Great Quote

"And all this madness, all this rage, all this flaming death of our civilization and our hopes, has been brought about because a set of official gentlemen, living luxurious lives, mostly stupid, and all without imagination or heart, have chosen that it should occur rather than that any one of them should suffer some infinitesimal rebuff to his country's pride."

~Bertrand Russell

(8 days after the start of WW I)

Perceptory Illusions

My sincerest apologies, all! I have been very busy with schoolwork, and finally have a chance to work a little bit on this during spring break. This group of illusions, in conjunction with other flaws of our mind (and the entire lack of evidence for the claims), is what leads me to not believe in the existence of ghosts.

Beau Lotto: Optical Illusions Show How We See


Waterfall Illusion

(Wait, isn't this a painting by one of the artists you featured previously?) Why yes, yes it is.
One would think that a 3-D version of this illusion would be unlikely, if not impossible. But to the contrary, it has been done. The creator has yet to reveal how the illusion works.

Color Changing Ring of Dots Illusion

It appears that the dots quit changing shape/color/size when the ring rotates. This is (for those of you who have yet to understand the point of this post) not the case. It is known as change blindness.
From NewScientist:
"The pair believe the illusion occurs because the areas of the brain responsible for detecting these changes are organised locally - each part of the visual field is monitored by a specific part of the brain. Because a fast moving object spends little time at any one location, a local detector only has a small window of time in which to assess the changing object - and therefore fails to detect the change."

Size Illusion

It is the illusion of size rather than the size itself which matters. The explanation for this has yet to be agreed upon by psychologists and neurologists.

The Phantom Spin Illusion

Part 1 Illusion: Top and bottom halves of 'wheel' should appear to move in opposite directions. They also switch directions when the 'wheel' moves in opposite directions.
Part 2 Illusion: The 'wheel' appears to be rotating as 'wheel'-block combination moves.
Part 3 Illusion: Both wheels connected to chain appear to rotate.

Impossible Motion Trick

The slopes appear to move down from the center. A different perspective reveals that the slopes actually move down towards the center.

Odd 3-D Illusions


Floating Cube Illusion


Ames Window Illusion


It's really a trapezoidal window. It appears to reverse direction every 180 degrees, but is really rotating in the same direction continuously.

Well how could this be used to manipulate people?





















Gears supposedly spin at a rate proportional to how stressed one is.

Complementary Color Wheel Illusion


More Information:
Coolest Illusion Site I've Seen
Optical Illusions
Touch Illusions
Another Optical Illusion Site
Rotating Grid Illusion
Octavio Ocampo - An Optical Illusion Artist
Psychological Explanations
200 yr-old Illusion Explained
Three-Arm Illusion

Richest Americans of All Time

Mint.com

It's just an interesting infographic.

A Cool Tetris Art Creator

Click inside the white box.

Man Befriends 38 Lions

Cool PVC Instrument

For more videos from the creator:

http://www.youtube.com/user/snubbyj

Some Beautiful Chemical Reactions

Potassium, Diethyl Ether, and Water


Potassium Chlorate and ....a Gummy Bear?

On Drug Prohibition and the Lack of Logical Reasoning Behind It

This is just a logical analysis. It is likely incomplete, but filled with good points. If there are any refutations or other information on this, feel free to post in the comments.

Touchable Hologram

Brought to you by Tokyo University:



I dig that little elephant hologram!

Impressive Robotics (Part 1)

More than Meets the Eye


A Snake Robot


Dragonfly Robot


ASIMO


Rapid Motion-Sensing Robot Hand


Robotic Sunflower


Ball-Balancing Robot


Home-made Robot


University of Arizona Hexapod Robot


Ugobe Pleo Toy Robot

Vinni Puh

"While Eeyore frets ...
... and Piglet hesitates
... and Rabbit calculates
... and Owl pontificates
...Pooh just is."
~The Tao of Pooh
by Benjamin Hoff

~A 1969 Russian Version of Winnie the Pooh~
I find it to be much more well done, humorous, and philosophical than the US version. Winnie the Pooh was originally created by A. A. Milne in the 1920's and licensed to Disney in 1966. The original characters were actually meant to be psychological/philosophical archetypes.

Episode 1



Episode 2



Episode 3



Episode 4



"pam-param-pooroom-howlers
poom-pooroom-taram-yellers
poom-poopoompoom"
~Vinni Puh

Ana Somnia - lights out!

http://anasomnia.com/

I think this is a very creative and eerie feel to it. It works best if it's nighttime and you have a webcam.

Mandalas

"It became increasingly plain to me that the mandala is the center. It is the exponent of all paths. It is the path to the center, to individuation."
~Carl Jung

Mandalas are typically a Hindu or Buddhist sacred tradition. The idea is that they are a small representation of the universe. They are to be a spiritual/metaphysical representation of the universe, and as far as I understand not intended to actually represent the physical configuration of the universe (check some Hubble sites if you want to see something like this ;) ). I find it to be truly beautiful and intriguing artwork. Mandalas represent the intricacy and flexibility of human thought.

Buddhist Monks Create a Mandala in 6 Days


Tibetan Sand Mandala

Brilliant Physics Simulator

created by Lagoa Multiphysics

Non-Reflective Surfaces as Mirrors (Artist Daniel Rozin)

Daniel Rozin is an artist who makes reflective surfaces out of unreflective materials. This mirror is composed of 830 'wooden pixels.' A built in camera activates motors behind each of the wooden pieces, which through some (seemingly elaborate) method creates a visual representation. The other mirrors operate by similar principles

Other Mirrors

The Circles Mirror:


The Trash Mirror:


The Weave Mirror:

The Rust Mirror:

The rest of his art (or at least some portion of it) can be found on his site:

http://www.smoothware.com/danny/

Bug Trails

Above is a two second exposure to the flight of insects around a floodlight at Hurst, TX on September 19, 2009.

Some moths and bugs are attracted to bright lights because they use the Moon for orientation. Steady angle in relation to light source is possibly obtained via transverse orientation.

All of the information about all of this was pretty much obtained from:
http://epod.usra.edu/
http://www.abc.com
http://www.npr.org/

It's basically an e-Hamster

I would put it on the side with the fishes, but I'm not quite sure how.

A View of the Stars as Earth Rotates

Truly awe-inspiring in its magnitude and beauty.





"For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love."
~Carl Sagan

Check out the overview effect.

Extremophiles (radical, bro)

Searching for "Impossible" Life



Extremophiles are just lifeforms which thrive in extreme environments. They can be eukaryotic (animals, plants, fungi), but tend to be prokaryotic (archaebacteria, eubacteria). Most complex organisms that we know of would die under the conditions in which these beings survive. It has been proposed that perhaps the earliest life on Earth began in these extreme environments (as the early Earth would have been quite inhospitable for many species we know).

Some types of extremophiles:
Acidophile: Survives in extreme acidity (pH < 3)
Alkaliphile: Survives in extreme basicity (pH > 9)
Halophile: Survives in extreme salinity
Piezophile: Survives in extreme pressure
Thermophile: Survives in extreme heat (Temp > 60 Celsius)
-Hydrothermophile: Survives in extreme temperatures near hydrothermal vents
Psychrophile: Survives in extreme cold (Temp < 30 Celsius)

David Gallo on Deep Sea Ocean Life - WATCH THIS IF NOTHING ELSE!



Some articles:
Explanatory Article
Yellowstone Light-Harvesting Species
ARMAN Acidophile
Deep Subsurface Bacteria
Antarctic Deep Sea Methanophile
Life Below Antarctic Glacier (no light, no oxygen)
Deep Sea Microbes involved in Nitrogen Cycle?
Deep Ocean Biomass
& again


















^Multicellular Animal in Oxygen-Free Environment^
Radiation-Consuming Bacteria....just think of the practical uses!
So why not on other planets?
Extremophiles, Antarctica, and ET Life
Alaska as Model for Solar System Environments?
They can grow in moon soil
Ultramicrobacterium seems well suited for Exo-planetary life

Little Red Riding Hood for Engineers

Done as a reinterpretation of Little Red Riding Hood by graphics design student Tomas Nilsson

Check out his website:
http://www.tomas-nilsson.se/