atchison, topeka and santa fe

These portrayals of urban rail routes that are a distant memory as Underground strip maps (see also here and here) are a really striking aesthetic choice on the part of draughtsman Jake Berman that makes us at the same time pine for the amenities of the past and appreciate what we still have in Germany and the robust public transportation network that we have here. Do you have memories of a similar service in your town that is no longer there?  Check out more superannuated streetcar and train lines showcased on Atlas Obscura at the link up top.

iupac

Via Digg, the United Nations has declared 2019 to be the Year of the Periodic Table in recognition of the moment of insight that Dmitri Mendeleev had one hundred-fifty years ago in 1869 when he committed each of the sixty-nine then known distinct chemical elements on note cards and arranged them by properties in such a fashion as to predict, forecast the existence of yet unknown substances that would later fall neatly in place.
Not to discount the genius of the moment, the development of the familiar design was a lengthy process with many alternate proposals, visual cul-de-sacs (see also here, here and here) and effort that draws off the research and inspiration of many that came before and tried to communicate some essential quality about the building blocks of Nature. In addition to the symbolic chemistry that John Dalton proffered in 1803 to help limn his modern Atomic Theory, the Conversation takes a look at the other stages and versions—with some more radical deviations—that culminate with the iconic and instantly recognisable classroom model.

nengajo

We’ve been awaiting Spoon & Tamago’s annual posting (previously) of Japanese designer New Year’s greeting cards (nengajo, 年賀状) that honour both the civil, Gregorian calendar and the luni-solar year of the Boar.
There are many entries to check out as well as the archives from years past in addition to this charging beast from Benjo Graphics and an elegant miniature calendar page from artist Tatsuya Tanaka. The year of the Earth Pig begins 5 February and corresponds most closely with the Western sign Scorpio.

7x7

personality, wessonality: spot the celebrities at the 1986 All Star Party for Clint Eastwood

spargelzeit: a little education can be empowering for keeping the resolution to eat healthier, fresher foods

urban density: exploring the crowded high-rises of Hong Kong

ikumen: the rise of the Japanese hot dads is changing the traditional roles of parenting for the better

rubisco: botanists tinker with photosynthesis to make the process more efficient

fishbit and half-wit: an assortment of the dumbest smart gadgets premiered at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) technology expo

minor arcana: the Tarot deck-like miniatures of Robert Coutelas 

bork bork oder tierlautbezeichnungen

We realise it’s a beauty salon for the canine variety but that’s still not what a dog says auf Deutsch—der Hund bellt oder macht wau wau, onomatopoetically.
Incidentally, most German animals have different though outstanding accurate cries: the goat goes meck meck (like a cat lapping up something), the dove ruckediku-ruckeddiku, and the duck goes nag nag. The last call is apparently more prominent in former East Germany as opposed to ducks going quak in the West—maybe due to a television programme, but nothing on whether dogs (this shop being just over the border) spoke differently.

cliff’s notes

Via Shadow Manor’s Art of Darkness blog, we are referred to this interactive study guide on Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy (previously here, here and here) that allows one to explore the topology of the Underworld and understand characters and allusions throughout without reference to footnotes that tends to draw one out of the narrative, at times, instead of deeper into the poem, as Virgil does for our narrator.
While the endearingly cartoonish quality may not have the same visual seriousness with which past illustrators have treated the fourteenth century epic—every generation taking its turn—the platform more than makes up for this (if it is indeed a shortcoming at all) in scholarship and utility. Take a tour yourself at the link above.