Gothic architecture and alchemy are two topics I'll definitely talk about in my upcoming posts - taking, of course, Fulcanelli's books as starting point. 
So, nothing better than introducing the subject with a glimpse of the marvellous Green Man that welcomes us in one of the Jerónimos Monastery's pillars, in Lisbon. As a representative of nature's vegetative powers, the Green Man, a manly facial representation made of leaves and vegetal elements, deserves a special place in many cultures.

Using a collection of different images, NASA has been able to piece together a self-portrait  of the Rover Curiosity. The car-like laboratory with a 2.5 billion dollar price tag travelled for 8.5 months and 352 million miles in order to reach Mars. 

The self-portrait shows Mount Sharp in the distance, which is the final destination of the Rover. These high-definition images are released to the public in websites such as Unmanned Space Flight  and enhanced in order to display an earth like colouring. Portraits like the one shown on the left, are used by NASA engineers to track dust accumulation on the vehicle and tire wear. 

It should be noted the picture does not show the arm that connect the camera to the rover; this is because the image is produced using a collection of images stitched together with technology much like the ones that we use on our smartphones to make panoramic photos.

Made of wood, clay and shaped by the hands and creativity of Angolan children, the Submarino Cidade da Criança is an amazing creation which perfectly embodies the spirit of sharing and making beautiful things out of the simplest materials and resources. 
With its numerous inhabitants, boats and even a little village inside, it's a perfect reinterpretation of Noah's Ark, one of the most important myths of Mankind, shared by such different cultures such as the Babylonian to Hebrew/Christian: the myth of the original sin and Man's quest for redemption. 
With its beautiful simplicity, I couldn't help remembering the fact that Portugal spent 1000 Million euros buying two state-of-the-art submarines from Germany, a couple of years ago - both now unused, due to the prohibitive fuelling costs...

The Submarino - Cidade da Criança can be seen and discovered at the Centro Cultural de Belém, Museu Berardo exhibition, in Lisbon.
Photos by RF ©

While reading an article on the Globe and Mail newspaper about a 22 year-old engineer sending the first text message on December 3rd of 1992, I came to the realization that anyone born after my birth year (1991) was brought up with text-messaging as part of their life. That thought may not even cross most people's mind right away, but considering young adults (aged 18-24) are sending an average of 110 texts a day may stir up some thoughts. I, myself, am an avid smartphone user