Forced perspective photography
You don’t always have to use Photoshop to create optical illusions in your photographs. With a technique called forced perspective you can create illusions that make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It just takes a little creativity with the placement of the subjects in the shot and the camera angle.
Continue reading… “Brilliant Forced Perspective Photography – Part 2”
The hexayurt is an update on Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome and is a sturdy, affordable, easy-to-build temporary shelter. The geometry has been adjusted slightly to make it easier to build domes from materials like plywood, insulation, plastic, cardboard and more. The hexayurts are made from only one kind of triangle: an 8′ x 8′ isosceles triangle, rather than the strangely-shaped triangles which are standard for Fuller-style geodesic domes. They are not strictly geodesic, either, but it doesn’t seem to matter much in practice. The slightly stiff, angular lines look a lot like any other dome.
The most common place to see hexayurts is at Burning Man…
A blessing is nice even if it isn’t authentically Irish. However, a green tint and traditional syntax make this comic from Grant Snider perfect for St. Patrick’s Day!
Continue reading… “Fake Irish Blessing”
This special concrete tile allows light to pass through. The tile contains optical fibers that make up about 5% of its surface area. The fibers are distributed uniformly throughout the surface to allow an outline to be clearly visible on the other side. The tiles have the unique combination of being nearly unbreakable and translucent.
The material is made with a combination of optical fibers and fine concrete…
Continue reading… “Translucent Concrete”
This picture of the Sun was taken by Alan Friedman who used a filter that lets through only a very narrow wavelength of light emitted by hydrogen, so this tracks the activity of gas on the solar surface.
He also inverts the image of the solar disk to increase contrast. Somehow this adds a three-dimensional quality to the picture, and reveals an amazing amount of texture.
Continue reading… “Jaw-Dropping Picture Of The Sun”
It’s really convenient to have your own WiFi network which connects all WiFi-enabled gadgets. Routers are very cheap, as well as high speed broadband network access, thus a modern city is usually filled with hundreds of networks – of various signal strengths and various ranges. Three Scandinavian guys came out with an idea to visualize that contemporary phenomenon…
Continue reading… “What If WiFi Networks Were Visible?”
Alfred Hitchcock
Happy Alfred Hitchcock Day! In honor of the great filmmaker, here are five things you may not know about the legendary director, courtesy of Stephen Rebello, the author of Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho…
Continue reading… “Five Things You Didn’t Know About Alfred Hitchcock”
As with most politicians, breathing fire creates a good sideshow
“Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way when you criticize them, you are a mile away from them and you have their shoes.” – – Jack Handey
Continue reading… “Top 10 Photos of the Week”
American Gothic is a painting by Grant Wood, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood’s inspiration came from a cottage designed in the Gothic Revival style with a distinctive upper window and a decision to paint the house along with ‘the kind of people I fancied should live in that house.’
The painting shows a farmer standing beside his spinster daughter (not his wife, as so many parodies and references assume).
Continue reading… “The Models Who Were Used In ‘American Gothic’ Standing By The Painting”
Japanese tombstone maker Ishinokoe has begun offering memorials that feature QR codes. Want to know more about the person entombed there? Just whip out your smartphone and scan the code…
Continue reading… “QR Codes as Tombstones”
Artist Ward Shelley’s brilliant map of the history of science fiction from 2009 is a kind of interestingness black hole whose event horizon captured me for several hours this morning as I pored over the diagram and the arguments it makes about the history and origins of science fiction. I don’t agree with every conclusion illustrated here, but thinking about them made me reconsider a lot of cherished beliefs…
Continue reading… “Wondrous, Detailed Map of the Wondrous History of Science Fiction”
Musician Michael John Blake shows us “What Pi Sounds Like” by transposing the number (out to 31 decimal places) to musical notes. A charming little ditty results.
Continue reading… “What Pi Sounds Like”
By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.
Learn More about this exciting program.