Incense and Peppermints

emlocke:

World’s Subways Converging on Ideal Form | Wired Science | Wired.com
By Brandon Keirn
May 15, 2012

After decades of urban evolution, the world’s major subway systems appear to be converging on an ideal form … [Statistical physicist Marc] Barthelemy and National Center for Scientific Research complex systems analyst Camille Roth focused a network analysis lens on the aforementioned cities’ subways, along with Barcelona, Beijing, Berlin, Chicago, Madrid, Mexico, Moscow, Osaka, Paris, Seoul and Tokyo … Patterns emerged: The core-and-branch topology, of course, and patterns more fine-grained. Roughly half the stations in any subway will be found on its outer branches rather than the core. The distance from a city’s center to its farthest terminus station is twice the diameter of the subway system’s core. This happens again and again.

“Many other shapes could be expected, such as a regular lattice,” said Barthelemy. “What we find surprising is that all these different cities, on different continents, with different histories and geographical constraints, lead finally to the same structure.”

Subway systems seem to gravitate towards these ratios organically, through a combination of planning, expedience, circumstance and socioeconomic fluctuation, say the researchers … The convergence “is a sign that there are some basic, profound mechanisms that drive the development of urban systems,” said Barthelemy. 

humanscalecities:

Exporting totalitarian architecture to the rest of the world

And finally, showcasing Nazi architecture was not limited to Germany. When the International Exposition Dedicated to Art and Technology in Modern Life was held in 1937 in Paris, the two most prominent pavilions were those belonging to Germany and the Soviet Union, which were located directly across from each other. With a height of 500 feet, the Nazi pavilion designed by Albert Speer, was topped with a tower displaying a gigantic swastika and eagle, symbols of National Socialism. 

Like the Zeppelinfield in Nuremburg, at night Speer used floodlights to illuminate the structure. The pavilion’s purpose was to showcase German pride and the strength of Nazi Germany as a bulwark against Communism, symbolized by the Soviet pavilion directly opposite.

(Source: outputs)

feministeureka:

It wasn’t until college when someone said “you’re such a feminist.” That word always had such a sting to it before, and I never wanted to be outed as a “strong” woman. But the thing is, I was called a feminist after saying the phrase, “don’t let a man ever pressure you into sex; you are in control of your body and emotions.” That seemed like common sense to me. But no, I was deemed a man-hating, ball-busting feminist. That was the moment I decided to embrace my title and try to counter-act the negative stereotype of feminists. I want to encourage other women to be in charge of their bodies and minds. 

-Emily Edwards

Emily Edwards is a junior at AU studying economics and development. She is the Director of International and Multicultural Issues for Women’s Initiative. She also writes and blogs for AWOL, American University’s student-run progressive magazine.

My girl, doing work. 

sunfoundation:

Interactive Islands of Mankind

Geography graduate student Derek Watkins has some fun with population densities in an interactive version of William Bunge’s The Continents and Islands of Mankind. The above shows areas in the world where there are at least 15 people per square kilometer. In the interactive, a slider lets you shift that number up to 500 where only a few spots in the world remain.

(Source: ummhello)