The Desantification of Nature

We have lost our capacity to see not only the reality of the world about us but even of what was to have been the main purpose of our investigation to start with–the reality of our own presence within the world.  If man thinks and acts as if God does not exist and is not present in all things, he thinks and acts a lie; and the result of this is that he reduces his own life to a falsity, which is the same thing as unreality.

This from The Eclipse of Man and Nature: An Enquiry into the Origins and Consequences of Modern Science by Philip Sherrard.  Sections from Chapter 4.

Robot arm inscribes the Luther Bible around the clock

Over on Boing Boing Gadgets, our Joel spots this robotic Bible-copying monk-arm, called “Kuka,” which “appears to be a fairly standard industrial robot… reprogrammed to inscribe the entire Martin Luther bible onto a endless roll of paper…[in a] calligraphic style.” Link

(Image credit: Robotlab : bios [bible] (2007) from Marc Wathieu’s Flickr stream)

Small, Yes, but Mighty: The Molecule Called Water

Natalie Angier’s short appreciation of water, which, before you scoff, is a pretty amazing substance despite its ubiquity. “Pulled together by hydrogen bonds, water molecules become mature and stable, able to absorb huge amounts of energy before pulling a radical phase shift and changing from ice to liquid or liquid to gas. As a result, water has surprisingly high boiling and freezing points, and a strikingly generous gap

Watertower Modernism

Utrecht-based Zecc Architecten BNA converted an old water town into a modernist apartment. I can’t read the Dutch, but the photos speak for themselves.

[via eyeteeth]