Timelapse: Landsat Satellite Images of Climate Change, via Google Earth Engine TIME and Space | By Jeffrey Kluger Editors note:On Nov. 29, 2016, Google released a major update expanding the data from 2012 to 2016. Read about the update here. Spacecraft and telescopes are not built by people interested in what’s going on at home. That changed when NASA created the Landsat program, a series of satellites that would perpetually orbit our planet, looking not out but down. Over here is Dubai, growing from sparse desert metropolis to modern, sprawling megalopolis. It took the folks at Google to upgrade these choppy visual sequences from crude flip-book quality to true video footage. These Timelapse pictures tell the pretty and not-so-pretty story of a finite planet and how its residents are treating it — razing even as we build, destroying even as we preserve. Chapter 1: Satellite Story | By Jeffrey Kluger It’s a safe bet that few people who have grown up in the Google era have ever heard of Stewart Udall. But in 1966, Udall and his staff had an idea. 1 of 20 1 of 14
Land Lines - Chrome Experiments 10 Basic Principles of Visual Design – Prototypr Yesterday I was listening to a podcast and heard someone who was about to ask a question saying something along the lines of "..long time fan, first time caller…" and for some reason that got me thinking about Medium. I've been consuming content here for a long time but have never contributed myself with my 2 cents. Today is the day this changes. As my introduction I decided to write about something close to my heart, Visual Design (aka graphic design), more specifically the basic principles I learned to use which I consider essentials for me to perform my job well. I want to keep this article short, for that reason I will try to be brief in each of these principles, for the ones that deserve a bit more depth I might dedicate a full length article in the future. Ok, ready? #1 Point, Line & Shape These are the most basic building blocks of any design, no matter what it is. If you connect two points you'll get a line. #2 Color Imagine the traffic lights for instance. #3 Typography #4 Space
Designing Effective Content-Heavy Websites - Constructive It’s official—our attention span is now shorter than that of a goldfish. As far back as 1971…wait, what was I about to say? Anyway, though the goldfish statistic does oversimplify things, there’s no denying that sustaining online engagement has gotten more difficult in the last 5-7 years. For some, this change has been a very good thing (I’m looking at you, Buzzfeed). But for nonprofits and academic institutions whose success depends on demonstrating thought leadership or advancing better policies and practices, life online has gotten a bit harder. But it’s not all doom and gloom if you’re into thoughtful discourse! When it comes to creating more engaging, effective websites for the content-heavy crowd, we just need designed solutions that, in the words of Herbert Simon, turn this not-so-great situation into one that’s preferred. A Closer Look at Audience Engagement Designing Better Experiences Websites that perform well on these measures usually have two things in common: 1. 2. 3.
Why Time Flies Have you ever noticed how older people keep mentioning that time keeps moving faster and faster? It's because we perceive time relative to the 'absolute' time we can compare it to... When you are 4 weeks old, a week is a quarter of your life. By the end of your first year, a week is just a fiftieth of your life. By the time you turn 50, a whole year will be a fiftieth of your life. This theory was first put forward by Paul Janet in 1897. Like many things, this will require some patience to get through. But in the end it'll be over faster than you thought or hoped it would be. Albert Einstein said about the perception of time, that 'an hour spent in the company of pretty girls passes more quickly than an hour spent in a dentist chair'. Waiting 24 days for Christmas at age 5 feels like waiting a year at age 54. According to this theory, assuming you'll become 100 years old, half of your perceived life is over at age 7. Did you notice how much faster the 10th year scrolled by than the first?
If American Jews and Israel Are Drifting Apart, What’s the Reason? Everyone knows that American Jews and Israel are drifting apart—and everyone is confident of the reasons why. Israel, it is said, has become increasingly nationalistic and right-wing; “the occupation” violates liberal values; and the American Jewish “establishment,” with its old familiar defense organizations and their old familiar apologetics, has lost touch with young American Jews who are put off by outdated Zionist slogans and hoary appeals for communal solidarity. In brief, the fundamental problem resides in the nature of the Israeli polity and the policies of the Israeli government, which together account for the growing misfit between Israelis and their American Jewish cousins. This, at least, is the new conventional wisdom. It is wrong—but the precise ways in which it is wrong, and by means of which it mistakes and overlooks deeper realities, are worth examining. Of the two books, Barnett’s offers the more careful analysis. I. How so, and how new is this problem? II. III. IV.
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