nascentartifacts:

Globi coelestis in tabulas planas redacti descriptio… Opus Postumum

Pardies, Ignace Gaston, 1636-1673

Second edition. First edition was published in 1674 and this second edition in 1693 after Pardies’ death in 1673. A Third edition appeared in 1700. This copy is the six sheets of star charts only without binding, pages numbered 84-89, so probably removed from an atlas. Each sheet has engraved text panels in Latin and French. The projection is gnomonic so the six charts make up a cube of the universe. Elegant original color is used. The paths of several important comets are shown. These charts served as models for the star charts of William Dawes published by the SDUK in 1844 (see our 4063.000). From the Linda Hall Library exhibition catalog: “Pardies’ star atlas is stylistically one of the most attractive ever published. Pardies took his constellation figures primarily from Bayer’s Uranometria, but since each chart covers a large section of the sky, these figures had to be carefully integrated, which was not an easy task. Pardies’ engraver accomplished this task with great success…The plate(which) shows Hercules, Ophiuchus] Scorpius, Sagittarius, Aquila, and Lyra,..is one of the most stunning compositions in the history of celestial cartography.

from David Rumsey Historical Map Collection

Fifty Years of Space Exploration

halffizzbin:

So my parents’ terrace has a little hole in it, for drainage.

My dog thinks it’s a window, though.

She stays like this for hours.

Jay Leno has been called many things: a conniving opportunist, America's middle-of-the-road funny man, and even the true heir to Johnny Carson's legacy. But in the wake of Leno's impending exit from The Tonight Show, he has earned a new role as a hero to the political right.

David Bowie as Tilda Swinton, with Tilda Swinton as David Bowie

“

“I don’t think Drake would have thought very much of the idea,” manager Shelley Jones said in an interview with the Plymouth Herald, referring to Sir Francis Drake, whose forces defeated the Spanish Armada that provided the wood for the Minerva’s construction. “The place has been here for nearly 500 years and it hasn’t burned down yet.”

“It’s a 16th century timber-framed building. If it catches fire, I’m not sure a coat of paint is going to do much good,” she said.

”

- Owners of bar built from 16th century shipwreck told to paint over original wood | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

Mooncake, the Official Raspberry Pi Cat, is fed biscuits twice a day by an off-the-shelf cat-feeding robo-hopper that we bought before Raspberry Pi was a reality. (She also gets that horrible-smelling cat food in gravy from a packet, served up by real live humans.) I’ve just found out what to replace the robot with when it breaks.

Mooncake, well-nourished, “helping” us to dispatch fund-raising stickers

Dave at Twin Cities Maker has made a Pi-powered cat-feeding robot which dispenses two sorts of biscuits, so your fickle pet has a choice of different liver-flavoured kibbles throughout the day.

Dave’s cat feeder, with toaster for scale

It’s much more functional than the one I bought from the pet shop years ago; for a start, it’s wi-fi enabled, so it can be sent instructions remotely. And Dave has plans for making it even whizzier, with sound clips (Cat from Red Dwarf), a camera and a mobile webUI.

Work in progress: this is an Adafruit PermaProto with a couple of solder bridges at the top left. Instructions are on Dave’s blog.

There are full build details, code and a parts list over at Twin Cities Maker. Here’s the feeder in action:

We’re looking forward to see what additions Dave develops for the feeder. Seriously; if you can make this thing self-cleaning, Dave, you can sit back and never have to work again. Cat owners the world over will be banging your door down.

The ATF doesn’t just want a huge database to reveal everything about you with a few keywords. It wants one that can find out who you know. And it won’t even try to friend you on Facebook first.

recykle:

Fairy Pools on the Isle of Skye, Scotland

Is Scotland a different planet or something?

oh my this is beyond beautiful

Clifford Unchained: Shocking, isn't it? (BIOSHOCK SPOILERS AHEAD):

dudehugespeaks:

This is one of the few games that I’ve loved that I felt the violence actually detracted from the experience. The first time I dug my skyhook into someone I actually winced. I love shocking people in these games (it’s not called BioShootBeesAtThem) and I found that nearly every foe I zapped to death had their heads explode, Gallagher style. After the 400th head I was like “come on, already!”

Kotaku: “When the guy whose game featured a reverse up-the-crotch chainsaw melee kill is telling you your game is too violent, it might be worth listening.”

As the first step in an ongoing effort to make all of the original NES Mega Man soundtracks "legitimately available in the West," the fly jams built into 1987's Mega Man are now available directly through the Capcom Store. The digital pack costs $8.95 and includes 28 different tracks from the game, including such unforgettable hits as "Staff Roll (PS)" and "Capcom Logo."

In case you missed it yesterday, Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae is still in the video game composing business after 26 years, and will be contributing her extensive talents to Shovel Knight's soundtrack, in the form of two original songs.

Mega Man 1 OST now available digitally through Capcom originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 06 Apr 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bioshock Infinite

Video Game Toilets is a Tumblr blog featuring toilets from a large selection of video games, ranging from GoldenEye 007 to the newly released Bioshock Infinite.

GoldenEye 007

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Assassin’s Creed 3

Borderlands 2

images via Video Game Toilets

via Nerdcore

andrewbreitel:

me

It's part of the ritual of Doctor Who these days: First we have to be introduced to a new time-traveling companion (for the third time, in the case of Clara.) And then, in her second story, we have to get reminded just why she's so amazingly special and wonderful. That's this week's episode, which is kind of mixed bag. Spoilers ahead...

Read more...

Kevin Wada loves giving X-Men characters fashionable makeovers, and his rendition of the all-female X-team doesn't disappoint. Storm looks especially spectacular in that suit; handy that she can make that jacket whip in the wind on command.

Read more...

bowlofnouilles:

YES PERFECT

becaroonie:

When Mimi thinks I’ve spent too much time playing, she flies over and tries to block my screen… She won’t move until I pay her some attention

mickyalexandria:

yawls:

thebluepeninsula:

Esther Quek, fashion director at menswear magazine The Rake

(via A World Map of Flavors – 36 Regions, 36 Herb and Spice Combinations)

Now the first episodes of the new series are out, I think it’s time to reveal a trade secret in The Doctor’s latest attire that would otherwise go completely unnoticed, and give a bit of credit where credit’s due.

If you’ve watched any of the old Doctor Who Confidential episodes, or the documentaries on the DVDs you’ll have picked up that a lot of crew working on the series are themselves long time fans.
They often sneak in secret in jokes or spend bit more time than the usual to make the episodes have hidden depths.

When the boot makers were asked to prepare new footwear for series seven, part of the brief was to make the boots more ornate and intricate.

Their response was to decorate all edges of the leather with a hand-punched design.

This detailing extends to the toes of the boot, over which is a scrolled pattern.

Rather than just do some random design, the cutter at the boot makers said “Let’s have some fun”.
He looked on the internet and downloaded an image of the Seal Of Rassilon, first used as the symbol of the Time Lords during The Deadly Assassin in 1976.

Passing it to his cutter, the boot maker said “Use this, but make it different”.


As a result he came up with the design on the purple boots which has a mirror symmetry rather than rotational as seen on the Rassilon Seal.

A second pair of boots in brown were also made to the same pattern, but these have a nondescript design on the toe and aren't used as prolifically as the purple version.

You can see here the finished toe of the boots, with the card pattern used to make the hole punches.
The figure-eight design of the Rassilon seal is clearly evident, now you know what it is supposed to represent.


How cool is that? And how subtle so no-one really knows - until now!

Get Over Here and Play a Video Game

Submitted by: Meqad

Tagged: quotes , sports , gamers , video games Share on Facebook

“We have your family”

That was 23 hours ago.

22 hours since I stormed out the Polizia’s HQ.

15 hours since I capped a fucking snitch.

1 hour since I decided there was only one way this would end.

It might already be too late.

Found this burner shoved in my ticket pocket.

Ransom note wrapped round it.

Letters cut from back issues of Leon.

“Cooperate or we put them in RTW”

Those sick fucks.

Kidnapped.

by RL Stevenson Black Label.

Got my kin held down.

Got my fam tied up.

G’s trapped in triangles.

Fighting the Stockholm syndrome.

Hostages laced in H&M.

God forbid.

Less than an hour.

Running through Pitti.

On Dainites.

Protect these soles.

From my bloodshed.

A sea of red coral.

Great Barrier steelo.

Even at my most vulnerable.

My most desperate.

My most human.

Potential threats all around me.

I stay clowning.

Finding Timo Weiland.

So I can punch them the fuck out.

But I can’t get distracted.

Reading that note over.

And over.

At the cafe last night.

Searching for clues.

Inside my espresso.

It doesn’t make any sense.

“Call when you are at the drop off”

“Bring us 100 unmarked, untraceable #fashion tags.”

“Who is your tailor?”

“We want to feature you on our Tumblr.”

“How do you feel about street style?”

Two-bit steez traffickers.

If they only knew.

P is home.

And like Albert said.

There’s no such thing as half way crooks.

blackhistoryalbum:

Black Style | 1880s

Studio portrait of an African American female equestrian rider from the late 1880s.

via Black History Album, The Way We Were
Follow us on TUMBLR, PINTEREST

riding outfits forever

Just over thirty miles east of the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator the old Emperor, Genghis Khan, rides again.  Sat atop his horse, surveying his dominion (which was after his death to become the largest contiguous empire in history) a huge 131 feet statue of Genghis Khan dominates the steppes of Mongolia.

The sculpture, designed by D. Erdenebileg and architect J. Enkhjargal stands at the banks of the Tuul River.  It is here that the great emperor was said to have found a golden whip at the age of fifteen – though there is no exact evidence to support this.  It was, however, this whip that is said to have inspired the young Temujin (his birth name) to go on to conquer much of the known world.

Temujin was born in the middle of the twelfth century in Delüün Boldog close to Burkhan Khaldun mountain and the Onon and Kherlen rivers now in contemporary northern Mongolia.  It is in this eastern direction that the statue symbolically points.  Below the statue (seen above towards the end of its construction in 2008) is a museum, surrounded by 36 columns, one for each of the Khan dynasty of emperors.

Visitors to the statue can walk through the statue to the head of the horse (there is also a lift if you are not inclined to tackle the steps).  Here, cradled by the great man they can enjoy the panoramic views a statue of this size affords.  It came at something of a price too – the whole complex cost over $US4 million, which was spent by the Genco Tour Bureau, the company responsible for most of the tourism in Mongolia.

Image Credit Flickr User Ludovic Hurlimann
Image Credit WhatsAllThisThen
Known locally as Chinggis Khaan, the statue is the latest (and largest) of a number of monuments which have risen to honor the founder of the Khan dynasty since the country relieved itself of communism in 1989.  The image of Chinggis Khaan is now everywhere in the country, the nineteenth largest but most sparsely populated country in the world.

Image Credit Flickr User Rich_Lem
Image Credit WhatsAllThisThen
Mongolia, now an independent nation, is looking to effectively re-brand itself (and Khan) after centuries of foreign influence, being bordered by the behemoths of China and Russia.  Through projects such as this the Mongolian people are seeking to draw Genghis Khan not as a ferocious and merciless ruler who ordered the deaths of innumerable people but as something a little more palatable to contemporary sensitivities.

Image Credit Flickr User LD PIX
Image Credit Posti8
However impossible it is to treat the ‘Universal Ruler’ (as his name translates) as a simple and straightforward national hero, the statue comprehensively ignores any such gradation. There is little room for shade and tone here.  Genghis Khan is portrayed very much as the brilliant military strategist, who joined warring tribes together in order to establish the world’s biggest empire ever.  One thing is for sure - he is magnificent.

Image Credit Flickr User Bert Van Dijk
Image Credit Flickr User Alastair Rae
Image Credit Flickr User Mario Carvajal
Image Credit Flickr User Bert Van Dijk
Image Credit Flickr User eLJproks
Image Credit Flickr User Bert Van Dijk
Image Credit Flickr User Michael Foley Photography
Image Credit Flickr User Coursin Decurtins
First Image Credit Massimo.Botelli

“What happens when men enter women’s feminist spaces? Dale Spender did an experiment to find out, and published the results in Man Made Language:at the discussion, which was a workshop on sexism and education in London, were thirty-two women and five men. Apart from the fact that the tape revealed that the men talked for over 50 per cent of the time, it also revealed that what the men wanted to talk about – and the way in which they wanted to talk – was given precedence.”

-

No More ‘what about teh menz’ (via feministartdegree)

did i not tell you 

theolduvaigorge:

The ‘walking’ megalithic statues (moai) of Easter Island

• by Carl P. Lipo, Terry L. Hunt and Sergio Rapu Haoa

“Explaining how the monumental statues (moai) of Easter Island were transported has remained open to debate and speculation, including their resource expenditures and role in deforestation. Archaeological evidence including analysis of moai variability, particularly those abandoned along ancient roads, indicates transport was achieved in a vertical position. To test this proposition we constructed a precise three-dimensional 4.35 metric ton replica of an actual statue and demonstrate how positioning the center of mass allowed it to fall forward and rock from side to side causing it to ‘walk.’ Our experiments reveal how the statue form was engineered for efficient transport by a small number of individuals.

We show how Easter Island statue variability is explained by transport in a vertical position. ► We ‘walk’ a precise road statue replica demonstrating how form enables vertical transport. ► ‘Walking’ multi-ton statues did not require timber and could be accomplished by relatively small groups” (read more).

***I don’t often post non-Palaeolithic articles, but this was too cool and the images were great.

(Source: Journal of Archaeological Science, 2013, in press)

hypnosec writes "Developer units of Android based gaming console on-a-stick GameStick have already been shipped but, the units meant for early Kickstarter backers have been delayed by two months and will now ship by late June, PlayJam has revealed. The reason, according to PlayJam, is that the consoles would require stronger tooling as compared to silicon based moulds of the dev consoles, which would be finished sometime by June 10. Further, because of the sheer increase in the number of units, PlayJam has said that it won't be able to afford the air freight and will be going for sea freight instead, which will delay the shipments to June."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.