“Mushroom House” in upstate N.Y. is different, but not the strangest home of 2011.
A quest to find the world’s strangest homes of 2011 began with a compellingly eccentric home located in an exotic place. (Pics)
Will future robots be capable of following moral principles?
Moral machines in the future?
Will robots in the future be capable of follow moral principles and understand them? A robot walks into a bar and says, “I’ll have a screwdriver.” That is definitely a bad joke. But what if the robot says “Give me what’s in your cash register?” That would be even less funny.
Continue reading… “Will future robots be capable of following moral principles?”
Drones: garage invention spawns multibillion-dollar defense industry
Abraham Karem began tinkering with drones in his garage in 1980.
Abraham Karem, is an engineer who had emigrated from Israel. In 1980 he retreated into his three-car garage in Hacienda Heights outside Los Angeles and, to the bemusement of his tolerant wife, began to build an aircraft.
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Exploding holiday tree ornaments
BANG! Color.
If you’ve had about enough holiday cheer for one year, you can take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone. Photographer Alan Sailer likes to shoot Christmas ornaments with a high-powered pellet gun and photograph them with a high-speed camera as they explode into a million shiny pieces. Bah-humbug, indeed!
(more explosions after the jump…)
Glass igloo hotel in Finland
Cozy cold view.
Located in the wilderness near Finland’s Urho Kekkonen National Park, the Igloo Village of Hotel Kakslauttanen offers a crystal clear view of the Northern lights and stars, all while comfortably relaxing in your room.
Thermal glass walls not only insulate the interior to keep it warm, but also make sure that view stay clear even when the temperature drops to -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30°C). That’s why it is an excellent place to see the Aurora Borealis, one of the world’s seven natural wonder, or in other words, the burst of colored light caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere. The lights are visible from August to April, however the peak viewing time is during the winter months…
Mysterious nodding syndrome spreading through Uganda
Onchocerca volvulus
Large areas of northern Uganda are experiencing an outbreak of nodding syndrome, a mysterious disease that causes young children and adolescents to nod violently when they eat food. The disease, which may be an unusual form of epilepsy, could be linked to the parasitic worm responsible for river blindness, a condition that affects some 18 million people, most of them in Africa.
The current outbreaks are concentrated in the districts of Kitgum, Pader and Gulu. In Pader alone, 66 children and teenagers have died. More than 1000 cases were diagnosed between August and mid-December…
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Monday night sky show
Look up on Monday!
If the day after Christmas strikes you as a letdown, make a note to yourself now to get outside on Monday evening. NASA tells us there’s going to be a conjunction of heavenly bodies.
The action begins shortly before sunset. Around 4:30 pm to 5:00 pm local time, just as the sky is assuming its evening hue, Venus will pop into view, glistening bright in the deepening twilight. No more than 6 degrees to the right lies the crescent Moon, exquisitely slender, grinning like the Cheshire cat with his head cocked at humorous attention. This is a wonderful time to look; there are very few sights in the heavens as splendid as Venus and the Moon gathered close and surrounded by twilight blue…
Re-Wine is a clever recycling idea
The Re-Wine redesign reuse system in action.
Re-Wine is a clever design that transforms from a reusable, biodegradable carrying case for your wine into a lamp shade that uses the empty bottle as the base. If you’re not looking for a new lamp, the case also has interlocking joints that allow it to be connected to other units to form a custom seat, table or shelf. The more wine you drink, the more modules you have for building lamps or other furniture! Now there’s an idea that’s sure to motivate people!
Amazing 3D landscapes carved out of books
![guy-laramee-2[3]](https://www.impactlab.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/guy-laramee-23.jpg "guy-laramee-2[3]")
Books with a literal view.
“So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes”, says interdisciplinary artist Guy Laramee who, in the course of his 30 years of practice, found his way through such varied and numerous disciplines as : stage writing, stage directing, contemporary music writing, musical instrument design and building, singing, video, scenography, sculpture, installation, painting and literature. Laramee uses books that are slowly falling apart, such as old encyclopedias and dictionaries to create dramatic landscapes… (more pics after jump)
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Two-headed cyclops pig born in China
Two heads are not always better than one.
Two-headed creatures are rare and somewhat uncomfortable to behold, but they are not unheard of in the natural scheme of things…
WonderLand – amazing macrophotography of insects by Nadav Bagim
WonderLand
Photographer Nadav Bagim (aka AimishBoy) is an Israel-based 30-year-old student who has created a beautiful series called Wonderland using insects he found in his apartment or on plants outside his window. (Pics)
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Festivus thrives online 14 years later
In 1997, when “Seinfeld” first introduced “Festivus” to mainstream America, the writers of the show probably had no idea that 14 years later not only would it still be celebrated every Dec. 23, but that it would fit so well in an online world. In the online world “airing of the grievances” is pretty much a regular pastime. (video)
