Monday, December 24, 2007

Optical Illusions in Art, Part 3


 

via Dark Roasted Blend by Avi Abrams on 12/12/07

"QUANTUM SHOT" #334
link


Also Read Part 1 & Part 2

We love it when the picture plays with our mind

To achieve different angle, illusion or an unusual effect with only two-dimensional picture is a challenge many photographers and artists can't seem to pass by. The three-dimensional sculptures can increase the "I simply can not believe this is real" effect. But in every occasion we keep asking ourselves how the trick was pulled off, and such mind-games appear to be a part of the magic.


"The House, that Swift Built"
(image credit: Anna Gunter)


(image credit: Josh Sommers)


(image credit: Josh Sommers)


(images credit: Istvan Orosz)

But did you know that some illusions can actually be constructed in real life?


(image credit: Shigeo Fukuda.html)

Aldo Cavini Benedetti made the working model of M. C. Escher's "Ascending and Descending" using a toy "Geomag" constructor set:


(image credit: Aldo Cavini Benedetti )

The video is almost out-of-this-world:



The "Impossible Triangle" is also possible to make, see the instructions here -



Almost real:


(image credit: Simon Scott)


Illusions in Art

One certain way to prompt the viewer to look twice in the picture is to create a "topsy-turvy" images, meaningful in both orientations.





Transformations! -


(image credit: Sandro del Prete)

Hidden figures:
A new meaning for "suggestive" painting -


(image credit: Sandro del Prete)


(image credit: Sandro del Prete)

This "Tree of Faces" is a classic:



Animal "matryoshka":



Mona Lisa:



This is a screenshot from the movie "Alexander". An interesting effect, but perhaps not that many people notice:



The following images are without credits, so please help us to locate the originals:






(image credit: Jonathon Bowser)





Impossible geometry

These artists can not revise the foundations of perspective and geometry, but they certainly fool the eye of a viewer:


(art by Dirk Huizer)


(image credit: Sandro del Prete)


(image credit: Sandro del Prete)


(image credit: Hermann Paulsen)


(art by Zenon Kulpa)


(image credit: Natalia Ivanova )

"The Magic Window" by Istvan Orosz




(images credit: Istvan Orosz)

Paintings by Flemish artist Jos de Mey continue in the "old Belgian masters" traditional style, only they clearly show impossible landscapes:










(images credit: Jos de Mey)

Other "impossible art" painters:


(image credit: Irvine Peacock)


(image credit: Irvine Peacock)


(image credit: Walter Wick)


(art by Igor Gluharev)


(image credit: Chris Miles)

Great "recursion" effect:


(image credit: Norman Parker )

Original creator of "impossible triangles" (1934) - Oscar Reutersvärd, Sweden.
Wrap your mind around this geometry:






(images credit: Oscar Reutersvärd)

Dmitry Rakov went even further, creating "impossible alphabet":



and "impossible labyrinth":



See another incredible figures alphabet on this page.

Here is one interesting puzzle:


(image credit: Gianni Sarconi)

If your kid has some trouble assembling the toy, maybe he's got instructions like this:


(image credit: Govert Shilling)

Snakes on a... thing:


(art by Peter Raedschelders)

Sometimes the confusing effect is all-too-easily achieved:





You can use money bills, or magazines:




(image credit: Meg Picard )

See more of this interesting effect here

Illusions in Advertising:





Not an optical illusion, but a good test of your "attention to detail":

How many "F"s are in this sentence?

FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE-
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIF-
IC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE
EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS

Scroll down for answer... in the meantime, see if you can spot anything wrong with this image:


(image credit: planetperplex)

ANSWER:
There are six F's in the sentence. There is no catch. Many people forget the F in "OF", and that word appears three times in the sentence. The human brain tends to see them as V's and not F's! If you spotted four, five, or even all six, well you beat the average!

Life imitates illusion

Do you remember M. C. Escher's "impossible staircases"?



well, somebody found the similar structure somewhere in Russia:



READ PREVIOUS PART HERE

Also Read Part 1

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Category: Funny pics,Weird
Related Posts:
Optical Illusions Extravaganza, Amazing Paper Sculptures

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Saturday, December 22, 2007

Popular Mac Plugin Saft updated for Safari 3.0.4



 
 

Sent to you by J. Todd via Google Reader:

 
 

via Download Squad by Simon Kerbel on 12/21/07

Filed under: , , , ,

When you go to set up a new computer, there's always your list of "essential" applications; i.e., applications you simply cannot function without. For some the first install is Firefox and its most-loved extensions. Maybe it's Outlook and your mail account. Hopefully there's an Antivirus application thrown in there somewhere.

When it comes to a Mac, there's one essential plugin that rules them all.

That plugin is Saft, for Safari.

Saft adds an incredible amount of customizable options to Safari: draggable tabs, full-screen browsing, auto-hiding the downloads window, plain copy, tab thumbnails, and so on. It even has ad and image blocking built in (though we've found that Safari 3 AdBlock works better at that function, at least for now).

Saft even covers the little things. For example, if you wanted a new tab in Firefox, you just double-click the tab bar, and voila, a new tab. With Safari, you have to use a keyboard shortcut to get a new tab. (For some people, that is an improvement; but some are clickers, and some are clackers). With Saft installed, no problem. You might call Saft the "Firefoxer" of Safari.

Saft has just been updated for Safari version 3.0.4. It seems that Apple's last security update for Mac OS X Leopard broke Saft temporarily. Thankfully, that issue has been speedily resolved in Saft 10.0.4.

Simply put, Safari without Saft is like Derek Zoolander without Blue Steel. We'll let you figure out the implications of that.

You can download Saft as a trial or register for a reasonable fee of $12.
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The United States of Hypocrisy



 
 

Sent to you by J. Todd via Google Reader:

 
 

via Shirt.Woot Derby by BDV on 12/21/07

The United States of Hypocrisy, by BDV
submitted on December 21, 2007

 
 

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Sort your images by color, size, or name with ImageSorter



 
 

Sent to you by J. Todd via Google Reader:

 
 

via Download Squad by Brad Linder on 12/21/07

Filed under: , ,


Ever wish you could easily view your entire photo gallery at a glance? Yeah, neither did we. It turns out that if you've got a few thousand images sitting in a folder, the only way to see them all at once is by using extraordinarily tiny thumbnails.

But if that's the sort of thing you're inclined to do, ImageSorter provides a way to shrink your entire photo collection to something that will fit on one screen. Fortunately, that's not all that ImageSorter does. The application also lets you sort your images by name, size, or date last modified. Probably the most impressive feature is the ability to sort your images by color and then visualize all of your photos on a plane or in a sphere.

You can zoom in as tight as you like to see your images up close and personal. And you can double click on an image to bring up a separate image viewer. We can't say that ImageSorter is anywhere near Picasa's league when it comes to image management software. But it's a neat toy that can provide literally seconds, maybe even minutes of distraction.

[via gHacks]
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Vote Republocrat...as if it matters.



 
 

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via Shirt.Woot Derby by CreationsFromChaos on 12/21/07

Vote Republocrat...as if it matters., by CreationsFromChaos
submitted on December 21, 2007

 
 

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

Arguing 101: Learn the Rules


 

via Dumb Little Man - Tips for Life by Jay White on 12/19/07

Do you have an aversion to conflict? Would you rather avoid those delicate topics rather than meet them head on?

Here's a list of guidelines for levelheaded and fair-minded discussion that will help you break down those seemingly impenetrable walls you've both erected and bring you closer together. While no one can remember all of these, let alone implement them in a heated argument, surely a couple will strike a chord with you.

  1. Once you start, finish. Make a commitment to one another to stay until the issue is resolved or both parties respectfully agree to take a break because of a deadlock. Schedule a firm time to resume the discussion.

  2. No screaming. If you're thinking that some people don't hear you until you jump up and down and shriek, you're right, but not in the case of communicating one-to-one. You already have an audience. Keep it respectable and civilized.

  3. Don't touch (or otherwise be physical). You each need your own space to listen, be heard, and work things out in your own minds. Even an arm around the shoulder can feel domineering at times.

  4. Any subject is fair game. Open your heart and mind and be willing to delve into those dark places. Nothing is too delicate if it's important to either of you.

  5. No name calling. Referring to your discussion partner a cold, cruel, manipulative *%!^# won't score you any points for originality, nor will it provide the safe forum for further learning and growth. Nothing ends a discussion faster than the deafening silence that comes after you've offended someone.

  6. Don't intentionally put the person down. Deliberately saying things to hurt another's feelings is downright malicious and oppressive. You don't have to be cruel to be kind. Self-restraint is the better part of valor, as well as gentleness and understanding.

  7. Don't Lecture. Nobody wants to be told 'You should ..." People yearn to be engaged as equals in conversation, not preached to.

  8. Keep it simple. Discuss one subject at a time. You may understand how one situation or event relates to another, but the other person might not. Don't confuse things by trying to explain these relationships or expecting them to see things as you do, and don't make this a complaint session. Nothing will be resolved if you do.

  9. Let the other person have a chance to speak. This isn't the time to dazzle your friend or partner with rhetoric and the filibuster skills you learned in the debate club. Give him or her a chance to communicate with you.

  10. Listen. I cannot say it any better than Brenda Ueland: "Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. When we really listen to people there is an alternating current, and this recharges us so that we never get tired of each other. We are constantly being re-created."

  11. Describe what you're feeling. Don't assume that the other person knows. Own your feelings and share them.

  12. Allow the other person to have his/her own feelings . Try to recognize them by being alert, aware, and compassionate.

  13. Don't tell the other party what they're feeling. It doesn't do any good to exhibit your aptitude for mind-reading. Avoid enlightening your discussion-mate with your perceived version of what they're thinking and believing.

  14. Talk only about the here and now. Bringing ancient events into the discussion doesn't help. Use history for reference only – as a time line – instead of rehashing those events that cannot be changed.

  15. Leave 'others' out of the dialogue. 'They' have a way of complicating things. Keep your communications on a one-to-one level. This keeps you focused on what matters to each of you and you'll achieve that intimacy you're seeking.

  16. Don't be a 'yes man.' This isn't the time to suck up by acting the role of the team player. Agreement must be genuine, not compromised for the sake of false harmony.

  17. Don't be a naysayer. It too easy to simply oppose ideas or to just say "no.' It's much more difficult, and productive, to do the heavy lifting of understanding the other's position and finding common ground in your opposing views.
Differences of opinion can arise in any relationship, especially truly healthy ones. Furthermore, misunderstandings have a way of perpetuating themselves. But when misinterpretations and disagreements are worked through, relationships will grow closer, more expressive, and deeply meaningful. This only happens, however, when respect, compassion, and forgiveness are the cornerstones of any give-and-take.

Written for Dumb Little Man by David B. Bohl, Husband, Father, Friend, Lifestyle Coach, Author, Entrepreneur, and creator of Slow Down FAST. For more info go to Slow Down Fast and visit his blog at Slow Down Fast blog .


 
 

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Mother Ocean to juice our Xboxes, TVs, etc.


 

via CrunchGear by Peter Ha on 12/19/07

mavericksswanner2.jpg
That's Mavericks, a world class big wave spot in Half Moon Bay.

Oil prices are getting out of hand. Wind and solar power are somewhat unpredictable and apparently they 'cost too much'. A few weeks back I saw Southland Tales and the movie was about the end of the world and all this other crazy stuff. What was intriguing about the film other than Sarah Michelle Geller being a porn star was the fact that alternative energy was being pumped from the ocean. It's not rocket science (or maybe something close to it), but I'd imagine building a huge turbine of some sort would produce massive amounts of free energy, right?

Well, Finavera Renewables has this thing called the Aquabuoy that's a buoy connected to an underwater piston. Can you figure out how it works? No? Ok, fine. As swells roll through, the buoy goes with the flow and goes up and down. This in turn gets the piston running, which pressurizes a chamber that's inhabited by seawater. Said pressure gets the turbine running, which if you haven't figured it out by now produces electricity. That's cool but so what?

Well, Finavera just scored a deal with PG&E in Nor*Cal. The power purchase is for a wave farm that will produce 2 megawatts of juice and said wave farm will be built 2.5 miles off the coast of Humboldt County. It won't actually be up and running until 2012, but it will offset 245 tons of carbon dioxide each year and if all goes well, Finavera hopes to build the wave farm into a 100 megawatt producing rig.

gr2007090100526.gif

But all is not well with this glorious idea. It's more expensive to run than coal and natural gas, but it's cheaper than offshore wind turbines and solar. A recent test run off the coast of Oregon was a bust when the buoy sank when it took on water. My alma mater has been working on this for quite some time and the O.H. Hinsdale Wave Research Lab is a world class facility where they study tsunamis and anything else going on in the ocean. Someone told me the head of the center surfs in the wave pool after hours, which is rad. Anyway, things are looking up for renewables, but we're a long ways away from seeing anything actually happen on this front.

Wave power to go commercial in California [ news.com]

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