Google Earth Captures Plane Mid-Takeoff

Scroll down the runway on this larger map to see the airplane in various stages of takeoff, as photographed by a satellite for Google Earth. The plane (a KC-135, from the looks of it) is taking off from Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma.

[via]

Worldwide Coffee Consumption

This chart shows the current consumption of coffee per capita around the world, according to the World Resources Institute.

[via]

Ten World-Altering Maps

The British Library has an exhibit happening right now of maps that changed the world. The Daily Mail has a smashing top-ten. Above is the first map of the London Tube system, from 1933:

Dismissed as too ‘revolutionary’ when it was first submitted in 1931, Harry Beck’s Underground map solved the problem of how to represent clearly and elegantly a dense, complex interweaving of train lines.

Placing the stations at similar intervals regardless of their true locations amplifies the area of central London, increasing its clarity, while the straight lines and interchange symbols confer a simplicity and order on the network. A cartographic icon.

Ten of the Greatest Maps That Changed the World [DailyMail]

Comic Book Cartography

Comic Book Cartography is a collection of maps and diagrams from comic books. Above is the Nick Fury Tunnel Cutaway, from Strange Tales #141 – Jack Kirby.

[via Nerdcore]

The Known Universe

The Known Universe, assembled by the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium, zooms out from Earth to the limits of the known universe (and does so accurately). Definitely worth a watch.

Since 1998, the American Museum of Natural History and the Hayden Planetarium have engaged in the three-dimensional mapping of the Universe. This cosmic cartography brings a new perspective to our place in the Universe and will redefine your sense of home. The Digital Universe Atlas is distributed to you via packages that contain our data products, like the Milky Way Atlas and the Extragalactic Atlas, and requires free software allowing you to explore the atlas by flying through it on your computer.

[via Kottke]

Nuclear Explosions Since 1942

A great infographic showing the locations as well as some other data on every nuclear explosion since 1942. (Click to embiggen).

[via WeLoveDatavis]

Caricature Map of Europe, 1914

A caricature map of Europe, 1914 by Keith Thompson. The explanation is as follows:

The Clanker Powers:

Germany is a massive military machine with weapons aimed outwards to all surrounding countries. It points threateningly at Britain, not so much as a sign of direct aggression, but more as an indicator that it was now Germany’s turn to start a grand global Empire to challenge the world’s current one.

Austria Hungary is an aggressive armoured giant, teetering on shoddy foundations. It is also the primary aggressor in a land grab against Serbia, with two bayonets piercing the border.

The Ottoman empire is a teetering automaton, collapsing under the weight of a paranoid and ungainly spying network that gazes at Europe through many lenses and spy glasses. Istanbul is labeled Constantinople following the period’s English naming conventions.

The Swiss watch ticks away the time, comfortable to wait it all out.

The Darwinist Powers:

Britain is an militaristic lion with a Roman Imperial italic-type helmet. It sits upon a mound of riches gathered from its Empire.

France’s elephant beast (wearing the French kepi they started the war with before adapting their firefighter helmets) is influenced by the Elephantine Collossus built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 in Paris (later it ended up going to the Moulin Rouge.)

Russia is a huge imperialist bear, rotting and filled with maggots.

Serbia’s imagery is an indicator of the huge amounts of civilian deaths and suffering they’ll find themselves subject to.

Norway and Sweden are both Scandinavian trolls in the style of John Bauer, an inspirational illustrator from the era who produced a lot of phenomenal work during the war.

Portugal is a parrot for the Entente trying to goad a slumbering Spain into the war.

Ireland looks askance to Britain and brandishes a shillelagh. An indicator of their very rough relationship at the time, and of their upcoming involvement with the Central powers.

Italy is a clutch of snakes with intents on the Central powers despite existing agreements. A foreshadowing of their arrangements at the secret 1915 Treaty of London where they were promised land in exchange for involvement. It was heavily influenced by Italian Prime Minister, Antonio Salandra’s open policy of serving Italy’s “divine self-interest.”

A bigger version is here.

50 Years of Space Exploration

National Geographic’s Map of the Day: Fifty Years of Space Exploration. Click to embiggen.

[In-situ @ Nat'l Geo]

Where the Buffalo Roamed

That’s a map (click for big) by Stephen von Worley that represents the distance to the nearest McDonald’s in the United States as a measure of creeping commercialisation.

For maximum McSparseness, we look westward, towards the deepest, darkest holes in our map: the barren deserts of central Nevada, the arid hills of southeastern Oregon, the rugged wilderness of Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains, and the conspicuous well of blackness on the high plains of northwestern South Dakota.  There, in a patch of rolling grassland, loosely hemmed in by Bismarck, Dickinson, Pierre, and the greater Rapid City-Spearfish-Sturgis metropolitan area, we find our answer.

Between the tiny Dakotan hamlets of Meadow and Glad Valley lies the McFarthest Spot: 107 miles distant from the nearest McDonald’s, as the crow flies, and 145 miles by car!

Where the Buffalo Roamed [Weather Sealed]

The Human Body

By Andrew Rae:

This is an image I did for a friend who’s studying to be a doctor I thought it’d make life more difficult for him. My Mums a physiotherapist so she has posters like this all over the place, this is about as much sense as they’ve ever meant to me.

[via]