Tag: images

100 years of dog tinkering

Idiocracy is already here, for dogs.

The Basset Hound has gotten lower, has suffered changes to its rear leg structure, has excessive skin, vertebra problems, droopy eyes prone to entropion and ectropion and excessively large ears. No dog breed has ever been improved by the capricious and arbitrary decision that a shorter/longer/flatter/bigger/smaller/curlier “whatever” is better. Condemning a dog to a lifetime of suffering for the sake of looks is not an improvement; it is torture.

2021-11-08: Another look at extinct dog breeds:

After more than 30 ka by the side of their human companions, and the development of 100s of different types, all around the globe – for different climates, hobbies, tastes, and professions – dogs were suddenly at the mercy of shows and sporting events. “There are a number of dogs that the Victorians kind of abandoned. If dogs don’t get a following in a dog show, then they kind of disappear. Nobody breeds them, nobody buys them, nobody shows them.” The era saw a kind of mass extinction of dogs which had been in existence for ka.

Exquisite Libraries


stunning

Libraries encapsulate the history of knowledge and stand as monuments to different epochs in architecture, interior design and art. When Dr. James Campbell of Cambridge University could not find a book that traced the history of library buildings through the ages, he decided to write one himself. With the renowned architectural photographer Will Pryce he embarked on an epic journey across 21 countries, visiting 85 of the world’s greatest libraries. 3 years later the result is The Library: A World History, the most complete account of library buildings to date. Here James Campbell and Will Pryce take us on a virtual journey through some of their favorites.

Microsatellite

sorry for the repost, but the size of this satellite is just amazing.

2014-11-20:

This satellite has 10x the resolution of the big satellite with 0.1% of the mass. Satellite imaging is big, expensive and slow. A typical satellite is 6m tall, 5m wide, weighs 3 tons — and costs $855M. What we actually need, is images of the whole planet every day, and the current satellites are simply not scalable. So what we actually need are small, ultra-compact and highly capable satellites: 10x10x30cm

Japan Web Design Is Different

Go on a safari around Japan’s most popular sites and here’s what you can expect to find:
Dense tightly packed text
Tiny low-quality images
More columns than you can count
Bright clashing colors and flashing banners
Overuse of outdated technologies like Flash.
The theories for why this is are numerous.
Risk Avoidance – In general Japanese culture does not encourage risk taking or standing out from the crowd. Once a precedent has been set for things looking or behaving a certain way then everybody follows it, regardless of whether there is a better solution. Even Japanese subcultures conform to their own fashions and rules.
Consumer Behavior – People require a high degree of assurance, by means of lengthy descriptions and technical specifications, before making a purchasing decision – they are not going to be easily swayed by a catchy headline or a pretty image. The adage of “less is more” doesn’t really apply here.
Advertising – Rather than being seen as a tool to enable people Japanese companies often see the web as just another advertising platform to push their message across as loudly as possible. Websites ends up being about the maximal concentration of information into the smallest space akin to a pamphlet rather than an interactive tool.
Urban Landscape – Walk around one of Tokyo’s main hubs like Shibuya and you’re constantly bombarded with bright neon advertisements, noisy pachinko parlors, and crowds of rambunctious salary men or school kids. The same chaotic busyness of the streets seems to have spilled over to the web. Added to this, because physical space comes at a premium in Japan, none of it is wasted and the same goes for negative/white space on a webpage.

The Iron Triangle

the autobody shops in willets point do look pretty mad max.

There are no sidewalks. There are no stoplights or street signs. There are no sewer grates or manhole covers (because there are no sewers). It doesn’t take long before any sense of New York City completely disappears, and you begin to feel like you’ve somehow been transported to a strange apocalyptic world of tin shacks and ramshackle garages.

Nicknamed the Iron Triangle and containing 225 different autobody shops, you can see just how big the literal triangle of Willets Point is on the map below, bordered by 126th Street, Northern Blvd, and Willets Point Blvd.