Your House is Printing, Please Wait

This is a picture of the Radiolaria pavilion, a complex, free-form structure produced using the world’s largest 3D printer. Measuring 3 x 3 x 3 metres, the structure is a scale model of a final 10-metre tall pavilion to be built in Pontedera, Italy, in 2010.





From Earth Architecture's blog post: The ultimate aim was to produce a geometry that could be self-supporting and demonstrate the capabilities of this innovative technology: being made of artificial sand-stone material and without any internal steel reinforcement the pavilion’s design and execution had to be intrinsically resilient to several static stresses.

The printing process takes place in a continuous work session: during the printing of each section a ‘structural ink’ is deposited by the printer’s nozzles on the sand. The solidification process takes 24 hours to complete. The new material (inorganic binder + sand or mineral dust) has been subjected to traction, compression and bending tests. The results have been extraordinary and the artificial sandstone features excellent resistance properties. Effectively this process returns any type of sand or mineral dust back to its original compact stone state. The binder transforms any kind of sand or marble dust into a stone-like material (i.e. a mineral with microcrystalline characteristics) with a resistance and traction superior to Portland cement, to a point where there is no need to use iron to reinforce the structure. This artificial stone is chemically one hundred percent environmentally friendly.

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So who knows, in a few years, you won't be living in a regular house, but one that is environmentally friendly, solid stone, printed to your specifications!

Don't be stupid with fireworks

Happy Fourth of July everyone. Fireworks are illegal here in NYC, but I think that The Man has it wrong... instead of banning fireworks for people who can use them responsibly, it should be illegal to be stupid. It would prevent stuff like this:

FIREWORK NUTSHOT FAIL - Watch more Funny Videos

Facebook Manners

An informative video on proper etiquette on Facebook:

Via SIREN.

Asagohan!

A comical parody of Beethoven's iconic Fifth Symphony centered around Asagohan (breakfast):

The Portable Notebook BBQ Grill

A super thin portable Barbecue grill:







From Coolest Gadget's review: Built like a folding chair, but with a handle like a briefcase, this Notebook grill is made of study metal and comes with a built in grill rack. Grillers simply unfold it, fill it with charcoal or wood, and light her up. And the Notebook grill if far better than those cheap temporary models made out of bakers aluminum which can be tossed away afterward, but are so fragile they bend out of shape - not to mention meat that sticks to the chicken wire style grill rack.

The Notebook Grill is a real grill that you can use over and over, and yet fold and put away in the back of the pickup truck. Cost is about $50 US from GadgetShop

With thanks to P. Reid.

Penn and Teller explain prestidigitation

A great little video of the magicians Penn and Teller revealing how a sleight of hand works:

via Cynical C.

How to lose a customer

Another in a series of poor customer service stories. This one is about Edible Blossoms in Saint John, New Brunswick.



I wanted to have one of those edible fruit arrangements that look like flowers sent to a friend who has been feeling unwell. Calling up the store, I found out that the person who was manning the store didn't know how to make the item advertised on their website that I was interested in, and that the person who did know wouldn't be in till Monday. Probing further, I found out that the person manning the store didn't even know that they had a website, and when I pressed on in the face of adversity by asking which arrangements they were able to do, the poor clerk said she was only trained in doing one arrangement and that she didn't know the name of it on the website so I would have no idea what I would be sending.

I would never, ever shop at that store ever and encourage everyone to stay away as well. This is not the clerk's fault, but the manager's. The idea that you would leave someone to man your business who is entirely incapable of fulfilling an order till three days later does not inspire any sort of confidence in the performance of your business. So, BOOOOOOO to Edible Arrangements in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada.

The King is Dead...

Long live the King...

Music industry writer Bob Lefsetz on Michael Jackson (via Cynical-C and Boing Boing):

He missed his childhood and now he's gonna miss his old age. How fucked up is that? Michael Jackson never had a chance. He had to succeed for his family, his parents' dreams were dependent upon him. And a boy with that much pressure delivers. He works truly hard, so he will be loved. That's all Michael Jackson was looking for, love. He wanted to be accepted. Wanted to be so good that he couldn't be denied. But you can't change family history, and the public no longer treats you as human, as an equal, once you break through. People want to rip you off or tear you down, or shower you in faux love that's more about their unfulfilled desires than yours. It gets so confusing that you retreat.

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And if you have any doubt about the man's influence on culture, whether you like his music or not, whether you believe he was a pedophile or not, his death swamped Facebook, Twitter and other internet sites: "My Twitter search script sees roughly 15 percent of all posts on Twitter mentioning Michael Jackson. Never saw Iran or swine flu reach over 5 percent," observed Ethan Zuckerman, a fellow at Harvard's Beckman Center for Internet & Society.

A MercuryNews.com report on Jackson's death soared near the top of Google News and brought four times the normal traffic to the site. Facebook spokeswoman Meredith Chin said user "status updates" on Facebook — typically a quick, short comment to a user's personal network of friends and acquaintances — were running at three times the usual pace in the hour after the news broke. Such updates "are still well above our usual numbers," she said after 5 p.m.

Michael Jackson's videos on his YouTube channel.

Resonant Frequencies in Action

Resonance in helicopter testing is important, because it prevents this from happening in the air:

and from teh side:

The edited version of the Popular Science article by Michael Moyer explains what is happening:

Everything has a beat. A rhythm. A frequency at which it likes to shake. You can rock most objects off-beat for as long and hard as you like, and not much will happen but start to push and pull in time with the natural frequency—the “resonant” frequency—of the object in question, and it will quite literally start to fall apart.

Shaking things like bridges, skyscrapers or helicopters, at their resonant frequencies, and the back-and-forth motion spells trouble. Each push adds more and more energy to the object—energy that, if not dissipated, starts to wreak havoc. That’s what happens with our Chinook. The rotating blades begin to shake the airframe at its resonant frequency, and physics takes care of the rest: Because the blades are unable to dissipate the excess energy, the convulsions rend them from the fuselage.

Helicopters are prone to resonant effects, which is why the resonance ground testing (as seen in this video) is a standard part of chopper R&D. If both blades in a twin-rotor helicopter share the same heavy vibration and the engine mounts aren’t rock-solid, the energy generated can actually make the motors start moving around the engine mounts, and the next thing you know, that bird’s goose is cooked.

Thanks to P. Reid for forwarding this!

Under the Water at Hoover Dam

Pictures of the intake towers at Hoover Dam when they were building it. These towers are completely submerged now in Lake Meade. From the Deputydog article:

"Unfortunately most people don't realize just how tall and impressive these towers are due to the fact that they're always surrounded by deep water; water which has thankfully been held back in the reservoir and contained by the dam wall. The 4 towers are there to control the flow of water down and around the dam wall towards the powerhouse where that same water will eventually generate power. These towers are 395ft tall and in total 'contain 93,674 cubic yards of concrete and 15,299,604 pounds of steel'. Incredible statistics about a piece of the hoover dam which no-one is really able to appreciate."







As a side note (read "random thought"), the texture of the four towers here remind me a bit of the spires at Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia:

Y span bridge

Also called a tridge, this is a bridge that has a fork in it, and connects three and masses instead of just two. From the Deputydog article:

The kikko bridge (亀甲橋, which I think translates as 'turtle bridge' but feel free to correct me), was built in 1991 and is a stress ribbon pedestrian bridge meaning there's no need for a support column beneath the middle point due to the decks being pulled taut by the three foundations. by the way, the building on the left in the first photo is the clubhouse at aoyama kohgen golf club and the bridge connects golfers to the holes on either side of the water.

Breakout and Matrix Ping Pong

I think the Japanese are fascinated by these recreations of games done with people like this simulation of Breakout done with a guy eating marshmallows:

BREAKOUT EN MARSHMALLOW
by Dragonzaur

That reminds me of the Matrix style Ping Pong game that another TV station did (this is old, but apparently I never posted it here... I still love it though!):

Faces in the Sand

A bunch of pretty cool faces in the sand, from a Woman's Day article:











Some of them make you wonder how they even stay up! See more pictures of sand sculptures from my previous post on Russian Sand Sculptures.

More Toothpick Sculpture Goodness

I never knew that matchstick sculptures were so popular as an art form until I posted about them previously. After telling you about those sculptures in previous posts, I just came upon this article from The San Francisco Chronicle about Scott Weaver who started gluing toothpicks together around 34 years ago and started rolling ping pong balls around the results. Eventually, that would become his toothpick sculpture of San Francisco that he has spent about 3,000 hours (which is the equivalent of about 375 work days) creating in his living room
.






While the sculpture may be more abstract than those previously featured, I think its no less impressive or grand.

For all of my Sneaker Freak Friends

While you eat your burgers for Father's Day, I thought I would provide you with this tasty morsel:



Combine your sneaker fetish with your need for burgery goodness! Happy Father's Day everyone!

Toy Train on a Superconductive track

Even though this is only a toy, the principle would be the same for a regular full size train. I would think it works just like a Mag-Lev train, just more efficiently. Still it is very cool to see this in action.



For some reason it looks like a lot of fun to me to have something you can pour liquid nitrogen into using a little ladle.

A question for the masses who read the blog: Why does the superconductor "memorize" the height above the rail at the time it becomes supercoductive?

The Music of Wing and of Florence Foster Jenkins

In line with today's musical theme, I have given you an interesting video, and an interesting instrument. I now present for your, uh, enjoyment the total destruction of your musical sensibilities and ear drums. Be warned.

Click here if you dare: http://www.wingmusic.co.nz/listen.html

This is a bit old, but I have had it in my "to post" archive for years, and I think it still deserves a place here. Incidentally, this lady is not the first to have made a career out of a rather, ahem, "special voice": Florence Foster Jenkins was well known for her rendition of The Queen of Night Aria from Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute.



Jenkins was incredibly popular, and sang in private venues until finally giving in to popular demand and, at the age of 76, performed at Carnegie Hall in 1944. The performance that tickets for the event sold out weeks in advance.



Jenkins spawned an off Broadway musical, called Souvenir, that eventually played on Broadway and was nominated for a Tony award. Who knows? Maybe Wing will achieve that kind of infamy in the years to come.

Now that I have thoroughly damaged your ear drums, I leave you with a proper recording of The Queen of Night Aria:

Self Playing Violin

The dream of a violin that can play itself has tantalized inventors for over a century. Now, modern technology has made the dream a reality – and without the use of digitally sampled sounds! Piano accompaniment can be derived from any midi source, but using Pianomation to play genuine acoustic accompaniment provides today’s ultimate listening experience in automatic music. The package includes Chili pianomation controller, Black display cabinet, and 40 watt Acoustic Research Speaker.

via http://blogofwishes.com/462/gulbransen-virtuoso-violin/

Wonderful Interactive Music Video

An interactive music video from a Spanish group called Labuat that lets you control a calligraphic line as you wish through the video. The effect is very lyrical, and there are pre-programmed "events" along the way that add a lot of visual detail. The song is called “Soy Tu Aire” (“I’m Your Air”) and is in itself quite nice.

Via my friend Jeff Schwartz!

Sauron Searches for the Ring...

Actually, just a pretty dang amazing picture by Larry Keller, featured on National Geographic's website.

Synchronized Jump Roping

An awesome halftime show at a US Naval Academy game, performed by The Kings Firecrackers using skip rope. The video is a bit long, and the real action starts around 4:25, but worth watching all the way through:

Garden Visit

GardenVisit.com is a nifty site that helps you locate and find gardens that are worth visiting.

Organic Homes

Three reposts from Dornob.com about organic curves and natural materials in architecture.

Good things come to those who wait - particularly in a work of uniquely detailed and highly curved architecture. Nearly a decade in the making, this structure by Robert Harvey Oshatz is much like a tree house - lofted toward the top of the canopy around it - only bigger, grander, more complex and curved than most any tree house in the world.

The perimeter of the structure is pushed out into the forest around it, curving in and out to create views as well as a sense of intimacy with the coniferous and deciduous tree cover. The wood and metal detailing is incredible in its variety and customization - each piece designed to fit a particular form and function. Wood and stone carry naturalistic themes from the outside in and even the metal looks naturally rusted.

The curved, organic mix of materials continues to the interior of this elevated forest home - a conceptual play on the fluidity and complexity of music (the source of inspiration for the architect and client in the design). A sense of organic flow carries one from one interior space to the next.

Complexity and contradiction tefine this semi-abstract, semi-modern, semi-naturalistic house design - one form flows into the next, materials are used and reused in various parts and ways and structural and decorative elements continuously pass by and intersect one another, inside and out.

The second post, is about a curvaceous cabin:

Spooky does not quite cover this incredibly curved wooden house in the forest. The so-called “accordion house” is more than just an aesthetic marvel, it is an off-the-grid green building that is solar powered and sustainably designed. Not enough?

OK, it also has a piece that accordions out over an adjacent river.

What started out as a stream-side fishing shack could not be built out, according to local regulations, more than a few hundred square feet - hence the strange amorphous design and ability to extend itself. When they are away they can retract the room (on steel rails with ropes and pulleys) and keep within the restrictions placed on them.

The natural wood exterior will slowly fade to gray and blend even more with the urroundings. Aside from that, its lack of running water, external power or phone lines already makes it seem like a part of nature. All in all, it is an architecturally creative solution that takes into account all kinds of local, regional and global problems.

The last repost is about
Bart Prince, who has oragnic and curvaeous forms but a style the defies easy definitions and ranges wildy acropss aesthetics:

Bart Prince is a very hard architect to pin down - and he prefers it that way. While some contemporary all-star architectural designers like Frank Gehry are known for signature styles and materials, Prince prefers to be inspired to create unique solutions for each site and situation.

In discussion with Dornob, he noted that one of the highest forms of praise one can receive is when someone tells you they recognized something as your design because it looked unlike anything you have done to date. His inspirations include such ground-breaking architects as Antoni Gaudi, Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff - designers who diverged from the mainstream styles of their times.

Looking at just a few works by Bart Prince can easily be misleading. One might take a snapshot from his career and be tempted to say they have figured him out, that he is “about curves” or “into strange forms” but around each corner is another work that is unlike any other. Also, he is not just inspired by architects but by scientists (including Einstein) and artists (such as Pablo Picasso) as well.

Unlike some architects who experiment with extreme exterior forms, Bart Prince also carries his complex and fluid geometries to the interio designs of his structures. The buildings are at once varied and whole - they are complex objects and confluences of elements but also clearly a single, coherent design.

From his website: “Architecture comes about as a result of the synthesizing by the architect of creative responses to input from the client; data gathered from the site and the climate; and an understanding of structure, materials, space and light. Working from the inside-out, the architect guides the growth of an IDEA resulting from the combination of these responses to a completed design which is as much a portrait of the client as it may be of himself.”

A Unique Curved Modern House

Following our architectural theme for the day, here is a repost from Dornob.com:

It is a rare building design that manages to appear at once contextual and completely alienated from its surroundings. The curves of this unique house by J. Mayer H. Architects bleed out from its edges and flow into the landscape around it, yet the division of artificial and natural remains quite clear save for the ambiguous boundary of the landscaped yard.

The attention to volume, curves and fluidity extends from the exterior of the house to its interior spaces that seem carved out of a single solid substance and morph from one room into the next like a series of caverns. The shell of the structure is pierced by likewise curved openings that frame incredible views of the adjacent and distant natural and residential areas.

moving back to the outside, it is clear that there is an overall logic and rhythm governing the structure as it relates to the land on which it sits - namely, that it pushes out in all directions and moves both with and against the hill it rests on. The real accomplishment of this house design lies not in its purely aesthetic qualities but in the complex ways in which it relates to its environment and seeks a balance between being on independent object building and part of its site and surroundings.