Photographer Michael Wolf has an interesting photo project depicting 100 apartments at 100 sq. feet each in one of Hong Kong’s oldest public housing estates.

Some are cheery, some are dreary - all are very tiny.

Tiny hairs on this child’s hands and feet allow it to climb the door jamb in its native yuppie apartment.

…am fascinated by the idea that the earth is a minor planet in our galaxy “floating” in a universe full of galaxies.

Please, don’t get me wrong about that.

And the coup of science, engineering, technology and imagination that made the below photo of the galaxy possible = pretty good work.

So, why gum up the works with the arrow and yellow letters?

On the other hand, is there a more perfect way to illustrate our relative, hmm, youth and distance than highlighting our position in yellow bubble letters?

I found these behind the scenes photographs of artifacts in the American Museum of National History totally captivating.

Museum artifacts in their natural habitats.

via

Still smiling, one month later.

The children of DC are safer without Cheney’s dark shadow circling the sky. Although, baby calves thoughout rural Montana should be nervous come January, cause Cheney’s supply of fresh baby hearts is going bankrupt …this is the only recession that will effect him.

Anyway, I don’t care how broke we are as long as those “conspirators, card sharks, double-crossers, and secret betrayers of their own people” leave Washington.

Amen.

PS. I don’t remember how I found this painting from Africa, but it is super bad.

Click through this Scientifican American Cover Art Design archive going back to 1845.

I thought it interesting the magazine incorporated a intricate border around the cover art during WWI (below).

The border would disappear at the end of the war, replaced by open spacing around the image edges pointing to a more permeable border.

Also in the late 1920s early 30s, the design begins to lean heavily on the black and white coloring distinct to the classic 1950-1970s covers.

ca. 1930

“Designed by Mr. Piano on the site of the academy’s demolished home, the building has a steel frame that rests amid the verdant flora like a delicate piece of fine embroidery. Capped by a stupendous floating green roof of undulating mounds of plants, it embodies the academy’s philosophy that humanity is only one part of an endlessly complex universal system.”

See the rest of the slideshow here.

Thanks e for the link.

The silver tongue of Sir David Attenborogh, naturalist and broadcaster, has laid narration over many a cool project. But, I will never forget seeing the PBS Nova special on bowerbirds, “Flying Cassanovas” because the plain, brown males of Papua New Guinea and Austraila engage in a seriously compelling mating ritual.

First, they build their nests or “bowers” elaborate twig huts on the ground, supported by a center beam. Next, they fly around and search for brightly colored or unusual objects and lay elaborate carpets in their bower doorway to attract mates.

Mushrooms, orange peels, blossoms, decorative glass from cemeteries and little girls’ hair ties were just some of the objects the males chose to adorn their bowers. Objects moved by researchers are quickly replaced by the male birds who refine the composition over and over in hopes of attracting a mate.

I didn’t realize how exceptional the footage in the documentary was until I started searching the internet for photo examples. These photos here do not compare to the bower arrangements filmed for the PBS piece, so I really recommend finding it.

At the time, the idea of birds who create aesthetic arrangements really blew my mind. I thought that the “arts” were human talents that separated us from other species?!

First Mr. Ed, now this.

One of the great American visionaries of the twentieth century, R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) endeavored to see what he, a single individual, might do to benefit the largest segment of humanity while consuming the minimum of the earth’s resources. Doing “more with less” was Fuller’s credo. He described himself as a “comprehensive anticipatory design scientist,” setting forth to solve the escalating challenges that faced humanity before they became insurmountable…”

Read more about Buckminster Fuller on display at the Whitney exhibit.