notes.husk.org. scribblings by Paul Mison.

theartofgooglebooks:

Printed plate left folded through digitization.

From p.539 of Elements of Technology by Jacob Bigelow (1831).

Glitchy steam engines.

NO301 site plan, North Greenwich.

This has been in my drafts folder for probably two years, so I have no idea where it was from originally. I just like maps, and lines, and black and white, and I’m rescuing it.

Edit: diamond geezer reminds me that it’s the planning application for a hotel by the Dome which is still not built. All the planning documents have gone (except, through the random chance that I liked it and saved it, this one).

hammerandcode:

Moon.

Calculating the Size of Apple’s Spaceship HQ at The Mac Observer. It turns out the maths is a little out (the diagram shown here uses a radius of 800 feet, when it’s really nearer 700) but that’s still a pretty big building.

feltron:

Simon Parker’s London Cycle Map

I’m having another of those moments where I feel like I’m the only person in the world who dislikes something. (To be clear: I dislike this map.)

I’ve cycled in London. Not as much as some people, but for a year or two that was how I commuted, three to five times a week. I also did a few longer rides, and got to try the hire scheme before I moved away. I want to see there be more cycling in London.

The problem is that this map doesn’t make it any easier. Instead, it abstracts away some complexity you need to understand (how to deal with one way systems, for example) and replaces it with other complexity which you don’t (what is R1 and how is it different from R1a?)

Remember, the Tube map can make compromises with geography because it is disconnected from the surface geography except at stations. By contrast, cyclists have to share the same messy, often medieval, street plan as everything else on the ground, and this map won’t show enough to let them do it. I’d much rather have the TfL/LCC cycling maps, large as they are, because they actually work. (I know. I used them.)

On the other hand, perhaps everyone is liking and reblogging this because it’s colourful and pretty. Call it a nice artwork if you like, but I don’t think it’s good design.

The science bit. From Intel’s page about Thunderbolt™ Technology. (via Chris, ta)

A double-page spread from Railways Under London by Marie Neurath, one of the key exponents of the Isotype Picture Language, as seen at The Science Project: Isotype workshop.

There’s an exhibition about the work on Isotype at the V&A. It’s small but, if you’re in or near London, well worth a visit.

Looking up at a building’s foundations and the street above:

Foundations for larger buildings are generally adaptations or combinations of the four types used at our intersection. One is on a floating foundation, another on friction piles, a third on bearing piles, and the fourth on piers.

From David Macualay’s Underground, via Things Magazine.

Apartm.net:

The camera at the Apartm.net is less interesting than the flash. The flash for the camera is three Alien Bees strobes totaling 1280 watts of power. We normally use them on a 9-foot seamless backdrop mounted on Manfrotto Autopoles in the office. “

Crossrail - Liverpool Street Station design

A 3D diagram of the Crossrail routing under Liverpool Street (and, given the length of the platforms, Moorgate and Finsbury Circus too). Note the Post Office railway tunnel.