Saturday, April 13, 2013
THIS BLOG HAS MOVED
Friday, April 12, 2013
Desert rock formation, Egypt. [feedly]
Desert rock formation, Egypt.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Alive Without Breath: Three Dimensional Animals Painted in Layers of Resin by Keng Lye [feedly]
Singapore-based artist Keng Lye creates near life-like sculptures of animals relying on little but paint, resin and a phenomenal sense of perspective. Lye slowly fills bowls, buckets, and boxes with alternating layers of acrylic paint and resin, creating aquatic animal life that looks so real it could almost pass for a photograph. The artist is using a technique very similar to Japanese painter Riusuke Fukahori who was featured on this blog a little over a year ago, though Lye seems to take things a step further by making his paint creations protrude from the surface, adding another level of dimension to a remarkable medium. See much more of this series titled Alive Without Breath over on deviantART. (via ian brooks)
Update: I have some additional details from the artist that I'd like to add here, as this post seems to be getting a lot of attention. Via email Lye shares with me:
I started my first series in 2012 where all the illustrations were "flat" and depth was created using the layering of resin and acrylic over the different parts of the illustration. This year, I started on the octopus and it was purely an experiment; I just wanted to see whether I could push this technique to a higher level. After applying acrylic paint straight onto the resin, I incorporated a 3-D element in this instance, it was a small pebble for the ranchu and octopus. For the turtle, I used an egg shell for the turtle shell and acrylic paint for the rest of the finishing. The whole idea here was to give the art work an even more 3D effect therefore you can have a better view from any angle. I think there are still many other techniques to explore.
So to be clear the elements that extrude from the top of the resin are actually physical pieces that have been painted to match the layers of acrylic and resin below.
Facebook Will Peer Into Your Grocery Bag to Sell an Ad [feedly]
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Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Scientists Make Brains Transparent to Get a Better Look Inside | Wired Science | Wired.com
The stunning video above illustrates a new way of looking at the brain. Scientists at at Stanford University have developed a method for making tissue almost completely transparent (see below). A series of chemical treatments replaces the fatty lipid membranes surrounding cells with an acrylamide mesh that keeps microscopic details intact without scattering light like lipid does. Neurotransmitters and other important molecules remain in place and can be visualized with a rainbow palate of fluorescent dyes.
This Anamorphic Portrait by Bernard Pras is Made From an Entire Room of Objects [feedly]
French artist Bernard Pras works almost entirely within the realm of assemblage and anamorposis, a visual illusion where a distorted projection—often made from paint or a collection or objects—must be viewed from a specific vantage point to reconstitute the intended image. His latest piece, a portrait of Malian actor Sotigui Kouyaté, is comprised of numerous objects including clothes, paint, wood, rubber, and other objects found or scavenged around the installation site. Only when viewed through the lens of his camera is the image clearly visible. Watch the video above to see everything come together. Pras currently has a solo show at MazelGalerie in Brussels, Belgium and you can see a collection of his work here (flash).
3D printed synthetic tissue folds itself into shapes - Boing Boing
University of Oxford chemists custom-built a 3D printer that fabricates "synthetic tissue," or rather structures with tissue-like functions. Eventually, the technology could be used to crank out replacement tissue that could replace damaged human tissue or be used in new drug delivery systems. The material consist of a network of water droplets encapsulated in lipids, or fat molecules.
"The droplets… form pathways through the network that mimic nerves and are able to transmit electrical signals from one side of a network to the other," says Oxford University chemistry professor Hagan Bayley.
Amazingly, the material can be chemically "programmed" to fold into various shapes as water is transferred around in the network. (Video above.)
"3D printer can build synthetic tissues" (Univ of Oxford, via Science News)
"A Tissue-like Printed Material" (Science)
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
"The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: “I just..." [feedly]
The moment I buy my fake Facebook girlfriend, she leaves a post on my wall. It reads: "I just remembered that thing you said… hiarious. lol ;)" Great. Now everyone thinks I've fallen for a woman who can't spell and says "lol" a lot. This is a disaster. My reputation might take years to recover. What if she misuses an apostrophe in her next post? Or has ever said the word "nom" out loud? I'll be ruined.
Worse still, my girlfriend – my actual, real-life, flesh-and-blood girlfriend with whom I live – isn't a fan of my new fake girlfriend at all. Whenever my Facebook girlfriend posts anything, my real-life girlfriend narrows her eyes and reads it back to me in a withering voice. Yesterday, while I was looking up a recipe on my phone, she yelled, "Are you texting your new girlfriend? You are, aren't you?" and then fell silent for three-quarters of an hour. This whole situation was a mistake.
Why did I buy a fake Facebook girlfriend? Curiosity, mainly. Name me one red-blooded man who wouldn't want to validate his neediness by paying a stranger of undetermined gender to send him hollow, misspelt platitudes on the internet. You can't, can you?"
- Fake Facebook girlfriends: what's not to like? | Technology | The Guardian, via Jo M.
Long Exposure Neon Waterfalls [feedly]
Like a freak midnight rainbow, this ongoing series of lit waterfalls titled Neon Luminance is part of a collaboration between Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard over at From the Lenz. The duo dropped high-powered Cyalume glow sticks in a variety of colors into various waterfalls in Northern California and then made exposures varying from 30 seconds to 7 minutes to capture the submerged trails of light as the sticks moved through the current. To accomplish some of the more complicated shots they strung several sticks together at once to create different patterns of illumination. For those of you concerned about pollution, the sticks (which are buoyant) were never opened and were collected at the end of each exposure, thus no toxic goo was mixed into the water. See more from the project on their website.
Twitter / redcatco: “We live in a world where even trash... [feedly]
The argument from Batman
One last reminder, and I think it'll be too late! We've only got about 50 tickets left for sale for BAH! Looks like it's going to be a packed house, so if you want in, we sincerely encourage you to buy online. We may have some tickets at the door, but I can't promise anything!
Hacking strength: Gaining muscle with least resistance
The least-resistance philosophy dictates that you should mold your environment so that the path of least resistance is the path of maximum productivity.
The core principles are eliminating barriers to engaging in productive behavior and erecting barriers to engaging in counter-productive behavior.
Admittedly, this philosophy is tricky to apply to an activity that stresses reaching "maximum resistance."
But, the principles still work.
Going to the gym is a major transaction cost.
Putting on gym clothes is a barrier.
Finding a consecutive block of time to work out induces opportunity costs.
If you set up your equipment at home so that you can walk in, do a set and walk out, you are at the gym whenever you're home.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
The Touch-Screen Generation - Hanna Rosin - The Atlantic
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http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/the-touch-screen-generation/309250/?single_page=true