It’s coming up! February. Now is when I start making a list of things I’d like to make and thinking about getting any supplies I need. Whee!
And just today a coworker told me about a wonderful fabric website!
Coincidence? Or conspiracy!
Category Archives: Neat Stuff
Mt St Helens Recovery
NASA has a beautiful series of photos showing Mt St Helens before the 1980 eruption and annually since then. Go watch it – it only takes a few minutes.
Update: Oh, and happy new year!
I for One Welcome Our Cyborg Overlords
Pretty wonderful design project challenging the notion that a prosthetic should simply mimic natural function. I think this is a natural direction of design in the spirit of the Cheetah Flex-Foot, which is a highly specialized shock absorber. It’s an approach that says, “OK, let’s start with the function, and see where the form goes.”
This is a fairly specialized option, but it’s only one step before a base arm unit with a variety of attachments. I don’t know if I’m ready to give my left arm for it yet, but I’ll be interested to see where this kind of work goes.
Food Styling
So gorgeous illustrations for free cookbook, available in IKEA stores in Sweden. More
W+K Old Spice Campaign Just Got Better
I know, right!?!
Got a question for the Old Spice man? Want to comment on his amazing abs? Do it. Reach out on Twitter, facebook, or your personal blog. He will find it and respond. You can follow the action on Twitter or on the Old Spice brand channel.
They have made a ton of these already, and Mustafa continues to be utterly charming. The man is a complete professional. Which of course is why I am so interested. Because after 15 years in the advertising industry, I deeply appreciate this kind of dedication and excellent creative. Yep.
UPDATE: Making the Old Spice response videos. They have made over 150 so far (June 14)!
Oh and he sent real flowers in real life to Alyssa Milano! I love this campaign.
I am in love with it.
I want to marry it.
UPDATE, June 15: Throwing in the towel. Don’t get excited, though – towel not actually thrown.
Squirrels Lie Like Us
Reporting in the journal Animal Behaviour, the Steele team showed that when squirrels are certain that they are being watched, they will actively seek to deceive the would-be thieves. They’ll dig a hole, pretend to push an acorn in, and then cover it over, all the while keeping the prized seed hidden in their mouth. “Deceptive caching involves some pretty serious decision making,” Dr. Steele said. “It meets the criteria of tactical deception, which previously was thought to only occur in primates.”
And many other squirrel facts of interest in Nut? What Nut? The Squirrel Outwits to Survive.
New Scholarship on Big Bird
What, if anything, is Big Bird? at PechaKucha.
Pelicans Are Perfect!
Pelicans receive fish at the London Zoo
Pelicans have been perfect since the early Oligocene, according to a newly published analysis of a fossilized bill, and partial skull and neck. The study’s lead author, Antoine Louchart, doesn’t actually want to commit to that interpretation, but the 30-million-year old fossil he reports on is so similar to today’s pelican species that it would be classified in the Pelecanus genus.
Hurrah for Duct Tape!
…Richard Feynman argued that, in reality, the bouncing beads would not be capable of doing meaningful work. Feynman showed that, since the entire system operates at the same temperature, a pawl would occasionally slip off the wheel. As a result, the system would generate zero net movement.
Now, physicist Devaraj van der Meer from the University of Twente and his colleagues have demonstrated that such a machine can in fact spin the paddles forward only, generating a positive net movement … The key challenge was getting the vanes to move in the forward direction only, which the scientists achieved with – somewhat surprisingly – duct tape….
Is there anything duct tape can’t do? Besides break the second law of thermodynamics, I mean.
Newly created machine on Vimeo. Write-up at PhysOrg.com: Experiment finally proves 100-year-old thought experiment is possible .
48 Hour Magazine Available Now
I know some wonderfully creative people who really know how to get stuff done. Over the weekend, I volunteered some time to help them produce 48 Hour Magazine, and it’s already available at MagCloud. It was a crazy idea and a wonderful thing to be involved with – and I can’t wait til the next one!
Update: CBS has issued a cease-and-desist letter claiming infringement on “48 Hours.” Mat Honan is collecting information about the process and the coverage.
Update June 15: State of the case, with links to other recent coverage