June 28, 2010
Dazzle camouflage, also known as Razzle Dazzle or Dazzle painting, was a camouflage paint scheme used on ships, extensively during World War I and to a lesser extent in World War II. Credited to artist Norman Wilkinson, it consisted of a complex pattern of geometric shapes in contrasting colours, interrupting and intersecting each other.
Dazzle did not conceal the ship but made it difficult for the enemy to estimate its type, size, speed and heading. The idea was to disrupt the visual rangefinders used for naval artillery. Its purpose was confusion rather than concealment. An observer would find it difficult to know exactly whether the stern or the bow is in view; and it would be equally difficult to estimate whether the observed vessel is moving towards or away from the observer’s position.
Posted in Art, Technology, War |
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June 28, 2010
EyeWriter is a low-cost eyetracking system originally designed for paralyzed graffiti artist TEMPT1. The EyeWriter system uses inexpensive cameras and open-source computer vision software to track the wearer’s eye movements of their eye. EyeWriter was developed by artists and engineers from the Free Art & Technology Lab, Graffiti Research Lab and OpenFrameworks teams, including Zachary Lieberman, Evan Roth, James Powderly, Theo Watson and Chris Sugrue. The project received almost $18,000 as a kickstarter project, which surpassed its $15,000 goal. It also received funding support from The Ebeling Group and from Parsons School of Design.
The EyeWriter software consist of eye-tracking software, and a drawing software that allows a user to draw with the movement of their eye. The source code is open source with a Artistic/GPL License (a free use licence). The software for both parts has been developed using openframeworks, a cross platform c++ library for creative development. Eyewriter 2.0 led to the development of Livewriter to be used in the 2010 Cinekid festival: in addition to Eyewriter’s original parameters, a robot arm was integrated allowing the physical recording of visually created content.
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June 28, 2010
Instant runoff voting (IRV), also known as the Alternative Vote (AV), is a form of preferential voting (ranked choice voting). Under the IRV voting system voters rank candidates in order of preference, most commonly in single-winner elections. If no candidate is the first preference of a majority of voters, the candidate with the fewest number of first preference rankings is eliminated and that candidate’s ballots are redistributed at full value to the remaining candidates according to the next preference on each ballot. This process is repeated until one candidate obtains a majority of votes among the remaining candidates.
Posted in Politics |
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June 28, 2010
This is a list of films set in the future. It includes films with settings beyond the year in which they were released, even if that setting is now in the past. It also includes films which are set only partially in the future, in which case the only years of setting listed are those which are in the future.
Posted in Art |
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June 28, 2010
Wolf ticket (or woof ticket) is a slang term meaning a verbal threat, criticism, or insult used to intimidate an opponent. The term originates from ‘woofing,’ meaning aimless talk, an onomatopoeic reference to the sound of dogs barking. The term is usually used as a part of the phrase ‘to sell wolf tickets,’ meaning to bluff or threaten someone in a boastful way, or ‘to buy wolf tickets,’ meaning to call the bluff or accept the implied challenge.
Professor Emeritus Herbert L. Foster noted in the first edition of his book ‘Ribbin’, Jivin’, and Playin’ the Dozens: The Unrecognized Dilemma of Inner City Schools’ that his students, in New York City Public School 613, about 1964, started using the expression ‘woof’ or ‘wolf’ ticket interchangeably. Since he was teaching graphic arts, his students, at first, printed wolf tickets. As Foster became more astute about his students’ street culture, he created the woof ticket that was used on the street and discussed further in his book.
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June 28, 2010
Slash fiction, or slashfic, is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on the depiction of romantic or sexual relationships between fictional characters. While the term was originally restricted to stories in which male media characters were involved in an explicit adult relationship as a primary plot element, it is now often used to refer to any fan story containing a pairing between same-sex characters, although many fans distinguish the female-focused variety as a separate genre commonly referred to as ‘femslash.’
Posted in Language, Love, Sex |
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June 28, 2010
A kettlebell or girya is a cast iron weight looking somewhat like a cannonball with a handle. Sizes that range from 5 lbs to 175 lbs, but the traditional Russian kettlebell is usually one which weighs 1 Pood (roughly 35lbs). Unlike traditional dumbbells, the kettlebell’s center of mass is extended beyond the hand; this allows for swing movements not possible with traditional dumbbells. Because more muscle groups are utilized in the swinging and movement of a kettlebell than during the lifting of dumbbells a kettlebell workout is sometimes claimed to be more effective.
Posted in Health |
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June 28, 2010
A Kugel ball is a sculpture consisting of a large granite ball supported by a very thin film of water. Water flows beneath a very heavy, perfectly spherical rock from a spherical concave base with the exact same curvature. A Kugel ball can weigh thousands of pounds, but because the thin film of water lubricates it, the ball spins. The term Kugel ball originates from the German word kugel, which can mean ball, sphere or globe.
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June 28, 2010
Cymatics [sy-mat-iks] is the study of visible sound and vibration. Typically the surface of a plate, diaphragm, or membrane is vibrated, and patterns are made visible in a thin coating of particles, paste, or liquid. The apparatus employed can be simple, such as a Chladni Plate or advanced such as the CymaScope, a laboratory instrument that makes visible the inherent geometries within sound and music.
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