| Building a luxury home may seem counterproductive to the concept of sustainability. The current popularity of the “not so big” house (a term you may have heard from Susan Susanna’s series of books by the same name) and the even smaller subculture of the “tiny house” undoubtedly illustrate a greener way to build, with less material needed and smaller spaces to heat and cool. But these homes are often impractical for a family of more than…one. You can rid yourself of half your possessions, but it’s likely you’ll still want a room of your own, a bit of space to Continue reading Window of opportunity £16,500 If you expect to get a bit of style with your £16,500 speakers you might be a bit disappointed by the Sophia 3s. Distinctive and unusual perhaps sums it up best. They’ll appeal to a die-hard fan of Silent Running (we can’t be the only people to think they look like the garden-tending robots of the ’70s sci-fi classic, can we?) Wilson Audio has prioritised function over form, though, for these undoubtedly high-end speakers. The idea here is that the shaping and cabinet materials work optimally for each range of frequencies. The company has also opted for a full Continue reading Wilson Audio Sophia 3 Throughout this project I have been testing out the Wimberley Head version II. The Wimberley Head (WH) is a specialised tripod head aimed at photographers using large, heavy telephoto lenses. I was keen to put it through its paces to see how it performed. My main interest in a tripod head is whether it allows for easy and accurate control of a lens. The WH has been cleverly designed to allow you to rotate a large lens around its centre of gravity, which essentially means that a heavy lens can be moved about without any effort at all. I found Continue reading Wimberley tripod head Nelson Joseph It is unlikely that Saturn’s ring system will ever form one large moon. Saturn has an extensive ring system, with more than ten different sections to it. However, the ring system is extremely thin, just ten metres (30 feet) thick on average, and is made up of mostly very small ice particles, so even if a moon was made from all the ring particles it would only be a few hundred kilometres across. There are many moonlets located within the ring system that are proposed to have formed from material in the rings, but these are usually from Continue reading Will the rings around Saturn eventually make a moon? As the world’s favourite crowdfunding site escalates from 3D-printed key rings to multi-million-dollar vanity projects for wealthy Hollywood directors, we ask… YES Almost every big movie or game is now part of a franchise. Why? Investment. If it’s not a safe bet, it doesn’t happen. Akira, The Birds, Commando, RoboCop, Highlander, Scarface and Lethal Weapon are all set for unnecessary remakes, while original ideas are ignored. When Kickstarter arrived, it promised to upset this stale system and sell new ideas straight to the audience. It worked. But then Zach Braff, star of simpering faux-indie whinge-fest Garden State, showed up, gigantic, Continue reading WILL CELEB PROJECTS KILL KICKSTARTER? 1. Give your tunes away for free! The scandal: Wiley cancelled his Glastonbury set this June after arriving on-site. Wiley says: “I used to love Glastonbury. I respect the man who started it, and all the stuff that goes into it. People say, ‘You should be grateful they put you on the line-up’. But Glastonbury don’t care about me. They didn’t headline me. They didn’t put me on the main stage, they had me in a tent like a nobody. I am a nobody, to Glastonbury. That’s why I decided I didn’t have the energy. I thought, ‘This festival don’t Continue reading Wileys lessons in modern music! Ever decreasing circles -getting close to wildlife Wildlife photography is often considered the domain of extreme long lenses. These great bazooka-like lumps of glass, metal and engineering plastic that cost a fortune and weigh a proverbial ton are seen as an easy solution when your subjects are shy, skittish and difficult or dangerous to approach. While there are times long lenses are unavoidable, anyone who has ever worked with super telephotos will tell you that far from being an easy solution they are especially challenging to use well. The high levels of magnification they achieve means that every tiny movement Continue reading WILDLIFE UP CLOSE I picked up my first SLR at the age of 13, a good old film-I loading one (35mm format). My dad had photography a, I his hobby, and he introduced me to the colorful world o capturing images with a camera. When I was 17, I got my first D-SLR, and that’s where my photographic journey started. Initially I tried to explore every genre of photography I hearc about, but at some point I realized that nature photography gives me more pleasure than anything. Then I was introduced to magazines like Smart Photography, and websites like India Nature Watch(INW) (INW Continue reading Wilderness Awareness As the last USAFE F-4G Wild Weasels return to the United States for the last time, Barry D Smith talks to the crews that flew the type with such success during the Gulf War. ONE OF THE MOST dangerous missions of the Gulf War was the suppression of enemy air defences, both missiles and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA). Two squadrons of F-4G Phantoms were sent to the Gulf to combat radar-guided missiles and AAA. Known as Wild Weasels, they tracked and destroyed sites with radar-homing missiles. What follows are comments of several crew members assigned to the 561st Fighter Squadron based Continue reading Wild Weasels FROM REMOTE SAVANNAH TO TROPICAL JUNGLE, GET CLOSE TO NATURE ON A SAFARI ADVENTURE TSWALU KALAHARI, SOUTH AFRICA Want a luxury safari but don’t fancy battling the tourist hordes at Kruger National Park? Then head to the edge of the Kalahari Desert, where you’ll find the stunning Tswalu, described by Forbes magazine as ‘the best safari lodge you’ve never heard of’. Even in a country famed for its super-luxe lodges, Tswalu is the swishest and sexiest. Stay in one of the eight striking suites at the main lodge, the Motse, all of which have an open fireplace, sumptuous bathroom with Continue reading Wild HEAT | |
