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.
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.
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.
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.
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.