Welcome to this week's edition of our Friday Quality Linkage column. Please enjoy this week’s collection of interesting and entertaining links. Brew a fresh cup of coffee, find a comfortable place, and relax.
NASA Releases New Hi-Res Earthrise Image »
Bill Steigerwald, NASA:
This image was composed from a series of images taken Oct. 12, when LRO was about 83 miles (134 kilometers) above the moon's farside crater Compton. Capturing an image of the Earth and moon with LRO's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) instrument is a complicated task. First the spacecraft must be rolled to the side (in this case 67 degrees), then the spacecraft slews with the direction of travel to maximize the width of the lunar horizon in LROC's Narrow Angle Camera image. All this takes place while LRO is traveling faster than 3,580 miles per hour (over 1,600 meters per second) relative to the lunar surface below the spacecraft!
*whistles* What a gorgeous image.
Here's a direct link to the 302 MB .tif file. (Beware clicking on mobile if your data plan is limited.)
Photo: Julian Rad
Winners of the 2015 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards »
We've all seen pictures of funny and cute animals — this is the internet, after all.
Even so, this collection of hilarious wildlife photography is worth your time. The last one on the page cracked me up just as much as the first place winner pictured above.
"Eight Sensible Gifts for Hanukkah" Factory Workers' Day Off »
Time and time again (at least from what I've seen), the folks at Cards Against Humanity have shown that behind their game's crude, absurdist humor is a company full of smart people with big hearts and awesome ideas.
This time they unexpectedly decided to buy 100% of their Chinese printer's capacity and paid the factory workers to produce nothing for a week, since they don't have any formal procedures for paid vacations.
This doesn’t undo the ways that all of us profit from unfair working conditions around the world, but it’s a step in the right direction. Below you’ll find some thank-you notes and vacation photos from that factory staff shared with us.
Whether or not you agree with the kinds of jokes found in the card game, the company itself gets a big thumbs-up from me.
The Ingenious Design of the Aluminum Beverage Can »
Until now I never realized (or even thought about) the feats of engineering that have gone into the design of soda cans over the years. Now I have a whole new appreciation.
Illustration: Jason Hu
What's the Best Gift You've Ever Received? »
The folks at Quartz asked 40 leaders in a variety of fields — including businesswoman and philanthropist Melinda Gates, astronaut Chris Hadfield, journalist and news anchor Katie Couric, and Blue Bottle Coffee founder James Freeman — what the best gift they ever received was, and collected their answers into this wonderful piece.
Jason Kottke put it best:
The result is not so much a list of products for purchase as it is a way of thinking about how to give people you love what they need and want. Unexpectedly moving.
Coffee Tutorial »
Vimeo user uhhhhh offers a totally serious (if you couldn't tell from their username) guide to making a perfect cup of coffee. Couldn't resist sharing this one.
Photo: Cameron Powell
Col. Littleton on the Art of Craftsmanship »
Colonel Littleton — maker of fine leather products like the No.1 Grip weekender bag (which our editor-in-chief Shawn Blanc owns and loves) — recently guested on Dave Ramsay's EntreLeadership podcast to talk business, craftsmanship, and treating your customers right. It's a great listen.
Got any suggestions for articles, videos, stories, photographs, and any other links you think we should be posting in our weekly Quality Linkage? Please do let us know on Twitter.