A Short History of Marketing

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A Short History of Marketing

Michael Reissinger from the Scholz & Friends agency came up with this brilliant animation about changes in marketing realities (only 3 min. long).

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Today's pictures & links:

Rare Photos of the Antarctic Cruiser

We featured this impressive machine in our "Incredible Snowmobiles" article, but now more and better pictures surfaced - see how big and strange-looking this behemoth was:

In 1939 U.S. Antarctic Service acquired a very special vehicle: "Snow Cruiser, a.k.a. The Penguin"

(image credit: Seth White)

Read more info and see more pictures on this page.

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Be Afraid

(original unknown)

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Voronoi Weather Data

"Voronoi diagrams are named after Georgy Voronoy (1868-1908), an eminent Russian/Ukrainian mathematician. A number of mathematicians before Voronoy such as Descartes and Dirichlet have been known to have used them, Voronoy extended the idea to n- dimensions. The Voronoi diagram is a tessellation, or a tiling. A tiling of a plane is simply a collection of plane figures that fills the plane with no overlaps and no gaps in between"

This diagram is a representation of 17,168 weather stations around the world - via. Click to enlarge.

Read a good article about such visualisation methods.

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Caral: America's oldest city (destroyed by an earthquake)

An interesting article on Environmental Graffiti reveals the reason behind the demise of the first South American civilisation.

"About 3,800 years ago, residents of Supe Valley in Peru’s coastal desert, 120 miles north of Lima, had just created a flourishing society complete with tall pyramids (thousands of years before the Maya) - when disaster struck and earthquakes coupled with heavy rains wiped them out..."

The City of Caral boasted a 100-foot tall pyramid called Piramide Mayor, revealed to be as old as 2600 BC. Scientists believe Caral to be a potential “mother city” in the Americas - destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes... Also read this info

(images via MavRev, Journal Peru)

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Mixed fresh links for today:

Periodic Table of Visualisation Techniques - [cool image]
Ridiculous Rocket-Powered Vehicles - [great roundup]
Walking trees... what's next? - [weird nature]
Nazi "doctor" created a town of twins - [weird history]
Steam-bent and rolling through a garden - [art]
Most Famous Hackers - [interesting]
Space Katrina feeds apocalyptic fears - [space weather]
AskMen Top 100 Women: the votes are in - [huge list]
Mad Nutrigrain Power from the 1980s - [fun video ad]
This goat walks the rope! - [wow video]

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This Year in History

Insightful and hilarious peeks into the "future past" - originally appeared in Locus, the magazine of the SF&F field.

2079:
Chickens block highway. Thousands of Free Range (tm) chickens, blown into drifts by a winter storm, stop traffic for six hours on I-95 near Baltimore. The traffic snarl leads to renewed calls for fencing the boi-engineered birds, born without feet or wings.

2069:
Presidential sex change. An innovative non-invasive laser procedure, performed between a press-conference and a state dinner, makes L. K. Cranmer the 53rd male US President, the third female President, and the first Chief Exec to undergo a sex change in office.

Check out new concepts, fresh ideas and latest science fiction news at Locusmag.com

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Blue Mars

Dunes in Abalos Undae, Mars - more info

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona - "The enhanced color data illuminate differences in composition. The dunes appear blueish because of their basaltic composition, while the reddish-white areas are probably covered in dust."

The Martian Chronicles site reminds us of an awesome quote from Bagnold (1941) which seems appropriate in this case:

"In places vast accumulations of sand weighing millions of tons move inexorably, in regular formation, over the surface of the country, growing, retaining their shape, even breeding, in a manner which, by its grotesque imitation of life, is vaguely disturbing to an imaginative mind."

And then, there are the hi-rise gullies (on the dunes of Russell Crater, Mars) - more info

Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

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The SwissBike is compact, very compact

The SwissBike TX is a full-size bike (26" wheel) that folds to fit in a backseat or a very small trunk. It has enough comfort and it can go anywhere. Terrain is not an issue.

In fact, these bikes were originally developed in conjunction with DARPA. The military wanted an efficient way to mobilize airborne soldiers after they hit the ground but it needed to fold down small enough to fit out of the door of an airplane. That's right, these guys would actually jump out of planes with this bike and then use it as rapid transport once they landed.

(images credit: swissbike)

Our readers however, can enjoy the privilege of owning one - order it here - use the code "darkroasted" when you have any bike and a carrying case together in the shopping cart and you will get $99.95 off the order.

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Peugeot 3008 vs. Zamak

The talented French concept artist Zamak made a commercial for the Peugeot car, using many of his unique CG creatures:

(images credit: Olivier Bucheron)

See that short video here.

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Airplane Lands on Neva River (1963)

You know of course that U.S. Airways passenger plane ditched onto the Hudson River January 15, 2009 (see the Coast Guard footage of this event). The following images, though, tell of another emergency landing over in Russia in September 1963. The passenger plane TU-124 (captain Victor Mostovoy) ran out of fuel over Leningrad (St.Petersburg) and safely ditched in the river, barely missing the railway bridge:

(images credit: nevariver.ru)

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Movie Posters Don't Lie

...or at least they speak the truth and nothing but the truth about your favorite movies - in this Something Awful Contest (some might be nsfw). Check this thrilling movie, for example:

(image via)

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Wonderful motel. Cheap. Any takers?

This photograph was taken by Nic Nichols, a documentary photographer. He also runs FourCornersDark.com which features Toy Camera news, reviews and low-fi techniques.

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Shuttles Are Fun