Category Archives: Uncategorized

High-speed camera shooting FROM a train

High-speed camera shooting FROM a train: “

Graeme Taylor shot out the window of a train at 210 frames per second, reversing the usual trick of shooting and slowing down a high-speed object from a stationary spot; rather, he shot a stationary spot from a high-speed object. The effect is something like a mundane bullet-time, where the world has stopped so that no one can do much of anything. It’s mesmerizing.

As Jason Kottke writes, ‘Wonderful illustration of the concept of frames of reference.’


Both glides were filmed by sticking a – relatively cheap – digital camera out of the window of a train as it arrived at a station. The ‘trick’ is the camera collects images at a rate of 210 per second – but the film is played back at 30 frames per second. So, every seven seconds of footage that you watch corresponds to 1 real second. At least at the start, one real second is plenty of time for someone to move into, then out of, the camera’s field of view, but isn’t enough time for them to really do much: hence, the frozen effect. It breaks down towards the end not because I’m doing something clever with the frame rates (captured or replayed), but simply because the train was stopping! Thus, as it decelerated, any given person would be in view for longer, and have more time to point an arm, take a few steps along the platform, or maybe even notice me at the window. Any such action captured is still slowed down seven-fold during playback, just as with my usual static captures.

At least one other person has tried this before: Trey Ratcliff captured a station in Japan this way over a year ago, describing the effect as ‘Stuck in motion’. He also mixes in other slow motion footage and its inverse, time lapse photography, in this gorgeous video, Heartbeats of Time.

‘Pointless, action-free and totally mesmerising’


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Glorious, elaborate, profane insults of the world

Glorious, elaborate, profane insults of the world: “An open Reddit thread entitled ‘What are your favorite culturally untranslateable phrases?’ rapidly degenerated into a collection of rollicking, profane, grotesque insults, each more alarming and delightful than the last. Read the whole thing, of course, but here are some of the less profane examples:


* The Dutch phrase for giving too much attention to insignificant details is ‘ant fucking‘.

* Afrikaans: ‘Jou mammie naai vir bakstene om jou sissie se hoerhuis te bou Vieslik!’ your mother engages in prostitution in order to raise funds for the building materials necessary to construct a brothel from which your sister will operate.

* German: ‘backpfeifengesicht‘ – a face in need of slapping

* Finnish: ‘Kyrpä otsassa‘ – a vulgar way to say you’re incredibly annoyed. It means that you have a dick in your forehead (should be visualized as hanging forward, rather than actually in your forehead, for some reason).

* Finnish: ‘pilkunnussija‘ – a comma fucker; someone who corrects little or meaningless things.

* Spanish: ‘Está tratando de cagar mas alto de lo que le da el culo‘ – He’s trying to shit higher than his ass can reach.

What are your favorite culturally untranslateable phrases?

(Image: Okay, so it’s funny., a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from andrewbain’s photostream)


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Fictional story of a flash mob gone terribly wrong

[Fast and interesting. -egg]

Fictional story of a flash mob gone terribly wrong: “

Tom Scott’s Ignite London talk ‘Flash Mob Gone Wrong’ is a fictionalized account of just how badly a flash mob could go. It’s got an eerie ring of plausibility, largely because each of the steps leading up to the disastrous ending actually happened, just not all together. It’s a freaky way to spend five minutes.

Flash Mob Gone Wrong by Tom Scott, Ep 77


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Scientists figure out structure of enzyme that causes plaque to stick to teeth

[Oh please oh please oh please. -egg]

Scientists figure out structure of enzyme that causes plaque to stick to teeth: “Scientists have modeled the structure of the enzyme used by the dirty rotten Lactobacillus reuteri bacterium to attach itself to tooth enamel and cause cavities. ‘This knowledge will stimulate the identification of substances that inhibit the enzyme. Just add that substance to toothpaste, or even sweets, and caries will be a thing of the past.’

teeth-cavities.jpgThe University of Groningen researchers analysed glucansucrase from the lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri, which is present in the human mouth and digestive tract. The bacteria use the glucansucrase enzyme to convert sugar from food into long, sticky sugar chains. They use this glue to attach themselves to tooth enamel. The main cause of tooth decay, the bacterium Streptococcus mutans, also uses this enzyme. Once attached to tooth enamel, these bacteria ferment sugars releasing acids that dissolve the calcium in teeth. This is how caries develops.

Tooth Decay to Be a Thing of the Past? Enzyme Responsible for Dental Plaque Sticking to Teeth Deciphered
Photo by Shakespearesmonkey. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.


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Recent Billboard Liberation Front project in New York City

Recent Billboard Liberation Front project in New York City: “ 4092 5040768560 8C33A264Ae B

Somehow, I missed this Billboard Liberation Front improvement project that took place in New York City on September 30th. Fortunately though, BLF founder and BB pal Jack Napier updated me as to the various BLF efforts currently underway, including a planned documentary film directed by Olivier ‘Dust & Illusions‘ Bonin! As all of the BLF’s projects, this one at the corner of 38th Street and 8th Avenue is an instant classic. The BLF dramatically enhanced the Stella Artois messaging simply by removing the words ‘of beauty.’ From the BLF:

We at the BLF have been assisting fatigued advertising copywriters to strengthen their corporate messages for over thirty years. Advertising is the language of our Culture, as BLF CEO Jack Napier noted almost as many years ago. And the primary use of language is to to communicate ideas. The most efficient and direct communication of an idea comes through the most elegant use of the least amount of words to communicate that idea. It’s quite clear from the image in this Stella Artois billboard ad what the message IS. The BLF merely wishes to assist this campaign by paring down the words in order to match that message most perfectly.

‘Stella Artois, A Thing of Beauty‘ (Thanks, Jack Napier!)


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Maps: Google vs. Bing vs. Yahoo

Maps: Google vs. Bing vs. Yahoo: “mappingamerica.jpg

Justin O’Beirne takes a close look at the most popular online map sites to try and figure out just why Google Maps is more readable. It comes down to the finest of details: Google adds white outlines to city names that are just thick enough to conceal what is behind the text, has a finely-tuned contextual hierarchy of type sizes, and a carefully selected color scheme.

As an aside, it’s intriguing how each service’s maps artistically reflect their corporate operators’ natures. Google’s is perfectly organized and functional, devoid of embellishment. Microsoft Bing’s is beautiful and overdesigned, with a subtle palette of lavender and teal. Yahoo’s looks like someone vomited a spaghetti dinner in Carrot Top’s hair.

Google Maps & Label Readability [41Latitude via DF]

Update: Wow, Tumblr has a bandwidth limit? Here’s a cached version of the site if it’s down for you.


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