The Moon Landing ~ July 20, 1969

This year is the 43rd anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, an event on July 21 as recorded by NASA, which used Greenwich Mean Time, or July 20 as remembered by people in North America. Over at The Atlantic Alexis Madrigal has assembled an incredible set of photos documenting the trip.

As for myself, I was 9 years old in 1969, and my family was in rural Canada on a camping trip. Led by my Dad, an MIT trained mathematician who also had degrees from Harvard in physics and chemistry, the space program was a very big deal to my family. So we tried to find a t.v. where we could watch the landing. Eventually we found a motel, but when my Dad asked if we could watch on the t.v. in the lobby (the only t.v. in the hotel), the manager said "no."  We marched in, decamping on the rug in the lobby, and watched it anyway. A landing for us all.

Where the Hell is Matt? 2012

Red Windows

Apropos of beauty only.  Via Environmental Graffiti.

The Internet Map

The Internet Map is a map of websites with the size of the site's circle representing its traffic and the color representing its principal  nationality. Overall placement depends on the proximity of their links. The author, who generated this as a personal project and so relies on donations, wrote algorithms that tracked millions of links.

Computer Simulation of the Detailed Life Cycle of a Cell

As reported in the peer reviewed journal Cell, Stanford researchers have created a whole-cell computer model of a cell that predicts the phenotype of the cell and its activities by inputs of its molecular components. The model, which is of the human parasite Mycoplasma genitalium, "provides insights into many previously unobserved cellular behaviors, including in vivo rates of protein-DNA association and an inverse relationship between the durations of DNA replication initiation and replication. In addition, experimental analysis directed by model predictions identified previously undetected kinetic parameters and biological functions." Many are already hailing this as a scientific breakthrough.

Where the Hell is Matt? 2008

Matt has come out with a new video for 2012, but before going there we need to get warmed up with his incredible video from 2008. For the story behind this -- which is definitely worth reading if you don't know it -- go here.  It;s worth seeing this at YouTube in HD,

The Opto Sculpture

This is a "making of" video of a sculpture called "Opto" which is now installed outside of Perth, Australia. I thought it was interesting to watch the detail and care that went into making this simple object.

Martin Waldbauer's Photography at 500px

Link from Cosas Cool. There are a lot of repeats, but it's worth going through the set.

A Few Words on Words

A friend and colleague of mine -- we're both lawyers and think it's fair to say both often involved in statutory interpretation at fairly high levels -- recently explained his view on a statute as "I just think words have meaning." As cryptic as that statement was in context -- it begs the question what meaning -- it's a common sense view shared by almost everyone. But it's wrong.

NYT Magazine Covers Offshore Bank Accounts

Article here. The author set up his own account using online services and information he mailed in. While warned by the services about the law (or at least given a sort of limited disclosure), he made it clear that his goal was to avoid (i.e. dodge) taxes. The services he was involved with had no problem with that. He describes how he did it -- it took him almost no time at all -- the banking secrecy he received, and the phenomenal amount of money that is apparently kept in banks "off shore."

Security Cameras (Coca Cola Ad)

Lost Paradise - Juliette Valduriez

For Züz and Lulu.

Sally Ride's Domestic Partner Denied Benefits

As pointed out by Time Magazine, Sally Ride's domestic partner will not receive federal benefits since they were not "married" under federal law due to DOMA. Link via boing boing.

World Population -- A Series from The L.A. Times

Via Kottke, a very detailed series on the world population explosion, from The L.A. Times. Everything about this is fascinating and scary.

Exploding Termites

According to an article on the website Science Now (the website/magazine for the American Association for the Advancement of Science), scientists studying termites in French Guiana found a species with "blue crystals" in what looks like the anterior of their abdomens, see image) that "explode" when touched. the explosion releases an enzyme that becomes toxic when combined with certain proteins, ostensibly those of attackers. Only aged termites in a colony have the crystals; thus, the aged apparently commit suicide to repel attackers.

A Few words on the Idea of "Limited Wealth"

A common yet pernicious belief is that there is but a finite amount of wealth available to us all; and directly or indirectly the wealthy and the poor must battle for it (or we as a society must even it out to prevent conflict, a hopeless task). Thus, the rich fight to maintain their wealth, seeking to keep the poor impoverished, and the poor fight to take the assets of the rich, seeking to change places with the wealthy.

Cloud Atlas (1st Trailer)

The first trailer for the much anticipated epic movie Cloud Atlas. Based on a 2004 novel by David Mitchell which was short-listed for the Booker Prize, Nebula Award for Best Novel, and Arthur C. Clarke Award, and which one several minor awards, the movie stars several Hollywood luminaries, like Tom Hanks, and is directed by the Wachowski siblings (who made The Matrix) and Tom Tykwer (who made Run Lola Run). The inanity of The Matrix II and III didn't much appeal to me, and I'm transparently not much of a believer in "destiny," but I got chills from the trailer. Let's say it looks beautifully filmed, and I am a romantic. Worth viewing on YouTube in HD.

The City of London (which is not a city called "London")

Inside of London is the City of London, which has roughly 11,000 residents and is enormously wealthy. This video¹ explains it all ... well, sorta, kinda. There is a Part 2 coming. While you wait you might be interested in knowing the difference between England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom (not to mention the Crown Dependencies, the Commonwealth Realm, and the Overseas Territories).  The video is from the Smithsonian Magazine, which has great videos.
______________________
¹  If the embedded video (which comes from the Smithsonian website) does not work well, use the link to go to YouTube.

Samsara

Trailer for the movie Samsara, the first film by Ron Fricke, the director/cinematographer of Koyaanisqatsi, in nearly 20 years. Link from Colossal.  Worth viewing full screen.

The Roots of Breakdance

This has been out there for five ears (almost to the day), but it's still crazy awesome.

What if Ayn Rand wrote the Lord of the Rings?

In Our Tale Frodo takes the Ring and, despite both great toil and torment caused by the small minds of the orcish rabble constantly hounding him and the predations of government and statists, returns it to its rightful owner, Sauron, a rugged individualist who understands the importance of selfishness and property rights.  Via boing boing.

The Art of John Dyer Baizley

John Dyer Baizley, a singer/guitarist for the band Baroness also creates the fantastic artwork used by the band.  His work is obviously influenced by Mucha -- it's sort of Mucha on drugs -- reminiscent of the artwork Malcolm Mac Neill did with William S. Burroughs for their unpublished book Ah Pook Is Here. Link from Heretodestroy via Sweet Station -- both contain examples of Baizley's work; Sweet Station's are more accessible.  
And, N.B., I learned while researching this post, that Ah Pook Is Here is about to be published.  The website and art work (linked above) is definitely worth a look (navigate to the left or use the links on the bottom to get into it).

The Dollar ReDe$ign Project

The Dollar ReDe$ign Project is a graphic arts project taking submissions from around the world with the goal of "rebranding the economy." Well. The graphics are fabulous. Link via Beautiful Decay.

Is $21 Trillion Really Sheltered "Offshore"?

In a white paper that is getting some traction on the web, primarily due to write-ups in the Guardian, a group known as the Tax Justice Network estimates that $21 trillion dollars is being sheltered "offshore" by wealthy individuals and companies to avoid taxation.  There is no doubt that substantial amounts are hidden in tax havens to avoid taxation. Yet the white paper, which I've read, is not highly credible in my opinion.  The Tax Justice Network, having gone through their site, looks like a somewhat fly-by-night operation to me; some of its supporting materials are as much polemics as anything. It's blog appears primarily devoted to advocacy. The issue of unfair taxation and substantial avoidance of taxes, based on the laws on the books, is an important one, and this calls for a detailed analysis by a group such as RAND, the Brookings Institution or Pew Charitable Trust. Heck for all I know they may have already done one.

Fireflies

Beautiful time-lapse photographs of fireflies by Tsuneaki Hiramatsu.  Link from Devid Sketchbook.

State Tax Fraud

When one hears about tax fraud, it is usually about federal income tax fraud not state tax fraud.

Greenland Ice Melt

NASA image: White areas shows area of ice cover, pink areas
show definite melt (dark pink) and probably melt (light pink)

According to NASA (as linked by numerous sources), between July 8 and July 12 the ice melt on Greenland went from approximately 40% of the surface area to likely over 95% of the surface area. According to NASA's release:

Six Economic Policies Advocated by Economists but are Politically Toxic

According to NPR's Planet Money show, there are six economic policies "backed by economists of all stripes, but probably toxic to any candidate that might endorse [them]." They are (slightly rephrasing for brevity):

1. Eliminate the mortgage tax deduction;
2. End businesses' employee health care tax deduction;
3. Eliminate the corporate income tax;
4. Replace all income taxes with progressive consumption taxes;
5. Tax carbon emissions (have a gas tax); and
6. Legalize and tax some or all narcotics.

Here's a Planet Money podcast this relates to. And I'm not opposing or advocating any of this; just reporting.

"Magic Shows"

The latest issue of Lapham's Quarterly contains a tour de force on superstition and magic throughout the globe and history. I came to it through a link from Kottke, who links specifically to the essay Very Superstitious by Colin Dickey, though Kottke's link suggests he is linking to the entire issue.

Awesome Snowboard Decks

These are from Endeavor Snowboard Design, via Behance Network.

I "need" to start making snowboard and skateboard decks in my garage. Then I need to learn how to snowboard and skateboard. Then I need to update my insurance.

I wonder if they make blank snowboard or skateboard decks?  Why yes, yes they do.

Lightning!

Very cool very high speed video showing a lightning strike forming with a great description from APOD. It did not unfold as I expected. Numerous "leaders" of electrons or negative ions shoot out from a cloud, branching like a tree in a manner that looks (and my guess is) fractal. One leader makes it to or almost to the ground where it connects with a positive charge and then this leader becomes the strike flowing with electrons/ions. It's really incredible when seen this slow. The video is from Tom Warner.

Multiple Exposure Photographs.

Work by Christoffer Relander.  His working has been making the circuit of the art blogs recently.

Labeled by the artist as "multiple exposures," my assumption is that this is old school rather than Photoshop, though the effects could be acheived in Photoshop relatively easily.  Which raises questions for me: do I like it more if I know it's not 'shopped? Should it matter? It's, of course, the old question of how much context should matter; how much artwork (or anything expressing meaning or value) can or be interpreted or appreciated on its own.  There is no direct yes/no answer to this question: the extent that context matters itself depends on the context of the question.

The Best Documentaries?

One person's view.

"Natural Vistas"

This is made out of wool and thread

Landscapes made from wool and light and beautifully photographed. By Eszter Burghart, via Colossal from Sinatra Blue.

Romney's Financial Disclosures (or lack thereof)

Mitt Romney refuses to release his full tax returns. He has not explained such things as how he could have $100+ million in an IRA (although it has $6 K yearly contribution limits), and what offshore accounts he has, whether he has paid tax on the income in those accounts, and why he is sheltering income offshore.

Michael Bollino Photography

Photographs of the natural world.

A Few Words on Mortality

Our mortality is, for most of us, the most serious issue we face. Yet, to write about it seems frivolous, as if everything that could be said about mortality has already been said, and said many times. And yet, there are still those -- a majority of us -- who continue to hew to outdated and often bizarre notions about mortality, perhaps out of fear or narcissism or ignorance. So comment on mortality to begin with is appropriate.