Urras and Anarres, an addendum

I realised that using the script I had written to make the maps of Tau Ceti, it would be a simple matter to make an animation giving the illusion of a spinning planet. The orthographic azimuthal projection approximates this very well, and once one has access to the equirectangular map, there is nothing special about the two particular hemispheres used in the original maps — any meridian can be used as the centre meridian of the projection!

Edit: I have now added an animation of Gethen as well.
Edit 2: As an astute reader pointed out below, the original animations spun westward, meaning that the sun would rise in the west and set in the east, contrary to one’s expectation. There is no physical reason why the opposite should be preferred, but it feels more natural, and there is evidence in the books for this interpretation, wherefore I’ve updated the animations.
Breaking News! New and improved versions of the maps available here!

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Four one-verse songs

Here are some (Swedish) one-verse songs that I feel are too short to merit their own entries.

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“Gråt Allians av Vårt Hat”

Leo is, in my opinion, fantastic at writing protest songs, and those who know me know that I am more than willing to sing them, but neither of us has any competence in playing instruments or recording beyond the basics of  “press this key to make a sound/begin recording”. These comrades do:

It almost makes me feel hope about a decent time after the upcoming election. Unite! — Fight the Good Fight!

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