March 29, 2008

Science drops: Tumbling hippies, Chinese cannons, & more

Okay, I’m getting a little far afield of scientific imaging per se, but I found the following interesting & thought you might as well.

• Oh man–tumbling hippies + Jabberwocky + amino acids: this 1971 MIT video has it all.  When that hoodling organ sountrack kicks in, you know it’s gonna be good. (Skip ahead 3:30 or so to the dancing.) [Via]
• Hmm–I wonder whether these come in “Ps” or “Ai”: periodic table rings. [Via Jeffrey Warnock]  (Of course, a more committed geek would go with knuckle tattoos–the arm already having been done.)
• The Chinese government is apparently trying to control the weather at the Olympics, literally shooting clouds out of the sky.  Seriously.
• Lunar images & infographics:
  • Here’s a map of the area covered by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on their Apollo 11 moon walks, superimposed on a soccer field and on a baseball diamond.  (I suppose if I were carrying a 400lb suit, I wouldn’t get too far, either.)  [Via]
  • Photographers captured last month’s total lunar eclipse in a series of photos.  I especially like this shot from Johnny Horne.
• I’m not sure that it constitutes scientific imaging, but Wikipedia hosts a beautiful column of fire.  Talk about an awesome blossom.
  

Saturday Type

• I’m not quite sure what it has to do with bags, but I like the offbeat letter animations at Crumpler ABC. [Via]
• Making things from type:
  • London Kerning: check out a map of London constructed entirely out of type. [Via]
  • I came across this nice portrait in the Flickr Typography Friday pool.
• Historic:
  • BibliOdyssey surveys pretty lace typography.
  • Zeva Oelbaum photographs hidden Biblical marginalia. [Via]
• Design Meltdown presents a selection of sites featuring Giant Type.  I like Citrus7 in particular.
• Check out "Big Cyrillic pixels" from Fiodor Sumkin.