John Farrier's Blog Posts
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The marching band of the University of Hawaii performed this carefully choreographed piece during halftime at a recent game against the University of Southern California. The band members formed a stick figure football player moving across the field and kicking a ball.
via Geekosystem
Donald, an electrical engineer in El Paso, Texas, made this mech inspired by Yoshi from Super Mario Bros. You can see more pictures at the link, as well as similar past projects at his website.
Link via DVICE | Artist's Website
Researchers at the University of Nottingham created a special birthday present for Martyn Poliakoff, a professor of chemistry. It's a periodic table of the elments inscribed on the surface of a hair from Poliakoff:
Professor Poliakoff said: “Although the application was lighthearted I felt that it enabled us to show people how such nano writing is done. Our microscopist, Dr Mike Fay, made the whole operation seem so simple and really demystified it in a most appealing way.”
Link and Video via Kotaku Previously: Periodic Table of Videos
It has been reported that a cow in China has grown a horn in the center of its forehead:
In the comments, describe the magical properties of the unicow.
Link via Geekologie | Photo: Metro.co.uk
Farmer Jia Kebing noticed a small bump on this cow's forehead when it was born two years ago but didn't expect it to grow into a 20cm (8in) horn.
'My farm is famous in this region for this cow and people come in here just to see it,' said Mr Jia from Baoding in nothern China's Hebei province.
In the comments, describe the magical properties of the unicow.
Link via Geekologie | Photo: Metro.co.uk
Photographer Shinchi Maruyama throws handfuls of water and takes high speed pictures of them to create the impression of fluid sculptures hanging in the air. From an interview with the artist:
It seems there’s a definitive moment of performance in your work, though this be said of all painting and sculpture. Are you more aware of the event or moment of your sculpture because the final result is a photograph?
I think I am more aware of the moment recently after many years of experimenting with liquids. But no matter how many times I repeat the same process of throwing it in the air, I never achieve the same result. And I am so fascinated by this unexpected interaction of liquids colliding, which happens fairly infrequently, that I am overwhelmed by its beauty.
Link via Kottke | Artist's Website | Video
Five years ago, Stephania Bell was an orthopedicist who played fantasy football as a hobby. She had an edge in that her professional medical knowledge let her make better estimates of how well players would recover from their injuries. Dr. Bell has since been able to leverage her medical forecasting abilities into a new career:
Videos at the link.
Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo: Guido Vitti/Wired
UPDATE 12/23/10: Various commenters point out that Stephania Bell is not a physician, but a physical therapist. Cursory Googling confirms this correction.
Now she does regular stand-ups on ESPN’s Fantasy Football Now and blogs for the network about the finer points of Reggie Bush’s fractured fibula. Sports fans ignore her diagnoses at their peril — reconfiguring your imaginary lineup based on her instincts can really pay off. Take last season, when Atlanta Falcons running back Michael Turner suffered a high ankle sprain but was back on the field in two weeks. “There was no way he was fully recovered,” she says and told viewers as much. “Running backs take a lot of stress through the ankles, and Turner’s a stout, powerful guy. I knew he was going to be in trouble, and he was.” Sure enough, Turner underperformed in his first game back, got hurt again, and was taken out. He should have spent less time listening to his trainer and more time watching cable TV.
Videos at the link.
Link via Marginal Revolution | Photo: Guido Vitti/Wired
UPDATE 12/23/10: Various commenters point out that Stephania Bell is not a physician, but a physical therapist. Cursory Googling confirms this correction.
Stargate is a science fiction franchise comprised of a movie and no less than three television shows totaling seventeen seasons of broadcast time. The 1994 movie by Roland Emmerich was a huge success and led to the creation of the first television series, Stargate SG-1, on Showtime starting in 1997. Clocking in at 214 episodes, Stargate SG-1 holds the record for the longest North American science fiction television show. Let's take a look at some things that you might not know about the series.
1. Roland Emmerich, who created and directed the 1994 movie Stargate wanted to turn the franchise into a series of movies. He actually loathes the subsequent television series.
2. Michael Shanks, who played Daniel Jackson, and Vaitiare Bandera, who played Daniel Jackson’s wife Sha're, were once romantically involved. They had a daughter together named Tatiana.
3. Colonel Jack O’Neil from the Stargate movie was played by Kurt Russell. Colonel Jack O’Neill from the television series was played by Richard Dean Anderson. Notice the difference? One name has one ‘l’ and the other has two. Anderson instituted the change because he didn’t want to be tied to the way that Kurt Russell played the character.
4. The show’s producers maintained a close working relationship with the US Air Force. Two Air Force Chiefs of Staff, Generals Michael Ryan and John Jumper (right) made cameos on the show. In 2004, Richard Dean Anderson received a special award by the Air Force rarely given to civilians in order to thank him and the other people behind Stargate SG-1 for their very positive portrayal of that organization. Anderson was declared an honorary Air Force brigadier general. 5. But that didn’t stop the Air Force from executing some script control. At one point, the writers had O’Neill joke about aliens at Area 51 in the episode “Touchstone”. The Air Force insisted that this wasn’t true and that it was unacceptable for Stargate SG-1 to even joke about it.
6. References to Anderson’s work on MacGyver occasionally creeped into the show, such as this ad-libbed line (which never made it into the show) by Amanda Tapping.
7. The late Don Davis, who played General Hammond, had a doctorate in theater. He was a stunt double for Dana Elcar on MacGyver. Dan Shea (left), who played Sergeant Siler, was a stunt double for Richard Dean Anderson on that same show.
8. The service ribbons that the Air Force characters wear on their uniforms were carefully chosen to correctly reflect the characters’ biographies. General Hammond, for example, wears the ribbon for the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with bronze palm because he was awarded with it after experiencing combat in Vietnam.
9. The production crew had two stargates -- one in the gateroom set and one that was portable. The second would be used to depict offworld locations and didn’t have a moving inner ring. These props were molded from the stargate prop that appeared in the original movie and contain parts salvaged from it.
10. Director Peter DeLuise usually appeared somewhere in any episode that he directed, just as Alfred Hitchcock always made cameos in his own films. DeLuise appeared variously as a guard, a Tok’ra, and a technician. In the episode “Urgo”, starring his father Dom DeLuise, he appeared as the younger version of his father’s character (above).
11. Director Martin Wood did the same thing. He was usually depicted as Sgt. Siler’s wrench-holding assistant (above). 12. The episode “Nemesis” opens with Daniel Jackson recovering from an emergency appendectomy and showing his scar. That was written in because Michael Shanks had just had an emergency appendectomy and that was his real scar.
13. The scene in “Window of Opportunity” in which O’Neill and Teal’c hit golf balls through the stargate was added to the episode because the filming ran three undertime.
14. Producers kept up with the opinions of fans of the show. The episode “Ascension” was directly inspired by ideas left in message board comments.
15. The swooshing effect of the Stargate opening was created with a jet engine and a pool of water.
Sources: Gibson, Thomasina. Stargate SG-1: The Illustrated Companion, Seasons 1 and 2. London: Titan Books, 2002. Print. Ritter, Kathleen. Stargate SG-1: The Ultimate Visual Guide. New York City: DK Publishing, 2006. Print. Storm, Jo. Approaching the Possible: The World of Stargate SG-1. Toronto: ECW Press, 2005. Print. Topping, Keith. Beyond the Gate: The Unofficial and Unauthorized Guide to Stargate SG-1. Prestatyn, UK: Telos Publishing, 2003. Print. Images: MGM, US Air Force, MilUniforms.com
Advances in photovoltaic technology have led to the development of thin, flexible solar cells. It's possible to build a tent out of them, and the US Army is considering acquiring and using such portable structures:
The TEMPER Fly is a roughly 16-by-20-foot tent structure able to generate 800 watts of electricity. A QUADrant is a smaller variant of the TEMPER Fly, able to generate 200 watts of power, and the Power Shades range in size and are capable of generating up to 3 kilowatts of exportable electrical power, Tucker said. The PV integrated military shelter items use a lamination process to combine the PV materials into the textile substrate, Tucker explained. The US Army News Service spoke with Steven Tucker, an engineer working on the project:
“Alternative energy sources are really going to shine in mission scenarios where you don’t want to use a generator because you don’t want the noise or heat signature that goes along with it, or where re-supplying that generator with fuel doesn’t make sense,” said Tucker.
Link via DVICE | Photo: US Army
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We've previously featured cartoonist Don Hertzfeldt's short films Genre and Ah! L'Amour. One of his latest tales, entitled Wisdom Teeth, is about a man who's had his wisdom teeth removed. A friend asks to pull out one of his stitches. It starts getting surreal at 3:55.
via Geekosystem | Hertzfeldt's Website
Designer Johnny Lighthands made a set of headphones inspired by the music video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller". They're fully functional and adjustable. Pressing on the cross-shaped headstone causes a hand to emerge from the grave. Pulling the zombies out of their graves allows the headphones to fit larger heads.
Link via Dude Craft | Artist's Website | Photo by the artist
The Dutch design firm Atelier Van Lieshout the Vostok Cabin -- a mobile, steel-plated shelter. The walls are recycled from ships and the cabin comes equipped with benches, a toilet, and a wood stove. It's more of an art project than a practical design. The designers write:
The material due to its previous life is crooked, damaged and irregular. There is no straight edge to be constructed from these disastrous supplies.
The Cabin looks like an improvised defense/attack apparatus made by a local blacksmith in order to have a better chance of survival in times of revolution and civil war.
Link via Gizmodo | Studio Website | Photos: Dezeen
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Lolita the parrot can sing the song "Bodies" by the metal band Drowning Pool. Here's a selection from the lyrics:
One - Nothing wrong with me
Two - Nothing wrong with me
Three - Nothing wrong with me
Four - Nothing wrong with me
One - Something's got to give
Two - Something's got to give
Three - Something's got to give
Now
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
Let the bodies hit the floor
via Urlesque
In a story that may be too good to be true, an intoxicated Serbian tourist in Egypt killed a shark on a beach by jumping on its head:
Link via Geekologie | Photo: Macedonian International News Agency
“Dragan climbed on the jumping board, told me to hold his beer and simply ran to jump. There was no time for me to react or to try to stop him, he just went for it” says Milovan. “Dragan jumped high and plunged down to the sea, but didn’t make as much splash as we thought he would”, explained Milovan.
The reason could be because Dragan Stevic ended up jumping straight on the shark which was lurking near the beach, probably looking for its next victim. Dragan had nailed it right in the head, killing it instantly. The Egyptian police found the shark washed out on the beach that morning (pictured above).
Link via Geekologie | Photo: Macedonian International News Agency
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