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Thursday, March 15, 2007

Fantastic Gemstones


"QUANTUM SHOT" #138


Slices of Splendor

Photographer Bill Atkinson reveals the wondrous textures within the semi-precious stones. (Check out more examples from his recent book "Within the Stone"). Mr. Atkinson was one of the original developers of the Macintosh computer, responsible for Finder, QuickDraw, and HyperCard, among others. He is now an amazing nature photographer who is also working on next-generation printing technologies.


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones


Gemstones

"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" (Samuel R. Delaney)

Permanent Link...
Category: Nature


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  • I think hydroflame was adorable.
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  • WHAT A GREAT SERIES! Thank you for the inspiration! If I don't get my garden work done, it is the fault of the friend who sent me the link to this great article!
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  • Great post, but I don't think that Leninism is the reason that Moscow never got jet-powered ice-sleds.

    BTW, how about tagging the Flickr set as Public Domain or CC instead of "All Rights Reserved"? These images are in the public domain, after all.

    Cory
    Read more

  • YeaH Duuudz,

    Like don't diss Marxism Leninism! Soviet Union, China, Cuba, North Korea, Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao, Chauchesku... That was just a fluke. Just because Marxism has turned every country it touches into a poverty stricken facist hell-hole, doesn't mean there is anything wrong with Marxism or Leninism! Marxism failed because the people in those countries where inherently inferior and evil - Why if good white upper middle class bay-area hipsters like Cory Doctorow were leading the revolution, it would be nothing but kittens and cupcakes for everyone! After all, Cory is so much cooler than a bunch of dirty and ignorant cossacks.
    Read more

  • Insightful and profoundly witty though Anonymous' critique may be, it misses doctorow's point. There may well be very good reasons for criticizing communism, but jet-powered ice-sleds isn't one of them.

    These are great pictures, and thanks for posting them. But I've got to agree with doctorow, the commmunism crack is silly, particularly since it was only thanks to the revolution that backward, monarchist, agricultural Russia left the dark ages and actually became industrialized.
    Read more

  • This is what they were planning instead...I particularly like the deranged "palace of soviets" designs.

    Anyway, they did get jet powered ice sleds. Or close enough.
    Read more

  • Unrealized Moscow & sleds: Awesome links! Thank you
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  • I'm with the first anonymous poster- clearly Lenin was responsible for the failure to realize futurist visions not only in Russia, but in every other country in the world. I think he must have used commie magic, or something.
    Seriously though, obviously this vision of the future never came to pass because it's _completely absurd_. Those sleds are hard to make out, but aren't those propellers in front? They appear to float in mid-air, unconnected to the vehicle. It'd be great to have the streets filled with those- one could imagine the carnage if they crashed into anything.
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  • Those were truly awesome. I need a kit-car version of that first one, so my lifelong dream of filming a movie called "Four-Wheelin' at the Mountains of Madness" can finally be fulfilled.
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  • Here is a simple fractal discovered many centuries ago in Italy by a mathematician theorizing reproduction of rabbits.

    Start with 1.1 and 1 equals 2. 1 and 2 equals 3. 2 and 3 equals 5. 3 and 5 equals 8. 5 and 8 equals 13.

    This simple pattern produces ratios found in nature, where these particular numbers (5 and 8, 8 and 13) appear.

    Something else. The ratio of the numbers produces the Golden Ratio.
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  • "Mathematics is the language of Nature".
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  • nice:) we love fractals so much, we have a blog called Fractal Enlightenment.:) its all around, nature's creation
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  • the guy that owns it is a retired airline pilot. he bought that plane used, put it in that forested area and it's his house.
    he lives somewhere in oregon.
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  • This is his website:

    http://www.airplanehome.com/
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  • Another notable airplane conversion was a de Havilland converted into a cafeteria by Mexico City's airport, which eventually spawned the Wings restaurant chain. The only picture I could find is under "Historia" at their (over-flashed, slow-loading, misspelled) site at http://www.wings.com.mx
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  • Living in an old airliner up on blocks in your yard isn't all that much different from living in a beat up trailer, but I'd do it, especially if I could get ahold of a 747.
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  • The airplane house is visible from google maps.

    http://maps.google.com/maps?q=hillsboro+oregon&z=19&ll=45.4079,-123.007758&t=h
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  • I was in Coca, Ecuador last summer and saw, of all things, a jet airplane turned into a floating nightclub-
    https://webspace.utexas.edu/faigley/www/ecuador/pages/IMG_1027_JPG.htm
    Read more

  • Boeing 307 Stratoliner. IMHO one of the most elegant propdriven aircraft ever produced, certainly the rarest.

    I actually worked on this same plane when this picture was taken. I was one of the electricians that restored the plane after it ran out of fuel over Elliot Bay in 2002. A once in a lifetime experience that was.

    That football shaped antenna is for the ADF radio, all of the original radio's work on this plane, restored by an old timer who devoted many hours to restoring the radio system, among other retirees from Boeing that helped to restore this wonderfull aircraft.

    The Boeing S307 PAA flying cloud in this picture is the only surviving aircraft of ten that were built in the late 30's before WW2. It was designed at the same time as the B17 bomber so it has very similar wings and engines as the old bomber.

    A perfectly restored flying craft, the plane now resides in it's final resting spot in the center of the Smithsonian air museum Steven Udvar Hazey Center near the Dulles Airport in Washington DC.
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  • amazing when people do so incredible things..
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  • A small roadside restaurant in Romania made from a DC-3:

    http://www.corgifan.com/blogger/dc3.JPG
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  • As always a fantastically thought provoking post. The work you put into this site shines through.
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  • it's so wonderful to discover your blog!~!~!! (found out about it thru GROWABRAIN)...your blog is so amazing and inspiring and entertaining...I'd like to spend hours looking at the pics and reading what-not...

    thanks again~~~

    Greetings from the Philippines~
    Read more

  • thank you for your good words. They mean very much to me.
    cheers
    Read more

  • these are actually very powerful images that more people need to see. i'm glad you posted this. : )
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  • Hmm, some interesting juxtapositions... my favorite is the map of "war deaths"
    next to the "military spending" map. Quite telling, indeed.
    Read more

  • I hope the dragons and commies don't work together. I can't afford to pay more than $2 a gallon to fill up my SUV. :( :( :(
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  • its a pitiful state of affairs when a sociologist (scientist) from any University has a country in a map that doesn't exist for 15 years - namely Yugoslavia....

    pitiful indeed
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  • Rather pointless without a key.
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  • Thank you for this. I found some other interesting maps at mapanything.net. You may have to dig a bit as it requires you to search your own terms
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  • Wow, I didn't realize that Yugoslavia still exists. I must be in delusion when I think I'm living in Croatia.Real experts...
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  • That isopod looks like a giant dust mite... but with more legs. It reminds me of an anime movie I saw where giant insects and fungi were taking over the world.
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  • posted by Chris Bassoo

    Congrats on being blogger of note, great blog and great information....warmest of regards from Christopher Bassoo
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  • The russians catch an alien, and eat him. Nice xD.

    And that isopod looks so cool :P
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  • You first picture is "Go Fish"
    by Monica Langlois. It is featured artwork from World of Warcraft on the Blizzard site. http://www.blizzard.com/us/inblizz/fanart/images/screens/ss449.jpg
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  • Thank you, credit added, original was unknown for some time
    Read more


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