Random pictures - astronomy

 

 

Source: Howl in Delight at Some of the Best Astronomy Photographs of 2019

Random pictures - sculpture

 

 

 

Source: Jeremy Meyer Typewriter Assemblage Sculpture

Random picture - great white

Source: Diver filmed with huge great white: sharks must be 'protected not feared' Go to the link to see the full, un-cropped picture...

Random pictures - bush viper

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Atheris hispida (spiny bush viper) - Wikipedia

Random pictures - nature

 

 

 

Source: Nature Photographer of the Year 2017: Winners

Visit the link for the full, un-cropped pictures and many more!

Random pictures - da Vinci

 

Source: Digitized Manuscripts:  Leonardo da Vinci, Notebook ("Codex Arundel') 

"A collection of papers written in Italian by Leonardo da Vinci (b. 1452, d. 1519), in his characteristic left-handed mirror-writing (reading from right to left), including diagrams, drawings and brief texts, covering a broad range of topics in science and art, as well as personal notes..."

Random pictures - science

 

 

 

Source The Winners of the 2017 Vizzies (formerly The International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge)

Head to the link for the full, un-cropped visualizations and more...

Random pictures - mystery manuscript

 

 

Source: The Voynich Manuscript

"Named for Polish book dealer Wilfrid Voynich, who acquired it in 1912, the Voynich manuscript is a mystery that has remained unsolved for centuries. 

The manuscript is a 6x9-inch codex of bound calfskin vellum, which has been carbon-dated to the early decades of the 15th century, and is believed to have come from northern Italy. It holds approximately 240 pages, some which fold out, though it is believed that some pages are missing.

The content of the manuscript is truly baffling, though. It is written in a completely unknown script, and illuminated throughout with illustrations of seemingly fantastical plants. Estimates of how many individual characters compose the script vary from 15 to 40. 

Many amateur and professional cryptographers, including Allied codebreakers from both World Wars, have spent years trying to decipher the text, with little success.."

Visit the link for the story and more pictures!

Random pictures - miracles

 

Source: The Book of Miracles: 16th-century apocalyptic visions – in pictures

Random picture - glowworms

Source: Dazzling Video of a Glowworm Cave in New Zealand

Random picture - ants

Source: Fire Ant Swarms Form Living Life Rafts

Go to the link for the article and the full uncropped picture (and others...)

Random pictures - books

 

 

Source: Brian Dettmer Art made from books....

Random pictures - libraries

 

 

 

Source: 62 of the World's Most Beautiful Libraries

Random pictures - metro

 

 

Source: El metro de Moscú, ese lugar que no tiene nada que envidiar al Museo del Prado

Random pictures - apple varieties

 

 

 

Source: Apple Science, From American Beauty to Zestar (Science Friday).

"...  At the turn of the 20th century, the USDA commissioned watercolorists to create botanical illustrations of the apple varieties submitted by farmers..."  

Featured above (in order) are the Ben Davis, Esopus Spitzenberg, Pumpkin Sweet, and Black Oxford... Listen to the show, who knew the apple was so complex and marvelous?

Random picture - heights

Source: Раскалов и его команда 

Russian duo Vadim Makhorov and Vitaliy Raskalov sneak into and scale the still under construction Shanghai Tower From there they snapped this picture of the Jin Mao Tower (1,380 feet tall, on the left) and the Shanghai World Financial Center (1,614feet tall, on the right).

From Raskalov's blog: "... Hello everybody! I want to dilute the two-month-long silence in this livejournal with my post. Several month ago Vadim and I had planned a trip along Chinese biggest cities, from Hong Kong to Shanghai. The main purpose of the journey was world’s highest construction building – Shanghai tower. Now it is under construction and so far its height is a little more than 650 meters. So now it is the world’s second high building after Burj Khalifa in UAE. 

Aware of the strict Chinese law, we prepared carefully and picked an appropriate date, the Chinese New Year day. At that time the security was less watchful, workers were on vacations, and cranes did not work. We got to the crane at around midnight. It took us almost two hours to get on the 120th floor by foot. And also, we spend almost 18 hours on top of the building, sleeping and waiting for better weather. The result you can see in our new video..."

And the video of their exploit is available at  OnTheRoofs or YouTube...

Random picture - Everest

Source: Maxed out on Everest  "Headlamps trace a path to the summit a few hours before dawn..." Read the accompanying article - How to fix the mess at the top of the world

Random picture - AI watch?

The Smile, a project on Indiegogo...From the project:  "... The Smile is the world’s first smart phone you can wear like a bracelet! Not only that, but it can also read your mood. It will know if you’re stressed out or relaxing. It can monitor your diet and your health. It will inform you when you should get up and move or take a rest. It can suggest where you should spend a night out on the town. It can control how awake you are as well as your sleep stages and your dream time. And if you’re in trouble, the Smile will call for help. 

The Smile will automatically switch its display from a daylight optimized type to a night time optimized one. While you’re sleeping it won't let pesky telemarketers interrupt your sleep. . It will hold incoming calls, route them to voice mail or inform the caller to call back later. And unlike other smartphones, the smile doesn't need you to tell it how to reply to text messages. Your Facebook friends won't have any excuses for calling you while you sleep, because The Smile will set your status to 'sleeping' when you go to bed. 

The Smile is the AI that will become your indispensable assistant friend...'

Wonder how real this is...  October or December 2013 will tell!

Random picture - ghosts

Source: The Ghosts of World War II: The photographs found at flea markets superimposed on to modern street scenes

Amazing photo series made by Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse that show pictures from WW II superimposed on pictures of the same present day locations in Europe.... See more on Flickr

Mental health break

From 'The ascent of Alex Honnold' (video)


From 'Ueli Steck speed solo Eiger record' (video)