The Small, Beautiful Earth

Seeing the Earth from space is one of the most humbling reminders of the smallness and fragility of our planet, and of the insignificance of humanity. In the words of Carl Sagan, “The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner.”

The following images are not actual photographs from space, though many people on the internet have mistaken them for real photos from NASA. They were actually created by graphic artist Anton Balazh (Антон Балаж) from St. Petersburg, Russia. The images achieve their beautiful realism by compounding and altering real satellite images from NASA’s Visible Earth catalogs, and using GIS data to depict bathymetry and topography. The height of mountain ranges, which would normally look flat from space, are exaggerated in a style called raised-relief. The images were then altered to make them appear variously at night, day, and twilight. The effect is incredible, showing our planet as a tapestry of glowing city lights without political borders or labels.

Iberia, Southwestern Europe, and Northwestern Africa from Space at Night

Artist's Site

Comments

Basic Fuckanomics

You're born with a ton of fucks to give. So you spend them like a kid with a credit card. You give a fuck about your friends, about your grades, about your fashion sense, about strangers opinions ..... you give away too many fucks about way too many things. You have so many. then, as you get older you have maybe ten fucks per month.... so you learn to budget them. You allocate fucks to your family and career, but there aren't enough fucks left to give the newest shit. So someone at work has something they need my help with that's outside my job title? I'll do my best to allocate some fucks, but this month is pretty tight. Then you get even older, so you're down to one or two fucks a month.... and those fucks are damn precious. You give them to your family, your hobbies, your job... and that's kind of it. It's not your fault fucks expire too quickly. I would have liked to save my fucks when I was younger, but I can't. Then you hit fuck insolve...

Slings for FHRPG

Some vids detailing historical use of slings. Again, in most version of D&D, this is a Simple Weapon that anyone can use. Halflings usually get some nice bonuses with slings, and some editions of D&D go absolutely bonkers with halfling-only sling feats that produce some damage potential to easily compete with longbows and crossbows. (I can't find the character sheet, but I had a 4e halfling ranger/rogue who, in natural terrain, take 5 foot step at the start of her turn, then use her sling to cause 5d6+4 damage. That was awesome.)

Mythoard! Gamer deals for gamers!

Okay, let's launch this blog. I'm unmedicated right now, so the ADD is running wild. Ashley, and Jarrod, and their adorable kids put together mythoard.com . Be a gamer? Subscribe and get cool stuff. I'll sort this post out later. This was just a neat site to tip me over the edge and finally make this blog.

I Tell You. You Decide If You Care.

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