Saturday, October 27, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
Ad for Teddy Bears Captures the True Horror of Childhood
Ad for Teddy Bears Captures the True Horror of Childhood: 
Teddy bears aren't what they used to be. Seth MacFarlane's Ted made sure of that—the disgusting, foul-mouthed bum. Now, in this spec ad for German teddy-bear company Steiff, we get the opposite: a teddy-bear superhero who's ready to do battle with the fearsome night monsters who stalk your children in their dreams. The minute-long spot from director Denis Parchow shows a boy in dreamland fleeing a horrifying gorilla-type creature with an eyeless face that's little more than a giant set of thick fangs. After a false escape—waking up won't help if you haven't actually woken up—the boy is finally rescued by his Steiff teddy bear. At first wielding a simple pillow, the bear gives the monster a serious beatdown, sending him flying with one whack, and then sprinting across the bed, leaping into the air and delivering a flying leg kick that would make the WWE proud. In a world of sickly-sweet spots for stuffed animals, this one gets right inside the terror of childhood—not just reminding parents that toys offer kids emotional security, but giving a palpable sense of what it is the kids need security from (i.e., an unspoken and unshakeable dread). So, in the end, teddy bears are what they used to be—your child's only protection when there's no one else in the room who can save him.
Teddy bears aren't what they used to be. Seth MacFarlane's Ted made sure of that—the disgusting, foul-mouthed bum. Now, in this spec ad for German teddy-bear company Steiff, we get the opposite: a teddy-bear superhero who's ready to do battle with the fearsome night monsters who stalk your children in their dreams. The minute-long spot from director Denis Parchow shows a boy in dreamland fleeing a horrifying gorilla-type creature with an eyeless face that's little more than a giant set of thick fangs. After a false escape—waking up won't help if you haven't actually woken up—the boy is finally rescued by his Steiff teddy bear. At first wielding a simple pillow, the bear gives the monster a serious beatdown, sending him flying with one whack, and then sprinting across the bed, leaping into the air and delivering a flying leg kick that would make the WWE proud. In a world of sickly-sweet spots for stuffed animals, this one gets right inside the terror of childhood—not just reminding parents that toys offer kids emotional security, but giving a palpable sense of what it is the kids need security from (i.e., an unspoken and unshakeable dread). So, in the end, teddy bears are what they used to be—your child's only protection when there's no one else in the room who can save him.
 |  |
Electrical stimulation of brain area causes strange visual illusions
Electrical stimulation of brain area causes strange visual illusions:
A new study shows that electrical stimulation of a small patch of the brain causes illusions that only affect the perception of faces.
More
A new study shows that electrical stimulation of a small patch of the brain causes illusions that only affect the perception of faces.
More
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine [Video]
Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine [Video]:
This is probably the most incredibly stupid and awesome machine that was ever invented.
No related posts.
This is probably the most incredibly stupid and awesome machine that was ever invented.
The “Perpetual Energy Wasting Machine” is a rope and pulley mechanism which moves an elevator continuously between the 1st and 2nd floor of a building. The system is powered by the sliding doors of the elevator.[royrobotiks]
No related posts.
Magician Rich Ferguson Scares People With His Head Drop Trick
Magician Rich Ferguson Scares People With His Head Drop Trick:
"Magician Rich Ferguson doing a Halloween head drop trick on the streets of his home town San L..(Read...)
"Magician Rich Ferguson doing a Halloween head drop trick on the streets of his home town San L..(Read...)
Edison's Tin Foil - the lost recording now found, and the conservation needed to get it there.
Edison's Tin Foil - the lost recording now found, and the conservation needed to get it there.:
How does an art conservator, conserve sound? Sound is made of waves that penetrate the air, that move and bounce, not something that one holds in their hands or sits on your work bench. Sound is motion that creates vibrations in our ears, not an innate object that one observes, cleans, or consolidates: all of the typical activities that an art conservator performs.
This was the dilemma that was confronted by Art Conservator, Gwen Spicer, earlier this year, when Chris Hunter, Curator and Director of Collections at miSci, (formally the Schenectady Museum) brought the earliest known full sheet of Thomas Edison's tin-foil to the conservation lab.
Typically when treating an artifact, a conservator can visually observe the changes that are occurring as the treatment progresses, and how these changes are effecting the end product. All types of tools are used in order to enhance this ability, the use of specific light, magnifiers and microscopes. But when the end product is the auditory aspect of the artifact, these modern tools are ineffective.
Edison's phonograph serves as the marker for modern sound recording. It is the beginning of the technology to preserve sound. Ironically, Gwen Spicer with every tool and technological advance known to conservators, must use the most rudimentary of tools to painstakingly flatten the tinfoil by hand.
It is not what the foil actually looks like that will determine if the sound can be retrieved. The technology that is used to retrieve the sound will not rely on the surface being absolutely perfect, which is of benefit since the "found" condition of the tin-foil, and the way it was stored, make it impossible to completely flatten. The tin foil itself is like an archive, with its importance lying in the information that it holds, as opposed to the actual "beauty" of the sheet its self.
When treating this tin-foil, there was a two part aspect to the project. There was the flattening of the sheet and removing or lessening the folds and creases, which allowed the new technology to better be able to read the surface of the sheet. The second part was the creation of the sound that was in the bumps and dips of the surface that creates the sound. As a conservator, you must consider, how much do you touch or hold the sheet so as not to disturb its ability to create the sound? But of course, that answer is unknown. In fact, during the treatment there was no real method to know how the treatment was effecting the final outcome.
A next set of experts at California's Berkeley Lab,who would enable the world to finally know what was hidden in this sheet of tin-foil, would ultimately determine if the treatment was effective. It would only be evident, once they began their attempts to "uncover" the sound.
Tonight, at the GE Theater at Proctor's in Schenectady at 6:30pm, the world will hear the full contents of this Edison tin-foil. Right now, we know it is a bit longer than one minute, there is some music and a male voice reading "Mary Had a Little Lamb", but the rest is unknown until later this evening.
How does an art conservator, conserve sound? Sound is made of waves that penetrate the air, that move and bounce, not something that one holds in their hands or sits on your work bench. Sound is motion that creates vibrations in our ears, not an innate object that one observes, cleans, or consolidates: all of the typical activities that an art conservator performs.
This was the dilemma that was confronted by Art Conservator, Gwen Spicer, earlier this year, when Chris Hunter, Curator and Director of Collections at miSci, (formally the Schenectady Museum) brought the earliest known full sheet of Thomas Edison's tin-foil to the conservation lab.
 |
| The Edison tinfoil before conservation. |
Typically when treating an artifact, a conservator can visually observe the changes that are occurring as the treatment progresses, and how these changes are effecting the end product. All types of tools are used in order to enhance this ability, the use of specific light, magnifiers and microscopes. But when the end product is the auditory aspect of the artifact, these modern tools are ineffective.
Edison's phonograph serves as the marker for modern sound recording. It is the beginning of the technology to preserve sound. Ironically, Gwen Spicer with every tool and technological advance known to conservators, must use the most rudimentary of tools to painstakingly flatten the tinfoil by hand.
It is not what the foil actually looks like that will determine if the sound can be retrieved. The technology that is used to retrieve the sound will not rely on the surface being absolutely perfect, which is of benefit since the "found" condition of the tin-foil, and the way it was stored, make it impossible to completely flatten. The tin foil itself is like an archive, with its importance lying in the information that it holds, as opposed to the actual "beauty" of the sheet its self.
When treating this tin-foil, there was a two part aspect to the project. There was the flattening of the sheet and removing or lessening the folds and creases, which allowed the new technology to better be able to read the surface of the sheet. The second part was the creation of the sound that was in the bumps and dips of the surface that creates the sound. As a conservator, you must consider, how much do you touch or hold the sheet so as not to disturb its ability to create the sound? But of course, that answer is unknown. In fact, during the treatment there was no real method to know how the treatment was effecting the final outcome.
A next set of experts at California's Berkeley Lab,who would enable the world to finally know what was hidden in this sheet of tin-foil, would ultimately determine if the treatment was effective. It would only be evident, once they began their attempts to "uncover" the sound.
Tonight, at the GE Theater at Proctor's in Schenectady at 6:30pm, the world will hear the full contents of this Edison tin-foil. Right now, we know it is a bit longer than one minute, there is some music and a male voice reading "Mary Had a Little Lamb", but the rest is unknown until later this evening.
Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks clock
Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks clock:
The Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks clock is created from 20x20 cm canvas by iamnahald...(Read...)
The Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks clock is created from 20x20 cm canvas by iamnahald...(Read...)
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Tom Hanks Performed a Full House Slam Poem So, Yes, There Probably Is a God
Tom Hanks Performed a Full House Slam Poem So, Yes, There Probably Is a God:
OMG, Tom Hanks. Could you be anymore likable? Not only do you have a reputation for being the nicest guy in Hollywood, but now you're going on Jimmy Fallon and doing Full House slam poetry? Safe to say you got it, dude. Snaaaaaaaps. More »
Welcome Your New Primate Overlords: Chimp Tech Is on the Rise
Welcome Your New Primate Overlords: Chimp Tech Is on the Rise:
While the human tech world rages and swoons over the new iPad, our primate cousins are at the height of what Discovery News is calling the Great Chimp Tech Boom. Poking at ants with a stick hardly seems like a newly integrated, top-of-the-line technological feat. But for chimpanzees, this recent development in “cultural variation,” or behavior specific to a community rather than a species as a whole, is more important than you’d expect. According to renowned British anthropologist Jane Goodall, technology among chimpanzees is improving and being adopted more rapidly than previously expected.
Just a couple of chimpanzees fishing for ants with tools they built. No big deal. Image: Robert O’MalleyChimpanzees are more closely related to humans than any other living species — so closely, in fact, that in 2003 a team of biologists suggested moving chimps to the human branch of the family tree. It’s unsurprising, then, that chimpanzees also exhibit the highest rate of cultural variation of any non-human species. A team of evolutionary anthropologists and other animal behavior researchers, including Goodall, have identified at least 39 community-specific behaviors within different groups of chimps, which range from methods of swatting flies (some groups use leaves, while others employ the ‘index squash,’ or one-fingered smash-it-till-it’s-dead method) to variations on simple tools, like using stones to crack open nuts versus smashing them against the ground with a heavy piece of wood, for example.
Ant fishing (that’s the “poking at ants with a stick” thing) is an amazing example of cultural variation for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it requires a tool (that’s the stick), which is used to retrieve super-tasty ants and termites from their nests with ease. And even the stick has seen improvements; in 2009 a group of chimps were observed fraying the ends of their sticks to allow more surface area for catching ants and termites. But there’s another, more important reason ant fishing is a big deal: it’s the first novel adaptation outside of captivity that we’ve witnessed moving from one group into another. (The study’s authors call this “intercommunity cultural transmission.”) According to a new report in the latest issue of Current Anthropology, ant fishing is really catching on, and it’s all thanks to a sharp-witted chimp named Trezia.
Trezia is a wild chimpanzee who lives in Gombe Stream National Park, home to Jane Goodall (the report’s co-author) and her beloved Kasekela chimpanzee community. When Trezia was transferred to the Kasekela group from the separate Mitumba community, her wit and ease made her a favorite among her new family. But the Kaseleka chimps didn’t fish for ants. So Trezia taught them how. In 1982, ant fishing was declared a customary behavior within Trezia’s Mitumba home group. It appeared in 1994 in the Kaseleka group (after Trezia’s relocation), and as of 2010 is considered customary there as well.
Of course, chimps aren’t the only primates to surprise observers with their technological prowess. Young gorillas have recently been spotted dismantling snare traps left by poachers, a development that’s both incredible and something of a relief. An ingenious Japanese macaque named Imo figured out that washing the grit off of sweet potatoes made them better to eat, and in so doing taught an entire population of macaques to wash their food. And in a group of capuchin monkeys in Brazil, not only is cracking palm nuts with stones the preferred method of midday snack procurement, the monkeys are choosing the optimal stones for the job by testing the rocks for sturdiness and weight before wasting any time using them as hammers. What’s next? Our money is on agriculture and figure-flattering winter wear.
No related posts.
While the human tech world rages and swoons over the new iPad, our primate cousins are at the height of what Discovery News is calling the Great Chimp Tech Boom. Poking at ants with a stick hardly seems like a newly integrated, top-of-the-line technological feat. But for chimpanzees, this recent development in “cultural variation,” or behavior specific to a community rather than a species as a whole, is more important than you’d expect. According to renowned British anthropologist Jane Goodall, technology among chimpanzees is improving and being adopted more rapidly than previously expected.
Just a couple of chimpanzees fishing for ants with tools they built. No big deal. Image: Robert O’Malley
Ant fishing (that’s the “poking at ants with a stick” thing) is an amazing example of cultural variation for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it requires a tool (that’s the stick), which is used to retrieve super-tasty ants and termites from their nests with ease. And even the stick has seen improvements; in 2009 a group of chimps were observed fraying the ends of their sticks to allow more surface area for catching ants and termites. But there’s another, more important reason ant fishing is a big deal: it’s the first novel adaptation outside of captivity that we’ve witnessed moving from one group into another. (The study’s authors call this “intercommunity cultural transmission.”) According to a new report in the latest issue of Current Anthropology, ant fishing is really catching on, and it’s all thanks to a sharp-witted chimp named Trezia.
Trezia is a wild chimpanzee who lives in Gombe Stream National Park, home to Jane Goodall (the report’s co-author) and her beloved Kasekela chimpanzee community. When Trezia was transferred to the Kasekela group from the separate Mitumba community, her wit and ease made her a favorite among her new family. But the Kaseleka chimps didn’t fish for ants. So Trezia taught them how. In 1982, ant fishing was declared a customary behavior within Trezia’s Mitumba home group. It appeared in 1994 in the Kaseleka group (after Trezia’s relocation), and as of 2010 is considered customary there as well.
Of course, chimps aren’t the only primates to surprise observers with their technological prowess. Young gorillas have recently been spotted dismantling snare traps left by poachers, a development that’s both incredible and something of a relief. An ingenious Japanese macaque named Imo figured out that washing the grit off of sweet potatoes made them better to eat, and in so doing taught an entire population of macaques to wash their food. And in a group of capuchin monkeys in Brazil, not only is cracking palm nuts with stones the preferred method of midday snack procurement, the monkeys are choosing the optimal stones for the job by testing the rocks for sturdiness and weight before wasting any time using them as hammers. What’s next? Our money is on agriculture and figure-flattering winter wear.
No related posts.
The Wide-Awakes
The Wide-Awakes:
A large eye emblazoned on their standard attested to their watchfulness over the nation. The group had mottoes like "free soil and free men". Reports say that these large parades had many oil light torches, but now there are only a few left in existance.
The Columbia County Historical Society is lucky to have one of these. It is now in their exhibition, Civil War Panorama: Columbia County 1860-1865, open till December 2012.
The torch banner was quite soiled, but was quite complete for being such an awkwardly shaped artifact. It was constructed of a wooden box frame that was covered with printed cotton fabric stretched on two sides, the front and back. The sides had been covered with fabric as well, but are now mostly lost. The top had been kept open. The box is attached to a tall pole. Forge iron brackets helped to support the two together.
While positioning the tracing next to the two sizes of "F", the fragment is closest to the "F" of "FREE MEN!" The width of this phrase matches the width of the missing side. The mystery had been solved. But figuring out what the missing sides said would not alter the final exhibit of the piece. The missing sides were covered with a fill fabric (above left image) to blend with the front and back. For more info on the Wide-Awakes, the Columbia County Historic Society please visit the links below.
Visit the museum's website: www.cchsny.org
Also read Luykas ground hog's impressions: http://luykasgroundhog.tumblr.com
www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/lincoln/contents/grinspan.html
by Gwen Spicer
In this political season, why not think about an earlier campaign? Imagine you are watching a nighttime parade, full of young men, wearing black oil cloth capes and hats, and carrying lanterns. It would be the year 1860, just before the election of Lincoln and Hamlin. You would be watching the Wide-Awake supporters, a group who wanted to ensure that slavery did not spread to the Western Territories, a sentiment felt by all Republicans of the day. The Wide-Awakes were a political group that began in Hartford, Connecticut and quickly spread over the north, spreading as far west as St. Louis, Missouri. |
| 1860 photograph of the founding Wide Awake club in Hartford, Connecticut, shows the paramilitary theme of the organization. |
 |
| The large Wide Awake parade in lower Manhattan was part of a series of demonstrations in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, and Boston during the first week of October 1860. |
A large eye emblazoned on their standard attested to their watchfulness over the nation. The group had mottoes like "free soil and free men". Reports say that these large parades had many oil light torches, but now there are only a few left in existance.
The Columbia County Historical Society is lucky to have one of these. It is now in their exhibition, Civil War Panorama: Columbia County 1860-1865, open till December 2012.
 |
| Smithsonian Institution |
The torch banner was quite soiled, but was quite complete for being such an awkwardly shaped artifact. It was constructed of a wooden box frame that was covered with printed cotton fabric stretched on two sides, the front and back. The sides had been covered with fabric as well, but are now mostly lost. The top had been kept open. The box is attached to a tall pole. Forge iron brackets helped to support the two together. |
| An example of a lamp |
CCHS's torch banner does not have the open eye symbol, but it is printed with Chatham, a mid-size town in the county as well as the phrases "Free soil and free men," with added "Free speech and free homes." In some ways, this torch banner is quite explicit with the issues of the group. Spattered lighter-colored spots were evident from the oil.
The curator and newly appointed Director, Diane Shewchuk, wanted the artifact preserved, yet, still able to maintain its transparency of light. Additionally, the cotton fabric needed extra support from its many years of being exposed, yet, often, backings or other supports are opaque.
 |
| The inside base of the torch, showing where the oil lamp was secured. |
 |
| Positioning and securing the replacement fabric on the sides. |
When the torch banner arrived at SAC's studio, it was cleaned throughly. The original cotton fabric layers were reinforced with a sheer fabric that was stretched onto wooden frames that were custom fit inside the wooden armature. The new fabric was to provide the original cotton with added support and lessen potential bowing.
Once the treatment was complete, we attempted to figure out what the missing sides of the transparency looked like. We had two clues. One was the remains of a letter that was still attached to the side. The other was a loose fragment. In the image below, a possible location was the "N" in the second line down "FREE MEN !" that was located on the reverse side. By tracing full letters, it was possible to speculate that the sides were also another version of the printed fabric that was on the back side. Since all of the cotton was printed, it shows that a number of these transparancies might have been produced.
While positioning the tracing next to the two sizes of "F", the fragment is closest to the "F" of "FREE MEN!" The width of this phrase matches the width of the missing side. The mystery had been solved. But figuring out what the missing sides said would not alter the final exhibit of the piece. The missing sides were covered with a fill fabric (above left image) to blend with the front and back. For more info on the Wide-Awakes, the Columbia County Historic Society please visit the links below. |
 |
| The Torch banner on display with a reproduction oil cloth cape. |
Also read Luykas ground hog's impressions: http://luykasgroundhog.tumblr.com
www.journalofamericanhistory.org/projects/lincoln/contents/grinspan.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)