Word: haze
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Such trees as fragrant pine and plants such as pungent sage produce the "blue haze" that occurs during summer, even over relatively uninhabited areas of land. They emit molecular substances known as terpenes and esters, which react with sunlight to form a smog similar to the one produced by man-made pollutants. Terpenes, says Went, like some industrial and automobile pollutants, are "incredibly toxic." In some parts of the West, where they are generated by sage, they actually inhibit the growth of other vegetation...
Fortunately for mankind, blue haze is usually purged from the atmosphere by rain and snow before it reaches dangerous concentrations. In samples of snow collected in a remote section of Yellowstone National Park-where man-made pollutants are not likely to be at fault-Went has found "little globs of asphaltic tar matter...
...Times of London sadly observes, "a stroll past any building site, a visit to any factory gives the real clue to the country's troubles." One day last week, the sun poked through the haze above Mayfair just after the "elevenses" tea break and just before the lunch break. All work on a Curzon Street building stopped as the construction gang peeled off shirts and spread-eagled across the masonry for a sun tan. On English docks from Liverpool to Southampton, 14-man gangs of stevedores can be found idly following the forklift trucks that replaced them. When...
...kites flown by bright-eyed barefoot boys. In Makasar, spotted deer tethered to trees keep the grass cut short beside the boulevards; while, on the waterfront, Buginese sailmakers squat on the docks sewing large squares of canvas together. The spicy aroma of cooking fires drifts lazily in the twilight haze on the Musi River in Palembang, and the evening sun casts a warm orange glow on the great white mosque of Banda Atjeh. In Padang, the bustling bazaars are piled high with a rainbow of fruits and silks...
Except for the glint of halos, the figures in this youthful Madonna, despite their hierarchic gestures, are close kin to flesh and blood. Subtly but simply, the artist has divided his composition in two: at right, the blue haze dissolves into atmospheric depth; while at left, the leafy, lemon-bearing latticework seems to push the Madonna's arm forward. The artist flips her cloak inside out to balance the push and pull between foreground and background, playing its green lining against distant hills, its blue surface against the trellis...