Filed under: Art, Cool Site of the Day, Education | Tags: Educational Possibilities, Essay on Comparative Size, Scale of the Universe
Understanding everything from microscopic to unimaginably vast: An Interactive Scale of the Universe. Or you could call it an interactive visual essay on size. Fascinating. At the same site are also “Powers of Ten.” “The Most Astounding Fact,” and “the Observable Universe.”
Changes your perceptions a little, or a lot. What a lot of work went into this video. Aside from just being really cool, it gives a hint of what education could be, if it were enhanced with interactive maps and timelines, pictures and portraits. You can read about a person, read their writings, but they don’t become fully real until you have some sense of what they look like.
I was unfortunate enough to have a history professor in college who was date obsessed. He would even give Saturday morning pop quizzes in which we had to construct a timeline of events from, say, 1872—1882. Developed a deep dislike of history for me, and it was only several years later that I began to read history and learned that it could be fascinating after all.
Filed under: Cool Site of the Day, Environment, Freedom, Heartwarming, Music, Science/Technology | Tags: Mesmerising., Starlings and Other Flocks, The Life of Birds
If you just looked at your W2 to find out how much your employer paid for your health insurance this year, here’s a peaceful moment. Sit back, relax, drain your mind of disturbing thoughts and enjoy. Do enlarge to full screen.
Filed under: Cool Site of the Day, Freedom, Heartwarming, History, The United States | Tags: A Little History, Library of Congress, President Calvin Coolidge
The Daily Caller has “10 Awesome photos of Calvin Coolidge” today, and they are indeed awesome. (from the Bain Collection/Library of Congress) Don’t miss it.
Filed under: Cool Site of the Day, Health Care, News of the Weird, Science/Technology | Tags: Sonoran Desert, Southern Grasshopper Mouse, Treating Human Pain
Zoologger is a weekly column at New Scientist that highlights extraordinary animals from around the world.
Onychomys torridus lives in the arid badlands of the Sonoran Desert in the south-western United States and northern Mexico.
In the dark expanses of the Sonoran desert in the US, a terrifying creature stalks the night, searching for fresh meat. Anything will do: crickets, rodents, tarantulas – the nastier the better.
Even the poisonous scorpion cannot escape the savage monster’s little pink paws. It fights bravely, stinging its attacker on the nose. To no avail. The mouse ignores the painful venom and cruelly breaks the scorpion’s tail by pummeling it into the ground, then bites its head and feasts on its flesh. Throwing its head back, the murderous animal howls at the moon.
(Image: Michael and Patricia Fogden/Minden/NGS)
This is the southern grasshopper mouse, the only carnivorous mouse in North America. It’s unique biology and resistance to scorpion venom may one day help researchers to treat human pain disorders.
This odd little fellow is a natural-born killer. They take over burrows of other animals and remover any occupants by force. In particularly bad times, they may turn cannibalistic, killing and eating their own species. But they do have unusual resistance to pain. Read the whole article to see how this characteristic may one day help humans.
(purloined from Vanderleun)
Filed under: Cool Site of the Day, Freedom, Humor, Military | Tags: An Introduction, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Navy
There is a quite wonderful post at the Marine Corps Web Log entitled:
“HOW TO SIMULATE BEING IN THE NAVY”
For those of you have been in the Navy it will be a wonderful chance to reminisce. For wives and family, an appreciation of why they behave the way they do. For those who are complete landlubbers, you need some exposure to the life of a sailor, and some understanding of their reality. It’s only fair.
Don’t miss it.
Filed under: Art, Capitalism, Cool Site of the Day, Freedom | Tags: American Entrepreneurs, Skilled Craftsmen, Work of the Hands
I love these videos that show how things are made, because there are so many things and I am so ignorant about how it is done. Skilled craftsmen are a joy to watch.
(h/t: Vanderleun)
Filed under: Conservatism, Cool Site of the Day, Freedom, Fun n Games | Tags: Christmas gifts, conservatives, GOP, Holidays, Reagan, Republicans
There is still time to order our authentic reproductions of the official, iconic 1980 Reagan campaign t-shirts, and other great designs and have them delivered by December 24th using standard shipping. Our t-shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, mugs & other gear make perfect gifts and stocking stuffers for every member of the family!
Filed under: Architecture, Art, Cool Site of the Day, Environment | Tags: Planned Cities, Satellite Photography, Utopias
Wired features a fascinating series of pictures of planned cities seen from space. A planned city is laid out all at once and built from scratch. They are designed with a definite purpose, to formalize a capitol city, to maximize green space, or just to organize people into their proper places. Some were designed as a compromise between two cities vying to be their country’s capitol. Some are built to keep workers near a nuclear plant or a copper mine in the middle of nowhere. Some are designed to be a kind of Utopia—with public gardens, promenades, throughways and harmony— to improve on what city design has been before or what other cities have grown to become.
City planning is not just contemporary, planned cities can be found throughout history. The pictures from space are beautiful, and somehow haunting. Imagine the architects or planners seeing their original plans and drawings newly visualized in reality—what was once only a dream. See all ten here.
Filed under: Cool Site of the Day, Foreign Policy, Freedom, History, Politics, The Constitution, The United States
The Obama Campaign in 2008 depended heavily on a cult of personality. One wouldn’t think that the techniques of personality as imposed on the desperate citizens of North Korea would ever be attempted in the United States of America.
They have not given up on the technique. The Obama campaign is now offering a print of Obama’s O-Logo flag for just $35.00.
Doug Ray pointed out some similarities to present events. He tweeted:
Weird… BO’s O-Logo US flag bears a resemblance 2 the blood stained walls of US embassy (post terrorist attack)
Over at Human Events, David Harsanyi has assembled a
“SHORT VISUAL HISTORY OF THE CREEPY OBAMA CULT“
It’s an excellent collection, quite representative, but there is lots more available if you look. It is indeed creepy. Perhaps it is inevitable in a time of celebrity-worship such as today. Man-in-the-street interviews clearly show that more people can answer questions about their favorite celebrity than can identify their senator or the vice president.
When we elect a president, we are hiring a manager for the executive branch of the government. Back when the Revolution was won, and George Washington was unanimously elected to be the first President of the new United States of America, many thought he should be a king, that he should be called “your highness.” A President was something quite new, and Mr. Washington wisely rejected all aspects of royalty, and trappings of the very class-conscious excess of hereditary divine right of kings. Pity that Barack Obama never learned much history, nor understood that restraint breeds respect. There’s a reason why Ronald Reagan never took off his jacket in the Oval Office.
I posted this quote from Jonah Goldberg recently. It’s not supposed to be about falling in love.
The people are the boss, the government is the servant. The Constitution is the government’s job description, the Declaration of Independence is its mission statement. Campaigns are the job interview, elections are the hiring and firing process.
ADDENDUM: Texas governor Rick Perry has a gentle comment to add>
Filed under: Blogging, Cool Site of the Day, Middle East, Military, National Security, The United States | Tags: Bashar Assad, Syria Makes Threats, WMD? What WMD?
Syria threatens to use WMD which are
figment of neocons’ imagination
William Jacobson at Legal Insurrection has great fun reporting on everybody’s comments on current affairs in Syria. Well, not everybody—just all the liberals, and the Assad regime. Do read the whole thing.
Filed under: Architecture, Art, Cool Site of the Day, History, The United States | Tags: Early 20th Century, Municipal Archives, New York City Photographs
New York City’s Municipal Archives have just released over 870,000 images from its photographic collection. It is, as the Atlantic describes it,”a visual coming-of-age story, documenting its maturation into one of the world’s most influential cities.”
The Atlantic’s Alan Taylor has sifted through the images, and come up with 53 early and mid-20th century images for their magazine. The Atlantic has done a number of these spectacular photo essays, and they are always worth your time. There is a link to the whole collection, but they warn the website is swamped, and you may have difficulty reaching it. I loved this early street sweeper. Click on the image to enlarge.
Filed under: Art, Cool Site of the Day | Tags: Lavatory Portraits, Nina Kachadourian, Renaissance Style
To pass the time during long flights, artist Nina Katchadourian goes to the lavatory, adorns herself in tissue costume, and creates hilarious self-portrait photos in the style of Flemish Renaissance paintings. She calls the series
“Seat Assignment Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style”
(h/t: Laughing Squid)
