"Never tell a man the truth about the one that he adores"

I wonder if I'm the only person on this blog old enough to remember the musical comedy team of Flanders and Swann.

This is their performance of "The Armadillo." Those who need help with the lyrics will find them here. For a brief biographical sketch of Michael Flanders, go here.

Real crop circles

Aerial photograph of Kansas, showing center pivot irrigation. At low magnification it's beautifully abstract.

Irreconcilable differences

Credit.

Green building

Not an "earth after humans" photo, this appears to be just exuberant gardening on a bank building in Barcelona in 1980.

Credit to jmtp, via.

Cocoon

Many caterpillars (especially moth caterpillars) are very hairy. The hairs provide a modicum of protection because they are often irritating to predators. When the caterpillar is fully mature and enters the pupa stage to undergo metamorphosis, the body hairs are often woven in with the silk to form the cocoon. In this example (species unknown to me), the hairs appear to have been arranged in a sort of protective tent.

Credit, via.

The oldest orchestra in America

Pictured above in 1871 are the 16 members of the "Pierian Sodality of 1808." Some nitpickers might argue whether the organization has been continuously an "orchestra" because in 1832 the membership shrank to one (a soloist flutist). But if they regrouped thereafter, they would still be older than the runner-up, the New York Philharmonic (1842).

They go by a different name nowadays - the Harvard-Radcliffe Orchestra.

Google Classic

Apparently this is old and all over the net. First time I've seen it. Original credit ???

Doyle spirals

Found here (top) and here (bottom), via Suddenly.

The scientific explanation for these forms involves Mobius transformations, and is way beyond my sphere of knowledge:

The theorem means that any four such circles that comes with one pairing transformation alpha automatically has another beta. The group generated by these transformations can be applied to the original starting circles to develop a beautiful packing of circles in the plane. If the four circles are all the same size, we simply get the usual hexagonal packing of the plane. But if the circles are of different sizes, we get something a lot more beautiful: a Doyle Spiral. The transformations alpha and beta will be loxodromic spiralling element whirling the circles all around and through each other.

I don't know if this helps...

Doyle spiral circle packings (DCSPs) are a rich resource for mathematical investigations with endless applications in computer-based art and design... Each DCSP fills the plane with closely packed circles, where the radius of each circle in a packing is proportional to the distance of its centre from a central point, These packings exhibit many properties – each one is massively self-similar, for example...

Garden sculpture

Via (which is not the original credit - nor is such ascertainable via TinEye).

Dregs of the human race

This shocking image shows an urban fox with a chain bolted through its leg - amid growing fears they are being used to bait fighting dogs...

A hole had been drilled through the animal's flesh after it was caught by poachers in south east London...

It is feared that fighting dogs are being let loose on the trapped animals either for "fun" or as practice for illegal fights...

In London, a number of cats have also been discovered "ripped to pieces" in the Rotherhithe area...

Via Nothing to do with Arbroath.

It's a great day for conspiracy theorists

Two for the price of one, starting with evidence that the skull fragments attributed to Adolph Hitler are not his...

US archaeologist Nick Bellantoni found fragments from the skull believed to be Hitler's were too thin to be from a male, and suspected it was the remains of a much younger woman... DNA tests performed in a US laboratory confirmed the remains could not have belonged to the Nazi leader...

The alternative explanation, of course, would be that Hitler was actually a woman.

Meanwhile, in Oklahoma...

Long-secret security tapes showing the chaos immediately after the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building are blank in the minutes before the blast and appear to have been edited, an attorney who obtained the recordings said Sunday...

"Four cameras in four different locations going blank at basically the same time on the morning of April 19, 1995. There ain't no such thing as a coincidence," Trentadue said.

He said government officials claim the security cameras did not record the minutes before the bombing because "they had run out of tape" or "the tape was being replaced."

"The interesting thing is they spring back on after 9:02," he said. "The absence of footage from these crucial time intervals is evidence that there is something there that the FBI doesn't want anybody to see."

Photo credit Reuters.

Gabions - then and now

Gabions (from Italian gabbione meaning "big cage"; from Italian gabbia and Latin cavea meaning "cage") are cages, cylinders, or boxes filled with soil or sand that are used in civil engineering, road building, and military application. For erosion control caged riprap is used. For dams or foundation construction, cylindrical metal structures are used. In a military context, earth or sand-filled gabions are used to protect artillery crews.

I've seen these for years at road construction and shoreline stabilization sites, but never knew what they were called, nor did I realize that the principle had been used in the 16th century to protect cannon emplacements:

In the medieval era, gabions were... made from wickerwork and filled with earth for use as military fortifications. These early military gabions were used to protect field artillery gunners. The wickerwork cylinders were light and could be carried relatively conveniently in the ammunition train, particularly if they were made in several diameters to fit one in another. At the site of use in the field, they could be stood on end, staked in position, and filled with soil to form an effective wall around the gun.

You learn something every day.

Ancient stairway

Obviously carved into fissured rock on the side of a mountain, with a cross carved next to the steps. Photo found at Pixdaus without further identification or credit re source, and with tags indicating "Anglo-Saxon" and "england," which surprises me a little. It looks more like something that might have been created in central Europe or perhaps a monastery in the Greece/Adriatic area. Does anyone recognize it? (Click to enlarge)

Addendum - identified by Anonymous as follows "Stony stairway from the 13th century. The stairway is part of a rock castle in the mountains “Elbsandsteingebirge” in Sachsen, Germany." Continuing a string of my never being able to ask a question here that someone didn't have the answer to. Amazing. Thanks.

Korean house numbers

In most countries, when you are looking for a house you can follow the numbers on the buildings. They are arranged in a logical numbered sequence, right? Not in Korea. Next to House No. 1 could be house No. 88 or anything! House No. 2 will probably be half a mile away. Why? I wondered. Something to do with confusing the invading North Korean troops when they arrive, as somebody helpfully suggested? No. Apparently, they are numbered according to their age. So No. 1 will be the oldest house on the street. What happens if they tear it down and build a new one on the same spot, God only knows. Anyway, what it all means is that giving your address to a taxi driver is next-to-useless. You have to guide them every step of the way.

Photo credit to Hovs.

Obamabot

One does, of course, have sympathy for someone whose job description includes posing for 130 photos with strangers during an afternoon reception. I know that's the very essence of politics and diplomacy, but I wouldn't do it.

Credit Eric Spiegelman, via Neatorama.