A Mooring barber pole in Venice

A Mooring barber pole in Venice, originally uploaded by miquel_martin.

A barber pole design adorns this mooring pole in a little Venetian alley. I have no idea why that design is there (other than to look colorful) but barber poles themselves have an interesting meaning. Think back, way back: well beyond trimming hair, any self-respecting barber would also be a surgeon, and dentists! Of course by surgery we mostly mean bloodletting (i.e. make you bleed till you faint, and let's hope you feel better later). The thing is, "barbers" would hang the bandages to dry on a pole: white if they were fresh, and red if bloodstained (or just old?). The wind would blow on them and eventually roll them around, creating the well known pattern you see in the picture. Eventually the pole was made into a sign, and by the time doctors and dentists parted ways with their grooming colleagues, the barber had already laid claim to this symbol, surviving until today.


Un diseny de columna de barber adorna aquest piló per atracar vaixells en un carreró de Venécia. No em pregunteu pas que hi fa aqui (a part de maco), pero en qualsevol cas, les columnes de barber tenen tota una història. Penseu en fa temps, molt de temps: més enllá de tallar cabells, qualsevol barber respectable seria també dentista i cirurgià! Es clar que quan diem cirurgià ens referim a algú que feia sangries (es a dir, teure't sang fins que perdis el coneixement, i esperar a veure si et trobes millor). La qüestió és que els "barbers" solien penjar d'un pal les benes per assecar: blanques si estaven ben rentades, i vermelles si tenien taques de sang (o el barbe les portava usant des de feia anys?). Quan el vent bufava, les benes s'enroscaven al voltant del pal, creant el patró tant conegut que veieu a la foto. Finalment, del pal en van fer un cartell, i per quan els doctors i dentistes van deixar el ram dels escurça patilles, els barbers ja havien fet aquest símbol, que perdura fins avui

If you'd like some more info on this picture, there's a bunch of extra details in flickr.

The invasion has begun!

The invasion has begun!, originally uploaded by miquel_martin.

Ok, don't panic, let's not do an Orson Welles War of the Worlds drama here! (incidentally, not much people ever did). This is actually the S-Printing Horse before the Heidelberg Printing Machines building in, well, Heidelberg, near where I live in Germany. You might have heard of the company, but the chicken/horse remains, fortunatelly, largely unknown (yes, that's a guy's head reading a book out of the horse's backside). I liked this picture, at any rate, for it very much reminds me of H. G. Wells' tripods, or Half-Life's. How come that guy's looking so relaxed, by the way?


Va, conserveu la calma! A veure si podem evitar un drama estil Guerra dels Móns de Orson Welles! (de fet, ben poca gent la va perdre, la calma). Aquest és, de fet, l'S-Printing Horse davant l'edifici de la Heidelberg Printing Machines situada a... Heidelberg, prop d'on visc a Alemanya. Pot ser heu sentir a parlar de l'empresa, pero el cavall/gallina not te pas, afortunadament, gaire fama (sí, això de la cua es un payo llegint un llibre que surt del cul del cavall). En qualsevol cas, el motiu pel qual m'agrada aquesta foto es per que em recorda els trípodes del H. G. Wells, o els de Half-Life. Com és que aquell senyor va tan tranquil en plena invasio, per cert?

If you'd like some more info on this picture, there's a bunch of extra details in flickr.

A random skyscraper in Shinjuku, Tokyo

A random skyscraper in Shinjuku, Tokyo, originally uploaded by miquel_martin.

Tokyo has no shortage of skyscrapers. At night, the city pulsates with the red aircraft warning lights atop them as far as the eye can see. This is the Sumitomo Building, but there are plenty more where this came from. How far up can skyscrapers go?

Well, let's see. First of all, we wouldn't have any skyscrapers if it weren't for the steel skeletons and the reinforced concrete... if you don't consider Shibam, of course, where they managed quite a bit (up to 11 storeys) some 500 years ago. Just don't expect Visa moving in any time early.

Many seem to agree that money is the one factor limiting skyscraper height: the effect ot the wind would be so enromous that very strong (and expensive) materials would be needed. I personally preferred a more subtle problem: how many elevators would such a behemoth need to be practical? A bigger bank of elevators severely reduces the available space for offices and flats, and some creative solutions would needed!



A Tokyo no hi falten pas gratacels. De nit, la ciutat batega amb les llums d'avís per avions fins allà on arriba la vista. Aquest és l'edifici Sumitomo, perà n'hi ha molts mes. Fins quina alçada arribaran?

Anem a pams. En primer lloc, no tindriem pas gratacels si no fos pels esquelets d'acer i el formigo armat... si no tens en compte Shibam, on se les van arreglar forç bé (fins a 11 pisos) ara fa uns 500 anys. No espereu drets a que Visa s'hi mudi, perè!

Força gent sembla estar d'acord que l'unic factor limitant són els diners: la força del vent seria tan espectacular que caldria emprar materials molt forts (i cars). Personalment m'agraden mes els obstacles mes subtils: quants ascensors caldrien en un monstre enorme d'edifici, per poder-s'hi moure convenientment? Caldria un banc d'ascensors major, que treuria molt d'espai per oficines i apartaments, si no es que fas l'edifici mes ample, i tornem al cost dels materials!

If you'd like some more info on this picture, there's a bunch of extra details in flickr.

Owl at the Tinnunculus falconry, Heidelberg

Owl at the Tinnunculus falconry, Heidelberg, originally uploaded by miquel_martin.

There's a beautiful eagle owl! The funny thing with these guys, is their eyes are fixed on the sockets, that is, an owl will never look down on you, or roll their eyes in frustration: they lack the muscles for it!

This has a bunch of funny consequences: take an owl on a tree branch, gently swayed by the wind: if the owl's staring at something, you'll see it's whole body move with the branch while its head remains stationary (there's definitelly some cervical magic involved there). Even worse, they just can't see what's right in front of their noses (or rather, whatever it is they happen to be stabbing with that murderous beak), so the feathers around it act as sort of feelers (filoplumes for the nomenclature bufs).

Pretty amazing creatures, really: Their wings have special "hairy" terminations for stealth flight; Eggs don't hatch at the same time, so feeding and educating doesn't need to be done all at once, and in some species, ears (which are not the "horns") are not symetrically placed to improve sound localization. Are you going O RLY yet?



Eus aqui tot un duc (mussol reial)! Una curiositat d'aquestes bèsties son els seus ulls, fixes a les cavitats oculars. Un mussol mai no et mirarà sobre l'espatlla, ni farà rodar els ulls tot frustrat: simplement els hi falten els músculs per fer-ho!

Això te una colla de conseqüències força divertides: diguem que tenim un musssol a una brana, gronxant-se al vent; si es fixa en quelcom, veureu que tot el seu cos es mou, mentre que el cap roman ben quiet! (Ha d'haver-hi alguna mena de magia cervical en tot plegat). Pitjor encara, no poden veure pas el que tenen danvant els morros (o mes aviat, allo que estan destroçant a cops de bec en un moment donat), així que les plomes del voltant del bec s'usen com a sensors tàctils! (filoplumes per aquells amb inclinations científiques).

Uns bitxos d'allò mes interessants, la veritat. Les ales acaben en una mena de serreta per volar silenciosament. Els ous no es trenquen pas a l'hora, cosa que simplifica l'alimentació i educació, i en algunes espècies, les orelles (que no son pas les "banyes") estan situades assimètricament per millorar la localitzacio acustica!

If you'd like some more info on this picture, there's a bunch of extra details in flickr.