From far away Czech artist Jakub Geltner's works appear as flocks of birds, seagulls and pigeons gathered on clusters of rocks or resting just beneath a busy overpass. When one looks closer however they realize the groupings are not perched birds, but rather surveillance cameras and satellite dishes the artist has installed as a part of his series “Nest.”
Geltner’s most recent installation is titled ‘Nest 05,’ which was presented at the 2015 Sculpture by the Sea in Aarhus, Denmark. The installation, which covers a stretch of mossy rocks, explores the notion of surveillance in even our most peaceful places—the areas we seek when we want to escape.
The Prague-based artist has been installing these works since 2011, bringing together groups of technological equipment commonly used to observe, and turning them into the focal point for the viewer. Within the last four years his works have been placed at a former elementary school, church facade, waterfront, and the skeleton structure of a former KV KSC (Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia).
Geltner lives and works in Prague and graduated from two universities also in the city, Czech Technical University in 2004 and the Academy of Fine Arts in 2013. (via iGNANT)
Quando foi lançado lá em 2008 o Microsoft Worldwide Telescope fez Robert Scobble chorar. Com razão. É uma ferramenta agregadora de informações astronômicas, com dados de dezenas de missões, sondas, observatórios, satélites, tudo.
Você pode explorar o Universo, com imagens reais, em diversas faixas do espectro, acompanhar eventos históricos… é literalmente um universo a explorar.
Agora ficou melhor ainda. Seguindo com a determinação de nosso indiano favorito em transformar a Microsoft em uma Empresa Legal™, o Microsoft Worldwide Telescope foi transformado num projeto Open Source. Quem quer programa em .NET e tem interesse em fuçar como algo com esse grau de complexidade é programado, não poderia haver melhor notícia.
In the early afternoon on the 4th of July, as most Americans were on the verge of slipping into a food-induced nap, the New Horizons space probe went into a nap of its own. According to scientists, the probe’s onboard computer “detected an anomaly,” and it went into safe mode, resorting to using its backup computer to report back to its concerned earthling watchers.
NASA says it could take up to “one to several days” to get New Horizons back to full capability. Until then, its scientific data gathering abilities are scuttled. The probe is still on track to perform its flyby of Pluto, but if the folks back here on Earth can’t figure out how to pull it out of safe mode, then it won’t be able to gather any data as it speeds past the celestial body into the darkness of the beyond. Combine that pressure with the up to nine hour communication latency with the 3 billion mile-away probe, and you’ve got an engineering problem for the books. Best of luck, NASA.
Submitted here for your approval are our suggestions for just what the anomaly might be:
Aliens.
Interlopers.
Extraterrestrials.
Martian stowaways.
… you get the idea.
We’ll be waiting for your call, NASA. What are your thoughts, crew?
Fig 1) How to draw involute of circle. Fig 2&3) Move and rotate
the
observing point. Fig 4&5) The curves are tangent. Fig 6)
Involute gears turn smoothly.
The Fallout series has a rich history filled with events and figures that all play a big role in the narratives in each of its games. In order to prepare for Fallout 4's impending release in a little more than a week, we decided to put together a history of the Fallout universe to help briefly immerse you into its expansive post-apocalyptic world. But be weary, plot spoilers for the series will be discussed. Proceed at your own discretion.
To prep for Fallout 4, you can find out all you need to know about the game's S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats in their entire video series on it here.
A World Not Unlike Ours
The early historical timeline in Fallout’s world is not very different from our own. Rather, it’s nearly identical to ours up until 1945 where different historical events, such as the U.S. splitting into 13 commonwealths, start to create a history where technology, politics, and culture follow a completely different course. Regardless, what follows is a series of conflicts known as the Resource Wars, and eventually the Great War, the cataclysmic event that created the world of Fallout as we know it.
The Resource Wars
The Resource Wars were a series of conflicts that served as a prelude to the Great War. It first began in 2052 as the result of Middle Eastern nations raising the price of oil. The demand created by this increase greatly affected the United States, Europe, China, and even Canada, causing an energy crisis that resulted in military conflicts driven by the hunger for natural resources. The war came to its climax in January 2077 when the U.S. drove China out from Alaska, which had invaded the state out of desperation to secure its oil supply. With little natural resources left for nations to survive, nuclear war was all but inevitable.
The Great War
The Great War began and ended on October 23, 2077 when every nuclear-capable country in the world launched nuclear weapons at each other. In the Fallout universe, no one knows exactly who fired the first missile. Regardless, the resulting destruction reshaped the Earth’s climate and killed off the majority of its population. Those who remained were accounted for as the last remnants of a world that once was.
The Survivors
Those who survived the initial attack took shelter in a variety of locations. The fortunate ones gathered into vaults, which are underground shelters that were the result of an early U.S. initiative to create shelters that could withstand nuclear war or an epidemic. Others who weren’t so lucky found themselves having to endure the harsh radioactive desert summer left in the wake of the Great War. In the 200 years that followed the Great War, those left alive would go on to make up the different groups and factions that inhabit Fallout's world. Notable mentions include: Vault dwellers, the Brotherhood of Steel, and the Enclave.
Vault dwellers
Vault dwellers are humans who spent their lives in the safety of underground shelters that were made just before the Great War. The group is made up of the minority of people who actually heeded the call of the air sirens that signaled the oncoming wave of nuclear weapons attacking the United States. Vault dwellers are typically characterized by their blue-and-yellow jumpsuits. While not a faction, they are an important group that make up a part of the population in Fallout’s post-apocalyptic world.
The Brotherhood of Steel
The Brotherhood of Steel is a group dedicated to the preservation of pre-war knowledge and technology. They pursue their goals with religious fervor and believe themselves to be the sole heirs to pre-war technology. On the East Coast, they take on a different form and protect the Wasteland against the Super Mutants, an opposing faction who threaten the safety of its inhabitants.
The Enclave
The Enclave is a secretive, political, scientific, and militaristic organization that is comprised of descendants from the pre-War U.S. federal government. The Enclave’s main goal is to wipe out all mutated and irradiated beings in the Wasteland, thus restoring the country back to its former self. Because of this, the Enclave is often the Fallout series' main antagonists.
Super Mutants
Super Mutants are former humans who are the products of infection by the Forced Evolutionary Virus; an experimental mutagenic virus that gifts them with superhuman strength and biological immortality. While most are hostile to humans and vary in cognitive ability, there do exist some super mutants who are peaceful with humans.
Fallout
The events of the first Fallout game take place in Southern California and begin in 2161, 84 years after the Great War. It follows an inhabitant from Vault 13, who is tasked by the Vault's overseer to find a replacement water chip, a computer chip that pumps its machinery and is responsible for the vault’s water recycling. But upon finding a new chip, the Vault Dweller encounters a growing threat by an army of super mutants secretly led by a grotesque man known as the Master. To secure the safety of Vault 13, the Vault Dweller defeats the Master, but is ultimately exiled from the shelter for its greater good in order to preserve the isolation of its people.
Fallout 2
After the events of first Fallout, the Vault Dweller went on to start his/her own tribe of survivors. Fallout 2 takes place many years later in the year 2241 and follows the adventures of a direct descendant of the Vault Dweller. Referred to as "the Chosen One," the descendant is tasked with finding a Garden of Eden Creation Kit (G.E.C.K), a device located in Vault 13 that is capable of revitalizing land.
Fallout 2 (cont.) - The Enclave Attack
After finding the G.E.C.K in a now-abandoned Vault 13, the Chosen One returns home to find his/her tribe kidnapped by the Enclave, who seek to gather test subjects to expose to the FEV (Forced Evolutionary Virus). By doing this, the Enclave hope to create an airborne version of FEV that only infects mutated humans so that the Wasteland can be purified of all "impurity." The Chosen One eventually thwarts this plan and saves his/her tribe as well as the missing inhabitants of Vault 13, who were also kidnapped. The two groups then band together and create a prosperous new community using the G.E.C.K.
Fallout 3
Fallout 3 takes place in the year 2277 in a region covering Washington D.C, Northern Virginia, and Maryland. It focuses on an inhabitant of Vault 101 who is forced to flee the vault when its overseer issues their arrest in response to the sudden disappearance of his/her father, James. After a successful escape, the Vault dweller, who is referred to as the Lone Wanderer, searches and eventually finds James in Vault 112. It is then discovered that he fled Vault 101 to seek out information on a G.E.C.K he could use to activate Project Purity, a plan he originally conceived many years ago to purify all the water in the Tidal Basin and the entire Potomac River.
Fallout 3 (cont.) - Continuing James' work
James and the Lone Wanderer lead a team of scientists to the Jefferson Memorial to restart Project Purity. But the plan fails when the Enclave invade the memorial, which results in James dying. Forced to flee, the Lone Wanderer escapes to the home base of the Brotherhood of Steel and makes it a point to continue James’ work by acquiring a G.E.C.K. But upon doing so, he/she is captured by the Enclave. It is then revealed that the Enclave invaded the memorial because they want to use Project Purity to infect the pure water it creates with a strain of FEV that only kills mutated life. The Lone Wanderer is then given a sample of the new FEV and can either choose to self-destruct the Enclave’s base or leave peacefully.
Fallout 3 (cont.) - Activating Project Purity
With the G.E.C.K and the knowledge that the Lone Wanderer possesses, he/she has the means to activate Project Purity. But the control room where the activation code must be entered is flooded with lethal amounts of radiation. The Lone Wanderer must then choose to either enter to code his/herself or send Sara Lyons of the Brotherhood of Steel. Regardless, whoever inputs the code succeeds in activating Project Purity but inevitably dies from a radiation spike.
Fallout: New Vegas
Fallout: New Vegas takes place during the year 2281 and is set in the Mojave Wasteland, an area comprised of parts of Nevada, California, Utah, and Arizona. It focuses on a courier for the Mojave Express, known simply as “the Courier.” While delivering a package containing a simple poker chip, the Courier is ambushed by a mobster named Benny, who steals the chip and leaves him/her for dead. But the Courier survives the attack thanks to the aid of a man named Doc Mitchell, and then embarks on a journey to track Benny down and recover the stolen package.
Fallout: New Vegas (Cont.) - Catching Benny and Finding the Chip
The Courier finds Benny and discovers that the poker chip is a data storage device with a program that can increase the offensive capabilities of the Securitron robots that roam around the city of New Vegas, a reconstructed Wasteland version of Las Vegas. Benny was planning to use this program as a means of taking over the city.
Fallout: New Vegas (Cont.) - Taking Sides
Despite finding Benny, the Courier’s journey gets him/her caught up in a larger conflict involving three different factions in the region: Caesar’s Legion, a totalitarian slaver society; the New California Republic, an expansionist militia; and Mr. House, a pre-Great War human living in a capsule who is the de-facto leader of New Vegas. Each are fighting over control of the Hoover Dam, which is still operational and supplying the Southwest region with power and un-irradiated water. Depending on which faction the Courier chooses to side with, the Courier will either help conqueror the dam, defend it, connect its systems to a network so it can be controlled, or destroy the dam for good to bring an end to the war over it.
The Story of Fallout 4 As We Know It So Far
From what has been revealed, Fallout 4 will mainly be set in Boston, Massachusetts and parts of New England. The game will focus on a character who takes shelter in Vault 111 with their family just as the Great War is beginning only to mysteriously awaken 200 years later unaged as the vault's sole survivor. From what we know, the game takes places during the same time as Fallout 3, and based on information from the Replicated Man side-quest in that game, a community called the Commonwealth is located in that area as well.
What's Coming?
There are certainly a lot of new story angles that Fallout 4 could take. After all, Fallout has always been a series that has used the lore of its previous games to flesh out its narrative. But what we've seen only brings up more questions. Based further on what we know about the Replicated Man side-quest in Fallout 3, there exists a mysterious organization in the Commonwealth called the Institute, which possesses advanced technology, such as the ability to produce androids.
So will we be seeing people apart of this organization or maybe even androids in Fallout 4? Also, despite the pre-Great War gameplay footage being of its protagonist running to the Vault, will the game feature more segments from that time period? The list of questions goes on and on. Regardless, we can't wait to see what happens when the game finally releases November 10.
We feel that showing kids you can aspire to any career, regardless of gender, is important. That’s why we’re always excited when we see LEGO sets depicting female minifigs in a variety of careers, especially STEM. Take a look at some items currently available in the LEGO store while perusing some of the new Ideas projects worthy of your votes!
Scientific American has alerted us to a few new LEGO sets you might be interested in.
A few items in their space port tag include these minifigs:
While these are all AMAZING, Weinstock also notes that with the exception of a branded Doc McStuffins‘ Duplo set, “there are no women of color among the new STEM professionals.”
Ok, now onto the voting portion. You know folks can submit ideas to become real LEGO sets? Well there are some fantastic examples right now. For instance, the “Scientists in History” set created by Mibitat.
They write:
“Currently proposed are 8 scientist vignettes, of which 3 or 4 (voted for by you) could be included in the set:
Charles Darwin is observing a monkey in a tree as he ponders his theory of evolution, struggling for acceptance from the people.
Alan Turing, pioneering computer scientist,is in his lab working on a code-breaking computer.
Mary Anning is down in Dorset trying to extract some fossils.
Marie Curie is in her lab with her equipment as she experiments with radioactivity
Thomas Edison is in his workshop with his incandescent lamp and gramophone
Nikola Tesla is in his lab as he observes his Tesla coil behind the safety of a Faraday cage.
Rosalind Franklin is using x-ray crystallography to observe the structure of DNA.
Lise Meitner is experimenting with atoms in her lab as she comes up with her theory of nuclear fission.”
Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) is widely credited as the first computer scientist and Charles Babbage (1791-1871) is best remembered for originating the concept of a programmable computer. Together they collaborated on Babbage’s early mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. Whilst never fully built in their lifetime, Lovelace’s notes on the engine include what is recognised as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine. Because of this, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
And, “Help Ada Junior with her maths homework in the miniature classroom, but just make sure the creepy bat doesn’t steal her beloved teddy bear.”
“I’m a female research geologist with a love of legos- this is a sample of my career. The scene here shows research geologists discovering minerals in a limestone rock formation and the characterization of the minerals in the laboratory.
The entire project has 213 pieces total.
Field geology: A female and male geologist with a dog (there’s always the obligatory geology dog) exploring a crystal cave system complete with stratigraphic layers. Accessory pieces include: compass/brunton, rock hammer, shovel, and a geology dog.
Petrographic laboratory: Petrographic laboratory: Mineral analysis performed with a light
microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM) complete with
an electron backscatter detector to distinguish phases and an energy dispersive
X-ray spectrometer (EDS) to determine elemental composition using
microanalysis software.”
When Ryan Palser is not working at Boss Key Productions as a senior animator, he’s usually busy building robots and replicas in his studio. Since fallout 4 will be released later this year, I thought you guys would appreciate seeing Ryan’s amazing plasma gun replica.
Here is the final product of months of work. I am beyond happy with the way it all came together in the end. I have to give major props to my painter wife Dena for really helping me take this gun to the next level with the amazing weathering job.
It's amazing how much we all use a website we hate, isn't it? 'Cuz let's face it: a lot of us hate - HATE - Facebook.
And yet, how else can we keep up with all our family, friends, and favorite blogs/artists/interests?
I'm still dependent on FB because I blog for a living, and even with FB censoring Page reach down to a small fraction of my followers, there's STILL no better way to reach people. Because love it or hate it, everyone is on Facebook.
Sadly I have no solutions for my fellow Page managers, since FB is determined to run us all out of business. Here's a snapshot of what I mean:
(This is for Cake Wrecks, which has 424,000 FB followers. As you can see, Facebook is charging four THOUSAND dollars for a single post to reach about 35% of those followers. Wha whaaaa?)
However, for the rest of you, I DO have one or two tricks up my sleeve.
See, as a reader, I've finally figured out how to use Facebook to see what I want to see, in the order I want to see it. I have two lists, which I'll show you how to set up and use. The first shows me only the friends' and family updates I'm most interested in - which is less than 50 people - in chronological order.
The second list acts as a quasi-RSS feed, and is my new favorite thing. It shows me, in chronological order, all my favorite websites, artists, cosplayers, humor sites, etc. etc. It's all the good stuff on FB, with none of the bad.
Ever get Facebook fatigue? You know, where you're tired of all the ranting and vague-booking and political sniping? That's the bad stuff I'm talking about. By setting up this new feed list, though, I can surf all the happy stuff in one place. And it's awesome.
So here's how to do it:
To Make Your Friends List:
Scroll down the left side of your FB feed until you see "Friends." When you hover your mouse there, a "More" will appear beside it:
Click that.
This will open a new page:
(For the record, I have no idea how Epbot or my old high school got in here [twice], and FB won't let me remove them! THANKS FACEBOOK.)
Now click "Create List," name it something snazzy like "My Fav Peeps" or "The Gang," and add in all the friends & fam you like. I recommend keeping this list small, since that's the whole point of making a curated list. Besides, how well do you know your 8th grade boyfriend now, anyway?
Once your new list is made, it will appear under the Friends heading in your left sidebar. Find it, hover your cursor over the little gear beside it, and select "Add To Favorites:"
("Favourites?" Is FB British now?)
This will put your new list higher up on the sidebar, under your name with your other Favorites:
That's your friend list done. Fun, right? Now let's do the Pages one.
To Make Your Pages List:
This one is trickier, since FB doesn't want you to see your favorite Pages without the Pages themselves paying for the privilege. In fact, you may notice there's already a Pages feed on your sidebar:
Trouble is, that default Pages Feed is just as censored and out-of-order as your regular "top stories" news feed, so you'll end up missing the vast majority of what you want to see. (Plus there's no "Most Recent" option, so you can't rearrange it to chronological order.)
Eventually I found a solution, though. It's under "Interests" in your left sidebar. Click the word itself (even though it doesn't *look* click-able) and you'll get this:
Now click "Add Interests":
And then "Create List."
This will bring up a pop-up window filled with all the Pages you already follow:
(Do I follow more Pages than Friends? Yes, yes I do.)
Scroll through and click all the ones you want on the List, give it a name, and you're done!
[You can also use this method to make a Friends list; just click down on the left from the highlighted "Pages" to "Friends", and you'll get a window full of all your current FB friends.]
Your new Pages list will appear under Interests in the left sidebar:
As with your Friends list, hover over the gear icon & select "Add to Favorites."
Now your two new lists are conveniently located at the top of your left sidebar, under your name:
So with one click you can get right to the most important updates, or, if you're having one of those "done with humanity" days, just skip the personal updates all together and go to your Favorite Pages feed.
If you have more time to kill, of course, you can always view your news feed the way FB serves it.
Ah, but what if you only check FB on your phone? Well, good news: these lists work there, too! In the FB app, just select the "More" icon in the lower righthand corner of the screen, and it will bring up your Favorites. Easy-peasy!
Need new Pages to follow? Start with all your favorite blogs (HI!) and websites, then add your favorite Etsy sellers, artists, cosplayers, and even stores like ThinkGeek. It won't take long 'til your FB feed is just as happy and fun as mine, promise.
Oh, and speaking for the rest of my beleaguered Page managers out there, please - PLEASE - remember to like, comment, and/or share those FB posts you want to see more of. This is our livelihood, and that interaction can still help more of you see what we post.
I hope this helps you guys get a little more out of Facebook!
Now, go purge those Friends lists. You know it's time. ;)
Photographer Matt Emmett doesn't pay attention to signs that say "do not enter." While traveling around Europe, the urban explorer looks for the eerie beauty found in the derelict and forgotten. Emmett has photographed everything from abandoned hotels to power stations; before entering a new location, he always reads up about the history first. He offers a detailed description of each picture he takes on his Flickr.
"I enjoy being in such magnificent places alone or in a small group," Emmett told mental_floss. "The atmosphere that hangs over a derelict power station or steel plant, for me, puts them on a level with the Angkor Wat's or Machu Pichu's of this world."
A rooftop view of an abandoned asylum in Northern Italy. A lot of the medical equipment and machines can still be found inside.
A ruined chapel at a private residence in Italy.
The inside of a cooling tower in Belgium.
A crane in an old factory.
A radome in Belgium.
Inside the radome.
The overgrown window of a UK manor house.
A decaying library in a manor house in England.
Faded fresco paintings cling to the walls of the entrance hall at a large abandoned Villa complex.
This strange structure was created by an artist to house himself and his sheep. It's located on private land in the Cotswolds, England.
Rusting radar dishes along the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coast in England.
The banister of an abandoned Italian villa. It was converted into a psychiatric hospital in the 1800s.
Light shining through the Oculus Tower in Italy. The factory was used to process sugarbeets in sugars and oils.
Wooden cabinets that were used to hold patient information at a psychiatric hospital in Northern Italy.
An old television sits by the window in Bull Manor in England.
A ruined colonnade encased in foliage. This photo is one of the photographer's favorites.
A home abandoned after a fire during World War II.
A statue of Neptune stands guard over a secret underwater dome in the UK.
A Victorian reservoir located under the streets of London, England. "The echo in here had fantastic delay to it, my whoop coming back to me around four seconds after it left my mouth," Emmett said.
A surgery room at an abandoned psychiatric hospital. "The hospital was famous in the 1930s for being one of the pioneering sites for the research and early practice of frontal lobe lobotomy," Emmett writes.
A long hallway of a military hospital used to take care of U.S. soldiers during the Gulf War. "Places like this remind me that [nature] always prevails and nothing we create can ever stand up to her and the passage of time," Emmett said.
Another view of the Oculus Tower in Italy.
A tunnel in underground London.
Photographer and son in the Box Quarry in the UK.
A jet engine test area at Pyestock NGTE, a Royal Aircraft Establishment facility in Fleek, UK, that has since been demolished.
We feel that showing kids you can aspire to any career, regardless of gender, is important. That’s why we’re always excited when we see LEGO sets depicting female minifigs in a variety of careers, especially STEM. Take a look at some items currently available in the LEGO store while perusing some of the new Ideas projects worthy of your votes!
And finally, a real geologist has created a set showcasing her work! Circe Verba, research geologicst at the National Energy Technology Laboratory writes:
