Love these.
I just discovered a quick profile of Kevin Weir’s animated GIF art (that was aptly compared to Terry Gilliam’s work for Monty Python). You can see quite a few examples on Wired‘s site and I’d really recommend following his Tumblr if you are so inclined.
I am.
My friend Owen tipped me off to this awesome Science Friday piece on inventive Romanian high schooler, Raul and his successful orbital launch/retrieval of a Lego space shuttle. The clip features not only the ascent of the shuttle but also some wonderful lines from Raul, notably his admission that his space endeavors, private funding, etc have nothing to do with his formal education so much as his own curiosity and usage of the internet.
Also, aren’t we all still waiting for our own eccentric billionaire to invest in our dreams of space travel?
io9 invites us to “bask in the metallic magnificence” of this VW Beetle turned dinosaur sculpture. But, to combine another article from the same site, can we call it that? While doing just what was suggested and planning a quick post over here, I encountered a story about New York City schools’ planned ban on certain words for standardized tests. These are words that might make some students feel “uncomfortable.” Like “dinosaur.”
This all leaves me feeling distinctly…something. Not sure if “uncomfortable” is quite the word for it. Perhaps “flabbergasted” more aptly covers the emotion?
Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that people are awesome. Tonight the job is done Jarno Smeets, a inventor/engineer who has just created working bird wings for himself.
Where’s Leonardo da Vinci when you need him?
…or maybe it didn’t happen, in which case people suck. Either/or.
Update: This guy is a douche.
I know, I know: some people love the feel of a real, printed book in their hands and prefer the act of reading words on a printed page. I completely understand that they are out there. Many of my good friends (and family members) are librarians!
But this just seems like a massive waste of resources. This being the Espresso Book Machine, that is. Basically, it’s the exact opposite of the future that I had hoped for when the iPad (not the new one or the former new one, but the original) was announced. That future being a world where only the most masterful, artistic books would make it to print. The books that celebrate the art of bookmaking or truly take advantage of the affordances of paper. Books as only a vehicle for knowledge delivery would be absorbed into the digital publishing realm and many a forest would rejoice!
Instead, this machine seems poised to make very physical digitally stored versions of books for potentially single-purpose use and on demand at that. Perhaps it’s cheaper than a fleet of iPads or other e-readers, but it sure does seem silly, doesn’t it?
I cannot stop listening to this – whether in my head or otherwise.
“We know how a word is spoken can affect its meaning. So can how it’s typed,” said cognitive scientist Kyle Jasmin of the University of College London, co-author of a study about the so-called “QWERTY effect” in Psychonomic Bulletin and Review. “As we filter language, hundreds or thousands of words, through our fingers, we seem to be connecting the meanings of the words with the physical way they’re typed on the keyboard.”
That’s…unexpected. I find myself visualizing the left side of the keyboard far more positively than the right, though (and I’m right handed). I wonder what kind of inverted brain that points to? Regardless, the subtle influences of our everyday things never ceases to amaze me!
(Wired)
Two years and some months later, I find myself in a very similar position to one I’ve been in before: the Mass Effect 3 collector’s edition is installing its first DLC while a new iPad (the third iteration, if that’s even possible) is on the horizon. Amazing how technology – and time – progresses when you aren’t looking.
Imagine this scene, but much, much darker.
You’d then have an approximation of what I encountered on my way down to Mont Alto in the Fleet car this morning. As I wound through the dark of 5:30 am, unable to turn on my high beams in the rain owing to a truck in front of me, I accidentally miscalculated where I was and turned about .5 miles too soon for the logging road I’d normally take. Unperturbed, my GPS merrily plotted a new course on some rather rough tracks past camps, a mere .8 miles extra distance.
Harried and still slightly groggy, I kept trudging along, though I did notice what seemed to be an increased amount of puddles as I made my way. By the .3 miles to left turn part of my journey, I looked ahead to discover that the road I should have been traveling over was more suited to small watercraft. As my lane of travel had narrowed to just wider than a Ford, I endeavored to back up away from the deluge, using a chained off driveway a bit up the way I had come as an awkward launching point for a truly spectacular multipoint turn around.
Of course I had to make my way back in the “daylight” to snap a photo to accompany my adventure tale!
Update: Hannah astutely pointed out that this comic from CaptchArt accurately, well, captures my experience.
If my former car and my current car had a lovechild, it might look a bit like the 2013 Volvo V40. Should this beast every make its way to America, I’m game. Perhaps by 2015?