John McPhee had a great New Yorker article (which I think was also in the collection Irons in the Fire), where he wrote about how U.S. geologists used sand found in the Japanese "Fu-Go" bombs that made it to the NW US to figure out their launch sites from specific beaches near Tokyo.
I think the rotating photos create a poor UX. The purpose of this layout it seems is to let users view the images carefully and study the details, but the slideshow effect makes that difficult.
From a casual browsing perspective, I liked it. However, it'd be nice to have it pause when you hover over one - or something like that. To get the best of both worlds.
I mean if your intent is to view the images carefully and study the details why not click through to the details page and see larger, more detailed photos?
I've heard that desert sand is fundamentally smoother than beach or river sand. Would love to see some examples of non-beach sand side-by-side with these glorious samples.
Well, here's a video which ends with a hand holding a sample.[1] It's a sand-making plant. Big rocks go in, and repeated crushing makes them into sand-sized rocks.
That's a tad pedantic. Everyone takes sand from the beach. That's simply the nature of going to a beach. The spirit of those laws is to prevent people from taking large quantities of sand for some personal or commercial purpose.
You may think it is pedantic, but it's not dissimilar to those that think "no cop, no stop" is valid. Just because you didn't get caught doesn't mean it's not violating the regulations.
The spirit of the law is not "large quantities", it's to get people used to the idea of letting nature be and not taking something just because you want to. If you come across a rock that you think is interesting and keep it for yourself, you're denying the next person to discover it on their trip. If you take a rock or two or maybe three, then so does the next person, and the next, well, you get how math works. So since people can't be trusted to not take, there exists an official policy that says you can't.
Not that I am aware of. I wouldn't suggest doing that in North Korea though (or possessing any type of scientific or other measuring instrument there).
The website shows pictures of the sand collection and the microscope. It does not appear to be at a beach.
I’ve had a sand collection for many years. I keep small vials on my shelf. From the Namib desert, to the slope of Mt Fuji, to Alaskan tundra. It’s a fun way to catalog places I’ve been.
I mean it makes sense that the sand is made of the same stuff as your local rocks, that's where it came from. Sure it washes around a bit in the surf but it's not like it's floating around the world on the ocean currents, at least not in massive quantities. I'm sure there are bits stuck in driftwood or whatnot but the vast majority should sink to the bottom.
It starts on the 9th page here
https://gwern.net/doc/technology/1996-mcphee.pdf
In India, illegal sand mining is the country's largest organized criminal activity.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_theft
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_sand_trade
https://cbselementary.fandom.com/wiki/Sand_Trap#Plot
Why overlay anything on top of something like that?
I've heard that desert sand is fundamentally smoother than beach or river sand. Would love to see some examples of non-beach sand side-by-side with these glorious samples.
Ask and ye shall receive.
I wonder how they determine the average depth of beach sand?
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVBiRPkQ0MI
I'm sure it's very much frowned upon these days but somewhere I have a 35mm film canister full of the coral fragments.
[1] https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-skye-walks/cor... [2] https://www.isleofskye.com/skye-guide/top-ten-skye-walks/cor...
Cool website though.
(Also, in many U.S. parks, it's illegal to take rocks, sticks, or other natural material.)
The spirit of the law is not "large quantities", it's to get people used to the idea of letting nature be and not taking something just because you want to. If you come across a rock that you think is interesting and keep it for yourself, you're denying the next person to discover it on their trip. If you take a rock or two or maybe three, then so does the next person, and the next, well, you get how math works. So since people can't be trusted to not take, there exists an official policy that says you can't.
The website shows pictures of the sand collection and the microscope. It does not appear to be at a beach.
I learned that local sand composition is very affected by local geology.
It seemed far fetched then, but after seeing these pictures it really makes sense.
These pictures would make great wallpapers.