No redeeming social value

A blog of verbal and visual images.

[emeralddragon]

Koi and shadow

[emeralddragon]

Sheffield mums

[theatlanticvideo]

[emeralddragon]

theatlanticvideo:

Stunning Time-Lapse of Norwegian Fjords and Waterfalls

Norwegian landscape photographer Terje Sørgjerd has become an Internet sensation in the past year, with his jaw-dropping, color-saturated time-lapse videos of northern landscapes. In his latest video, The Water, he forgoes the long, sub-zero arctic nights to tour the forests and fjords of western Norway. “Having spent countless days here, I really enjoy even the smallest parts of this landscape. Like hidden streams or dwarfish waterfalls outside of the beaten track that offer a great deal of solitude,” he writes.

I loved this ...

[emeralddragon]

Everything has changed now except our way of thinking.

Einstein

[emeralddragon]

Oops!

Sorry -- forgot how much I liked Tumblr.

Will be more temperate with my reblogs. Next week. :)

[allthingseurope]

[emeralddragon]

allthingseurope:

Il castello di Miramare, Trieste, Italy

(by medioman)

Wow. Can you imagine the flood insurance premiums?

[allthingseurope]

[emeralddragon]

allthingseurope:

Park Kasprowicza, Szczecin, Poland

(by Agnieszka Piatkowska)

[wearethe99percent]

[emeralddragon]

newsweek:

wearethe99percent:

[I’ve worked in the Customer Service industry all of my adult life. Health insurance and Care seems like a luxury. A savings account is a luxury. Taking time off of work when I’m sick is a luxury. And I’m lucky. Is this the American Dream? I am the 99%]

Still rolling in: these. wearethe99percent is collecting stories of the 99%-ers.

[flavorwire]

[emeralddragon]

newsweek:

joshsternberg:

msfranceswithane:

flavorpill:

Because that’s what we really need: more advertising beating you over the head with antiquated gender roles. Thx, Dr. Pepper!

Just when you think advertisers couldn’t possibly be any more tone deaf.

You’d think CEOs (or at least advertising/marketing people) would be paying attention to all mistakes other companies make. 

It’s like the ‘boys only’ tree house for the soda industry. Root beer for life, y’all.

[allthingseurope]

[emeralddragon]

allthingseurope:

Hendaye, France

(by SANTI BAÑON)

[utnereader-blog]

[emeralddragon]

utnereader:

(via Designboom)

“Glasshouse” by Czech designer Kristýna Pojerová is a mini greenhouse that double functions as pendant lamp. On show at Prague Designblok 2011, the light has been created to satisfy the desire to grow fresh herbs within an urban kitchen. The donut-shaped base features an opening at its centre, allows one to reach inside the glass form to plant small herbs within the gutter-like opening which runs around the radius of the lamp. not only facilitating easy access to the plants, it also acts as the passage of light from which an electrical bulb hangs, and ensures adequate ventilation enhancing the natural microclimate. “Glasshouse” makes use of the otherwise useless heat waste of the bulb, which can also be easily regulated with a dimmer placed over the lamp.

Fascinated? Terrified? Still debating ...

[ibmconsulting]

[emeralddragon]

smarterplanet:

Facebook’s Push toward the Semantic Web | semanticweb.com

When asked about the single biggest change that Facebook is making, Fernando replied, “The biggest change is Facebook driving toward becoming the semantic web. The semantic web is making sure that the Internet has a dictionary and a grammar that can be understood by consumers, yes, but also by advertisers and brands. It’s also understanding how people behave on the Web rather than just clicking on stuff: what are they actually doing? You read, watch things, you get instant feedback, your friends can read and watch with you, but then the brand knows what you and 13 others are reading, watching, listening to as well, and you can target advertising based around that. It’s a beautiful feedback loop both for the consumer and the brand.” 

Best explanation of the semantic web. Ever.

[science]

[emeralddragon]

science:

GPS used to be the Global Positioning System. Meaning, the only system of its kind. Although free to use across the world, the system is operated and controlled by the US government. Naturally, this makes other countries uneasy. During the 2008 war in South Ossetia, when the US backed Georgia and Russia backed South Ossetian separatists, GPS was blacked out in the region. There are several projects underway to make global navigation satellite systems independent of GPS. Russia is the furthest underway, with its GLONASS system, which was originally up and running in the nineties, but fell into disrepair. This October, they’ve finally restored global coverage to the system. China is also trying to build its own GPS, which it calls the Compass navigation system. And the European Union is building Galileo, which will be more advanced than GPS when it becomes operational sometime between 2015 and 2020. Finally, India is building its own, regional satellite navigation system.

The principles behind satellite navigation remain the same. A constellation of satellites orbit Earth, spaced apart so that at least four remain above the horizon everywhere and at all times. Using time and orbital information from these satellites, a ground receiver can calculate its position.

Hmmm ...

[emeralddragon]

How does it feel

to be a hawk

caught soaring in sunlight

beside a dark cliff?

[emeralddragon]

A bee visits an Emily Grant Hutchings night-blooming water lily.

[emeralddragon]

theatlanticvideo:

The Thomas Beale Cipher, by Andrew S Allen

I love the look of this animated short (John Pavlus called it “tweed noir”), which was created with a combination of real textures and rotoscoping. I interviewed Andrew about the making of the short, and I like his point on working with designers rather than animators:

If you put talented people in new situations, they’ll often surprise you. They don’t know the rules, so they wind up breaking most of them and interesting things come out of it. I worked with a talented crew of designers to animate the film who knew nothing about animation, but they brought a unique perspective around the framing of shots and a level of detail and richness in the scenes that I never would have gotten to on my own. When you’re trying to tell a big story in a small space, a certain visual clarity is needed — that’s something you see often in advertising design — we’re just taking it to the film world.

Read more at The Atlantic

This has to be one of the best short videos I've seen in ages!

[emeralddragon]

Powdery thalia (in lily pond)