Filed under: Science
…and look what I get myself into:
Filed under: art
So we’ve been touring art galleries everywhere we’ve been and here are some pieces I thought you’d enjoy hearing about:
In the Hamburger Museum in Berlin, let me repeat that the Hamburger Museum, there was this:
stairs made out of speakers, that’s the installation. enough said.
There was also this:
that’s right, a cabinet of multicolored pills with a mirror backing so you’re staring at yourself across a wall of pills. again, enough said.
Next, was my favorite paintings. I thought you’d love these. I spent hours contemplating them. In fact, that’s me in the picture.
more to come.
Filed under: art
The biggest production in Chile’s movie industry is now in theatres. And, its cast are all makeshift puppets: pipe-cleaners, grandma’s old buttons, socks, googily eyes, cardboard, the works. For instance, the roles of the technicians in the news-studio, where most of the characters work, were filled by industrious blowup bowling pins. Talk about animating everything in sight. It makes the Muppets look like plastic pre-fab.
The movie is a scathing criticism of the evils of collectionists, obscene luxury and fame´s toll on friendships, the breaking of free spirits through the selfish incarceration of pets, the cruelty of the overprotecting machista sock parent, the…
Ok, maybe it’s not quite scathing, nor a criticism but more a hilarious parody; full of puppets exposing the ironies of life and of big production movies. They’re so good at this that the main character doesn’t have facial features, not even an expressive mouth, and they are able to create layers of character (not fabric) in this furry Juanín better than any Dakota Fanning act any day. This movie has given Max and I serious doubts about our chosen career paths. They must have had so much fun making this movie! Trailer here.
Chile is this skinny little random country that can now boast of having contributed a creatively delicious movie that laughs at everything, including themselves. Reminding the world that NO ONE is ever too old for puppets. So why isn’t the puppet movie a genre?
By the way, when was the last time you made your friends handmade birthday cards? This was a question I was asking myself coming out of this movie.
Isn’t global warming the phrase of the decade? I mean what other phrase has mobilized/forced politicians, consumers, and companies to have a say on it? You can’t avoid it … I don’t mean global warming; I mean having a say on it. Anyway, while some consumers may feel like they’ve done their part in the fight against global warming by buying a cleaner car, others are focusing on what may arguably be the larger issue: maintaining biodiversity.
An ecosystem is a complicated network of dependencies. The more diverse the group of species within an ecosystem, i.e. the more biodiversity it has, the more robust it is against being toyed with. In the same sense, reducing biodiversity means increasing the fragility of the biosphere and increasing inability of life to sustain itself through tough times.
So, global warming or not, a great way to strengthen life’s presence here on earth is to make sure there are lots of different species. Unfortunately, species are dropping like flies due to things like habitat destruction and, yes, to some extent global warming. However, with all the focus on global warming, other issues that affect biodiversity may not be getting the attention they deserve.
Take the politics of seed diversity as a case in point. The market and economy, through seed-selling companies, have had a huge effect in last hundred years on crop biodiversity. There has been a trend in the market towards a more controlled seed biodiversity enforced by ownership laws. In the strange world in which we live, as a company you can own a genetic strain of a crop. Anyone who is caught producing from those genes without your permission is liable. A natural consequence is that companies, even though they certainly have seed vaults of their own, are homogenizing the seed market by pushing only a few varieties: you push the strain you sell. A homogeneous seed market is just waiting for a bug to devastate it and we are back to the threat of dwindling crop biodiversity.
It seems we are entering an age of drastic measures when it comes to biodiversity: Global Crop Diversity Trust is building a seed vault under a mountain near the north pole as a safe guard to our extinctionizing tendencies. Filled with millions of strains of different crops, the Trust, funded by various government organizations, is like a Noah’s Arc for crops. Popularly known as ‘the doomsday vault’, it does seem a little drastic, perhaps overly so, but who are we kidding – this is important, not only for life on the planet, but more directly, for putting food on the table of our children. So, when driving your clean cars, be careful not to drive over your neighbors exotic garden, the future of our food may depend on it.
Filed under: physics
Check out my favorite encounter with the cornstarch monster, brought to you by the fun science guys at the Center for Nonlinear Dynamics at the University of Texas at Austin.
They don’t give much background so here’s a short primer:
When we think of liquid, we think of fluidity. In science, that’s called vicosity, or how much resistence that liquid puts up against a force, or stress on it. The viscosity of most liquids doesn’t change when we apply a stress on them (like sticking our fingers in). In other words, the relation between the stress that we apply and the strain (or deformation) that the liquid does, is proportional. We push a bit; it gives a bit. We push alot; it gives alot. We call these Newtonian liquids. (Man, that guy is everywhere.)
Okay, but what if it’s not Newtonian? That means that the viscosity changes as we apply a stress to the liquid…so you can get more resistance the more force you apply.
So…Could you turn a liquid into a solid simply by trying to stick your finger in it? …well, sort of.
A thick mixture of cornstarch and water is a non-Newtonian liquid, and it can do some pretty crazy things. Once again, the best part is the end:
Click here to learn how make your own cornstarch monster from a coffee can and old computer speakers. Add colouring, and presto! You’re fading the boundaries between art and science! A person of the new millenia you are!
Filed under: art
Sketchbook Pro was my birthday present to myself…. this is my first digital portrait.
Filed under: biology
So Carmen and I decided to watch TV while eating dinner, a phenomena that happens just about once every 5 years. We came across this show from Blue Planet on the deep sea and, honestly, I have never been more stuck to the tube. I didn’t even finish my plate! Andrea came in and all we could do was mumble some sort vague explanation without taking our eyes off the screen.
The show displayed some of the most amazing evolutionary adaptations I have ever seen. The senses and ways of moving that some of these creatures have is mind boggling. The footage is phenomenal. I don’t know how they got it so clear.
in 5 parts (10 minutes each). If the links are dead, go to youtube and search blue planet deep sea.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Er4dpUfrM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00YJIyoZ56U
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edgC1ZZuA_w
This is an oldie but a goodie. Gershenfeld, half visionary, half techno-zealot, puts the do back in dork. Computers will no longer just be for information, but will be used to change the physical world (aka digital fabrication). Two points:
1) Digital fabrication is perfectly suited for personal product production. That is, you biuld what you want.
2) Digital fabrication is a great way to solve local problems, locally.
Yet another TED gem
Filed under: Misc.
Max and I are planning a trip to southern Chile. We have an atlas, our camping gear, a 1960s german army jeep without a motor or papers, some family living in Temuco to visit, … all we need to buy is our lava suits!
Filed under: biology
Okay so what’s the difference between plants and animals anyway? Well, plants do photosynthesis (which we definitely don’t), and animals move around and eat stuff. Fair enough, but plants eat stuff too! Perhaps not designed for this level of carnage, the venus fly trap can handle alot more than pesky flies:
