12 Visualizations That Will Change the Way You View Scale in Your World Scale is a simple concept. From a very early age, children know about big and small, heavy and light, more and less. Extreme scales, however, are another story. Try to imagine, for example, the size of the universe… or $1 trillion made up entirely of dollar bills. Below are 12 visualizations that try to show things at extreme scales. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Infographic originally published on Mashable.com. 10. xkcd’s creator, Randall Munroe seems to enjoy visualizations of scale. 11. 12. Humans all fit within a small range of sizes, weights, and lifespans, and the quantities we deal with typically fit in small ranges as well. Drew Skau is a PhD Computer Science Visualization student at UNCC, with an undergraduate degree in Architecture.
Cormac McCarthy Writing career[edit] McCarthy's first novel, The Orchard Keeper, was published by Random House in 1965. He decided to send the manuscript to Random House because "it was the only publisher [he] had heard of". At Random House, the manuscript found its way to Albert Erskine, who had been William Faulkner's editor until Faulkner's death in 1962.[9] Erskine continued to edit McCarthy's work for the next twenty years. In the summer of 1965, using a Traveling Fellowship award from The American Academy of Arts and Letters, McCarthy shipped out aboard the liner Sylvania, hoping to visit Ireland. While on the ship, he met Anne DeLisle, who was working on the ship as a singer. In 1969, McCarthy and his wife moved to Louisville, Tennessee, and purchased a barn, which McCarthy renovated, doing the stonework himself.[10] Here he wrote his next book, Child of God, based on actual events. Current projects[edit] Archives[edit] Personal life[edit] Family[edit] Children Marriages Awards[edit]
Books | The Civil War of 1812 by Alan Taylor In this deeply researched and clearly written book, the Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Alan Taylor tells the riveting story of a war that redefined North America. During the early nineteenth century, Britons and Americans renewed their struggle over the legacy of the American Revolution. Soldiers, immigrants, settlers, and Indians fought in a northern borderland to determine the fate of a continent. Would revolutionary republicanism sweep the British from Canada? Or would the British empire contain, divide, and ruin the shaky American republic? In a world of double identities, slippery allegiances, and porous boundaries, the leaders of the republic and of the empire struggled to control their own diverse peoples. During the war, both sides struggled to sustain armies in a northern land of immense forests, vast lakes, and stark seasonal swings in the weather.
How We Spend Our Days Is How We Spend Our Lives: Annie Dillard on Presence Over Productivity by Maria Popova “The life of sensation is the life of greed; it requires more and more. The life of the spirit requires less and less.” The meaning of life has been pondered by such literary icons as Leo Tolstoy (1904), Henry Miller (1918), Anaïs Nin (1946), Viktor Frankl (1946), Italo Calvino (1975), and David Foster Wallace (2005). From The Writing Life (public library) by Annie Dillard — a wonderful addition to the collected wisdom of beloved writers — comes this beautiful and poignant meditation on the life well lived, reminding us of the tradeoffs between presence and productivity that we’re constantly choosing to make, or not: How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. She goes on to illustrate this existential tension between presence and productivity with a fine addition to history’s great daily routines and daily rituals: The most appealing daily schedule I know is that of a turn-of-the-century Danish aristocrat. There is no shortage of good days. Share on Tumblr
NewsAlert: NASA Discovers a Water World --A 'New Species' "Unlike Any Planet We Know Of" "GJ1214b is like no planet we know of. A huge fraction of its mass is made up of water." Zachory Berta, astronomer with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Our solar system contains three types of planets: rocky, terrestrial worlds (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn), and ice giants (Uranus and Neptune). Observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have added a new type of planet to the mix. GJ1214b was discovered in 2009 by the ground-based MEarth (pronounced "mirth") Project, which is led by CfA's David Charbonneau. In 2010, CfA scientist Jacob Bean and colleagues reported that they had measured the atmosphere of GJ1214b, finding it likely that the atmosphere was composed mainly of water. "We're using Hubble to measure the infrared color of sunset on this world," explained Berta.Hazes are more transparent to infrared light than to visible light, so the Hubble observations help tell the difference between a steamy and a hazy atmosphere.
“Why’s This So Good?” No. 15: Michael Lewis’ Greek odyssey by David Dobbs | October 11, 2011 Last October, with the Greek bond crisis emerging as a danger to the European economy, Michael Lewis wrote a piece for Vanity Fair about an order of monks accused of manipulating the crisis to bilk the Greek government out of billions of dollars. It’s 12,000 words about bonds, corruption, politics and markets, yet it moves like an amusement park ride. How does he pull it off? The first clues arrive in the opening sentence: After an hour on a plane, two in a taxi, three on a decrepit ferry, and then four more on buses driven madly along the tops of sheer cliffs by Greeks on cell phones, I rolled up to the front door of the vast and remote monastery. This delivers the usual Lewis flash — and hints at three less obvious but equally crucial elements: a deft but disciplined use of the first person, an agile manipulation of a standard trip-to-Oz story form, and fluid variations of narrative distance. And jump Lewis does. The end sneaks up.
Review: Common Ground in a Liquid City by Matt Hern Common Ground in a Liquid City: Essays in Defense of an Urban Future by Matt Hern is a collection of ten essays about the future of city-living – or living in general – with very specific examples derived from his city of residence, Vancouver, and its relationship to the numerous cities he has visited. Hern addresses the successes and pitfalls of Vancouver, a relatively young city, through the critical lens of ten cities each of which is the point of departure for the essay. Each city gives Hern insight into the structure of cities in the future with references to how Vancouver is dealing with its own development: its history, its urban identity, its division of public spaces, the privatization of the natural environment, its density and the activities that it wishes to foster for its inhabitants. Come back after the break for more on this collection of essays. The beauty of this book is how flexible and accessible it is. About Matt Hern from his website:
KNEE JOINT - ANATOMY & FUNCTION The knee is essentially made up of four bones. The femur, which is the large bone in your thigh, attaches by ligaments and a capsule to your tibia. Just below and next to the tibia is the fibula, which runs parallel to the tibia. When the knee moves, it does not just bend and straighten, or, as it is medically termed, flex and extend. Figure 3: Cross Sectional View of Right Knee The knee joint also has a structure made of cartilage, which is called the meniscus or meniscal cartilage. To function well, a person needs to have strong and flexible muscles. For Additional Information on Meniscal Injuries: Figure 4: Right Knee There are two cruciate ligaments located in the center of the knee joint. For Additional Information on Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries: For Additional Information on Knee Injury Statistics: Knee Injury Statistics
Edge : Conversations on the edge of human knowledge Maxim Gorky Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (Russian: Алексе́й Макси́мович Пешко́в or Пе́шков;[1] 28 March 1868 – 18 June 1936), primarily known as Maxim (Maksim) Gorky (Russian: Макси́м Го́рький), was a Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the Socialist realism literary method and a political activist.[2] Life[edit] Early years[edit] Gorky was born in Nizhny Novgorod and became an orphan at the age of eleven. As a journalist working for provincial newspapers, he wrote under the pseudonym Иегудиил Хламида (Jehudiel Khlamida). Political and literary development[edit] Gorky's reputation as a unique literary voice from the bottom strata of society and as a fervent advocate of Russia's social, political, and cultural transformation grew. He publicly opposed the Tsarist regime and was arrested many times. Capri years[edit] In 1909–1911 Gorky lived on Capri at villa Behring (burgundy) Return from exile[edit] In 1921, he hired a secretary, Moura Budberg, who later became his unofficial wife. Second exile[edit]
Non-places: introduction to an ... - Marc Augé Gospel of Thomas - Sayings of Jesus Now that you have finished reading The Present (with religion), the Bible and all other religious books and writings will make sense. You will see what I mean when you read this one. Eloheim means God/Life. Jesus said, "Everyone who seeks should continue seeking until he finds. Jesus said, "If you say that the abode of the Gods is in the sky, the birds will arrive there before you. Jesus said, "Unless you become like little children, you cannot know the meaning of Life, for your minds must be cleared of the falsehoods of this realm if you are to be taught Eternal Truth." Jesus said, "I am the door; the person who enters by me will find Eternal bliss. Jesus said, "The Way of the Prophets is a trail of tears. The prophet is alone with the Eloheim, for of all mortals, it is he who sees the reality which he cannot convey to his people. Jesus said, "The person who stands alone will be with the Eloheim; the person who is with the Eloheim will stand alone."
Responses | 2012 Annual Question | Edge The Epidemic of Obesity, Diabetes and "Metabolic Syndrome:" Cell Energy Adaptations in a Toxic World? "Metabolic syndrome" (MetSyn) has been termed the "Epidemic of the 21st century." MetSyn is an accretion of symptoms, including high body mass index (weight-for-height), high blood sugar, high blood pressure (BP), high blood triglycerides, high waist circumference (central/visceral fat deposition), and/or reduced HDL-cholesterol, the so-called "good" cholesterol. The prevalent view is that MetSyn is due to a glut of food calories ("energy") consumed, and a dearth of exercise energy expended, spurring weight gain—an "energy surfeit"—with the other features arising in consequence. But this normative view leaves many questions unanswered: Why do elements of MetSyn correlate? The customary "explanation" also creates paradoxes. · Ultra low-calorie or low-fat diets · Fasting, skipped meals · Deficient sleep (more energy-expending wake time · Illness/injury/surgery (high energy demand)
Attempted Fax Cover Sheet Early-1998, David Foster Wallace faxed the text of an essay about Kafka over to Harper's Magazine. The piece was accompanied by strict instructions as to its usage, in the form of the following cover sheet. Transcript follows. Transcript ATTEMPTED FAX COVER SHEETFrom: David WallaceTo: Joel Lovell, Harper's [redacted] (Office [redacted])This is pretty much the best I can do, I think.