Archive for September, 2006|Monthly archive page
Gravity defying Sand Sculpture
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It ain’t quite a sandcastle, but this gravity defying sand-sculpture is quite interesting. While I’d probably seem awkward to say this, but somehow it reminded me of a crowded morning peak hour on the local subway, with the crowd up the escalator and waiting at the platform.
Anyway.
sandcastlematt has explanations and other sand sculptures on how it’s made.
Short Talk: Starbucks
A Starbucks Venti-sized Frappuccino is equivalent in calories to a McDonald’s coffee plus 11 of their creamers and 29 packets of sugar.
Report reveals that food in healthier-looking cafes may not be that angelic after all.
Slimming HP Cameras
Trust the company that says “invent” in its tagline to come up with this. In response to the screams of “OHMYGOD-ILOOKSOFAT!” by digital camera users, they’ve actually introduced a slimming function to some of thier cameras. Check it out here you self-denial folks!
Abstract Art
The four expressionist abstract art above were done by 4 different artists. Often, abstract art pieces are said to reveal the inner emotions of their creators, as the brush strokes and colours are subconsciously affected by the mind. The artists for the above four painting include: Jean Miotte, Jackson Pollock, Ian Ford (a pre-schooler) and Kamala, an elephant from Canada.
Guess who did which! [via 3dsource]
Answers: 1)Ian 2)Kamala 3)Jean 4)Jackson
USB AA Cell
Back when USB was first introduced, I didn’t quite expect this level of omnipresence. Well, here you go – USB-chargeable AA batteries. By USBCell.
Inner Life of the Cell
You could be forgiven if you thought that was a scene from the latest Final Fantasy release. An amazing video, “The Inner Life of the Cell“, was produced for Harvard University’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, that “takes undergrads beyond textbooks and vividly illustrates the mechanisms that allow a white blood cell to sense its surroundings and respond to an external stimulus”. In a dream-like, fantasy setting, this video really does make one marvel at beauty – not only of the beautifully-rendered video, but of the ingenuity of our very own biological system.
The press release.
Moth Proving Natural Selection – Fallacy?
I’m pretty sure few would know about Bernard Kettlewell. But if I mention the moths experiment, most may go “Aha!”, it being one of the major experiment results that demonstrates natural selection. The experiment: two types of moths, one light and one dark. Trees were initially light, and thus putting the dark moths in disadvantage because they’re more easily spotted by the predatory birds. As coal smoke from nearby industry slowly caused the trees to darken, the population of light moths decreased and dark moths increased. A pretty conclusive experiment!
Well, apparently that was a fraud, or at least an experiment that was not fairly and well executed (according to Neatorama, which also discusses 9 other popular scientific frauds):
- Kettlewell was responsible for nailing dead moths to the trees for the birds to feed on.
- Peppered moths rarely alight on tree trunks.
- Birds don’t normally feed on months that are on the side of trees.
There are also counter-claims, but for me, something that appears in my school Biology textbook should be very much free from such controversies aye?
A cool boat!
A cool looking, dishing the sharp “speedy” look for a more dolphin-like, futuristic profile. It boasts an exterior to lounge/breeze under the sun, and an interior (under the black hood).While I think that the interior could use more design (it reminded me too much of the Milanese inter-city shuttle trains), there is a nice porthole that allows you to observe the fishes under the sea. Reportedly from Abu Dhabi, UAE. Damn, those middle-easterners get the coolest toys!
More pictures here.
Why are bicyle shorts always black?
So, why are bicycle shorts always black?
Find out. Heh.
How to counter a protest?
Some posts back, I blogged about Singapore’s “guideline to protest”. In this post, we shall look at how the Singapore Police Force counter a protest led by Chee Soon Juan, a civil rights activist/opposition party leader. When I read on YawningBread that he was prevented from marching towards the IMF convention, I started wondering what exactly does he mean by “prevented”.
This is one of the most surreal pictures I’ve seen – whether in terms of its background context, or just the picture itself. So Dr. Chee & his supporters (total 4 of them – 5 would have been “illegal gathering) wanted to march to the international press, IMF delegates etc. And Singapore Government wouldn’t have that. How did they do it? By physivally forming a human ring around the protestors! How creative!
- Priceless Expression on Miss Chee: Check.
- Bored policewomen having to do surround-stand duty: Check.
- Officer looking stern and uncompromising supervising: Check.
- Symphathetic man holding up umbrella through the circle: Check.
- Police filming all these down for evidence: Check.
- Photographer to capture all these: Check.
Man, this sure is surreal.
More pictures here, and some personal accounts here and here.
