MetaFilter posts tagged with natural

A Guide To Rivers, Plains, Planets, Stars

The Whelk — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 09:26:04 -0800

Peacay of BibliOdyessey highlights some stunning examples of Victorian Infographics from the Rumsey Map Collection(previously). (Direct Flickr link)

The Blind Watchmaker applet

technically yours — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:01:41 -0800

This is a fun little atheistic distraction: The interactive Blind Watchmaker applet demonstrates how random mutation followed by non-random selection can lead to interesting, complex forms. The Blind Watchmaker algorithm was conceived by Richard Dawkins and is described in his book of the same name. The resultant forms (which can begin to look like plants and bugs) are called "biomorphs," visual representations of a set of genes. A little background, thanks to Wikipedia: "Dawkins makes reference to the watchmaker analogy made famous by William Paley in his book Natural Theology. Paley, arguing more than fifty years before Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, held that the complexity of living organisms was evidence of the existence of a divine creator by drawing a parallel with the way in which the existence of a watch compels belief in an intelligent watchmaker. Dawkins, in contrasting the differences between human design and its potential for planning with the workings of natural selection, therefore dubbed evolutionary processes as analogous to a blind watchmaker."

The Barnett Shale Or How I Learned to Love the Gas

punkfloyd — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:35:10 -0800

The Barnett Shale, the largest onshore natural gas formation in America, is transforming Fort Worth, TX and surrounding areas. It is estimated that up to 30 trillion cubic feet of unconventional natural gas is held in the shale formations below the western half of the DFW metroplex. Urban drilling is becoming commonplace using innovative horizontal and fracturing techniques to get the stubborn gas to flow. Property owners, gas companies and even Tommy Lee Jones are all thrilled about it. These folks aren't. Apparantly our nation is full of gas.

Proustite: decaying before memory

parmanparman — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 14:47:26 -0800

Richard Forty's Dry Store Room No. 1 describes the archives of the British Natural History Museum. Not on display, among other things, is Proustite, it is a compound of silver, arsenic and sulphur that forms as blood-red crystals that fade, poetically, when exposed to light.' Via Things Magazine.

Less Lawn, Better World

taursir — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 22:59:53 -0800

Here are some ways to shrink your unnatural water- and gas-guzzling lawn and plant something that is beautiful and requires no water usage, no mowing, and is more likely to attract more interesting wildlife. With this much lawn in the U.S., and incessant water shortages, and other water issues and wars in our present and looming in the future, why not go native? Naturally, there are objections, since local ordinances often don't allow for natural prairie lawns, and the neighborhood stick-up-butt committees are quick to remove things they consider eyesores. What is your lawn worth to you?

"Nasty, brutish and short" indeed

dersins — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 17:03:20 -0800

Urban Scout. Sincere crusader for sustainable living or poseur hipster douchebag? [last link is google video]

Natural Contraception in the Ancient World?

Chinese Jet Pilot — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:09:31 -0800

Silphium was the wonder plant of the ancient world. Originally identified by Greek colonists in North Africa, the plant - a species of Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) - grew only in a dimunitive area near the coast and could not be cultivated. Silphium was popular as a spice for cooking, but its notoriety stems from its alleged medicinal qualities, particularly its use as an herbal contraceptive (the "I love you" heart symbol may have originated from the shape of silphium's seed pods and its use in sex). So valuable was Silphium that it became an important component of the ancient world's economy and appears on coins. It's also among the first species recorded (by Pliny the Elder) as going extinct, probably by grazing sheep or uncontrolled harvesting. Or is it?

Bargain Bin Bliss

muckster — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 13:27:02 -0800

TM without the ™. When he's not directing one of the best movies of the year or sitting on intersections with cows, David Lynch is a vocal advocate of Transcendental Meditation. In his new book Catching the Big Fish, he talks about the Box and the Key, meeting Fellini, the Suffocating Rubber Clown Suit, why he doesn't do DVD commentaries--and TM, which he calls "the experience that does everything." If you're intrigued by TM but sketched out by the organization and the $2,500 fee, perhaps you'd like to know that there is a cheap, downloadable alternative.

"Of course, many of you will be eaten before you become adults."

Citizen Premier — Tue, 09 May 2006 17:51:34 -0800

In nature, mothers aren't so motherly.

WHat's in a name?

Cranberry — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 11:14:59 -0800

'Tsunami' born out of disaster A young mother gives birth to one child while losing track of another.

a penguin love story

digaman — Sat, 07 Feb 2004 11:29:04 -0800

Birds do it, bees do it... homosexual attachment and lovemaking are widespread in the animal kingdom, say biologists like Bruce Bagemihl, author of "Biological Exuberance." [For a longer, better-edited version of the same article, go here, but NYT reg. required.] Not everyone agrees, particularly those apt to quote the Bible to justify claims of a "natural revulsion to perverse sex."