2 April 2012
I can hardly believe it: the Claymore headed back to Polynesia and I got left behind here on Pitcairn for 10 days. How cool is that? 10 whole days on the home of the Bounty buccaneers.
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TALKS
Ramesh Raskar: Imaging at a trillion frames per second
In 1964 MIT professor Harold Edgerton, pioneer of stop-action photography, famously took a photo of a bullet piercing an apple using exposures as short as a few nanoseconds. Inspired by his work, Ramesh Raskar and his team set out to create a camera that could capture not just a bullet (traveling at 850 meters per second) but light itself (nearly 300 million meters per second).
Stop a moment to take that in: photographing light as it moves. For that, they built a camera and software that can visualize pictures as if they are recorded at 1 trillion frames per second. The same photon-imaging technology can also be used to create a camera that can peer “around” corners , by exploiting specific properties of the photons when they bounce off surfaces and objects.
Among the other projects that Raskar is leading, with the MIT Media Lab’s Camera Culture research group, are low-cost eye care devices, a next generation CAT-Scan machine and human-computer interaction systems.
Papers:
Andreas Velten, Thomas Willwacher, Otkrist Gupta, Ashok Veeraraghavan, Moungi G. Bawendi and Ramesh Raskar, “Recovering Three Dimensional Shape around a Corner using Ultra-Fast Time-of-Flight Imaging.” Nature Communications, March 2012
Andreas Velten, Adrian Jarabo, Belen Masia, Di Wu, Christopher Barsi, Everett Lawson, Chinmaya Joshi, Diego Gutierrez, Moungi G. Bawendi and Ramesh Raskar, “Ultra-fast Imaging for Light in Motion” (in progress). http://femtocamera.info
“Though photographs in the near future will still be composed by people holding cameras, it will gradually become more accurate to say pictures were computed rather than ‘taken’ or ‘captured.’”
Popular Photography magazine
Due to the cool rainy weather in London, beach volleyball players will likey swap out their bikinis for long sleeves and leggings. In an unrelated developement, NBC announced it’s reducing scheduled beach volleyball coverage from 26 hours to 43 seconds.
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| — | Brad Dickson |
Gaza Christians protest ‘forcible conversions’. By the Associated Press
Christians in predominantly Muslim Gaza stage demonstration claiming two 25-year-old community members were forcibly converted to Islam
Dozens of Christians in predominantly Muslim Gaza have staged a rare protest, claiming two members of their community were forcibly converted to Islam and are being held against their will.
Gaza police say the two are staying with a Muslim religious official at their request, because they fear retribution from their families for converting.
Christians are a minority of about 1,500 people in Gaza, a territory with 1.7 million Muslim residents. Since the Islamic militant Hamas seized power five years ago, Christians have felt increasingly embattled but have largely kept silent.
Monday’s protest was a rare exception. Gaza’s Archbishop Alexious said the converts – a 25-year-old man and a woman with three children – should be returned to their families.
Forcible conversions have been unheard of in Gaza before.
The Man With The Iron Fists is an over-the-top kung fu flick starring Lucy Liu. What more needs to be said?
Fine — here’s the plot, as if it matters: In feudal China, a blacksmith who makes weapons for a small village is put in the position where he must defend himself and his fellow villagers.
Produced by Quentin Tarantino, RZA’s directorial debut also stars Russell Crowe. Out October 26.
(Not Safe For Work — red band.)
![Software developer and Ray Bradbury fan Tim Bray has proposed a new HTTP status code inspired by Fahrenheit 451 that would reflect Internet censorship.
Bray’s recommendation is that when access to a website is denied for legal reasons, the user is given the status code 451:
We can never do away entirely with legal restrictions on freedom of speech. On the other hand, I feel that when such restrictions are imposed, they should be done so transparently; for example, most civilized people find Britain’s system of superinjunctions loathsome and terrifying.
While we may agree on the existence of certain restrictions, we should be nervous whenever we do it; thus the reference to the dystopian vision of Fahrenheit 451 may be helpful. Also, since the Internet exists in several of the many futures imagined by Bradbury, it would be nice for a tip of the hat in his direction from the net, in the year of his death.
The proposal will be considered in July by the Internet Engineering Task Force, the body that makes such decisions.
[guardian]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6521pJjF61qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
Software developer and Ray Bradbury fan Tim Bray has proposed a new HTTP status code inspired by Fahrenheit 451 that would reflect Internet censorship.
Bray’s recommendation is that when access to a website is denied for legal reasons, the user is given the status code 451:
We can never do away entirely with legal restrictions on freedom of speech. On the other hand, I feel that when such restrictions are imposed, they should be done so transparently; for example, most civilized people find Britain’s system of superinjunctions loathsome and terrifying.
While we may agree on the existence of certain restrictions, we should be nervous whenever we do it; thus the reference to the dystopian vision of Fahrenheit 451 may be helpful. Also, since the Internet exists in several of the many futures imagined by Bradbury, it would be nice for a tip of the hat in his direction from the net, in the year of his death.
The proposal will be considered in July by the Internet Engineering Task Force, the body that makes such decisions.
[guardian]
Colombian downhill mountain biker Marcelo Gutierrez is back, this time taking us on a Red Bull Downhill time trial that descends some 2,000 meters and includes more than 1,000 stone steps.
[gizmodo]
Job titles on LinkedIn
- Digital Overlord
- Creator of Happiness
- Retail Jedi
- Wizard of Light Bulb Moments
- Dream Alchemist
- Chief Chatter
- Change Magician
- Accounting Ninja
- Chief Biscuit Dunker
- Direct Mail Demi-God
Creation in the South Pacific
Originally posted in 2006.
Source: http://yacht-maiken.blogspot.com/2006/08/stone-sea-and-volcano.html
Verification: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/new-pacific-island.shtml
A yacht was traveling in the south Pacific when the crew came across a weird sight. Look at these photos and try to imagine the thrill of experiencing this phenomenon.
A beach?
No: this is not a beach.
It is volcanic stones floating on the water.
But where is the volcano?
Unbelievable site, so take pictures to prove it is true else no one would believe it.
The wake of my ship
Stay on the edge of the water then this was spotted: ash and steam rising from the ocean.
And, while we were watching…
…a plume of black ash…huge cloud, covering red even this far away.
Then the sky turns black with ash and the ocean gold with suns reflection.
Out of the ocean mountain peaks arise.
More eruptions ash and clouds.
The mountain peaks rise higher within minutes.
A brand new island formed.
Creation of mountains.
Can you imagine the thrill of being the first and only people to see a new island being created where there was nothing before?
TALKS
Billy Collins: Everyday moments, caught in time
Combining dry wit with artistic depth, Billy Collins shares a project in which several of his poems were turned into delightful animated films in a collaboration with Sundance Channel. Five of them are included in this wonderfully entertaining and moving talk — and don’t miss the hilarious final poem!
A two-term U.S. Poet Laureate, Billy Collins captures readers with his understated wit, profound insight — and a sense of being “hospitable.” Full bio »
In his latest trials promo, stunt cyclist Andrew Dickey makes the streets of Melbourne his life partner.
[wtc.]
Suspension tent-hammock holds up to 8 people
And apparently, there’s a stand you can use in case you’re camping somewhere without trees of adequate girth…
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(via Boing Boing)
