Via
Swans on Tea, I found this
Flickr collection of sand photos (two pages) by "Mouser NerdBot". Oh my. I need to catch my breath. Now here's the thing I really appreciate: the photographer has done an excellent job of labeling the location and composition of the samples, even, for example, explaining how
the garnets below were concentrated from an "ant sand." Check out the enormous original size photos too!
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These garnets were extracted from ant sand. Garnet is paramagnetic and can be separated from its surroundings in sand with a strong magnet. These garnets range in size from 1mm to 5mm in diameter. There are presumably larger garnets in the soil in this area, but with ant sand you are limited to things ants can lift and carry.
wallpaper Yes, it looks like a promo poster for some post-apocalyptic disaster/action movie. But, no, it's not; it's Chicago this morning.
wallpaper Dark Roasted Blend has a gorgeous gallery of art on a planetary scale. At one level, I find this disturbing and silly- a similar act to the one above in Oregon's Alvord desert a decade or so ago was treated like environmental vandalism. At another level, though, I have to say it's kind of impressive.
wallpaper Yesterday's Big Picture consisted of photos from the solstice and accompanying lunar eclipse. The one above, though taken in Japan, reminded me of Fenrir: a snarling, enormous wolf, with a blood-red moon behind it.
