Interesting Stories

Signe of Johnny Angel

2007-09-28T13:41:00.000-07:00

Signe of Johnny Angel
Johnny Angel is a 1945 film starring George Raft, Claire Trevor, and Hoagy Carmichael. I can say, the film is perfect. The movie, directed by Edwin L. Marin, is considered film noir (Signe of Johnny Angel).

A merchant marine sailor, played by Raft, comes home from the war and searches for his father's murderer. As he uncovers the mystery, he busts up the local mob.

Naked People in Netherlands

2007-06-03T12:32:00.000-07:00

Thousands of naked people get together in Netherlands to take a part in a photographing.

Free 25$ Burger King Gift Card

Free 25$ Burger King Gift Card

Fun Sport Video: Watts Zap Eurosport

2850 Mb Google Mail

2007-05-09T09:34:00.000-07:00

Google Mail has already 2850 Mb!!!

Google Mail has already over 2850 Mb. Soon we can send a DVD-Film via E-mails :-)
What do you think about it? Need you so much? Google grows with internet up?

Cell Phone TV

Money Art. What Can You Do With Money? Make Money

2007-05-04T06:20:00.000-07:00

Money Art. What Can You Do With Money?

Cell Phone TV

The Ren Building. Architecture of Future

2007-05-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

Architecture in China never ceases to amaze us—case in point—the REN Building. Copenhagen’s Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) proposed this eye-catching design over a year ago to coincide with Shanghai’s “Better City, Better Life” 2010 World Expo . "The building takes its form from the Chinese character for person ("ren") and combines two buildings (one symbolic of mind and the other symbolic of body). We love the poetic inspiration that reflects both site and cultural sensitivity."- is reported in Bjarke Ingels Group's release.

“The Ren building is a proposal for a hotel, sports and conference center for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai. The building is conceived as two buildings merging into one. The first building, emerging from the water, is devoted to the activities of the body, and houses the sports and water culture center. The second building emerging from land, is devoted to the spirit and enlightenment, and houses the conference center and meeting facilities. The two buildings meet in a 1000 room hotel, a building for living.”

It’ll be exciting to see if the plans for the project are approved. Check out more views and an animated fly-through of the project below.

Video:

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Fruits and Vegetables Carving. How To Amaze Guests.

2007-05-02T06:21:00.000-07:00

Watermelons, turnips, pineapples and many other fruits and vegetables can be carved and combined into either elegantly simple or very elaborate center pieces or accents for your picnic table or indoor party decorations.

The art of carving foods is an Eastern custom that has been adopted by creative food preparers around the world. In Thailand and Japan food carving is considered part of the presentation of the meal. The stunning designs that can be created makes the food the center of attention when you serve your guests. No need to worry about what else is on the table.

Some of the more elaborate carvings can take hours to get just right, but practice makes it go faster and soon you'll find yourself designing your own patterns for watermelons, radishes and any fruit or vegetable that can hold it's form when carved.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

A New World Record! Martin Strel swam down the Amazon River 5,268 km

2007-04-09T11:40:00.000-07:00

After six hours of swimming/suffering in which he poured out every last ounce of his energy, Martin has crossed the finish line after a seemingly endless final 27 km through huge waves and heavy rain. The unofficial Guinness totals are 5268 KM (3,274 Miles) swam over the course of 66 days.

Slovenian Martin Strel, after braving crocodiles, piranhas, disease and the threat of an imminent heart attack, on Sunday completed a record-setting 66-day, 5,268 km swim down the Amazon River and was taken to a hospital.

Thousands of people were on hand in the Brazilian colonial city of Belem as an exhausted Strel, 52, made his final stroke, and was pulled from the water.

On Saturday, Strel had officially set a Guinness Book of World Records mark when he hit the 5238 kilometre point, the swimmer's support team said on his website www.amazonswim.com.

On Sunday he was back in the water again, riding the early morning tide back upriver 6 miles to end the marathon Amazon swim in Belem at about 11:30 am (1:30am NZT).

It was the most challenging of Strel's big-river swims. He has previously swum 4,004 km of China's Yangtze in 2004, 3,798 km of the US Mississippi in 2002 and 3,004 km of Europe's Danube in 2000.

After arriving in Belem, Strel was placed in an ambulance and medics worked to stabilize his blood pressure, which was at near-heart attack levels, his support team said on the website.

Strel has been suffering from nausea, diarrhoea, dangerously high blood pressure, sunstroke, dizziness and delirium.

Due to his deteriorating health, Strel had been swimming six hours and then resting for six hours in his final leg down the world's most voluminous and second longest river.

On Friday, Strel had to be hauled from the water by his son Borut and others and had difficulty standing. His doctor ordered him not to swim but Strel, obsessed with reaching Belem, insisted on swimming the final few miles at night to avoid the blistering sun.

"I've had enough. I just want to finish and go home," he said on his website.

Nicknamed "fish man," Strel started his latest big-river swim on February 1 at the Peruvian jungle town of Atalaya, where buckets of animal blood had to be poured into the river to distract piranha from making a quick meal of the swimmer.

Strel formally finish his marathon swim down the Amazon four days ahead of schedule on Saturday.

In the last leg of his journey, Strel said the ocean tides coming up river were driving him backward at times.

Along the trip, Strel and his team had several near misses with pirate attacks and often had to steer toward swift flowing currents to avoid being set upon by piranha. This resulted in Strel being swept away in a giant whirlpool once and separated from his team and boat another time.

The team was constantly at risk of parasites and disease in the Amazon such as malaria and yellow fever.

"I think the animals have just accepted me. I've been swimming with them for such a long time that they must think I'm one of them now," Strel said recently on the BBC.

Source: Reuters

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Optische Täuschung

Secrets of Ocean: Bioluminescence

2007-04-09T06:08:00.000-07:00

There are living lights in the ocean. They are beautiful, fascinating and critical to the very existence of most marine life. They are also little known and little appreciated, because so few people have the opportunity to see them with their own eyes. The images on this web site provide a rare glimpse of this remarkable phenomenon.

Visible light made by living creatures is known as bioluminescence. Fireflies are bioluminescent. So are a few other land dwellers, like some earthworms, centipedes and fungi. But on land, bioluminescence is rare. By contrast, in the oceans, bioluminescence is very, very common. In fact, it would be difficult to find any place in the ocean where bioluminescence doesn't exist.

In some places in the ocean bioluminescent creatures are so abundant that any disturbance such as a boat, a fish or, as you see here, even a hand passing through the water can produce a shimmering light show. Click on the menu above to see some of the most common sources of bioluminescence in the ocean.

HOW?

All light in the universe comes from the same basic process. When an electron absorbs energy, it moves to a higher orbit. When the electron falls back down to a lower energy state, a packet of energy, known as a photon, is released. Electrons can get excited in a number of different ways. In the sun, a candle flame or an incandescent light bulb, the electrons are thermally excited, which is why we tend to associate heat and light. In bioluminescence the electrons are excited by a very efficient chemical reaction that generates no heat at all. This is why bioluminescence is sometimes called cold light.

WHY?

There are so many bioluminescent creatures in the ocean, because their ability to make light helps them to survive. Some use their light to help them find food, some use it to help them find mates, some use it to defend themselves against predators and some, like this Viperfish, use light for all these purposes.

Real fish:

Fish from "Finding Nemo"

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Brilliant Idea: How to Protect Car From Theft

2007-04-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

Protect your car from theft :-) Simple set special pictures nearby wheels. This looks like the car has no wheels.

Real tips to protection of car:

Tip #1 Park Your Car in the Garage or Behind a Locked Gate.

Tip #2 Park in Your Driveway

Tip #3 Install a Car Alarm -- Especially if It's in an Apartment Parking Lot (or on the Street) .

Tip #4 Better Yet Get a Lojack or Onstar Type Service.

Tip #5 NEVER Leave Your Car Running Unattended.

Tip #6 Get Theft Insurance

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Six Degrees of Separation - Six Steps to US President?

2007-04-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

Can you reach US President in 6 steps?

Six degrees of separation refers to the idea that, if a person is one "step" away from each person he or she knows and two "steps" away from each person who is known by one of the people he or she knows, then everyone is no more than six "steps" away from each person on Earth. Several studies, such as Milgram's small world experiment have been conducted to empirically measure this connectedness. While the exact number of links between people differs depending on the population measured, it is generally found to be relatively small. Hence, six degrees of separation is somewhat synonymous with the idea of the "small world" phenomenon.

Stanley Milgram was an American researcher in experimental social psychology at Harvard University in Boston, USA. Beginning in 1967, he began a widely-publicized set of experiments to investigate the so-called "small world problem." This problem was rooted in many of the same observations made decades earlier by Karinthy. That is, Milgram and other researchers of the era were fascinated by the interconnectedness and "social capital" of human networks. While it is unknown how directly Milgram was influenced by Karinthy's work, the similarities between the two authors are remarkable. However, while Karinthy spoke in abstract and fictional terms, Milgram's experiments provided evidence supporting the claim of a "small world." His study results showed that people in the United States seemed to be connected by approximately six friendship links, on average. Although Milgram reportedly never used the term "Six Degrees of Separation," his findings likely contributed to the term's widespread credence. Since these studies were widely publicized, Stanley Milgram is also, like Karinthy, often attributed as the origin of the notion of Six Degrees.

Now think: how can you reach US President in 6 Steps?...

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Suit Against Microsoft: Question's Price $5 million

2007-04-06T16:59:00.000-07:00

A woman from Washington State, Dianne Kelley, has filed a class-action suit against Microsoft Corp. over their "deceptive and unfair" use of the 'Vista Capable' stickers, demanding $5 million. She cites violations of Washington's Consumer Protection Act, Ch. 19.86 RCW, as well as the corresponding Consumer Protection acts in the other U.S. states.

What the suit claims, is an established fact: Microsoft started a "Windows Vista Capable" campaign about a year before the release of Windows Vista, in order to assure computer buyers they will be able to upgrade to Windows Vista when the operating system would be released.

"We feel as a company we went beyond what we've ever done to try to educate people so that they understood and could make the right purchase decision,” said Linda Norman, a Microsoft associate general counsel, pointing out that Microsoft had created different logos. ‘Vista Premium Ready’ is one such example, but the distinction was never actually made in practice.

The problem is that "Windows Vista Capable" meant in most cases "able to install a bare Vista OS." Most of these PCs can't run properly or can't run at all other versions that the Vista Home Basic, "which has been described by one reviewer as 'the most pointless edition of Windows that Microsoft has ever released'."

"Later, beginning in October 2006, Microsoft embarked on its 'Express Upgrade' promotion, under which purchasers of PCs Microsoft certified as 'Windows Vista Capable' were promised a free or reduced-price upgrade to 'Vista' when it became available. In fact, the version of Vista made available to many of these purchasers is Home Basic and thus is lacking features that Microsoft has touted in Vista as radical improvements over previous operating systems," the suit reads.

"In sum, Microsoft engaged in bait and switch," Dianne Kelley claims.

Mary Jo Foley, a ZDNet blogger, pointed out the fact that not even on Microsoft's web page you can find out what exactly "Windows Vista Capable" means:

"Nowhere (that I've found) does Microsoft spell out clearly which versions of Vista will run on Vista Capable machines. [...] why is figuring out which PC is best suited to running which version of Vista such a chore? Isn't there an easier way to help consumers make the right choice? I think it's fair to ding Microsoft for confusing branding/marketing."

The ‘Minimum Requirements’ for Vista are several gigabytes of disk space and at least one gigabyte of RAM. The actual requirements for a full-fledged Vista are at least two gigabytes of RAM, a powerful processor running at least at 3Ghz (P4 equivalent) and a powerful video card, such as a 7xxx series nVIDIA or corresponding ATI.

There is also mention in the suit of Bill Gates himself lending to the deception, when he appeared on the Today Show in January to report that anyone could upgrade to Vista for $99. The suite points out that for $99 you get the stripped down version of Vista known as Home Basic.

"In fact, one can only 'upgrade' to Home Basic for that price, which Mr. Gates and Microsoft know is a product that lacks the features marketed by Microsoft as being Vista," the suit said.

The question is not whether Microsoft was being deceptive, as that's quite clear, but whether it can actually be held legally responsible. Microsoft is a company used to operate right at the very limits of legality in terms of marketing tactics.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Letters on Water

2007-04-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

In collaboration with Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen), Professor Shigeru Naito of Osaka University has created a prototype device that draws letters and simple shapes on water! The device is composed of 50 water wave generators encircling a 30 cm deep, 1.6 m diameter cylindrical water tank. The wave generators, which are normally used to simulate ocean conditions for shipbuilding, move up and down in a calculated motion controlled by computer software. The cylindrical waves that are produced act as pixels, which are combined to form lines and shapes. The new device, called AMOEBA (for Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin) is capable of spelling out the entire Roman alphabet, as well as some simple Kanji characters.

Each formation remains on the water surface for a few seconds only, but is produced successively every 3 seconds. Similar devices developed by Akishima Laboratories in the past had difficulty producing letters with straight lines (B, F, K, etc.) and took a long 15 minutes to produce each letter. In addition to the ability to create straight lines, the AMOEBA can create a new shape or letter in as little as 15 seconds.

Although the technology is not ready for commercial use, it is expected to find applications in the advertisement industry and in amusement devices that combine acoustics, lighting and fountain technology.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Look: Flame Can Have Different Colour! (Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, Purple)

2007-04-05T01:30:00.000-07:00

I found in internet these beautiful torches and candles:

Colored flame oils are metal based solutions which burn in 5 different colored FLAME (Red, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Green). Colored flame oils must be used with a special 100% cotton Color flame Wick. Most standard oil lamps and torches will simply NOT burn with color flame oils.

Paraffin oils burn brightly with minimal smoke residue and are perfect for most conditions, these oils are also available in color, (in this case the oil itself is colored, not the flame), and reflect beautifully in Glass oil lamps or other transparent containers.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Sky Factory: Virtual Window

2007-04-02T09:31:00.000-07:00

The Sky Factory creates magical illusions of skies and landscapes for ceiling and wall installation. Our products – SkyCeilings™ and Luminous Virtual Windows™ – dramatically transform closed interior spaces, and the illusions created are so authentic that they trigger genuine psycho-physiological responses of relaxation, vitality, and well-being. Since it’s founding in 2002, The Sky Factory has created over a thousand installations in a wide range of environments: healthcare, commercial and residential.

The Sky Factory sells factory-direct to its worldwide clientele. The company has developed new printing, lighting, and RF-free technology, and has several patents pending. The Sky Factory is headquartered, and manufactures its products in Fairfield, Iowa.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Ball Lightning (Part 2)

2007-04-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

Part 1

Ball Lightning

2007-04-01T05:22:00.000-07:00

More Fotos at the article's end

Ball lightning reportedly takes the form of a glowing, floating object often the size and shape of a basketball, but it can also be golf ball sized or smaller. It is sometimes associated with thunderstorms, but unlike lightning flashes arcing between two points, which last a small fraction of a second, ball lightning reportedly lasts many seconds. There have been some reports of production of a similar phenomenon in the laboratory, but some still disagree on whether it is the same phenomenon.

People have reported seeing ball lightning—a rare phenomenon that resembles a glowing sphere of electricity—for hundreds of years.

But scientists still can't explain what causes it, or even exactly what it is.

There's certainly no consensus. I don't think that anyone knows what it is," said Graham K. Hubler, a physicist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

"Most scientists feel that the proper model hasn't been found yet."

Surveys estimate that between 1 in 30 and 1 in 150 people believe that they have seen ball lightning. Hubler is one of them.

His close encounter happened at age 16, while he was riding out a thunderstorm in an open-sided park pavilion.

"It's extraordinary—you're so startled that you remember it for the rest of your life," he said.

He describes seeing a glowing, tennis ball-size formation hovering nearby.

"It drifted along a few feet above the ground," Hubler recalled, "but when it came inside [the pavilion] it dropped down to the ground and skittered along the floor."

"It made lots of gyrations or oscillations and a hissing sound like boiling water. When it went out the other side [of the pavilion], it climbed back up [several feet off the ground]."

Hubler says the ball behaved as if it had a charge and was following electric field lines along the Earth.

"I remember telling people what I had seen, and they thought I was crazy, so I stopped talking about it," he said.

"I didn't know what I'd seen until ten years later when I attended a seminar in graduate school."

Lightning Stories

While some skeptics remain, there is significant observational evidence for ball lightning's existence.

"[There are] around 10,000 written accounts of observations covering many countries with similar properties recurring in many observations," said John Abrahamson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand.

"All this points to a phenomenon which is repeatable and justifies a single label."

Thousands of eyewitnesses have described seeing a floating, glowing ball similar to a tennis ball or even a beach ball.

The sightings generally accompany thunderstorms, but it's unclear what other similarities ball lightning might share with its conventional relative.

(See and download a lightning wallpaper photo.)

Ball lightning floats near the ground, sometimes bounces off the ground or other objects, and does not obey the whims of wind or the laws of gravity.

An average ball lightning glows with the power of a 100-watt bulb. Some have been reported to melt through glass windows and burn through screens.

The record suggests that ball lightning is not inherently deadly, but there are reports of people being killed by contact—most notably the pioneering electricity researcher Georg Richmann, who died in 1753.

Richmann is believed to have been electrocuted by ball lightning as he conducted a lightning-rod experiment in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The phenomenon lasts only a short time, perhaps ten seconds, before either fading away or violently dissipating with a small explosion.

Ball Lightning Research

Despite some fairly consistent characteristics, ball lightning has thus far defied scientific explanation—but it's not for a lack of theories.

Scientists have postulated that plasma may be behind the phenomenon.

Plasma clouds are composed of charged particles that recombine into atoms and glow with light.

The clouds may be created by an energy source like a conventional lightning bolt and could theoretically form ball lightning.

An alternative theory promotes the notion that small particles held together in a ball by electrical charges emit chemical energy through oxidation.

This theory suggests that when lightning strikes a surface, a vapor is formed. The vapor condenses into particles that mix with oxygen in the air and then slowly burn with the release of chemical energy.

"The whole picture is electrical energy, in a huge amount really, and a small part of that energy gets converted to chemical energy and stored in particles," said the University of Canterbury's Abrahamson, who supports the theory.

Laboratory work is currently seeking to reproduce ball lightning under this model and several others.

Meanwhile, the Naval Research Lab's Hubler hopes that technology will leave less room for the real thing to hide.

"There is such a proliferation of video cameras these days that people must have captured [pictures of] ball lightning, and it would be an immense help to see some of those videos and study them," he said.

"Here's a real, physical phenomenon that's out there in nature, and we don't have the foggiest idea what it is—that's interesting," he added.

"I hope in my lifetime we find out what it is. It's possible that there's some very new physics in it and that could be very profound."

Part 2

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Billiard Tricks

2007-03-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

What Kind of Drinks drank the Stars in Oscar's backstage?

2007-03-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

BIOTA has been chosen to be featured backstage at the 79th Academy Awards on Sunday February 25, 2007. BIOTA was served in the Architectural Digest designed Green Room as well as all the dressing rooms for the Oscar's.

BIOTA will also be the drink of choice in all the Eco-Friendly Limo's bringing the celebrities to the Oscar's!

Biota - the first biodegradable bottle - has gone on sale in Britain - heralding a new era in the battle against plastic packaging.

At present, plastic bottles are recycled by councils at processing plants or simply dumped in landfill sites. But the container for Belu mineral water, which is not yet sold in Scotland, is capable of breaking down in fewer than 100 days in the soil.

Belu, which donates its profits to third world water projects, has developed a method of producing plastic bottles using corn. They can be composted in the garden.

Environmentalists have given the "bio-bottle" a mixed reaction. Stuart Hay, of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "The most environmentally friendly way to drink water is from a tap."

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has warned of a "deeply unsustainable" throwaway society - some 2,500 tonnes of packaging are discarded in Scotland every day.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

New Globus Kettle - Already in Sale!

2007-03-28T03:23:00.000-07:00

At the article's end you will find SURPRISE-LINK!

Globus kettle is based on the primary geometrical primitive the sphere.

Since over the past 10,000 years humankind has encountered no serious troubles as far as the boiling of water is concerned, Art. Lebedev Studio’s main task was developing a beautiful rather than a functional kettle.

The kettle is made of corrosion-resistant steel and silicon handle. Can be used for gas and electric stoves.

The kettle costs approx. 60US$. Three handle colors: red, orange, blue!

Promised Link

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Make Your Own Kite

2007-03-27T07:14:00.000-07:00

At the end of article find you SURPRISE LINK!

Have ever wanted to build a kite? Well, here is a simple kite you can make your self!

A kite consists of these basic parts:
The Spine. The up-and-down, or vertical stick that you build your kite around.
The Spar. The support stick(s), that are placed crossways or at a slant over the spine. Sometimes they are curved or bowed.
The Frame. The joined spine and spars, usually with a string connecting their ends, that form the shape of the kite and make a support for the cover.
The Cover. The paper, plastic, or cloth, that cover the frame to make a kite.
The Bridle. One or more strings attached to the spine or spars, which help control the kite in the air.
The Flying Line. The string running from the kites’ bridle, where you hold to fly the kite.
The Tail. A long strip of paper or plastic of ribbon that helps to balance the kite in flight. Not all kites need tails.
The Reel. The object you use to wind your flying line, to keep it form getting tangled or flying away.

DIAMOND KITE

Materials:
- butcher cord or thin garden twine
- scotch tape or glue
- 1 sheet of strong paper (102cm x 102cm)
- 2 strong, straight wooden sticks of bamboo or wooden doweling 90cm and 102cm
- markers, paint or crayons to decorate you kite.

1. Make a cross with the two sticks, with the shorter stick placed horizontally across the longer stick. Make sure that both sides of the cross piece is equal in width.

2. Tie the two sticks together with the string in such a way as to make sure that they are at right angles to each other. A good way to ensure that the joint is strong to put a dab of glue to stick it in place.

3. Cut a notch at each end of both sticks. Make it deep enough for the type of string you are using to fit in to. Cut a piece of string long enough to stretch all around the kite frame. Make a loop in the top notch and fasten it by wrapping the string around the stick. Stretch the string through the notch at one end of the cross-piece, and make another loop at the bottom. Stretch the string through the notch at one end of the loop at the bottom. Stretch the string through the notch at the other end of the cross-piece. Finish by wrapping the string a few times around the top of the stick and cutting off what you don't need. This string frame must be taut, but not so tight as to warp the sticks.

4. Lay the sail material flat and place the stick frame face down on top. Cut around it, leaving about 2-3cm for a margin. Fold these edges over the string frame and tape or glue it down so that the material is tight.

5. Cut a piece of string about 122 cm long. and tie one end to the loop at the other end of the string to the loop at the bottom. Tie another small loop in the string just above the intersection of the two cross pieces. This will be the kite's bridle, the string to which the flying line is attached.

6. Make a tail by tying a small ribbon roughly every 10cm along the length of string. Attach the tail to the loop at the bottom of the kite.

7. Decorate!

Tips:
- A properly located pivot point is generally located slightly ahead of the centre of gravity.
- Cut away from you!
- Spray can glue is really good for patching up paper kites.
- Stability is improved by the use of an effective bow and a flexible tail.
- Hold your kite up by the string when you are finished to see if it is balanced. You can balance it by putting more paper on one side.
- Kites are different each time you make one, so slight adjustments might need to be made for each kite.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

Surprise-Link: Body Art for Cats! :-)

Sparkasse Dresden
Sparkasse Magdeburg

Body Art for Cats (part 3)

2007-03-26T04:21:00.000-07:00

Part 1 Part 2

One colouring work costs 15000$. Colour lasts on a cat 3 monats.

Read also an Article "Toach an Air: Heliodisplay"

Body Art for Cats (part 2)

2007-03-26T04:12:00.000-07:00

Part 1 Part 3

One colouring work costs 15000$. Colour lasts on a cat 3 monats.

Part 1 Part 3

Body Art for Cats

2007-03-26T03:53:00.000-07:00

One colouring work costs 15000$. Colour lasts on a cat 3 monats.

Optische Täuschung

Image Mosaic

2007-03-25T06:39:00.000-07:00

At the article's end find you link to Image Mosaic Creator...

In the field of photographic imaging, a photographic mosaic (also known under the term Photomosaic or ImageMosaic) is a picture (usually a photograph) that has been divided into (usually equal sized) rectangular sections, each of which is replaced with another photograph of appropriate average color. When viewed at low magnifications, the individual pixels appear as the primary image, while close examination reveals that the image is in fact made up of many hundreds or thousands of smaller images. They are a computer created type of montage.

Originally, the term photomosaic referred to compound photographs created by stitching together a series of adjacent pictures of a scene. Space scientists have been assembling mosaics of this kind since at least as early as the Soviet Union space satellite missions to the moon in the late 1950s.

History

Related to the manually created 9th century art of Micrography which utilises letters & symbols to create larger images. Leon Harmon of Bell Labs created images from symbols and letters in 1973 which led to the popularity of ASCII art in the 1970s and 1980s.

1993 Joseph Francis, working for R/Greenberg Associates in Manhattan, is believed to be the inventor of the modern day computer generated colour image versions. His 'Live from Bell Labs' poster created in 1993 used computer themed tile photographs to create a mosaic of a face. He went on to create a mosaic for Animation Magazine in 1993 which was repeated in Wired Magazine (November 1994 p. 106). Francis has said, on his "History of Photo Mosaics" webpage, that his interest in developing these techniques further was in part stimulated by the work of artist Chuck Close.

1994 Dave McKean creates an image for DC Comics, a mosaic of a face made from photos of faces. Although this is believed to be created manually using photoshop.

1994 Adam Finkelstein and Sandy Farrier, creates mosaic of JFK from parts of Marilyn Monroe pictures. The result was displayed in the Xerox PARC Algorithmic Art Show in 1994.

1994 Benetton: AIDS - Faces mosaic. Over one thousand young peoples' portraits from all over the word computer-processed spell out the word AIDS.

1995 The Gioconda Sapiens, a face with ten thousand faces, was presented to the public in April 1995 (Spain, Domus museum). This was the the first large photographic mosaic, using photographs of 10,062 people from 110 countries to make the Mona Lisa.

1995 Adam Finkelstein (published mosaic in Mossy Bits), creates mosaic of the oil painting American Gothic from images collected from the web in early 1995.

1995 Robert Silvers creates a Photomosaic, and goes on to trademark the term Photomosaic and patent creation of Photomosaics in 1997.

2003Doubletake Images creates the world's largest photographic mosaic -- over 10,000 square feet. The live event took place at Disneyland and was created by thousands of castmembers holding up photographs of themselves.

2004Roy Feinson creates a series of 38 giant mosaic murals to celebrate Disneyland's 50th Anniversary in which 250,000 guest submitted photographs were used. The project included the first tri-level mosaic, comprising an image of Steamboat Willie made up by photographs of Disney castmembers, which themselves were mosaics made up of guest photographs.

Promised: Image Mosaic Creator

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

How To Make A Boomerang

2007-03-25T03:28:00.000-07:00

Part 1

A simple boomerang that is safe to fly indoors can be made with balsa wood, a rubber band, some blutack and a matchstick.

The only tools that are required are some sandpaper and a sharp knife. A true-blue boomerang is boomerang-shaped because bent bits of wood are easy to find in outback Australia, but the aerodynamic and gyrodynamic efficiency of such a shape is not good. You need wide open spaces to fly them. Small cross-shaped boomerangs have such good gyroscopic and aerodynamic properties that they can fly indoors.

You will need:
- two bits of balsa wood, 200 x 25 x 3 mm approx;
- some sand paper (not too coarse);
- a match stick;
- some blutack;
- a small rubber band.

Figure 1: A right handed boomerang

Step 1:

Decide if you want a right- or left-handed boomerang. They're each as easy to throw with either hand. Instructions here are for right-handers. Use the mirror image of all constructions to make a left-hander.

Step 2:

Figure 2: Mark sanding lines

Mark the centre of the two pieces of balsa and draw two lines in pencil near one edge of each piece as shown (about 1|6 the width from one edge). These lines must never be touched with sand paper!

Step 3:

Figure 3: Sand to this section

With sandpaper wrapped around a sanding block (a ruler will do), create airfoil shapes as shown leaving the bottom absolutely flat. Use the edge of a plank of wood as a firm base to get a good angle on the trailing edge. Don't make the trailing edge too `sharp' as it will be easily damaged in flight. When you have finished sanding the four airfoils, the pencil lines should still be visible.

Step 4:

Figure 4: Fasten together

Carefully press a matchstick through the centre of the two wings and join them together. Secure with a rubber band as shown.

Step 5:

Figure 5: Add weights

Add four small blobs of blutack (each about the size of a pea) to the flat side of each wing at about 3/4 the radius from the centre. This should roughly double the weight of the boomerang. You are now ready for a test flight!

The Test Flight

You will notice that good flight can only be obtained if the boomerang has just the right spin and just the right forward velocity. In fact the ratio of these two parameters is what counts and this comes from boomerang theory too. For a cross-shaped boomerang, we find that the `flick-of-the-wrist' needed is aw = Ö2V. You can experiment with different values of velocity and spin to verify that this is true.

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.

History Of Boomerang

2007-03-24T11:47:00.000-07:00

"My boomerang won't come back" goes the song about the disgraced Australian Aborigine.

Figure 1: Traditional boomerangs from Australia.

Well, that's not so bad a thing because boomerangs used for hunting kangaroos aren't meant to come back - they are heavy, hockey-stick-shaped throwing sticks that move in a confusingly wobbly path, and they are designed to break the legs or wings of any 'roo or bird they encounter. So just imagine if that 'rang came back: how would you catch it? It would be as silly as if Robin Hood's deadly arrows came back! The only boomerangs that do come back are those intended to be used as toys and for sport: the Aborigines knew about the fun you can have with boomerangs thousands of years ago.

Figure 2: Some modern sports boomerangs.

Perhaps surprisingly, it's reported that the earliest known users of boomerangs were found in what is now Poland, about twenty thousand years ago (18,000 years BC!). Their boomerangs were the traditional bent-stick variety, like the Australian boomerangs in figure 1.

It wasn't too hard for boomerangs to be discovered by accident because if you were stuck for food you might try throwing a rock, a stick, anything at your prey, and if the stick you found did funny things you might think it was a magic stick and you'd want to keep it for another throw.

These days, we can make boomerangs in many other curious shapes (figure 2), and some of them fly much better than the traditional ones.

In fact, a cross-shaped balsa-wood "boomerang" that looks like a 4-bladed propellor (figure 3) works really well indoors - inside the average-sized living room!

Figure 3: Home-made balsa wood boomerangs, suitable for indoor use.

Why do boomerangs fly?

A boomerang works because it spins as it moves forward and the bit of the boomerang that is at the very top moves forward faster than the bit at the bottom so it generates more lift.

The overall lift force (like a spinning propellor)

Figure 4: Flight path of a boomerang.

points towards the centre of the circular flight path which is necessary for circular motion (centripetal acceleration and all that) but the boomerang has to turn to face forwards all the time as it goes around the circle (figure 4 shows the flight path of a boomerang). This is achieved by the difference in lift force between top and bottom . This difference creates a couple, and this couple causes precession.

A boomerang does funny things because it is in fact a gyroscope. Aerodynamic forces generate a twisting moment which cause the "gyroscope" to precess and to move on a circular path.

How to make a Boomerang

Make Your Own Kite (Sled, Diamond, Delta, Box, Parafoil, Dragon). How to guide.