Entries Tagged 'amazing' ↓

Alan sez, “A great, but slightly disturbing, look at how pervasive green-screening has become in simply every scene in television these days. Pretty much everything you think is outdoors is faked, at least to some degree. I particularly like the faked ferry fire…”

Stargate Studios Virtual Backlot Reel 2009

(Thanks, Alan!)

Dinotopia artist James Gurney posted this video about a “change blindness” experiment. 75% of the participants didn’t notice that the experimenter who bent under a counter was replaced by a different person. Says Gurney: “Here’s proof that most of the time we look but don’t see.” I think Matisse said something to the effect that he didn’t really see things unless he was painting them.

There are 64,000 potential combinations in a Master Lock. With a few easy steps, you can figure out the last number of any combination. From there, you’ll crack the lock in 100 attempts or less. [MarkEdwardCampos via HackaDay]

More of our posts on robots here and here.

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Bowloftoast sez, “This is a short animation that takes the viewer through a progressive description of all (and all possible) dimensions, up to and including the 10th. It is an elegant introduction to the fundamentals of string theory and a mind-blowing toe-dip into the pool of the metaphysical.”

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

(Thanks, Bowloftoast!)

The noble Samurai has found his role in Japanese society reduced over the decades from a fearsome fighting warrior to a skilled cutter of vegetables and BBs that’s paraded on TV shows for our amusement.

Granted, this video illustrates Samurai Isao Machii’s impressive skill and hand-eye coordination, but until he can slice actual flying bullets instead of BBs, he will be nearly useless in battle (although he is still great for ratings). [Tokyomango via Neatorama]

These dolphins have a lot of fun blowing bubble rings from their blowholes and popping them. (Thanks, Bruce Stewart!)

Highly recommended: “The Credit of Crisis – Visualized” [crisisofcredit.com] by Jonathan Jarvis does exactly what it says. It might well be the most educational ten minutes you have experienced in days.

The goal of giving form to a complex situation like the subprime mortgage crisis is to quickly supply the essence of the situation to those unfamiliar and uninitiated.

Watch it below.

Thnkx Julien!

From the Speaker of the House’s blog — a chart showing the job-losses by month in the past two recessions (red=2001, blue=1991) against the current recession (that suicidal green line plunging to its death).

Shit.

What 3.6 Million Jobs Lost Over 13 Months Looks Like

(via Isen)

Barry Ritholtz sez,

In doing the research for the “Bailout Nation” book, I needed a way to put the dollar amounts into proper historical perspective.

If we add in the Citi bailout, the total cost now exceeds $4.6165 trillion dollars.

People have a hard time conceptualizing very large numbers, so let’s give this some context. The current Credit Crisis bailout is now the largest outlay In American history.

Crunching the inflation adjusted numbers, we find the bailout has cost more than all of these big budget government expenditures – combined:

• Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551b, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion