The physics of running and keeping fit on the Moon

Showing all posts tagged: illustration

The physics of running and keeping fit on the Moon

8 July 2024

Rhett Allain, writing for Wired, looks at the physics of this important question.

If humanity is ever to establish bases on the Moon, ways of keeping occupants fit in the low lunar gravity need to be worked out. A wall of death sort of gizmo, that’s a little like a stationary hamster-wheel, but turned on its side, that emulates Earth-like levels of gravity, may be a solution. But there might be more effective alternatives.

But check out the article’s artist impression of a suited up astronaut “jogging” on the surface of the Moon. Straight up running in this way is a fanciful keep fit option unfortunately, as simple as the idea may at first seem. It’s too bad though, because what a sight it would be to behold: Earth floating in the lunar sky, as you ran.

I doubt Earth would be quite as big as depicted in Nzoka John’s image, but it still be quite the spectacle. And on the subject of what Earth might look like from the surface of the Moon, a gallery of images by American illustrator and writer Ron Miller, depicting how other planets in the solar system would appear from Earth, if they were as close as the Moon.

Once air conditioning was not needed during summers in Cairo, Egypt

20 September 2023

American journalist and cartoonist Malaka Gharib used to visit her father in Cairo, Egypt, during the summer school holidays, in the mid-nineties. It was hot, as anyone who’s been to Egypt in June or July (yours truly) could tell you.

Like many Egyptians though, her father’s home did not then have air conditioning. It was certainly warm, but somehow everyone managed. Thirty years later, Gharib wonders how Cairo residents get by when climate change is slowly pushing up temperatures, in a comic strip she drew.

While the use of air conditioning has become more widespread in Cairo, experts warn it alone is not a long term solution to the ever warmer summers parts of Egypt are presently experiencing. In some cases their operation can exasperate the problem, by placing stress on the power grid, and upping local temperatures through the heat the units themselves expend.

archives.design, an archive of graphic design by Valery Marier

28 June 2023

archives.design is a digital archive of graphic design related items found on the Internet Archives, curated by Canadian graphic designer Valery Marier. This is a great resource.

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design, graphic design, illustration

The intrusive nature of mobile phones predicted in 1920

22 August 2022

Mobile phone cartoon, William Haselden, circa 1920

William Haselden, a British cartoonist who died in 1953, quite comically foresaw the potential nuisance mobile phones could cause, were they ever to be invented. At the time Haselden drew this cartoon, possibly around 1920, landline phones were still something of a novelty, with Americans sharing one such device between ten people.

I’m not sure when mobile, or portable, phones were first envisaged — likely relatively early in the piece though, even if their development took decades — but I doubt Haselden thought they would ever come into existence. Instead I suspect he was foreshadowing the vexatious nature of a communications device permitting a caller to contact another person at any time they wished, whether the person being called liked it or not.

Infinite zoom in art and illustration by Lucas Vaskange

29 July 2022

The stunning infinite, zoom-in stories, of Paris based French artist and illustrator Lucas Vaskange will doubtless leave many of us wondering, damn, why didn’t I think of that?

More work by Vaskange can be found on Instagram and INPRNT.

Illustrations from Stamma on the Game of Chess 1818 edition

22 July 2022

Illustration from Stamma on the Game of Chess, 1818 edition

Wednesday 20 July may have been Miles Franklin day in Australia — being the occasion the winner of the annual prestige literary award is announced — but it was also International Chess Day. Also known as World Chess Day, 20 July marks the day International Chess Federation was established in 1924, although International Chess Day didn’t come into being until 1966.

In honour of the beloved checkered board game, the University Of Wisconsin Milwaukee Special Collections have posted images from the 1818 edition of Stamma on the Game of Chess, which contained numerous illustrations of game openings and critical situations. Much of the text was written by Philipp Stamma, and edited by William Lewis, who were eighteenth century chess masters.

Although I play from time to time, I’m not the biggest chess aficionado you’d ever meet, but I was intrigued to learn game pieces were often coloured red and black, rather than the white, or ivory, and black pieces I’m more familiar with. There’s an interesting, though brief, discussion about red chess pieces here.

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chess, games, history, illustration

Reddit Cutawayporn, cutaway illustrations and videos

20 July 2022

I think I lost at least an hour to Reddit community Cutawayporn when I stopped to take a quick look the other day. As the name suggests, it’s full of cutaway illustrations, including Spanish Bronze Age houses, bomb shelters, Roman aqueducts, and vehicles. Fascinatingly addictive. There’s also this video of an electric arc furnace plant. Who doesn’t want to indulge in a little (harmless) prying?

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design, illustration

Saturn’s rings and moons silhouette woodcut by Agnes Giberne

12 July 2022

Saturn's rings, moons, illustration by Agnes Giberne

The things you find while trawling through the The Public Domain Review… Agnes Giberne was a British novelist and science writer, who died aged 93 in 1939. As a writer her output was prolific.

Wikipedia lists one hundred and thirty books published under her name during her lifetime. On top of her writing though, Giberne was also an accomplished artist and illustrator.

The above illustration, titled “Ideal view of Saturn’s rings and satellites from the planet” is a silhouette woodcut from her book, Sun, Moon, and Stars: A Book for Beginners, which was published in 1898.

Sergiy Maidukov, Kyiv based Ukrainian illustrator

2 May 2022

Sergiy Maidukov is an illustrator based in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, whose work has been published in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.

During the day he assists in defending his country from the Russian invasion, and at night, while confined to his apartment on account of curfews, draws what he sees from his windows, all too often sights no one should have to witness:

Sometimes, I see an explosion reflected on the glass surface of a skyscraper, or silent flares going up and then burning out in a shower of sparks. One week, I saw anti-aircraft guns firing tracer rounds into the night sky, where a hunt for a Russian drone was under way.

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art, illustration, Ukraine

One hundred years of Ginger Meggs

18 November 2021

Larrikin Australian redhead schoolboy cartoon character Ginger Meggs made his first appearance on 13 November 1921, the creation of Australian cartoonist Jimmy Bancks, who drew the strip until his death in 1952. Four authors have continued Bancks work since then, including New York based Australian cartoonist and illustrator Jason Chatfield, who draws the comic today.

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