http_rrd_profiler is an HTTP testing/monitoring tool written in Python. It uses Python's httplib to send a GET request to a web resource and adds performance timing instrumentation between each step of the request/response. RRDTool is used for data storage and graph generation. RRDtool is an open source, high performance logging and graphing system for time-series data.

This series of 10 posters by Stéphane Massa-Bidal (aka Hulk4598 / Rétrofuturs) of the biggest social networking sites is very retro groovy and very fresh.

My brother pointed out this series of maps over at New Scientist. Combining a Buckminster Fuller-like interest in the most efficient way to map a sphere in two dimensions with a deployment of new algorithms, the maps show alternative ways of representing the earth's surface.

This series of abstract data visualisation represents the source code structure and work progress of a software collection. The intention was to represent the sheer volume of work put into open source software development and usually by a smal number of people.

earlier, in june this year, japanese architecture studio schemata poured color epoxy

on the top board of school desks which were used in elementary schools. the now 'flat'

desks were before uneven due to time deterioration or scribbling. although the school

desks all have the same shape, they gradually gain individual character through the personal

items of the pupil, like a school bag or a hat. however, in this project, the individuality of

the desks is regenerated through colors, thanks to the craftsmanship and expertise

of nakamura shuhei. he reset the the unevenness to 'flat' with translucent color epoxy.

deep points are mirrored by dense colors and shallow points by more transparent shades.

this project is part of the 'flatproject' series.

A series of images by Studio Lindfors

This Friday street-artist Boris Hoppek himself will present his latest pieces for the first time in Paris at the upian artspace in the exhibition “Since1989“. You probably know Hoppek from his Bimbo Dolls series, expressive cloth figures which were featured in Übersee 1 and Pictoplasma 2 (and used by several advertisers).

The following maps are the first of a series that will be made in order to map out the distinct geographies of Wikipedia. Many Wikipedia articles (about half a million) are either about a place or an event that occurred within a place, and most of these geographic articles handily contain a set of coordinates that can be imported into mapping software.

The Alphabet City series challenges us to rethink ideas central to our lives. In each volume writers and artists address single theme from many perspectives, revealing its processes and possibilities.

The day of reckoning has arrived in the Valley. Online content pirating, increased competition, a flooded market, the economic crisis, and a series of federal obscenity indictments have completely transformed the business of making adult movies. Consumers are no longer interested in paying for what they can get online for free. Across the board, those I spoke to reported profits have fallen by an estimated 30 to 50 percent.

Threading

We’re quite familiar with the idea of writing a program that follows a specific sequence of steps as outlined in, say, a main() function. A Thread is also a series of steps with a beginning, a middle, and an end. A thread’s sequence, however, can run independently of the main program. In fact, we can launch any number of threads at one time and they will all run concurrently. Visit the Java site for a more involved explanation.

This is incredibly useful when it comes to data mining, as we can have separate threads retrieving different pieces of information from the network. If one gets stuck or has an error, the entire program won’t grind to a halt, since the error only stops that individual thread. To create independent, asynchronous threads, we simply extend the Thread class.

Places & Spaces: Mapping Science is meant to inspire cross-disciplinary discussion on how to best track and communicate human activity and scientific progress on a global scale. It has two components: the physical part supports the close inspection of high quality reproductions of maps for display at conferences and education centers; the online counterpart provides links to a selected series of maps and their makers along with detailed explanations of how these maps work. The exhibit is a 10-year effort. Each year, 10 new maps are added resulting in 100 maps total in 2014.