Fast snow

December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.

Sword Camera

Endless Memory - oameni care isi amintesc tot

Flyover cu aeromodele

What is dust?

Let's set aside the bunny for a second, and focus on the filth. Dust is everywhere. Fine sand is rock dust. Rubber, brakepad and pavement particles are road dust. Fine ash can be volcanic dust. Hell, Carl Sagan famously and repeatedly referred to Earth as a "mote of dust," albeit in a cosmic sense. But the dust we're talking about, dust bunny dust, is a specific thing, with a specific recipe. And a studied one! According to David W. Layton and Paloma I. Beamer, who coauthored a report called ‘Migration of Contaminated Soil and Airborne Particulates to Indoor Dust,' typical household dust in a midwestern home is comprised of the following:

Indoor dust is a mixture of soil tracked into a residence, particulate matter derived from ambient outdoor air, and importantly, organic matter inputs from various sources. A prominent feature of indoor dust is its organic material content, with levels of about 40 wt % in residential housing.

Tot articolul: http://gizmodo.com/5715598/giz-explains-where-dust-bunnies-come-from

Japanese Table Saw

Link: http://www.bridgecitytools.com/Products/Jointmaker+/Jointmaker+Pro+v2

Frozen lighthouse

Google Streetview Romania

Vocea este foarte enervanta. Ce e relevant este ca au lansat Streetview in Romania. Interfata e mult mai buna ca la Norc dar pozele si acoperirea sunt mult mai slabe (90% Buc, restul oraselor doar strazile principale). In plus google a scanat doar un sens de mers si asta face greoaie observarea strazilor late si a bulevardelor.

Sa vedem cum vor evolua.


Thanks Cristi!

Analiza unei iluzii optice

Sanse mari sa mai fi vazut aceasta iluzie optica. "Culoarea albastra" si verde sunt aceeasi (anume RGB 0,255,150). Ce nu ati vazut este acest studiu interesant:

So what we see above is the same greenish blue region, touching the green on top and the blue on bottom — with no particular seams, implying (correctly) that there is no actual difference in color and what is detected is merely an illusion.

And the story would end there, if not for DanKam.  DanKam’s an augmented reality filter for the color blind, designed to make clear what colors are what.  Presumably, DanKam should see right through this illusion.  After all, whatever neurological bugs cause the confusion effect in the brain, certainly were not implemented in my code.

You might notice that while we’re recovering the color, or chroma relatively accurately, we’re losing detail in perceived luminance. Basically, we’re losing edges.

It’s almost like the visual system sees dark vs. light at a different resolution than one color vs. another.

This, of course, is no new discovery. Since the early days of color television, color information has been sent with lower detail than the black and white it augmented. And all effective compressed image formats tend to operate in something called YUV, which splits the normal Red, Green, and Blue into Black vs. White, Red vs. Green, and Orange vs. Blue (which happen to be the signals sent over the optic nerve). Once this is done, the Black and White channels are transmitted at full size while the differential color channels are halved or even quartered in detail. Why do this? Because the human visual system doesn’t really notice. (The modes are called 4:2:2 or 4:1:1, if you’re curious.)

So, my theory is that these color artifacts aren’t the result of some complex analysis with pattern matching, but rather the normal downsampling of chroma that occurs in the visual system. Usually, such downsampling doesn’t cause such dramatic shifts in color, but of course the purpose of an optical illusion is to exploit the corner cases of what we do or do not see.

Tot articolul (cu si mai multe exemple): http://dankaminsky.com/2010/12/17/mindless-equals-blown/

World Lens

In cateva luni o sa apara si pe Android apparently.

L.A. Noire - the technology of digital acting

Video Games | L.A. Noire | Developer Diary: The Technology Behind Performance

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

BooBoo kills Yogi

Parodie la Asasinarea lui Jesse James

Mai multe informatii: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/12/13/yogi-bear-alternate-ending-booboo-kills-yogi-parody-video-creator-speaks/?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Photoshop tutorials done right

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Mass Effect 3

Video Games | Mass Effect 3 | VGA 10: Exclusive Debut Trailer HD

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Lego Antikythera Mechanism

Detalii: http://acarol.woz.org/


Si making of:

Cheap Wi-Fi Radio

The danger of expanding foam

Merita vazut pana la capat.

Noul Yahoo mail beta

Ca sa il activati mergeti la pagina asta: http://features.mail.yahoo.com/ si apasati "Try it now"

Singurul lucru care mi se pare mie relevant este ca noua interfata este mult mai rapida.

Robotic Xylophone - make it yourself

Tot tutorialul: http://www.nerdkits.com/videos/robotic_xylophone/

Humans can't walk straight

Mai multe: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/11/03/131050832/a-mystery-why-can-t-we-walk-straight

Meat will make you happy - murder burger

Trebuie mentionat ca asta nu este o parodie. Este o campanie reala a lantului "Murder Burger" . In prezent se mai numeste Murder Burger numai in Noua Zeelanda

What's cool or fun about a thumping, sweaty dungeon full of posing idiots?

I'm convinced no one actually likes clubs. It's a conspiracy. We've been told they're cool and fun; that only "saddoes" dislike them. And no one in our pathetic little pre-apocalyptic timebubble wants to be labelled "sad" - it's like being officially declared worthless by the state. So we muster a grin and go out on the town in our millions.


Clubs are despicable. Cramped, overpriced furnaces with sticky walls and the latest idiot theme tunes thumping through the humid air so loud you can't hold a conversation, just bellow inanities at megaphone-level. And since the smoking ban, the masking aroma of cigarette smoke has been replaced by the overbearing stench of crotch sweat and hair wax.


Clubs are such insufferable dungeons of misery, the inmates have to take mood-altering substances to make their ordeal seem halfway tolerable. This leads them to believe they "enjoy" clubbing. They don't. No one does. They just enjoy drugs.

Tot articolul: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/aug/13/fashion.comment/print

Top 33 World’s Strangest Buildings (sorted by 4.520 visitors votes)

See more images here..

Strangebuildings.com has a wonderful collection of the world’s most unusual architecture and together with Bored Panda presents you an incredible list of 33 strangest buildings in the world, and best of all, it’s not just another random list, but it is based on 4.520 unique visitor votes. So don’t blame panda for this exact order, blame yourself for voting this way, or for not voting at all.

Galerie completa: http://www.boredpanda.com/top-33-worlds-strangest-buildings/

Site-ul Strange Buildings e foarte interesant pentru ca are detalii despre cladiri nu numai poze.
Surse: http://www.strangebuildings.com/

Magnetism

FOTB 2010 Titles from Süperfad on Vimeo.

This year's titles for FOTB were created by Nando Costa through the use of macro motion pictures and materials with magnetic properties.

Music by Darrin Wiener - music.wiener.us & Marcelo Baldin - combustion.ws

* You may view large stills of the animation on Flickr at flickr.com/​photos/​nandocosta_work/​sets/​72157625165746572/​

* You may download the song for your personal enjoyment here: superfad.com/​uploads/​2010/​fotb/​FOTB_Titles_2010.mp3.zip

Dancing with Invisible Light - Kinect art photography

Lumina structurata de la Kinect si niste filtre IR este tot ce iti trebuie pentru aceste imagini suprarealiste.


Galerie completa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/audreypenven/sets/72157625454305998/with/5197393939/

PACO-PLUS project develops embodied cognition for robot learning

Sursa: http://spectrum.ieee.org/robotics/artificial-intelligence/a-robots-body-of-knowledge

Metrouri 98% reciclabile in Polonia

The interiors are spaciously appointed with extra-wide entrances, for accommodating better passenger flow, large electronic displays for system maps, and lighting that's placed at soothing intervals, rather than in blaring, monolithic banks. The electronics and mechanics cabinets have also been removed from the actual cabin walls -- so that the interior space is as spacious as possible. And finally, you'll also notice that the handholds are lit from above and shaped like tree branches -- a symbol, the designers say, of the subway cars green ambitions.

Those green bonafides primarily come in the form of the carriage's aluminum, "weight-optimized" chassis, which is significantly lighter than the average traincar, reducing its energy consumption. And... wait for it... the carriages are expected to be 97.5% recyclable as well.

 Sursa: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662745/poland-unveils-bmw-designed-subway-cars-which-are-98-recyclable

Artist Guildwars - Daniel Dociu

(click pt mai mari)

Bio:

Daniel Dociu was raised in Cluj, the capital of Transylvania in Romania. After studying art and architecture, he got his Masters in Industrial Design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cluj. He moved to the USA in 1990 after spending two years in Athens, Greece, and he has lived in the Seattle area since 1991.
After working as a toy designer for two years, Dociu wisely jumped ship to interactive entertainment. “I’ve been working as an Art Director in the games industry ever since,” says Dociu, “for companies like Squaresoft, Electronic Arts (twice!), and Zipper Interactive. I have done consulting for Microsoft and freelance work for Wizards of the Coast, Digital Anvil as well as a fair share of small developers who have come and gone.” For the past five years, Daniel Dociu has been with ArenaNet, a fully owned subsidiary of NCSoft, in an art director and lead concept artist role. More recently he's stepped into the Chief Art Director role for NCsoft, overseeing visual development for all of NCsoft's North American projects, with particular focus on ArenaNet's Guild Wars 2.

Siteul artistului: http://www.tinfoilgames.com/gallery.php

Scammed in China

China Part 2a from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

How Kevin Rose and Glenn McElhose Got Scammed in China


Sursa: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2009/10/08/random-episode-6-how-kevin-rose-and-glenn-mcelhose-got-scammed-in-china-ha/

New EvE character creation

L-am postat chiar daca nu joaca nimeni EvE (my mistake) pentru ca mi se pare extraordinar de intuitiv.

Casual profanity fluid dress 2.0

Fluid Dress from Charlie Bucket on Vimeo.

A mai fost acum aproape un an pe gilotopia versiunea 1.

Melodia este Cherry - Ratatat

Cum sa faci un meniu inselator

There's a science to where on the menu you display that price, too, he says. Take a typical two-column menu: The description of the food is on the left, and the price is an inch or two from the description, on the right. Bad idea, says Mentzer. Get rid of the second column, he recommends, and put the price at the end of the sentence that describes the dish.

"You want people to read the price after they've read the description," he explains, "not before."

Now that you've nestled together price and description, you've got to think about where on the menu to locate each dish. Mentzer has studies that track where the eye travels when it reads a menu, and part of his presentation to clients is a menu divided into sections: the starlets (top right, the place for items that net the most money), the plow horses (top left, ideal for dishes that are higher than average in popularity and lower than average contributors to the bottom line), the dogs (bottom left, lower than average popularity, lower than average profits) and so on.

"The eye goes first to the starlets and it doesn't like to spend a lot of time with the dogs," he says. "I told a guy recently to move his pastas -- which are really high-margin -- from the dogs to the all-stars, and there was a 30 percent jump in sales."

Tot articolul: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/12/AR2008041201225.html

Panopixel Bucuresti

E o poza multirez a orasului. Try zooming.

http://www.panopixel.ro/multirez/bucuresti.htm

http://www.panopixel.ro/v3/index.php

Thanks Alex!

How does the Kinect really work?

I’m quite tired of seeing the stupid things people try to pass off as facts about how the kinect works so instead of complaining about it I decided to make this handy guide.

First of all what it isn’t: it is not an EyeToy or just a webcam. 

Hardware:

That weird (huge) box contains:

• a VGA 640x480 color camera (CMOS) with a Bayer color filter
• a IR 640x480 camera (CMOS)*
• an IR projector
• a motor,  an assortment of control chips and 4 microphones
• a fan!

(* it seems the outputted depthmap is 640x480 but the IR camera sensor size is closer too 1600x1200)
 

The hardware is something researchers have been pining over for a loooong time because it’s a cheap camera that provides distance measurements for every pixel. Previously all they could do was guess and hope for ideal conditions so that your algorithm would work.

How it works:

It is NOT a time of flight camera as a lot of websites have incorrectly stated. It is a structured light camera. You’ve seen those videos of 3d scanners projecting stripes onto things as if imitating venetian blinds? It the same principle at work only there’s nothing venetian about it.

That IR projector mentioned above is an IR laser that passes through a diffraction grating and turns into a lot of IR dots.

They look chaotic because that’s how the kinect can tell what’s going on. NO IT WILL NOT GIVE YOU CANCER. It is a class 1 laser so it's safe to be exposed to it indefinitely. Each of those points is unique and the IR camera sees how it distorts and says „hmm the distance to that point is x”.

Combine that data with the color image from the camera and you have this:

That ladies and gentlemen is a realtime 3D video stream!
Those odd shadows are where the camera can’t see. Combine a few more you say? You can’t. Remember how I said the dots are unique? They suddenly become a lot less unique if there are two or more dotfields in the same area. The Kinects would become confused, sad and depressed.
Switching between them so there’s only one dotfield active at a time might work but that would divide the 30Hz framerate by the number of Kinects rendering the whole thing useless.

Unfortunately laser light is already polarized to some degree so a hack to enable Kinects to operate simultaneously with polarized filters would prove challenging. In the same tone wavelength shifting would be insanely complicated and expensive as narrow band IR filters are not cheap or easy to come by.

Radu Bogdan Rusu has said that "Judging from a few basic tests with two Kinects, I can't seem to get them to interfere with each other to the point where the data is unusable."

Also here is a great explanation of how the pattern is used to determine depth:



The software:
The software is also quite revolutionary. One guy had this to say about it:

The sophistication and performance of the algorithms rival or exceed anything that I've seen in academic research, never mind a consumer product.

...

We would all love to one day have our own personal holodeck. This is a pretty measurable step in that direction.

 – Johnny Chung Lee

 

Who’s Johnny Chung Lee? Remember this guy?

Him.

What’s he working on? The Kinect.

He’s not exaggerating either. The software is nothing short of revolutionary. Estimates are it took 5 to 10 years to develop! That’s the average lifespan of a ferret. 

(missing picture: Ferret computer scientists)

How it works:

The team first built a software that could learn, then sent it to school to learn how humans look and move.

And it works! It actually works. Until now computer vision has been this thing that sortof works and breaks if you look at it funny but this actually works.

As if that wasn’t enough it also understands your voice and tracks it in the room (those 4 microphones were not just for weigh balancing).

Researchers would pay thousands until now for hardware that wasn’t half as good as this. The community has embraced this thing with open arms. Microsoft has said they’ll release an SDK to work with their wonderful software (hurry up will you?). Until now computers couldn’t actually see. Even the limited info they could receive wasn’t really that easy to interpret so it wasn’t used. The Kinect has given computers more than eyes, it’s given them vision.

One question is: Why livingroom gaming as the first target?  It seems like an odd first choice. My personal theory is that it’s a trojan horse tactic. First get it into everything then enable everyone to write software for it. Developers, developers, developers.

One thing is certain. This has changed the face of computing and robotics forever.

Many too small boxes and Maru

Back from the Future - Cauzalitate inversa

Am sa va prezint doua articole. Ambele se ocupa de problema dubioasa a cauzalitatii inverse. Asta inseamna ca studiaza fenomenul prin care efectul unor evenimente se propaga si inapoi in timp. Suna imposibil?

Primul articol: http://discovermagazine.com/2010/apr/01-back-from-the-future studiaza efectul acesta la nivelul cuantic. Intr-un experiment o particula subatomica este masurata (si automat influentata) de mai multe ori. Daca se fac de exemplu 3 masurari s-a descoperit ca masurarea a doua este influentata de masurarea a treia (care inca nu a fost facuta si in mod ciudat poate chiar sa nu mai fie facuta).

Al doilea articol: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19712-is-this-evidence-that-we-can-see-the-future.html trateaza lucrurile la un nivel macroscopic. Este vorba de un studiu de la universitatea Cornell care a durat 8 ani si a cautat sa afle daca fenomenul de precognitie este adevarat. Rezultatul surprinzator este ca a fost inregistrata o deviatie statistica semnificativa (aprox 3%) de la rezultatul aleatorie asteptat. De multe ori a fost inregistrat acelasi fenomen mentionat si in articolul precedent: reactia a aparut inaintea stimulului.

Detaliile si implicatiile acestor studii sunt mult prea complicate pentru a fi discutate aici asa ca va invit sa cititi articolele si sa trageti propriile concluzii.

Diametrala Capitalei promite traversarea de la nord la sud in 15 minute

Primarul general al Capitalei, Sorin Oprescu, a declarat, vineri, ca dupa finalizarea diametralei rutiere nord-sud, Bucurestiul va putea fi traversat de soferi in cel mult un sfert de ora.

Diametrala va face legatura intre Piata Victoriei si Piata George Cosbuc, cu traversare subterana a dealului Parlamentului.

"Prima etapa a inceput cu amenajarea Berzei, de la Piata Victoriei pana la strada Occidentului, unde linia de tramvai si strada vor fi terminate in acest an. Este un bulevard cu cate trei benzi pe sens, cu doua linii de tramvai. Urmeaza segmentul din Berzei, de la Calea Grivitei pana la Vulcanescu.

In zona intersectiei Berzei cu Vulcanescu, se creeaza o strada noua - este strada Garii de Nord, care iese direct in Dinicu Golescu, in fata Ministerului Transporturilor. In acest fel, castigam si viteza in circulatia autovehiculelor, care vor putea merge cu 20-30 de kilometri la ora, putand fi parcursa distanta nord-sud, adica aproximativ 12,5 kilometri, in maximum 15 minute", a explicat edilul-sef.

Tot articolul: http://www.ziare.com/sorin-oprescu/primar-general/oprescu-promite-traversarea-capitalei-de-la-nord-la-sud-in-15-minute-1055226

Subcarpati - Am crescut pe la Romana

Subcarpati - Am crescut pe la Romana from z00x on Vimeo.

- 57 stencils
- 3 black spray cans
- 8 9volt batteries
- 3 different light sources
- many many calculations, measurements and camera settings adjustments
- many many many nights
- 5313 pictures taken at 15" each

Produced: Ionut Negrila, Mihai Calota
We hope with this no budget clip to inspire creativity and resourcefulness among young creatives. ENJOY!

Making of:

Hotel in 6 zile

the 15 story Ark Hotel built in 6 days. Located in Changsa this building is level 9 earthquake resistant and incorporates some sustainable practices.

Sursa: http://www.archdaily.com/88245/video-ark-hotel/

Samsung transparent display

Partea interesanta incepe la 0:50

Google Refine

http://google-opensource.blogspot.com/2010/11/announcing-google-refine-20-power-tool.html

Nu putea sa apara saptamana trecuta?

Fasten your seatbelts - cultural guide

China 3_Lower your glass as a sign of respect. from 43 Films on Vimeo.


China 4_Do bring the right kind of gift. from 43 Films on Vimeo.

This increased mobility exposes millions of travellers every day to new cultures, customs and languages. Without education, dialogue can be difficult and misunderstandings can arise.

You can get yourself into all sorts of trouble in other countries if you don't have an understanding of the cultural language. Much of our behaviour can mean other things in other countries, some of it amusing, some of it extremely offensive. One gesture, or movement, or expression, may have many different meanings, just as our verbal language has words which may have different meanings.

Some people, when travelling to new countries, may forget to consider the different behavioural norms they are likely to encounter and behave exactly as they do at home. In such circumstances, even minor cultural differences can become major barriers to communication and cooperation. This project aims to demystify these cultural differences and encourage visitors to embrace them.

The beauty of Europe lies in the fact that even though there is a firm movement towards standardisation for the sake of efficiency, there is a strong will to cultivate and to promote the diversity of languages and cultures of the different states. With our project we would like to contribute to this important philosophy and extend it to the ‘global village’ that is our world today.

More generally, and perhaps a little less pretentiously, we would simply like to put the idea in the minds of the passengers that it is useful and fun to learn about cultural differences.

The objectives of this project are:
raising travellers' curiosity towards new languages
breaking linguistic and cultural communication barriers
using innovative communication tools and learning methods :teaching through entertainment
offering free immediate access to educational information to travellers
and last but not least, helping to kill time intelligently

The first episode (Fasten Seat Belts 1: Europe) was funded by the European Commission's Socrates-Lingua department.The second one (Fasten Seat Belts 2: Europe - Asia) was supported by the European Commission’s Life Long Learning Programme.

Un proiect european fascinant care are ca scop evitarea gafelor culturale prin educatie.
E si Romania in lista tarilor cu o "cultura speciala"

http://www.fastenseatbelts.eu/

What Alcohol Actually Does to Your Brain and Body

Alcohol, like caffeine, has an enormous reputation but loose understanding in popular culture. Learn how it's absorbed and how fast, why it's essential to reality TV altercations, its paradoxical sexual effects, and its life-lengthening potential, whether red wine or Bud Light.


Image via TheDeliciousLife.


Everyone, it seems, takes their cues on how alcohol affects the mind and body from an eclectic mix of knowledge: personal experience, pop culture, tall tales of long nights, the latest studies to make the health news wires, and second-hand tips. You might have gathered that alcohol is a depressant, that it's dehydrating, that you can drink about one drink an hour and stay relatively sober. Some of that is true. But much of it depends on a large number of factors.
Let's dig into some of things we do and don't know about alcohol. 

Tot articolul: http://lifehacker.com/5684996/what-alcohol-actually-does-to-your-brain-and-body

Russian photoshop

Thanks Cristi!

Making things hard to read 'can boost learning'

The 28 volunteers in the Princeton study were given 90 seconds to try to memorise a list of seven features for three different species of alien.
The idea was to re-create the kind of learning in a biology class. Aliens were chosen to be sure that none of the volunteers' prior knowledge interfered with the results.
One group was given the lists in 16-point Arial pure black font, which is generally regarded to be easy and clear to read. 
The other had the same information presented in either 12-point Comic Sans MS 75% greyscale font or 12-point Bodoni MT 75% greyscale.
The volunteers were distracted for 15 minutes, and then tested on how much they could remember.
Researchers found that, on average, those given the harder-to-read fonts actually recalled 14% more.
They believe that presenting information in a way that is hard to digest means a person has to concentrate more, and this leads to "deeper processing" and then "better retrieval" afterwards.

Tot articolul:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-11573666

Noul turn simbol al Taiwan-ului facut de Romani

Felicitari echipei condusa de Dorin Stefan: Bogdan Chipara, Claudiu Barsan, Oana Nituica, Adrian Craciun.

Tot articolul: http://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-imobiliar-8012812-interviu-dorin-stefan-arhitectul-care-cistigat-proiect-major-taiwan-sper-arhitectura-romaneasca-renasca-precum-cinematografia.htm
Pagina proiectului: http://www.dsba.ro/mainEN.php?lang=EN&news=1

Multumesc Cristi pt pont!

Science saved my soul

Robotul din Tei

(click pt mai mare)

Graffiti-ul asta este pe un bloc in apropierea sectiei 7 de politie la intersectia Teiul Doamnei cu Colentina. L-am observat acum cateva zile din tramvai iar astazi am mers pe jos pana acolo ca sa il pozez. Daca stie cineva cine este autorul sa ma informeze si pe mine.


Vizualizare hartă mărită

10 Strange Things About The Universe

The universe can be a very strange place. While groundbreaking ideas such as quantum theory, relativity and even the Earth going around the Sun might be commonly accepted now, science still continues to show that the universe contains things you might find it difficult to believe, and even more difficult to get your head around.
10 Negative Energy
9 Frame Dragging
8 Relativity of Simultaneity
7 Black Strings
6 Geon
5 Kerr Black Hole
4 Quantum Tunneling
3 Cosmic Strings
2 Antimatter Retrocausality
1 Gödel’s incompleteness theorems

Tot articolul: http://listverse.com/2010/11/04/10-strange-things-about-the-universe/

Subaru WRX STI Spyder

No CGI, no greenscreen.

Ada Kaleh - oaza orientala de pe Dunare

La trei kilometri de localitatea edilului, apele Dunarii ascund ce a mai ramas din insula turcilor, Ada-Kaleh, inecata de comunisti pentru a ridica barajul Portile de Fier.
Pe strazile de numai doi metri latime, marginite de case mici, din caramida, acoperite cu tigla rotunda, turcii tineau cafenele si baruri, faceau cafea la ibric, dulceata de trandafiri, baclavale, halvita "si cel mai bun rahat din tara - "Lochum" cu alune, fistic, lamaie, cacao, nuci...", povesteste un batran profesor din Orsova, Jean Constantin, pasionat de istoria tumultuoasa a insulei.

Secretul citronadei si al cafelei la nisip

Turcii care nu faceau bani din dulceturi si delicatese lucrau la fabrica de confectii si la cea de tutun. "Tigarile Ada-Kaleh erau foarte apreciate, dar comunistii i-au obligat, pana la urma, sa faca doar tigari Marasesti...", a aflat profesorul.

Pe insula erau si o uzina electrica, posta, o scoala, o moschee mare si o bisericuta ortodoxa cat o bucatarie. Aveau turcii si un pasa, trimis de la Istanbul.

Fiul unui cafegiu de pe Ada-Kaleh, Durgut Husref, are 63 de ani, traieste in Severin si povesteste cu placere primii 25 de ani din viata lui, petrecuti pe insula.

"Faceam cea mai buna citronada de lamaie din tara. Veneau romani, militieni, securisti... Ne-au vizitat si vreo 20 de sefi de restaurante si ne-au cerut reteta. Le-am dat-o, dar nu le-am spus cate zile trebuie sa stea lamaile la macerat, he-he, si nu le-a iesit citronada bine".

Nici secretul cafelei la nisip nu l-au dat. "O faceam din boabe verzi prajite acolo, pe loc. Trebuia sa stii exact cum sa faci caimacul de-un deget si cat de calda sa fie apa. Ca nu se face cu apa fiarta!"

Tot articolul: http://www.newspad.ro/Supravietuitorii-de-pe-insula-scufundata-de-Ceausescu,173001.html

Japonia - Robot realist

Se numeste Actroid-F!

developed by the Department of Systems Innovation and ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communications Laboratories. Thank you for the images, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Osaka University, and ATR!

http://en.akihabaranews.com/68574/robot/actroid-f-makes-appearance-at-aist-lab-fair-wows-world

Fucking with the mail: Artist puts Royal Mail to the test

We may be living in the era of the email, but one young illustrator has proved that the art of correspondence is far from dead. While working for her degree at Glasgow School of Art Harriet Russell decided to find out exactly what lengths the men and women of the Royal Mail were willing to go to to ensure the safe delivery of her missives.

Galerie completa: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/return-to-sender-artist-puts-royal-mail-to-the-test-955499.html?action=Gallery

Tot articolul: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/news/return-to-sender-artist-puts-royal-mail-to-the-test-955499.html

Ikea Beijing

BEIJING — With no plans one Saturday, Zhang Xin told his wife, son and mother to wear something smart and hop into the family sedan. He could have taken them to the Forbidden City or the Great Wall, but he decided on another popular destination -- IKEA.

Zhang said the family needed a respite from the smog and a reliable lunch.

"We just came here for fun," said the 34-year-old office manager. "I suppose we could have gone somewhere else, but it wouldn't have been a complete experience."

Welcome to IKEA Beijing, where the atmosphere is more theme park than store.

Tot articolul: http://articles.latimes.com/2009/aug/25/business/fi-china-ikea25

Imagini: http://gizmodo.com/5673748/beijings-ikea-is-apparently-a-great-place-for-a-snooze

Hoț de biciclete în București

Dupa reportajul olandez au facut si cei de la noi o varianta autohtona:



Nu pot sa nu observ ca romanii care nu sunt pasivi sunt binevoitori si chiar il ajuta pe hot sa fure bicicleta. Sa fie vorba de naivitate?

Ma astept sa se dubleze furturile de biciclete dupa acest reportaj.

insulindeplein automatic car park - paul de ruiter architects:

Sunt atat de simplu de realizat si totusi nu le gasim si pe la noi.

'insulindeplein car park' by amsterdam-based office paul de ruiter architects is the first
fully automated car park in rotterdam, the netherlands. the design features a street level
pavilion-esque structure with two separate entrances. providing space for over 140 cars,
the underground park is fully operated by a 'parking robot'. by utilizing a mechanical
distributor rather than providing circulation space, the car park is able to accommodate
one-third more cars than in a traditional setup.

the pavilion features a transparent facade, offering a view of the square from the car park
and vice versa. made completely out of glass, the treatment provides a subtle mirroring effect,
merging the structure with its surrounding by day, and becoming a light-filled lantern by night.

besides freeing up the streets of parked cars, the advantage of building an underground
and fully automated facility are many: it saves on energy cost (lighting and climate control)
since it is not occupied by people; the space about the car park can be developed into
a square with green space and a playground.

These Square Gears Really Work

Lagoa Multiphysics

Lagoa Multiphysics 1.0 - Teaser from Thiago Costa on Vimeo.

Vending Machine Sells Live Crabs

JapanProbe dot com
Încărcat de pubjapaned. - Explore international webcam videos.

The inside of the machine is kept at 5 degrees celsius, a temperature cold enough to make the crabs go into a state of hibernation. A sign states that all the crabs in the machine are fresh: if the crab is dead-on-arrival, they promise to give you three free crabs.


Converted into yen, the prices for the crabs range between 120 and 600 yen (depending on size). By cutting out the cost of store personnel, the seller can offer the crabs at 30% less than the usual price.


The Chinese man who came up with the idea for the vending machine enthusiastically declares that he is ready to consider offers if there is demand for his product in Japan.


The second half of the video focuses on Japanese vending machines. It shows us the banana vending machine inside Shibuya station, as well as a bar that is equipped with sake vending machines.

Masinaria e in Nanjing (China).
David: Daca iei trenul pana acolo sa nu cumva sa o ratezi :P


Sursa: http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/10/20/vending-machine-sells-live-crabs/

Samsung Galaxy Player (YP-G50)

Ce e diferit de toate celelalte sisteme Android este ca nu este un telefon! Este un MP3 player/computer portabil numai si pretul target este de 200 de euro!

YP-G50 runs on Android 2.1 OS and features 3.2-inch screen, 2MP camera, DLNA, Wi-Fi, 8 or 16GB internal memory, microSD card slot, GPS, SoundAlive, DivX support and FM Radio.

Bioshock infinite - gameplay

Airport Sleepboxes

Mai multe: http://www.arch-group.org/portfolio/diz/1/

Invisible helmet airbag

Probabil se declanseaza si daca te trantesti pe pat

How to make your own Cut Out Paper Vertical Sundial

This page is about Sundials. Sundials are instruments that tell you the time with the shadow of the sun. To design a sundial you need to know exactly where you are going to put it, i.e. you need to know the longitude, the latitude and the orientation of the wall with respect to North.
I have designed this page and integrated Google Maps. It helps you to easily find all the parameters needed and finally produces a printable page with a cut-out paper sundial, that can be cut and folded to give you a vertical sundial.
This page allows you to make your own Cut Out Paper Vertical Sundial customized to your place on earth and the declination of the wall you are going to put it on.

Link: http://sundial.damia.net/vertical/index-en.html

Design: Take Shelter in a Human Habitrail

Radius’ shelters start at $200,000; the multifamily pod shown below goes for $2 million, plus about 25 percent for shipping and installation. They all have fiberglass shells, which are less prone to cracking than concrete and, lacking steel, won’t show up on target-acquisition systems. The bunkers can run for years entirely off the grid, which means that when a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse takes out power on the surface, you’ll still be able to operate your hair dryer. And they’re buried far enough underground to be impervious to radiation. In the event of a chemical or biological attack, you’ll feel secure knowing that the sealed and pressurized units come with specially designed air filtration that uses three different physical purifiers and an ultraviolet-radiation sterilization system.

Tot articolul:http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/09/pl_shelters_safehouse/

Improv Everywhere - 3000 people obey the MP3

Tracking and Reshaping of Humans in Videos

Mai multe: http://www.mpi-inf.mpg.de/resources/MovieReshape/

the procrastinators - lernert & sander

The Procrastinators - episode 1 from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

Merita atentia. Este every project ever.

Sursa: http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/11805/lernert-sander-the-procrastinators.html

Diminished reality

Software Eliminates Objects From Reality Itself

3 Years At The Same Place

3 Years At The Same Place from Ramon on Vimeo.

dentsu: paint sound sculptures

Canon Pixma: Bringing colour to life from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

Surprisingly Effective Treatments for Depression

- x-axis (popularity) = the fraction of respondents who tried a given treatment
- y-axis (effectiveness) = the average rated effectiveness of a given treatment, Bayes-adjusted for the number of respondents
- Vertical grey line = the average fraction of respondents who tried each treatment
- Horizontal grey line = the average rated effectivenss of all treatments
- Quadrants – Treatments in the upper-left quadrant have below-average usage, but above-average effectiveness, so presumably more people would benefit by trying these. Those in the lower-right quadrant have above-average usage but below-average effectiveness, so presumably more people would benefit by avoiding these.

 Sursa

Grafic complet: http://www.curetogether.com/depression/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity

Scratched glasses give perfect vision for any eyesight

Zeev Zalevsky at Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, has developed a technique to turn a standard lens into one that perfectly focuses light from anything between 33 centimetres away and the horizon.

It involves engraving the surface of a standard lens with a grid of 25 near-circular structures each 2 millimetres across and containing two concentric rings. The engraved rings are just a few hundred micrometres wide and a micrometre deep. "The exact number and size of the sets will change from one lens to another," depending on its size and shape, says Zalevsky.

The rings shift the phase of the light waves passing through the lens, leading to patterns of both constructive and destructive interference. Using a computer model to calculate how changes in the diameter and position of the rings alter the pattern, Zalevsky came up with a design that creates a channel of constructive interference perpendicular to the lens through each of the 25 structures. Within these channels, light from both near and distant objects is in perfect focus.

 Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20827806.000-scratched-glasses-give-perfect-vision-for-any-eyesight.html

A blind architect relearns his craft

Two and a half years ago, Downey had just started running the architecture practice at a stylish green-design firm. A few weeks after he took the job, he noticed something wrong with his vision. A tumor was wrapped around his optic nerve; he needed surgery right away. When he woke up, everything was blurry, but he could see. “Five days later,” he said, “it all went black.”

Downey returned to the office. But he couldn’t use design software. He couldn’t read plans. A few months passed, and the firm was caught up in the housing crash. Downey scheduled a talk with the owner, an old friend, to figure out how he could be more useful. He was at a workstation, up on a loft, when she came to see him, and he could tell by her footfalls that it wasn’t going to be the kind of conversation he had been planning to have.

San Francisco was full of laid-off architects. Downey could be pretty sure he was the only blind one. It turned out to be an interesting credential. SmithGroup and another firm, the Design Partnership, hired him as a consultant.

Akihabara Tour

Link catre tot turul: http://www.tokyohackerspace.org/akihabara/

This Pool Creates Waves In The Shape Of…Anything!

The pool consists of several generators that are pulled and pushed in and out of the pool creating the perfect wave in the form of anything you can think of. No shape or angle is too complicated… if you’re prepared to calculate the exact movement and impact point of each and every generated push.

Sursa: http://www.bitrebels.com/geek/this-pool-creates-waves-in-the-shape-of…anything/

Cursa masinute in parcarea Baneasa

Inteleg ca e si maine.

Reclama interzisa de Apple

De ce a fost interzisa?

The newspaper responsible for the ad, Newsday, told me yesterday; "We have taken the commercial 'Flypaper' down and its short, glorious run appears to be over." Newsday would not say why and Apple did not respond to my request for comment.

This morning I open an e-mail from someone purporting to work at Newsday and asking that his identity not be revealed.

 "Newsday got a cease and desist letter threatening all of our apps, if we did not remove the commercial immediately. They took exception to the fact that the (iPad) glass shattered into large jagged pieces ... Your instincts are correct."

Mai multe: http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/66382

The Inner Life of a Cell Explained

Si povestea din spatele animatiei: