Après une semaine de rumeur et avant la Photokina 2008, c’est au tour de Nikon de lâcher son nouveau réflex pour amateur expert, le D90, qui va venir concurrencer directement l’EOS 40D de Canon, le Sony Alpha 350 ou encore le Pentax K20D. Le D90 vous propose donc un capteur CMOS de 12,3 Mégapixels au format DX, le 14 bits, une sensibilité allant de 200 à 3200 ISO, un écran de 3″ avec une résolution VGA et la fonction LiveView, 11 collimateurs, une vitesse de 4,5fps, un mode Reconnaissance de Scène, le mode vidéo D-Movie qui vous permettra d’enregistrer de la vidéo HD en 720p à 24fps (que les APN compacts de la marque ne proposent même pas), la technologie D-Lightning, des fonctions d’éditions de photos et un port mémoire SD/SDHC. Il vous sera proposé pour mi-septembre à 999,95$ boîtier nu ou en kit avec l’objectif AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR, au prix de 1299,95$. Je n’ai pas encore les prix européens mais ça devrait être dans les 949€/1249€.

Martha Stewart has been the victim of natural disasters this summer. First, Ms. Stewart's farm in Bedford, N.Y. was struck by lightning earlier this summer, and now her East Hampton home on Lily Pond Lane was also struck with a bolt, which fried her stereo system and her electronic driveway gate. [ P6 ] Kirsten Dunst was spotted making out with Drew Barrymore 's ex Justin Long at Sunset Junction in LA, where she seems to have returned after a summer spent hanging around New York . [ NY Daily News ] Chloe Sevigny took a seaplane to Atlantic City to celebrate the opening of the new nightclub The Chelsea, which is owned by her brother Paul .

Hella drummer enlists No Age, members of LCD Soundsystem, Marnie Stern, and Les Claypool for his solo debut, which features hints of Liars tribalism, Boredoms bombast, Smell-scene art-punk, Lightning Bolt repeti-grooves, and Frank Zappa prog-overload.

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Hella drummer enlists No Age, members of LCD Soundsystem, Marnie Stern, and Les Claypool for his solo debut, which features hints of Liars tribalism, Boredoms bombast, Smell-scene art-punk, Lightning Bolt repeti-grooves, and Frank Zappa prog-overload.

read more

1883: Krakatau volcano in the Dutch East Indies roars to life with a volley of ever-increasing explosions. It will culminate the next morning with the loudest explosion in human history.

Krakatau (aka Krakatoa) had been rumbling and sending up puffs of ash since May 1883. The eruption turned deadly on the afternoon of Aug. 26, with the first explosion coming at 1 p.m. A column of black ash soon rose 17 miles into the sky above the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. Earth around and under the volcano continued to move, sending a tsunami out around 5 p.m. Others would follow.

Explosions continued at night, and lightning jumped between the ash column and the island. St. Elmo's Fire played on a ship's yardarms and rigging 25 miles away, ash fell on its deck and explosions deafened its crew.

Just after 10 a.m. on the morning of the Aug. 27 came the final, cataclysmic explosion with 26 times the power of the biggest H-bomb test. As Krakatau's underground magma chamber emptied, the sea rushed in, at first sucking ships toward it in an inbound current. Then the 2,600-foot-high volcanic cone collapsed into the center, leaving little of the island above water and sending out a truly colossal tsunami.

Hundred-foot tidal waves (up to 130 feet in some places) scoured nearby coasts, obliterating hundreds of villages and taking more than 36,000 lives. Much reduced, the sea wave swept past the Cape of Good Hope into the Atlantic Ocean and even caused a measurable ripple in the English Channel.

The noise was heard at Alice Springs in the middle of Australia. Four hours after the massive explosion, 3,000 miles away on the island of Rodrigues in the western Indian Ocean, it was recorded as the "roar of heavy guns." The sound was audible over 1/13 the surface of the globe, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The shockwave registered on a barometer in London.

The final eruption also threw pumice an estimated 34 to 50 miles into the sky. Dust fell more than 3,000 miles away 10 days later. Islands of pumice floated on the oceans for months. Sulfur in the ash reacted with atmospheric ozone to scatter sunlight, causing vivid red sunsets around the world. Global temperatures dropped, and climate disruptions lasted five years.

The Dutch government and Britain's Royal Society both launched investigations into the natural history of the eruption and its effects. These helped lay the foundations of modern volcanology.

Krakatau also exploded violently in 1115, opening the Sunda Strait and eradicating the isthmus that once connected the huge islands of Java and Sumatra. A half-century after its 1883 explosion, Anak Krakatau, or "child of Krakatau," emerged from the sea and now grows 20 feet a year. Its work in shaping our planet may not be over.

Source: Volcano (Time-Life Books); others