Purpose A biome is a distinct geographical region with specific climate, vegetation, and animal life. It consists of a biological community that has formed in response to its physical environment and regional climate. This project describes the creation of an animation of the distribution of biomes per latitute created in Blender. Data preparation Biome description: NASA earth observatory Vegetation index data: NASA NDVI Average land temperature: NASA LSTD The code to create the distribution of biomes per latitude can be found in the biomes-world Github repo....

Author Tim Palmer Summary An introduction to the geometry of chaos and the important role it plays in understanding scientific phenomena. Takeaways The climate and the economy are examples of highly complex non-linear systems. The evolution of these systems follows a fractal geometric pattern along an attractor, i.e. a set of allowed states in a high dimensional state space. Despite the fact that an exact future state is often uncomputable, mathematical models have been successfully developed to characterize possible future behavior in the form of ensembles along the attractor....

Summary A historical analysis of the working mechanisms of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Takeaways The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been the sole legitimate governing authority in China since 1949. By the end of 2009 when the book was published, the CCP had 78 million members. The Party consists of a giant network of people that are involved in every important decision and its members have built up the skills and experience to run the country....

Author Sabine Hossenfelder Summary Scientific answers to existential questions. Takeaways Existential questions deal with the origin and working mechanisms of the universe, and the role of humans in it. While the fundamental theories of the standard model of particle physics and the theory of general relativity have been very successful in providing explanations, many questions have no scientifically sound answer yet. In their attempt to extend our knowledge, some scientists include assumptions in their theories that are unnecessary to explain observations, conflating scientific reasoning and belief....

Video about Eight ways to organize nodes in BLENDER!. Collapse (0:19): click on node Hide (0:33): ctrl-H Labels and colors (1:01): N Frames (1:46): ctrl-J, ctrl-P to take an item out, X to delete Node groups (2:53): ctrl-G, tab to switch in and out. Custom node groups can be sold as customer shaders. Asset browser (5:27): make node groups available for re-use Reroutes (6:26): shift-A > reroute Noodle curving (7:20): edit > preferences > themes node editor noodle curving Node preview (7:45): add-on to show thumbnails ...

Author Joseph Buchdahl Summary An analysis of the science, psychology and philosophy of gambling. Takeaway Gambling is the speculation on the future that can take on different forms such as casino games, sports betting, and financial investing. Outcomes in these areas are hard to predict and it is even harder to make money from it against benchmarks that encapsulate the collective information of large crowds. Gamblers often underestimate the randomness that determine gambling outcomes and attribute positive outcomes to their own ability to predict the future....

Author William Dalrymple Summary The history of the rise and fall of the East India Company. Takeaways The East India company was a trading company based in London that rose from humble beginnings to a fully fledged imperial power that managed to replace the ruling Mughal empire on the Indian subcontinent in a short period of time between 1756 and 1803. In that time period the East India Company extended their sphere of influence through treachery, forged contracts, collaboration with local banker, bribes, and military prowess in armed conflicts and wars....

Author Mike Walsh Summary Anecdotes about modern leaders and their approach to decision making. Takeaways We experience a time of accelerated change that is unlikely to slow down in the future. With new technologies emerging and more data being available to influence decision making, leaders need to adjust their way of approaching problems. For example, successful leaders in the “algorithmic age” apply first principles thinking to come up with solutions that can be carried out by computers....

Author Timothy Ferris Summary Practical tips to develop a richer lifesyle. Takeaways Working hard for decades to afford an enjoyable retirement is an outdated concept. It is better to schedule mini-retirements and other exciting activities periodically. A “newly rich” lifestyle can be financed by developing products or ideas that can be sold to generate cash flow outside of established employment patterns. Quotes "‘Someday’ is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you....

Author Stephen J. Dubner und Steven Levitt Summary A collection of stories that illustrate how to think more productively, creatively, and rationally. Takeaways People have difficulties thinking rationally. They have biases that leads them to seek evidence that confirms what they already think, or are tempted to adopt views of friends, families, and colleagues. “Thinking like a freak” means to get comfortable with admiting to not know the answer to a question....