Ah … everyone loves a statistical map, and this collection takes the cake!
A Kansas State University geography PhD student, Tom Vought, created density maps of the seven deadly sins across the US. The operationalizations of some of these constructs are unquestionably up for debate, but this is a totally fun demo to play around with, anyway. Interesting how the Bible Belt seems to be most deeply entrenched in sinful behavior … if asked for a retort, I bet they would point out that the seven deadly sins is a catholic concept, anyway.
The first article linked below describes the project, including the statistics that were used to index each of the 7 deadly sins. The second link goes straight to interactive maps of the US for each of the seven deadly sins. Classic!
The question of evil and where it lurks has been largely ignored by the scientific community, which is why a recently released study titled “The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins Within Nevada” is groundbreaking: Never before has a state’s fall from grace been so precisely graphed and plotted.
Geographers from Kansas State University have used certain statistical measurements to quantify Nevada’s sins and come up with a county-by-county map purporting to show various degrees of lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride in the Silver State. By culling statistics from nationwide databanks of things like sexually transmitted disease infection rates (lust) or killings per capita (wrath), the researchers came up with a sin index. This is a precision party trick – rigorous mapping of ridiculous data.
While I’ve been amazed by pictures of Martian ice, this is hands-down the most astonishing picture I’ve yet seen. Of course, it’s not been verified yet whether or not this is truly H2O, but it’s certainly liquid, and there’s obviously frozen water in the environment… so why not?
…ignoring the numerous reasons for “why not,” I’m still excited. Let’s see some lichen and terraforming!
Liquid droplets seem to form and move on the leg of the Phoenix Mars lander, as seen in images taken on days 8, 31, and 44 (seen above from left to right) of the craft’s mission.
Scientists think the water could stay liquid even in the frigid Martian arctic because of its high concentration of perchlorates, salts that acts like antifreeze.
Thanks to RTFA’s good friends over at THESE BASTARDS, I was tipped off to the noteworthy mixed media artwork of Jen Murray. From her artist statement:
In my work I try to entice the viewer by referring to the subconscious. I displace people, animals and objects in scenarios that suggest a familiar unreality or a dreamy montage. In each piece, I strive to identify and exploit the tension that comes from placing images in unfamiliar territory. Each is not only a reflection of me and my personal emotions, but also of feelings common to all people. Their creation performs a sort of exorcism for me in which the viewer can also participate.
I opt ultimately to not define the intent and meaning of works of art. People naturally identify and categorize images into knowns and unknowns, defined and indefinite- they do not need my help for this. The viewing of a work of art should be a mental exercise for us- in some way a personal journey of reflection. The personal meaning and reaction to it reflects our relationship to an art work.
In keeping with the ambiguity of purpose that is so critical to my values as an artist I employ a metaphorical language to communicate personal experiences, struggles, desires, and dreams. I place people, animals and objects into folkloric, fable-ish compositions that are abstract and obsessive. Through association, I create character personalities whose interaction in my scenarios helps us accept the displacement of their images, and therefore, the idea of the piece. I like to use powerful and threatening images- many of which are underscored with meaning in contemporary social, political, and cultural reality. When the image, item or action is removed from its literal, social, or cultural meaning, it enters the symbolic meaning, and our interpretation of that meaning is a reflection of our personal experience. I believe that with the exploration of this tension comes experience, and, ultimately, revelation, not just for myself, but for the viewer also.
Fantastic video. Antarctica is the least hospitable, most inherently psychedelic environment on earth, and this guy has used a sky-tracking telescope mount to capture some eye-poppingly unreal time-lapse shots. He claims to have destroyed several cameras in the process, and based on some of the scenes, I can imagine how this could be.
Time-lapse video filmed in Antarctica, in and around McMurdo Station and Scott Base.
Each year the sun is below the horizon for 4 months in the middle of winter, and above the horizon for 4 months in summer. During the couple of months in between we have more-or-less normal days.
Includes shots of auroras and the very rare polar stratospheric nacreous clouds, which form when ozone depleting gases crystallize in the upper atmosphere in the intense cold.
Summer population is about 1200 people, winter about 200.
This is just a small sample of an ongoing project to collect time-lapse imagery of Antarctica. I have taken over 1,000,000 individual photos and worn out a number of cameras that make up the collection of footage I have gathered so far over the last 6 years. Eventually a film will be released, keep an eye on my user page for more info in the future.
Check out my other videos as well for more of life on the Ice.
Okay – this site is about 90% junk, but every now and again, pure comic gold surfaces. Or this one, which is … well, scary:
The premise is simple enough: people find pictures that depict questionable events, and then other people make funny comments about them. See? Simple! …and obviously an epic timesink.
Have you ever seen a picture that simply makes no sense. Here we have collected pictures from around the web that left us scratching our heads and saying “wut”. See if you can explain what’s going on in the photos and read the explanations that other people write.
David Anderson: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!After struggling for days to get OpenOffice to download and work on my Mac Mini, only to find that the official version only works on the Intel model...
Chile: Thanks for your advice Andre. I followed what you suggested and it appears that you were right. Since the IR sensor is deep purple itself I thought the IR filter was present already but no....
Murano Glass: My main browser is Firefox because I like the feature that they offer remembering the username and passwords that you have registered or key in the browser. The second best browser...
