becomes the oldest in the list with $2.1 B.
“Capitalism is taking some lumps” as for only the second year in a decade, both the number of billionaires and their total wealth shrank, “proving that even the wealthiest are not immune to economic forces and weak stock markets” said Forbes regarding this year’s list.
Image courtesy : Forbes / images are subject to copyright
A huge strange looking fish washed up in Santa Barbara, California. The fish was about seven-foot (2.1m) length. Scientists are wondering about how the fish made it so far from its home waters. Researchers first thought that it was a similar to species of sunfish.
The fish was spotted at the Coal Oil Point Natural Reserve by intern at the University of California. It was found out that it belongs to a species tht is never seen before in North America. The animal was recognized as hoodwinker sunfish.
Marianne Nyegaard, a marine scientist who discovered the species in 2017 said “When the clear pictures came through, I thought there was no doubt. This is totally a hoodwinker, I couldn’t believe it. I nearly fell out of my chair.”
Scientists says that the saltwater sunfish have mainly 5 species and comes from different places. They are located in tropical waters, subtropics etc. The hoodwinker prefers temperate water as per scientists.
Image courtesy : www.inaturalist.org / images are subject to copyright
The 91st Academy Awards, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, honored the best films of 2018. The ceremony was held on February 24, 2019, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. AMPAS presented Academy Awards in 24 categories. The ceremony was televised in the United States by American Broadcasting Company and produced by Donna Gigliotti and Glenn Weiss, with Weiss also serving as director.
Lets check out the list of 2019 Oscar winners:
Best picture : Green Book
Directing : Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Actress in a leading role : Olivia Colman (The Favourite)
Actor in a leading role : Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Actress in a supporting role : Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk)
Actor in a supporting role : Mahershala Ali (Green Book)
Animated feature film : Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Cinematography : Alfonso Cuarón (Roma)
Costume design : Ruth Carter (Black Panther)
Documentary (feature) : Free Solo
Documentary (short subject) : Period. End of Sentence
Film editing : Bohemian Rhapsody
Foreign language film: Roma (Mexico)
Makeup and hairstyling : Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe, and Patricia DeHaney (Vice)
Music (original score) : Ludwig Göransson (Black Panther)
Music (original song) : “Shallow” by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt (A Star Is Born)
Production design : Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart (Black Panther)
Short film (animated) : Bao
Short film (live action) : Skin
Sound editing : John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone (Bohemian Rhapsody)
Sound mixing : Bohemian Rhapsody
Visual effects : Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J.D. Schwalm (First Man)
Writing (adapted screenplay) : Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott and Spike Lee (BlacKkKlansman)
Writing (original screenplay) : Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly (Green Book)
Photo courtesy: Google / images are subject to copyright
Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife Meghan, who are expecting their first child, arrived in Casablanca on Saturday night. The royal couple is having a three day tour, which intends to promote the education and mental awareness of girls.
Meghan Markle appeared to be dazzling in her gorgeous red Valentino dress. This royal visit aimed at strengthening the UK’s links with Morocco – which is one of the few stable countries in the region.
The royal suit of the Casablanca airport welcomed the royal pair with the traditional food of milk and dates.
Photo courtesy: Google / images are subject to copyright
The 39th edition of the British Phonographic Industry’s annual pop music awards, Brit Awards 2019 was held on 20 February 2019 at The O2 Arena in London.
The 1975 and Calvin Harris scoop two awards each – as Matty Healy criticises misogyny in the music industry. George Ezra wins the British male solo artist award and Jorja Smith wins the female solo artist gong. The Carters, Drake and Ariana Grande wins international awards. Ed Sheeran was honoured with the Global Success Award for the second year running.
Lets take a look the list of Brit Awards 2019:
British Album of the Year : The 1975 – A Brief Inquiry Into Online Relationships
British Female Solo Artist : Jorja Smith
Best British Male : George Ezra
British Group : The 1975
British Breakthrough Act : Tom Walker
Critics’ Choice : Sam Fender
British Single : Calvin Harris and Dua Lipa – One Kiss
British Video : Little Mix ft Nicki Minaj – Woman Like Me
International Male Solo Artist : Drake
International Female Solo Artist : Ariana Grande
International Group : The Carters
BRITs Global Success Award : Ed Sheeran
Outstanding Contribution to Music : Pink
British Producer of the Year : Calvin Harris
Sunaya Paison Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright
The late designer Karl Lagerfeld’s famous pet cat will be reportedly inheriting some of his fortune, worth £150m. Lagerfeld aged 85, died on 19th February 2019 in a Paris hospital. It is reported that Lagerfeld has left some of his $200m (£153m) fortune to his famous pet cat, along with his 11 year old godson Hudson Kroenig. Thus, this 7 year old blue eyed Choupette became the wealthiest cat in the world.
Lagerfeld with his Choupette
Lagerfeld with his godson Hudson Kroenig
“Men’s fashion means little to me. I buy it, of course, but drawing a men’s collection and put up with all those stupid models, no thanks.” – Karl Lagerfeld
In an interview with Numero, he was asked whether he made his cat the heir to his vast fortune. He replied to the question: “Among others, yes. Don’t worry, there is enough for everyone.”
Karl Otto Lagerfeld was a German creative director, fashion designer, artist, photographer, and caricaturist from Paris. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position he held from 1983 until his death, and was also creative director of the Italian fur and leather goods fashion house Fendi, and of his own eponymous fashion label. Following health complications in January 2019, Lagerfeld was admitted to the American Hospital of Paris in Parisian suburb Neuilly-sur-Seine on 18 February. He died there the following morning from complications of pancreatic cancer.
Sunaya Paison Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright
French film ‘By the Grace of God’ has overcome all efforts aimed to prevent its release, as the judicial system of the country has been successfully convinced that the release of the film would not affect the judgment of any case pending before the system.
Why the film has been subjected to the legal tug-of-war
French cleric Bernard Preynat has approached the judicial system against the film, saying that the film could prejudice the trial of a case against him pending in the system.
Why the film is so controversial
The film discusses the story of three people who have been sexually abused by a Catholic cleric. In other words, it is the cinematic version of the chargesheet filed against Mr Preynat.
How serious is the issue of sexual abuses in the Catholic Churches
Recently, Pope Frances indirectly admitted that the issue of sexual abuse in the church cleric community was one of the serious issues faced by the community.
The Pope is set to convince a global meeting of church community members to discuss the issue in the near future.
Recently, a senior cleric was defrocked over the charges of sexual abuse.
The timing of the film is very crucial. It comes at the time the world discusses the issue of sexual abuses in the Catholic Churches, and at the time the French society discusses the rare case of Mr Preynat.
It is the blind faith of some that embolden many to commit crimes in the name of that faith. A crime is a crime. No criminals should be protected under the shield of faith.
Vignesh. S. G Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright
“Do you really exist?” This question may seem funny or unfair to you. But its time to rethink about the strange facts in such a question. The technology has grown into far distances. Using vast technological areas of the AI (Artificial Intelligence), software engineer Phillip Wang created the website named ‘This Person Does Not Exist’.
The website provides us the images of humans who never existed! This website is created using Generative adversarial network (GANs), which is a class of machine learning algorithms used in unsupervised learning, implemented by a system of two neural networks contesting with each other in a zero-sum game framework.
Each time when you refresh this website, you can see the image of different ‘non-existed’ persons. The website tells us how an artificial image and an identity can easily be created in this hi-tech world. Most of the identity proofs uses our images. Also, the modern gadgets are secured with the owner’s images using AI technology. The technology is linking the real world with the AI generated images.
The GANs technology was first introduced in 2014. But, when the NVIDIA took up the technology in 2017, more realistic images were obtained. This technology can be used in the advertising, modelling, photo shoot and many other fields where computer-generated models will be growing exponentially. And when these images can be moved and transferred into 3D or 5D, movies will be filled with ‘AI- actors’ in future!
Sunaya Paison Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright
Leonardo da Vinci or simply Leonardo, was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance whose areas of interest included invention, drawing, painting, sculpting, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, writing, history, and cartography. He has been variously called the father of palaeontology, ichnology, and architecture, and he is widely considered one of the greatest painters of all time.
Check out some of his famous paintings:
Bacchus
Mona lisa
Salvator Mundi
The Last Supper
The Virgin and Child with St. Anne
Michelangelo
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, commonly known as Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance born in the Republic of Florence, who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art. A number of Michelangelo’s works of painting, sculpture and architecture rank among the most famous in existence.
Angel
Delphic Sibyl
Pieta
The Creation of Adam
The Last Judgment
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, stage designer, poet and playwright who spent most of his adult life in France. Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his early years, painting in a naturalistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. Picasso was exceptionally prolific throughout his long lifetime. The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50,000, comprising 1,885 paintings; 1,228 sculptures; 2,880 ceramics, roughly 12,000 drawings, many thousands of prints, and numerous tapestries and rugs.
Family of Saltimbanques
Guernica
Portrait of Ambroise Vollard
Portrait of Gertrude Stein
The Old Guitarist
Filippino Lippi
Filippino Lippi was an Italian painter working in Florence, Italy during the later years of the Early Renaissance and first few years of the High Renaissance. He was born in Prato, Tuscany, the illegitimate son of the painter Fra Filippo Lippi and Lucrezia Buti. His major works are: The Coronation of the Virgin, Madonna with Child, St Anthony of Padua and a Friar, Tobias and the Angel etc.
Apparition of the Virgin to St Bernard
Madonna with Child and Saints
Portrait of a Youth
Portrait of an Old Man
Tobias and the Angel
Sunaya Paison Photo Courtesy: Google/ images are subject to copyright
