Interweb 16

Another week of baby stuff marred by shootings much closer to home this time. Miraculously, only three dead and five injured, but three and five too many. 

Other things that happened this week were a jaunt to England to visit the grandparents (no screaming on the flights, thankfully!), and, no...that's it really. Oh wait, actually Photoshop turned 25 (!). 

This "map of self-declared identity according to the 2011 Census: how English and/or British is each local authority?" is wonderful (see here for a much, much larger version). I've alway considered myself more British than English, having a strong link to Scotland, and a surname stemming from Ireland (not much to do with Wales, mind you). It's interesting to see the odd patches of Britishness around the country, as well as the very high rate in London. I'd have actually thought it would be the opposite, but there you go. 

The biggest film news this week (if you look away from the Oscars coming up), is that a new Alien movie is in the pipeline - officially! Directed by Neill Blomkamp of District 9 (I just found out he's a year younger than me. I'm so old), the final film can't be any worse than Alien: Resurrection - even the usually resplendent Sigourney couldn't save that. Or can it? We'll have to wait and see. 

Anyway, to travel stuff, because why not. America, Liberia, and Myanmar are the only three countries that still use the imperial system. Go figure. If you're an expat or travelling there, here's a handy guide to help you out. Silly Americans. 

Gird your loins. Bet you never knew that!

From loins to chemical reactions. 

Maybe I should have put Jesus and his marketing team before the chemical reactions. Loins go much better with Jesus. Anyway, too late. 

Occasionally I notice a Wilhelm Scream in a film, but I'll willingly admit I've missed most of these. 

And for your weekly dose of space (actually, that was something else that happened this week. This photo of us, the earth, turned 25 too. "Pale Blue Dot is a photograph of planet Earth taken on February 14, 1990, by the Voyager 1 space probe from a record distance of about 6 billion kilometres (3.7 billion miles)." Now sit back, close your eyes, and listen.

Have a great weekend. Be kind to one another. 

International Year of Astronomy

This year, 2011, is the International Year of Chemistry. I like stuff like that, so you can imagine how excited I was when I came across Simon C Page's posters. I bought one. It's beautiful. 

Today, I stumbled upon more of Simon's posters, this time for the International Year of Astonomy, and they are just as beautiful. As with the chemistry posters, these are also available for purchase (the wife will kill me). I hope he's OK with me plastering my blog with his work. 

Chemistry Posters Better Than Olympics Posters

Well, I think so anyway (there's an update at the bottom of this post). Maybe it's because I'm a fan of the atoms and elements, but I think these are far more beautiful and carry far more impact than the 2012 Olympic posters. This year is, as I'm sure you know, the International Year of Chemistry. The goals are, "to increase the public appreciation of chemistry in meeting world needs, to encourage interest in chemistry among young people, and to generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry." So there you go. Get chemistrying people!

All posters designed by Simon C Page and available for purchase through his site. 

Update: I spent this weekend thinking about this, and it is of course totally unfair and wrong of me to say these posters are 'better' than those of the Olympics. I prefer them, yes, but all of these are designed by one graphic designer/illustrator, while the Olympics posters are each by a different artist - not designer. They're two completely different fields. What I don't really understand is why not a single designer was asked to do an Olympics poster. I suppose they just wanted to keep them within a certain space, but can 'art' - as the posters are - really provide inspiration and impact, two things that I would have thought were crucial for posters depicting the Olympics? Any comments welcome, as I am neiter an artist nor designer.