fishy fishy fishy fish
Jindong Liu is a PhD student who is doing some very interesting robotics work. He has a goal of a self-navigating robot that can swim like a fish. Some videos of his work can be found here.
Technorati Tags: Robots, Artificial Intelligence, Video
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Friday, October 07, 2005
she may be onto something
she may be onto something
Back in early August, Congresswoman Katherine Harris complained that some newspapers had colorized her photographs. I came across this commentary about it at TalkLeft.
I enjoy a conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, so I decided to see if her claims were plausible. First I took the photograph of her that appeared on TalkLeft, pictured here at right. Then I ran it through the photo editing program that came with my digital camera (Ulead Photo Express), and turned down the blue and turned up the red, just a little. The resulting image is shown below the original.
Note the flag in the background. On the first picture, the blue is a Royal blue; on the second, while not perfect, it is much closer to the Navy blue that is actually used for American flags.
Now, I am obviously not a professional photographer or photo editor; certainly nobody is paying me to do layout for a newspaper. So the tweaks done to these pictures are amateurish at best.
It only took me a couple of seconds and a single function on my photo editing software to make Katherine Harris look less like Tammy Faye Bakker and more like a normal person. For someone who does this for a living, it is a trivial edit. And if that someone has an agenda that may be furthered by making a subtle change, it is easy for that person to do.
Intrigued, I decided to try it again with some other famous people. Here is a picture of Ann Coulter with Reverend Al Sharpton. Messing with the color just a little bit gave Al a pink suit instead of white, and made it look like Ann is dying of embarrassment.
Of course, Ann may well have been dying of embarrassment, having been seen standing next to Reverend Al Freakin' Sharpton. However, I doubt that, as this picture is posted on her website. Maybe she was going for a Jekyll/Hyde thing, I dunno.
Katherine Harris may indeed have a point here.
Technorati Tags: Media
Back in early August, Congresswoman Katherine Harris complained that some newspapers had colorized her photographs. I came across this commentary about it at TalkLeft.
I enjoy a conspiracy theory as much as the next guy, so I decided to see if her claims were plausible. First I took the photograph of her that appeared on TalkLeft, pictured here at right. Then I ran it through the photo editing program that came with my digital camera (Ulead Photo Express), and turned down the blue and turned up the red, just a little. The resulting image is shown below the original.
Note the flag in the background. On the first picture, the blue is a Royal blue; on the second, while not perfect, it is much closer to the Navy blue that is actually used for American flags.
Now, I am obviously not a professional photographer or photo editor; certainly nobody is paying me to do layout for a newspaper. So the tweaks done to these pictures are amateurish at best.
It only took me a couple of seconds and a single function on my photo editing software to make Katherine Harris look less like Tammy Faye Bakker and more like a normal person. For someone who does this for a living, it is a trivial edit. And if that someone has an agenda that may be furthered by making a subtle change, it is easy for that person to do.
Intrigued, I decided to try it again with some other famous people. Here is a picture of Ann Coulter with Reverend Al Sharpton. Messing with the color just a little bit gave Al a pink suit instead of white, and made it look like Ann is dying of embarrassment.
Of course, Ann may well have been dying of embarrassment, having been seen standing next to Reverend Al Freakin' Sharpton. However, I doubt that, as this picture is posted on her website. Maybe she was going for a Jekyll/Hyde thing, I dunno.
Katherine Harris may indeed have a point here.
Technorati Tags: Media
Thursday, October 06, 2005
cartoon change
cartoon change
One of my favorite things about my blog is the cartoons. They give the blog more of a newspaper-y feel. I try to pick cartoon series that make me laugh.
However, lately Quirit has been becoming more and more vulgar. A few days ago, there was a cartoon that involved a battery-operated device; today's version involved sheep. I try to keep things family-friendly around here. Yes, I know I curse on occasion, but my curses pass my editorial filter. Lately Quirit has not. It's too bad, because sometimes Quirit is really funny. Now, it's just sick.
So, I've decided to get rid of Quirit.
In its place, I have added Gaggle. Hopefully I won't have to eliminate another cartoon in the future.
Technorati Tags: Humor, Blog
One of my favorite things about my blog is the cartoons. They give the blog more of a newspaper-y feel. I try to pick cartoon series that make me laugh.
However, lately Quirit has been becoming more and more vulgar. A few days ago, there was a cartoon that involved a battery-operated device; today's version involved sheep. I try to keep things family-friendly around here. Yes, I know I curse on occasion, but my curses pass my editorial filter. Lately Quirit has not. It's too bad, because sometimes Quirit is really funny. Now, it's just sick.
So, I've decided to get rid of Quirit.
In its place, I have added Gaggle. Hopefully I won't have to eliminate another cartoon in the future.
Technorati Tags: Humor, Blog
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
totally cool
totally cool
Here's something you won't see every day: video of a supposed meteor impacting only a few yards away from the camera.
I managed to extract some stills from this video, here are 5 consecutive frames:
From the looks of the object, I'd say it was pretty fair size, a couple of feet across. I suspect it isn't a meteor, but that it is some space junk. Nonetheless, these guys are very lucky to be alive.
Thanks to Claudia Getz for pointing me to this clip.
Technorati Tags: Space, Video
Here's something you won't see every day: video of a supposed meteor impacting only a few yards away from the camera.
I managed to extract some stills from this video, here are 5 consecutive frames:
From the looks of the object, I'd say it was pretty fair size, a couple of feet across. I suspect it isn't a meteor, but that it is some space junk. Nonetheless, these guys are very lucky to be alive.
Thanks to Claudia Getz for pointing me to this clip.
Technorati Tags: Space, Video
bastards
bastards
In the aftermath of Katrina, some people did not want to leave their homes. That is understandable. Check out what happens to this elderly woman. She was no threat to anyone, her home was well-stocked with supplies, and a view outside her home shows that she was not in danger from flood waters. What she was in danger from was the oh-so-brave members of the California Highway Patrol, who were helping the New Orleans police.
Warning: watching the above-linked video will make you curse out loud. I am so upset right now it is difficult to choose words other than four-letter.
Technorati Tags: Hurricane, Police Brutality
In the aftermath of Katrina, some people did not want to leave their homes. That is understandable. Check out what happens to this elderly woman. She was no threat to anyone, her home was well-stocked with supplies, and a view outside her home shows that she was not in danger from flood waters. What she was in danger from was the oh-so-brave members of the California Highway Patrol, who were helping the New Orleans police.
Warning: watching the above-linked video will make you curse out loud. I am so upset right now it is difficult to choose words other than four-letter.
Technorati Tags: Hurricane, Police Brutality
Sunday, October 02, 2005
Xena and Gabrielle, together again
Xena and Gabrielle, together again
Contrary to what you may think based on the title of this post, I am not talking about a TV show starring Lucy Lawless. Nope, I am talking about the planet 2003UB313. This planet, unofficially known as Xena, is the tenth planet of the solar system. It was first photographed in October of 2003, confirmed as a planet in January of 2005, and announced to the world in July of 2005. Xena is about 2700 kilometers in diameter, slightly bigger than Pluto, and orbits at from 38 to 97 AU from the sun: 38 to 97 times as far from the sun as the earth.
And now, it has been discovered that Xena has a moon. The 250 km wide body which orbits Xena has been named Gabrielle.
More information on Xena (and Gabrielle) can be found here and here.
Technorati Tags: Space
Contrary to what you may think based on the title of this post, I am not talking about a TV show starring Lucy Lawless. Nope, I am talking about the planet 2003UB313. This planet, unofficially known as Xena, is the tenth planet of the solar system. It was first photographed in October of 2003, confirmed as a planet in January of 2005, and announced to the world in July of 2005. Xena is about 2700 kilometers in diameter, slightly bigger than Pluto, and orbits at from 38 to 97 AU from the sun: 38 to 97 times as far from the sun as the earth.
And now, it has been discovered that Xena has a moon. The 250 km wide body which orbits Xena has been named Gabrielle.
More information on Xena (and Gabrielle) can be found here and here.
Technorati Tags: Space
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