Update:
Well it's from a screen saver, of course, specifically Dymaxion Map.
These images are maps translating Equirectangular coordinates (longitude × latitude) to XY coordinates on a flat image containing the triangles of the traditional Dymaxion projection. Input XY are the pixel positions on the input Equirectangular image; output XY coordinates for the Dymaxion image are packed into the RGBA color values at 16 bits each, though I had to delete the alpha channel (and thus the top 8 bits of Y) to make anything show up. The two images represent the same mapping, but the second one is at half the resolution of the first: the colors and shapes are different because the coordinate space is smaller, and smaller values affect the coloration.
It's not a particularly useful visualization -- it clarifies nothing -- but it looks cool.
Timezones? Or some sort of difference between timezone-time and sundial-time. It is very pretty though, I want to see it move.
The centerpiece is sunrise/sunset. Imposed on top of it is the cycle of moonrise/moonset, and the gradient reflects the phase of the moon.
While it clearly delineates between daylight and night-time, the other bits are weather/jet-stream related.
Some sort of satellite coverage info, along with the terminator map?
Some of the chunks look like eclipse coverage, with third/fourth contact or similar delineated as the right edge on that triangle in the "south east pacific"
The terminator-like shape prompted me to map one onto a sphere. It is only terminator-like, and the result evokes nothing.
Top and side views of teeth?
Teeth are the fixed point of jwz.org.
i've seen enough flowfazer to know where this is going
(also, flowfazer on a mac plus was spectacularly unspectacular. so glad I had a buddy with a iicx.)
A snake and a dog sleeping on the floor, except the dog is also the snake.
Power usage? Something on a timer overlaid with more organic usage when business/activity spikes. One graph is a busy day, one a quieter day.
Dog. Dog with head split in half.
Looks like an equirectangular projection of something spherical, but I can't tell what the something is.
Is it the thing that, when you finally understand it, turns you into a vampire?
This? Why, I can make a hat or a brooch or a pterodactyl...
The graph of largeness of Leon over time is in the next graph.
Building occupancy overlaid with with something something HVAC?
Pirate ship. You have to look through it and unfocus.
Entries in your forthcoming NFT collection: the Bored Hacker Plot Club and Lounge!
Antidazzle is so in right now.
"The primary object of my invention is the provision of an apparatus for the creation of illusory efiects calculated to impress the subject ..." -- Previously.
Why of course the first is a chart of Edward Tufte’s neckwear choices over a year. 52 weeks along the X axis and 7 days of the week along the Y. The second chart is the same, except only for bow ties.
Oh wait. I was wrong. The second chart is for only cravats. Definitely cravats.
Going by the tags, i'm guessing it has something to do with xscreensaver.
Only thing is which program is the key, since there's about a 100+ screensavers in the collection.
It wouldn't be JWZ-like to not do some crazy stuff with the xscreensaver's any program's settings.
Now to guess which screensaver is being run.
It's the opening theme to Coupling?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsMyjAwIszg
Red and blue ... it's politics isn't it?
It’s funny, how the HerpDerp button apparently does not remove any hints.
@jwz.. are you going to enlighten us? :-)
Looks like a spectrum gradient in the midst of color space conversion gone awry.
As a BSEE, I see a band-pass filter there, but it's been so long since I've thought about such things that I get no further.
I think it's like the ocean, pink is the water and blue is the waves.
(Spoiler alert, post updated.)
Thanks for resolving the mystery -- I kept checking back to see what this was!