This week, Ann-Christine challenges us to show “Perfect Patterns”. She writes, “Of course there is no such thing as a ”perfect” pattern…but it could be perfect in Your eyes, perfect for camouflage or perfect for its purpose…or simply radiating ”perfect”! This week we challenge you to find perfect patterns and it would be great if you wanted to tell us why you think they are perfect.” You can read her entire challenge post here.

Though patterns in nature are plentiful, I decided to focus my challenge response to include only man-made patterns. I am starting off with what is known as the six-pack of instruments that are of utmost importance to aviators. Non-pilots are often mystified about the large number of instruments in a modern aircraft, but the six most important instruments are right in front of the pilot’s eyes. The image above shows eight instruments, but for the moment, we can ignore the two gages on the right as they are for navigation. The important six (shown when the airplane is sitting on the ground with the engine off) starting at the top left are airspeed, attitude indicator, altimeter, (bottom left) turn coordinator, heading indicator, and vertical speed indicator. These six instruments are especially important when flying in the clouds. Pilots are taught a pattern of scanning the six instruments that keep the airplane flying even when the pilot cannot see outside the aircraft due to clouds or poor visibility. I won’t go into that perfect pattern, but suffice it to say that pilots flying on reference to the instruments alone have learned to trust these gages and to know how to cross-check the other instruments if one of the dials appears to be providing incorrect information.

This hotel features a small carpeted court on the third floor for the guests to practice their skills. The patterned floor sets the boundaries, and the balls are carpet-covered as well so no damage occurs to the hotel furnishings. I was struck by the simulated wood floor pattern in the carpet and the diamond-shaped border. The large window above adds its own pattern in the shadow on the floor.

A few years ago, in North Carolina, I saw some small utility boxes, their usual gray or greenish color was replaced with a paint scheme that made them look like miniature gas station pumps. The wall behind the pumps was painted with a mural to make it look like a gas station from the 1950s. That was the first time I saw artistically painted utility boxes. In recent years, I’ve seen many more painted boxes that look so much more attractive than the drab utilitarian boxes that they once were. These two boxes in downtown Fargo were painted by two Native American artists.

In opening my challenge response, I noted that the patterns featured here are man-made. Of course, these beautiful flowers in this garden are all naturally growing. The patterns of lines and rectangles in the garden’s layout, though, are clearly man-made.

Every year the Phoenix Zoo features an evening in the park with lighted zoo animal sculptures during the holiday season. These thin translucent coverings are painted to show the natural patterns of the animals, but they also reveal the structure of the wireframes that pattern the skeletal structure of each animal. I was especially struck by the eyes and facial features of this tiger.

People who spend time on cruise ships will at some point see freighters with cargo boxes stacked high on the ship’s deck. While in port in San Pedro, California, we watched a crane building a perfect pattern in the stacks being built. The cranes can’t just start at one end of the ship and build from left to right or front to back. They must balance the heavy cargo boxes stacking them in a perfect pattern that keeps the ship level in the water as the stacks are built. In this image, the crane operator is finishing the stack that is second from the right. The “smaller” Evergreen box is still over the dock and moving forward to be placed somewhere behind that second-row stack as they are building in three dimensions.

The pattern featured here is the striped shirt of this prisoner. The photo was taken at the Yuma Territorial Prison, long since been converted into a museum. This particular exhibit features a special mirror that saved the prison photographer time and effort in that it provided a front and side view of the prisoner for their records on the same piece of film and photo paper. Oh, by the way, that’s yours truly as captured by my wife. A selfie, of sorts, I guess.

Thanks to Ann-Christine for providing an interesting challenge as we are close to winding up 2022. I am looking forward to next week’s challenge, but for now, I will keep that topic a surprise. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!

John Steiner