entropy

Chicago, observed from the 103rd-floor Willis Tower Skydeck....

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:34:20 -0400

Chicago, observed from the 103rd-floor Willis Tower Skydeck. Photo by Ball and Albanese

SS Ayrfield aka The Floating Forest, is a 102 year old abandoned...

Sat, 18 May 2013 23:19:10 -0400

SS Ayrfield aka The Floating Forest, is a 102 year old abandoned ship in Homebush Bay, near Sydney, Australia. Photo by Louise Evangelique.

letsbuildahome-fr: A range of colourful buildings of both...

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:50:46 -0400

letsbuildahome-fr:

A range of colourful buildings of both Chinese and Western design have been built on a bridge in Linshi Wine Town, southwest China’s Chongqing Municipality

Picture: HAP/Quirky China News / Rex Features

rhamphotheca: Blood Falls, a Natural Time Capsule Containing a...

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:48:18 -0400

rhamphotheca:

Blood Falls, a Natural Time Capsule Containing a Unique Ecosystem

By Atlas Obscura

This five-story, blood-red “waterfall” pours ever so slowly out of the Taylor Glacier in Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valley. Geologists first discovered the frozen waterfall in 1911, and believed the red color came from algae. Its true nature turned out to be more spectacular.

Roughly two million years ago, a small body of water containing an ancient community of microbes was sealed beneath the surface of the Taylor Glacier. Trapped below a thick layer of ice, the microbes have remained isolated inside a natural time capsule, in a place with no light, oxygen, or heat.

The trapped lake has very high salinity and is rich in iron, which gives the seepage its red color. A fissure in the glacier allows the microbial subglacial lake to flow out, forming the falls without contaminating the ecosystem within.

More photos of Blood Falls can be seen on Atlas Obscura.

(via: Slate.com - Atlas Obscura)

interneiti: Multiple Exposure Shot of Takeoffs at Hannover...

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:48:50 -0400

interneiti:

Multiple Exposure Shot of Takeoffs at Hannover Airport

usagov: Image description: This animated gif shows the...

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:47:28 -0400

usagov:

Image description: This animated gif shows the distribution of water vapor over Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. White areas have high concentrations of water vapor, while dark regions are relatively dry. The brightest white areas are towering thunderclouds. The image was acquired on the morning of September 2, 2010.

Learn more about the water cycle and why water is so important to the health of Earth from NASA’s Earth Observatory.

seafarers: Abraham Ice by Viktoria Haack

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:27:13 -0400

seafarers:

Abraham Ice by Viktoria Haack

Antonio Teofilo de Andrade Orth Residence

Mon, 13 May 2013 10:43:48 -0400

Antonio Teofilo de Andrade Orth Residence

cjwho: Tosua Ocean Trench - Lotofaga, Samoa / photography by:...

Fri, 10 May 2013 18:00:36 -0400

cjwho:

Tosua Ocean Trench - Lotofaga, Samoa / photography by: Steven and Darusha, Mick Byrne, spice on tour

historical-nonfiction: People enjoying a picnic in the middle...

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:43:06 -0400

historical-nonfiction:

People enjoying a picnic in the middle of a highway during the 1973 oil crisis.

lickypickystickyme: If grandmothers around the world had a...

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:21:00 -0400

lickypickystickyme:

If grandmothers around the world had a rallying cry, it would probably sound something like “You need to eat!”

Photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s grandmother said something similar to him before one of his many globetrotting work trips. To ensure he had at least one good meal, she prepared for him a dish of ravioli before he departed on one of his adventures.

“In that occasion I said to my grandma ‘You know, Grandma, there are many other grandmas around the world and most of them are really good cooks,” Galimberti wrote via email. “I’m going to meet them and ask them to cook for me so I can show you that you don’t have to be worried for me and the food that I will eat!’ This is the way my project was born!”

The project, “Delicatessen With Love”, took Galimberti to 58 countries where he photographed grandmothers with both the ingredients and finished signature dishes.

He acted as photographer and stylist during each shoot with the grandmothers, taking a portrait of both the women and the food they made for him.

From top to bottom:

Inara Runtule, 68, Kekava, Latvia. Silke (herring with potatoes and cottage cheese).

Grace Estibero, 82, Mumbai, India. Chicken vindaloo.

Susann Soresen, 81, Homer, Alaska. Moose steak.

Serette Charles, 63, Saint-Jean du Sud, Haiti. Lambi in creole sauce.

The photographer’s grandmother Marisa Batini, 80, Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy. Swiss chard and ricotta Ravioli with meat sauce.

Normita Sambu Arap, 65, Oltepessi (Masaai Mara), Kenya. Mboga and orgali (white corn polenta with vegetables and goat).

Julia Enaigua, 71, La Paz, Bolivia. Queso Humacha (vegetables and fresh cheese soup).

Fifi Makhmer, 62, Cairo, Egypt. Kuoshry (pasta, rice and legumes pie).

Isolina Perez De Vargas, 83, Mendoza, Argentina. Asado criollo (mixed meats barbecue).

Bisrat Melake, 60, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Enjera with curry and vegetables.

Adorable *sob*

mikasavela: “Creative Cloud changes everything”, says Adobe and...

Thu, 09 May 2013 01:27:58 -0400

mikasavela:

“Creative Cloud changes everything”, says Adobe and it got me thinking. I work almost daily with Adobe’s software and I’m not saying that I will not ever succumb to their new subscription system of paying a lifetime of monthly fees to a company that has quite the monopoly on “industry standards”. It’s more that all this got me thinking about creativity in places, cities, everywhere. And how this kind of software development is somehow really creating a creative class, as in separating globally those who can afford to become the creative types familiar with them “industry standards”.

In essence, you have to buy your way into the cloud of creativity in every meaning of the word: iPhone, MacBook, data plan, broadband, the works. And only then, can you become the carelessly free quirky creative type with access to your work everywhere, free to collaborate, free to create. But. With Adobe’s Creative Cloud, if you stop paying, the access to your work is discontinued.

At the same time Creative Cities are being touted as the thing by organizations such as UNESCO. Almost everything we create is nowadays, if not made with, but at least marketed with creative software and digital tools. But if you can’t afford the tools, how do you become creative? How do you design that community meeting flyer? How do you build a website? How do you use the apps?

Well, of course creativity as a human quality and a means to survive is not tied to a piece of software. But so much around the creative buzz is these days related to digital ecosystems. As an increasing number of these systems are going subscriptions-only, we are becoming oblivious to the fact how much we are paying for all kinds of things we haven’t really collectively decided upon. Today, our democratically collected tax dollars might get us something like healthcare or education in return (depending on where you live in the world), but they don’t give us creative tools that allow us to work on the level that matters. Instead, we’ve ended up paying quite a lot for creative software in schools and the government. And in our private lives.

So, when did software become such a lifelong burden? If you’re a designer, photographer, editor, artist etc., you may want to be those things for the rest of your life. But now, it seems you are becoming obliged to pay a monthly fee for these professions, a fee that globally speaking is beyond the reach of many. Paying the fees is no problem for big companies with big needs already spending large amounts of money to “computer stuff”. Small creatives and the ones trying to make do with old versions of Photoshops or lesser known open-source alternatives are being dropped out. In the end it seems, the world is becoming less diverse, again.

collectivehistory: People seeking shelter behind lamp-posts at...

Tue, 07 May 2013 21:09:49 -0400

collectivehistory:

People seeking shelter behind lamp-posts at Dam square Amsterdam after German troops opened fire at the celebrating masses. 22 people were killed and another 120 were injured ca. 7 May 1945 (Source)