anthropocene

Via Nag on the Lake, we are invited to ruminate over the indelible mark that humans are leaving on the planet through insatiable greed and a feeling of entitlement to exploit Nature, which will result in a future world inimical and inhospitable to human life through anthropogenic climate change and destruction of vital ecosystems. This is not something that we can look away from and pretend is not happening.  Learn more about the filmmakers and their trilogy of documentaries here.

pew pew

Tedium gives us an interesting overview on sound design and the history of foley artists (the distinction being that foley effects concerns themselves with dramatizing human and natural sounds, like footfalls or a yapping dog, whereas sound designers are tasked with imagining how a laser blast ought to sound) and acquaints us the award-winning individual behind many of the iconic science-fiction and fantasy sound effects that are not only instantly recognisable but often serve to place one at a precise point in the narrative. Ben Burtt created the hums of lightsabres, Darth Vader’s respirator sounds, the satisfying, solid sound of Indiana Jones throwing and sustaining a punch as well as the crack of his bullwhip plus many others. Find out more at the link above.

talent pool

As part of a larger discussion on the pace of technological advancement, Marginal Revolution’s Tyler Cowen introduces us to the Grand Ise Shirine complex in the Mie prefecture of Japan and how process and institutional knowledge play a big role in progress.

The architectural style dates back to antiquity and can be referenced in no other structures—this site being holy to the sun goddess Amaterasu, housing the Imperial artefact the Sacred Mirror—and is characterised by gabled and thatched roofs with plank walls. To ensure that the buildings are forever both new and ancient and that succeeding generations know the craft and technique of construction, for at least the past twelve hundred years, the old shrines and the wooden bridge that spans the Isuzu River (namesake of the automotive company) have been dismantled and rebuilt on a site adjacent to exact specifications every twenty years. The cycle of renewal is called Sengu, and the present buildings (originals in their sixty-first iteration) date from 2013.

of pageants and placements

Not to be cynical as they are some really amazing hobby photographers whose talents deserve to be showcased and it’s always good to be curious about one’s surroundings but we’ve wondered if sponsoring a picture contest might not be a good and profitable business-model worth pursuing. It seems like everyone’s getting into competition one way or another and the field still has a lot of room for expansion and we’ve got an attested weakness for just about any speciality superlatives. The whole field taken together is sort of like PR’s PR Award from Absolutely Fabulous—“That award had your name on it Eddy.”
Though not nearly as polished as the top entrants of the International Garden Photographer of the Year contest—co-sponsored by Kew Gardens—learning of the inclusion of a Macro Art category inspired me to share a couple of serendipitous, up-close shots of a dragonfly (eine Libelle) and a butterfly (ein Schmetterling) from our back garden. What do you think? What would be a good niche class of photography to hold a contest for?

out to pasture

Via Kottke, we’re directed toward a rather powerful and immediate way to visualise land-use in the United States of America by projecting percentages on to a map of the contiguous states. Each pixel represents one million acres (about four hundred thousand hectares) and an enormous amount is allotted to ranches, ranges and pasturelands for livestock and for raising feed for the animals with crops for human consumption dwarfed in comparison. One would think that in this day and age, one could find a better use for more than a third of one’s territory than the upkeep of cattle and wonder how other countries and regions rank.