Stephen Wilkes

Automated Caveman

nevver:

“Nothing happens until something moves.” — Albert Einstein

by Luke Duggleby

Hunters

The Sorted Books project began in 1993 years ago and is ongoing. The project has taken place in many different places over the years, ranging form private homes to specialized public book collections. The process is the same in every case: culling through a collection of books, pulling particular titles, and eventually grouping the books into clusters so that the titles can be read in sequence, from top to bottom. The final results are shown either as photographs of the book clusters or as the actual stacks themselves, shown on the shelves of the library they were drawn from. Taken as a whole, the clusters from each sorting aim to examine that particular library's focus, idiosyncrasies, and inconsistencies — a cross-section of that library's holdings. At present, the Sorted Books project comprises more than 130 book clusters.

As ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull volcano continued to keep European airspace shut down over the weekend, affecting millions of travelers around the world, some government agencies and airlines clashed over the flight bans. Some restricted airspace is now beginning to open up and some limited flights are being allowed now as airlines are pushing for the ability to judge safety conditions for themselves. The volcano continues to rumble and hurl ash skyward, if at a slightly diminished rate now, as the dispersing ash plume has dropped closer to the ground, and the World Health Organization has issued a health warning to Europeans with respiratory conditions. Collected here are some images from Iceland over the past few days. (35 photos total)

It’s the short description for the photograph shown at the virtual Bralorne Pioneer Museum, from British Columbia, Canada. The image can be seen specifically on this page (scroll down to the middle), among other items of the online exhibit. Did you notice anything out of place? Or perhaps, out of time? The man with what appears to be very modern sunglasses seems to be wearing a stamped T-shirt with a nice sweater, all the while holding a portable compact camera!

Though the term “herd behaviour” today is most often used when talking about financial markets, it originally described individuals in a group acting together without direction – for example an animal herd fleeing from a predator. When seen from above, animal herds seem to follow intricate and intriguing patterns.

The large flock of sheep in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, in the picture above, seems to form a heart shape, with a hole at the bottom from where the herder is driving the animals in a particular direction. Animals form herds for protection because a group is less likely to be attacked than a single animal. Even though detecting a large herd is easier than detecting one or a few animals, each animal instinctively moves closer to the centre of the fleeing herd to reduce the danger of being caught.

These twelve giraffes seen in the Okavango Delta in Botswana seem to be driven by a clear purpose – to get water maybe? Or food? Or maybe they are looking for potential mates. We ca

A collection of Polaroids, one per day, from March 31, 1979 through October 25, 1997:

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15131

There’s no author listed, no contact info, and no other indication as to where these came from.