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Friday, June 15, 2012

Dirt is Good: 18-ton Sand Sculpture Backdrops by JOOheng Tan

Dirt is Good: 18-ton Sand Sculpture Backdrops by JOOheng Tan:
Dirt is Good: 18 ton Sand Sculpture Backdrops by JOOheng Tan sculpture sand advertising
Dirt is Good: 18 ton Sand Sculpture Backdrops by JOOheng Tan sculpture sand advertising
Dirt is Good: 18 ton Sand Sculpture Backdrops by JOOheng Tan sculpture sand advertising

Every once in a while, advertising is amazing. World champion sand sculptor JOOheng Tan was recently asked by ad agency Lowe in Singapore to help create these impressive backdrops for an OMO washing detergent ad campaign. In an age when something like this could have been created digitally, they asked Tan to physically build three 18-ton sand sculptures to be used as backdrops in ads encouraging kids to get dirty. I recommend clicking through to see the pieces above in full size as the details are somewhat lost when scaled down. Also, the video is pretty phenomenal as it shows the creation and behind-the-scenes execution of each photoshoot. Superb art direction by Karen Vermeulen. (via ads of the world)

Thursday, June 14, 2012

PoV documentary on underground bike-messenger racing

[You know who's certifiably goddamn crazy? Bike messengers, that's who. -egg]
PoV documentary on underground bike-messenger racing:


Here's a trailer for "Line of Sight," a documentary on underground bike-messenger racing that uses helmetcams to capture some pretty insane (and often terrifying) examples of cycling skill:


Line Of Sight is a rare view into underground bicycle messenger racing which has become a global phenomenon. For over a decade Lucas Brunelle has been riding with the fastest, most skilled urban cyclists around the world while capturing all the action with his customized helmet cameras to bring you along for the ride.

This is bike riding like you've never seen before, in gripping first-person perspective through the most hectic city streets, on expressways in Mexico City, over the frozen Charles River, under the Mediterranean Sea, across the Great Wall of China and deep into the jungles of Guatemala.


LINE OF SIGHT - Official Trailer






Scientists risk their lives to sample volcanic lava

Scientists risk their lives to sample volcanic lava:


There are few things quite as tense as watching one volcanologist mutter, "Oh my god. He's crazy. He's crazy," while watching another volcanologist scramble around the edge of a caldera.

It only gets more tense when you realize that the volcano in question is Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—which has some of the fastest-moving lava flows ever recorded. The key feature of Nyiragongo is that lake of lava in the center of the crater that you see in the video. In January 1977, the lava lake was 2000 feet deep. When the volcano erupted later that month, the lake emptied dry in less than an hour. Lava was clocked at 40 mph.

Video clip from the BBC's "Journey to the Center of the Planet"

More about the program this came from.


Via EstudandoGeologia and Chris Rowan







Wednesday, June 13, 2012

New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee

[OMFG, I love these SO MUCH. -egg]

New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee:
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
New Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramee sculpture paper books
Artist Guy Laramee (previously) has recently completed a number of new sculptural works where he transforms thick tomes into incredible topographical features including mountains, caves, volcanoes, and even water. Many of the works are part of a new project titled Guan Yin, a series of work dedicated to the forces that enable individuals to endure grief and pain, or in his words “the mysterious forces thanks to which we can traverse ordeals.” If you happen to be near Quebec, a number of Laramee’s works are currently on view at Expression gallery in Saint-Hyacinthe through August 12.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Using Pop Rocks as a sound effect in Prometheus

[Very cool. Warning: spoilers. -egg]

Using Pop Rocks as a sound effect in Prometheus:


[Video Link] SoundWorks talks with the sound team of Director Ridley Scott's latest science fiction film Prometheus.





Defensive Patent License: judo for patent-trolls

[Interesting. -egg]
Defensive Patent License: judo for patent-trolls:
Ars Technica's Jon Brodkin has an in-depth look at the "Defensive Patent License," a kind of judo for the patent system created by my former EFF colleague Jason Schultz (who started EFF's Patent Busting Project) and my former USC colleague Jen Urban (who co-created the ChillingEffects clearinghouse). As you'd expect from two such killer legal freedom fighters, the DPL is audacious, exciting, and wicked cool. It's a license pool that companies opt into, and members of the pool pledge not to sue one another for infringement. If you're ever being sued for patent infringement, you can get an automatic license to a conflicting patent just by throwing your patents into the pool. The more patent trolls threaten people, the more incentive there is to join the league of Internet patent freedom fighters.






“The idea is if you want to be part of this network of defensive patent people, you are committing that all of your patents, every single thing you’ve done, will be available royalty-free to anyone who wants to take a license, if they commit to only practice defensive patent licensing,” Schultz said today in Boston at the Usenix conference on cyberlaw issues. “As long as they don’t offensively sue anyone else in that network, everything’s cool.”

The commitment is both daunting in that it requires submitting all of a member company’s patents to the pool, and forgiving in that members can still sue the pants off non-members. Schultz said his team thought long and hard about the exact implementation of the Defensive Patent License.

The “all-in” provision was put in place to prevent companies from joining the network while only providing their lamest patents. The ability of DPL members to sue non-members, meanwhile, preserves the right to monetize inventions. It also keeps members on a level playing field with non-members.




“Defensive Patent License” created to protect innovators from trolls






Monday, June 11, 2012

Sunday, June 10, 2012

[Dialup noizez 4 life. -egg]

Technology - Alexis Madrigal - The Mechanics and Meaning of That Ol' Dial-Up Modem Sound - The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/06/the-mechanics-and-meaning-of-that-ol-dial-up-modem-sound/257816/

(via Instapaper)

Black Lagoon-esque mask from Bob Basset

Black Lagoon-esque mask from Bob Basset:





New from Ukrainian fetish/steampunk mask makers Bob Basset, the "60 monstr" -- a little bit Creature from the Black Lagoon, a little bit steampunk, and a whole lot of happy mutation.

"60 monstr" Art leather mask