The Markr as a graph

This cool java app has been circulating around the 'net this week, so I thought I'd create a map of The Markr. It's a cool way to graphically see what makes up and links to your website. App created by Sala (check out his blog).

Here's an explanation of the colored tags:

blue: for links (the A tag)
red: for tables (TABLE, TR and TD tags)
green: for the DIV tag
violet: for images (the IMG tag)
yellow: for forms (FORM, INPUT, TEXTAREA, SELECT and OPTION tags)
orange: for line breaks and block quotes (BR, P, and BLOCKQUOTE tags)
black: the HTML tag, the root node
gray: all other tags

3D Painted Rooms

Check out the amazing paint jobs in these rooms. They're crafted in such a way that, if viewed at the correct angle an illusion of a three dimensional object appears.

This technique has also been applied to outdoor installations as well.

(Via 2Loop.com)

Always Open?

(Via Outhouse Rag)

Government and Poverty in Kenya

Some facts about Kenya:

• Kenya is smaller than the state of Texas.
• Interest rates are 18 percent, sales tax is 16 percent, and some pay up to 60 percent in income tax.
• There are more than 250 members of parliament in Kenya and they make over $150000 a year, and they don't pay taxes.
• 57 percent of Kenya lives in poverty, which means they make less than $40 a month in capital city Nairobi, and less than $20 a month in the rural areas.

Healthcare in Africa

In Africa, it costs:

• about $6 to diagnose and treat a case of malaria
• about $11 to diagnose and treat typhoid
• about $40 to have a baby
• $4 to diagnose and treat intestinal worms

Analyze U.S. State of the Union Speeches

Via Neatorama:

Brad Borevitz created this neat little program to analyze the State of the Union addresses given by US Presidents from 1790 to 2006:

SOTU allows you to explore how specific words gain and lose prominence over time, and to link to information on the historical context for their use. SOTU focuses on the relationship between individual addresses as compared to the entire collection of addresses, highlighting what is different about the selected document. You are invited to try and understand from this information the connection between politics and language-between the state we are in, and the language which names it and calls it into being.

For each State of the Union Address, the analyzer also measures the Flesch-Kincaid score, a controversial yet popularreadabilityy index to suggest at which grade level in an American school for which the text is appropriate. The lowest score (grade level 7.1) was George W. Bush's State of the Union address on February 27, 2001.

Barcodes

Neatorama has a cool post about Scott Blake, an artist who uses barcodes as the foundation of his art. While viewing his art, I also got some information about barcodes. Like Scott, I'm fascinated by barcodes. While I'm perhaps not as obsessed as Scott, the information he's provided about barcodes is quite informative and I'd like to share it here.

What is a barcode composed of and what do all those lines and numbers mean? Find out here.

Order your own customized barcode tattoos here!

View or purchase Scott's barcode art. Some exhibits that his artwork has been in.

Other links about barcodes.

Paintings of numbers for sale

Sala, an artist from Zürich, Switzerland, is selling 1000 paintings of the first 1000 numbers. The selling price of each painting is calculated like this:

Value = 1000 - number.
Initial discount: 90%.
Current discount: 80%.
The discount will decrease by an absolute 10% for every 100 paintings sold.
Min. price: $40.

Check out pictures from the kickoff event at V-Gallery in Basel, Switzerland on February 12, 2006.

So far, Sala has sold 171 paintings. A pretty cool idea. Why didn't I think of it? :)

(Via Boing Boing)

Edge of the Earth

Richard at Flickr posted this amazing photo of what appears to be "Land's End". The shot was taken on a commercial flight and of eastern New Mexico, about 10 miles north of the town of Grady. Map here. (Satellite shot appears inverted because the photo is looking south).

Check out various sizes of this amazing picture here.

Eurobad '74 - Europe's Worst Interiors

Fads come and thankfully, fads go. Check out some of the horrible interiors that were showcased at Eurobad '74. Although some trends do return, thankfully this "Eurochic" hasn't come back in style... yet.

So if you think your place doesn't quite match, get some assurance that it could be worse. Much worse.

(Via Neatorama)

Hubble Space Telescope Images

The image section of the European Homepage for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has a collection of over 2100 images from the Hubble Space Telescope. There's also Hubble news, videos, and more information about the Hubble Space Telescope available on the site.

Now where did I leave my bike?

(Via Ueba.net)

The U.S. $10,000 bill

The United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing has scans of large denomination Federal Reserve notes.

From the site:

Currency notes of denominations above $100 are not available from the Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve System, or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. On July 14, 1969, the Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve System announced that currency notes in denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 would be discontinued immediately due to lack of use. Although they were issued until 1969, they were last printed in 1945.

These notes are legal tender and may be found in circulation today; however, most notes still in circulation are probably in the hands of private numismatic dealers and collectors. If you are interested in purchasing these larger denominations, it is suggested that you contact private dealers or collectors who are usually listed in the classified section of the telephone directory under the headings of “Coins” and “Hobbies.”

(Via Boing Boing)

Grocery Lists

Ever make a list of items to get at the store? Grocerylists.org is an online collection of people's grocery lists.

Check out the Top 10 lists or feel free to browse any of the 1100 lists.

Some things the list collector has learned from these found lists:

More people than I thought like onions. Mayonnaise is difficult to spell. So is
banana, apparently. And anchovies. And yogurt. There are a lot of notepads out
there touting the greatness of numerous bizarrely-named pharmaceuticals. I used
to think my handwriting was lame. Now I don't. And lastly, very few people leave
their grocery lists in the cart like they should!

(Via Boing Boing)

Fractals

According to the wikipedia, a fractal is: A geometric object which is rough or irregular on all scales of length, and so which appears to be 'broken up' in a radical way. Some of the best examples can be divided into parts, each of which is similar to the original object. Fractals are said to possess infinite detail, and they may actually have a self-similar structure that occurs at different levels of magnification.

I think fractals are really cool. The infinite nature of them is amazing. Blatte's Fractals showcases a variety of fractals. The fractal to your left is entitled, Law of Ice.

(Via Neatorama)