Table Tennis Spectacular
I’m not a great ping pong player myself, but I love to watch the expertise of someone that really knows how to play the game, like in this video:
[Table Tennis -Spectacular!! – Youtube]
That’s What She Said
I once had a teacher who complained outside of class about a couple of my friends’ behaviour in class. He said that basically, what they do is, carefully sift through everything that’s said in class and try to make a joke about it. He said the real problem was that they’re actually REALLY funny. How do you discipline someone for joking around when you can barely keep a straight face?
I can only imagine the scene that culminated in this detention slip:
I like how the teacher had to try and bring the tone down by adding, “these inappropriate comments are made to often” after realizing that the detention slip reads as a workable joke.
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The Thatcher Effect
The Thatcher effect is the phenomenon in which it becomes difficult to detect local feature changes in an upside down face, despite identical changes being obvious in an upright face.
Here it is, in video format:
See another example of the same.
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Thirty Meter Telescope
Last night I went to hear Dr. Luc Simard speak about the new Thirty Meter Telescope that is in development. This telescope will have a 30-metre diameter primary mirror and will provide nine times the collecting area of today’s largest optical telescopes. It will enable scientists to observe objects nine-times fainter than existing 10 metre telescopes in an equal amount of time.
The Thirty Meter Telescope will give astronomers the clearest and deepest picture of the Universe ever. This telescope will push the frontier of technology, fully integrating the latest innovations in precision control, segmented mirror design, and adaptive optics to correct for the blurring effects of Earth’s atmosphere. When combined with the unprecedented light-collecting area of the primary mirror, TMT will be the most capable and sophisticated telescope ever constructed.
Relative to the Hubble Space Telescope, TMT will have 156 times the collecting area and more than a factor of 10 better spatial resolution at near-infrared and longer wavelengths.
The University of Lethbridge is contributing to the project, and my friend, Richard Querel, does some pretty interesting research as part of the team headed by Dr. David Naylor. They have developed a very powerful laser device which calculates atmospheric conditions and can be used to calibrate the telescope to compensate for things like humidity and smog.
See a video fly through of the proposed TMT facility which will be built in either Chile or Hawaii and should be operational by 2018.
What If God Disappeared?
What would life look like if there were no god?
[What if God Disappeared – YouTube]
Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss
Update: The video is down.
In honour of Theodore Geisel, or Dr. Seuss, who would have been 105 today, I’ve posted part one of the environmental fable, The Lorax.
The Lorax, published in 1971, is a short story that speaks out against the destruction of the environment through the Lorax, a sage figure who speaks for the trees, only to watch his habitat destroyed by a series of unsustainable businesses. After the plants are killed and the animals leave the barren wasteland behind, the polluting Once-ler realizes the terrible mistake he’s made and urges a young boy to plant the last-ever Truffula seed to restore the beauty of the land.
Hit play or watch The Lorax on YouTube. See also, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, and part 6. Alternatively, here’s all the videos in The Lorax playlist.
Negative Space in Taiwan’s Recycling Logo
The following logos are the Universal Recycling Symbol and Taiwan’s recycling symbol.
The familiar Universal Recycling Symbol contains three chasing arrows that form a Mobius strip or one sided loop, which is kind of cool, but notice the brilliant use of negative space in Taiwan’s recycling symbol that generates a great “aha” moment when you realize it’s there.
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Previously: negative space in Fed Ex logo.
Hot Cheddar
My friend Jarett Sitter and his sister created this clever stop motion pixilation for a Doritos ad contest.
If you like it, vote him up here by clicking the thumbs up.
New Born
Last night at about 2:50am, my friends Andy and Shannon delivered their new baby boy, Finn! He is a tall baby, about 52cm, weighing in at a nice 3.475kg (7.6 lbs). We’re all very excited for them.
[Finn Davies – Flickr]
Welcome to the world, Finn.