

Things mimicking other things - puremachinery
http://csvoss.mit.edu/thingsmimickingotherthings/

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devindotcom
Cool info to see interrelated like this, but the constantly shifting
arrangement makes it really hard to make any kind of sense out of it, if there
are any higher-level patterns to see.

Having stuff move is fine, but if it must, it should move in relation to input
from the user - enlarging objects related to the selected one, or making the
relation lines more rigidly spaced, that kind of thing. Different shapes for
animals and habitats or objects would be good too.

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pvaldes
Things that remember us other things would be a better description probably.
This is pretty random sometimes and can lead scholars to mistakes. To say that
Haliotis mimick a rock because iridiscence is like to say that people pretend
to be beans because they have kidneys. Iridiscence in living Haliotis is
always hidden. This is not a correct example of camouflage in nature.

Moth-mimicking fly is also an incorrect example. They are very different
animals that can not be confused with moths because they are minute. As a lot
of minute insects they have long hairs in their microscopic wings for a
physical reason: to be able to fly/float. Not camouflage intended here.

"Send us suggestions":

Gravel mimicking plants: entire gravel: Lithops, fracturated gravel:
Pleiospilus

Rock mimicking plants: Ariocarpus

Coarse Sand mimicking plants: Titanopsis

And the cetaceans that mimick white sharks are also very cool. Very impressive
if you are next to them. See Kogia.

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kleer001
Don't get me wrong, this is kinda fun. But... I don't think a Blue Moropho
butterfly is mimicking a chunk of bismuth.

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ldpg
Kind of cool. I imagine the author is around here somewhere - have you seen
cola.js?
[[http://marvl.infotech.monash.edu/webcola/](http://marvl.infotech.monash.edu/webcola/)]

[http://marvl.infotech.monash.edu/webcola/examples/browsemovi...](http://marvl.infotech.monash.edu/webcola/examples/browsemovies.html)
[http://marvl.infotech.monash.edu/webcola/examples/sucrosebre...](http://marvl.infotech.monash.edu/webcola/examples/sucrosebreakdown.html)

interesting to think of what kind of interfaces can be created out of stuff
like this.

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spb
Holy cow, that is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing that.

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srtjstjsj
What is the purpose of the springy graph layout?

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fallinghawks
I would have liked to see "source" link to more information rather than a link
to the photo. And the snapping-back amorphous blob is pretty annoying, I keep
wanting to make the whole thing flat with no crossed lines :)

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samwiseg
Cool, but some of these are a bit of a stretch. I don't think a slug is
actually mimicking a cow.

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byron_fast
Wow, what a crappy interface. Close.

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byron_fast
Judging by the lack of support for this post, I'll have to stand by my
comment. The interface poorly displays a great amount of information; the
creators need to play more videogames to understand why.

We see the limits of an upvote/downvote system. My comment is correct, but
costs me "points" to say so because I didn't type three paragraphs justifying
the obvious.

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scott_s
You were downvoted for two reasons. One, it's not civil. Two, it does not
contribute anything to any discussion; it's conversational noise. Explaining
what you mean is not "justifying the obvious". It's starting a conversation.

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byron_fast
True, I'm being cranky. Genuine feedback usually looks pretty cranky, I
figure. Most people will close things that aren't immediately understandable.

But you see the problem in the other comments as well: it's "cool". Which, in
the real world, usually translates to "unusable".

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srtjstjsj
The author of the website isn't reading HN comments for feedback. Your
feedback is better placed elsewhere.

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rajington
might want to space these csvoss submissions out a bit

