I found these already identified but even then I would not have recognized her until image #1o.

That would be this one:

Born in 1934 and having lived through the occupation of Paris by the Nazis, a twelve year old Brigitte Bardot entered ballet school.

She had finally found something to be passionate about. Two hours of classes at the barre every day was very tiring but becoming a ballerina was her dream.

Soon she left that beginners school and began taking lessons from Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev. (One of her classmates was Leslie Caron.)
But she could see that being tall (5’7″ / 170.2 cm) limited her career as a ballet dancer and she eventually dropped out.

Soon after, at the invitation of an acquaintance of her mother, she modeled in a fashion show in 1949. In the same year, she modeled for a fashion magazine “Jardin des Modes” managed by journalist Hélène Lazareff.

Aged 15, she appeared on an 8 March 1950 cover of ELLE and was noticed by a young film director, Roger Vadim, while babysitting. He showed an issue of the magazine to director and screenwriter Marc Allégret, who offered Bardot the opportunity to audition for his film “Les Lauriers Sont Coupés. Although Bardot got the role, the film was cancelled, but it made her consider becoming an actress.

Moreover, her acquaintance with Vadim, who attended the audition, led to their marriage from 1952–1957.

Richard Pickens and his colleague, Ian Hanley, are working with the Bay Area Puma Project, using GPS collars and cameras to track pumas’ movements near one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country. Scientists at the Bay Area Puma Project are hoping to learn everything they can about these cats: what they eat, when they mate, where they go-and how they die. These are the kinds of observations that can most effectively inform conservation efforts like setting aside useful tracts of land for wildlife.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/12/141217-video-tracking-bay-area-california-puma/

Shown: Alviniconcha Strummeri

Like rock stars with mohawks brooding in leather jackets studded with spikes, the snail genus Alviniconcha shares a spiked shell.

“Because they look like punk rockers in the 70s and 80s and they have purple blood and live in such an extreme environment, we decided to name one new species after a punk rock icon,” said Shannon Johnson, a researcher at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

“Ordinary snails have smooth shells, but not this one. …the researchers who recently discovered it named it after Joe Strummer, the lead singer from The Clash. Alviniconcha Strummeri lives in acidic deep-sea environments, which totally makes sense because that’s a punk rock place to live. As long as scientists follow the international codes of botanical and zoological nomenclature, they name species as they wish. This gets people excited about science, otherwise, people might not see these snails.”

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/environment-and-nature/20141212/deemed-punk-rock-snail-named-after-the-clash-singer-joe-strummer

This is absolutely incredible and completely worth your 4 minutes if you’ve never seen the immediate and substantial peace and comfort that a brain pacemaker can bring to a person with Parkinson’s disease.

A small but significant step toward the restoration of what was once one of the planet’s most diverse ecosystems. It’s kind of uplifting and encouraging.

A bi-national agreement between Mexico and the USA has finally allowed water to be returned to areas  that in some cases have been dry for over 50 years.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/12/141216-colorado-river-delta-restoration-water-drought-environment/

I try to start my day with a visit to the sites, most of which are Pics of the Day (PotD).
I found today’s collection particularly interesting.
First, Earth Observatory PotD from NASA which had comparative images of a Greenland glacier from 1935 and 2013:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/?eocn=topnav&eoci=home

Next, also from NASA is the Astronomy PotD:
Today it’s “The Potsdam Gravity Potato.”

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

And then the always interesting National Geographic PotD. Today

it was beautiful Icelandic horses running free:

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/

And then yet another NASA site, the Earth Science PotD which today is an edible plant from the deciduous forests of N.America that I had never even heard of, “Wild Strawberry Spinach”

http://epod.usra.edu

And then, for an instant weather report I visit the Lawrence Hall of Science webcam situated in the Oakland Hills that gives a fantastic view of the Bay and SF:

It’s a bit overcast but that white streak on the middle left is the sunset over SF.
http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/static/scienceview/scienceview.berkeley.edu/html/view/index.php

And then I visit the Wiki Quote of the Day.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Main_Page

Often they quote someone on their birthday as they did today for Philip K. Dick:”We’ll know homo superior when he comes — by definition. He’ll be the one we won’t be able to euth.”
(I had to click on it too. Euth means homicide”

And then the Cloud Appreciation Society PotD.
This is A Sunrise over the Fens, Spalding, Lincolnshire, UK.
by © Irvine Goodger

Photo Gallery

And then the Wikipedia PotD, always something random like this bird’s-eye-view engraving of Manhattan in 1873:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Picture_of_the_day

And then the fantastic library of huge old photos that is Shorpy.com.
http://www.shorpy.com

(This is one of the few sites where I always click on the comments. They’re closely monitored, always polite, and often educational)

These 3 are from today-
The Daly City Health Dept in 1924:

Every year at this time they publish this 1925 image of
the ‘Office Christmas Party.’ The expressions and where certain gazes are directed hint at much going on beneath the surface, socially, politically, and sexually.

And this, one of a huge library of Kodachrome slides from several trips to Minnesota in 1951-1953.

Then I visit the Plane-of-the-Day PotD.
http://www.planeaday.com

Today’s is a Piaggio P.149

And Wheels-of-theDay PotD.
http://www.wheelsaday.com

Today it’s a picture of the bustling metropolis of Pioche, Nevada in the 1040’s:

And finally, the University of British Columbia’s Botany PotD which is always educational. Today it’s a lichen found in Peru called Dictyonema huaorani

This is a scan of the thallus, or vegetative structure, of Dictyonema huaorani. This specimen was collected in 1981 by Wade Davis and Jim Yost, two explorers in eastern Amazonian Ecuador conducting ethnobotanical research with the Waorani people. Yost had heard rumours of this lichen for seven years before finally locating this individual. To date, this is still the only known specimen in existence. 

It usually takes me about 20-30 minutes to view and read every page. It’s a great way to start off one’s day.

and this one is spectacular, especially if you’re into Middle Eastern history:

Even if most of the details are a mystery, as they were to me, it is still

quite entertaining.

…these days seem to be being done in the dusty back rooms, boxes, and files in museum storage areas.
Dinosaurs, a new carnivorous mammal, the oldest known human art, a 6,500 year-old human, and a new beastie stuck in amber have all been found there over the last few years.
And now this:

A cobalt blue glass bead made between 3,100-3,400 years ago. It was discovered by a farmer in a Bronze Age burial mound in Denmark in 1892 and has been sitting undisturbed in a Danish museum collection ever since.The glass bead turned out to be Egyptian. This is the first time that typical Egyptian cobalt glass has been discovered outside the Mediterranean area.
Baltic amber has been found in Egyptian tombs and this tiny artifact shows that the trade went both ways.

In the US, where we put our months ahead of our dates 12/13/14 was the last sequential date of the 21st century. (the rest of the world, which goes from smallest to largest [i.e., day/mo./yr] had their last one about a year ago on 11/12/13)

But don’t worry, there are plenty of more exceedingly geeky math-related dates left in the century:

Fibonacci, Mersenne and Recamán are hiding in your calendar.

Great news for folks whose kids have made it to the ‘nice’ list!