L'Inconnue de la Seine L'Inconnue de la Seine L'Inconnue de la Seine (French for "the unknown woman of the Seine") was an unidentified young woman whose death mask became a popular fixture on the walls of artists' homes after 1900. Her visage was the inspiration for numerous literary works. [1] In the United States, the mask is also known as "La Belle Italienne".[2] History[edit] According to an often-repeated story, the body of the young woman was pulled out of the Seine River at the Quai du Louvre in Paris around the late 1880s.[3] Since the body showed no signs of violence, suicide was suspected. A pathologist at the Paris morgue was, according to the story, so taken by her beauty that he had a mould make a wax plaster cast death mask of her face. In the following years, numerous copies were produced. The popularity of the figure is also of interest to the history of artistic media, relating to its widespread reproduction. Artistic portrayals[edit] L'Inconnue in English literature[edit] Caitlín R.
Self-sculpting sand Imagine that you have a big box of sand in which you bury a tiny model of a footstool. A few seconds later, you reach into the box and pull out a full-size footstool: The sand has assembled itself into a large-scale replica of the model. That may sound like a scene from a Harry Potter novel, but it’s the vision animating a research project at the Distributed Robotics Laboratory (DRL) at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. At the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in May — the world’s premier robotics conference — DRL researchers will present a paper describing algorithms that could enable such “smart sand.” Unlike many other approaches to reconfigurable robots, smart sand uses a subtractive method, akin to stone carving, rather than an additive method, akin to snapping LEGO blocks together. Distributed intelligence Rapid prototyping True smart sand, of course, would require grains much smaller than 10-millimeter cubes.
The Ins-n-Outs of an In-N-Out Double-Double, Animal-Style Gone animal. [Photographs: Kenji Alt] And all that before we even mention In-N-Out, perhaps the second most compelling reason to move out west like my wife would like me to*. I've been a rabid, if underexposed fan of the cult-ish fast food burger joint since I tried my first Double-Double (that's two patties, two slices of cheese) a couple years back. As burgers go, it's an oddity in my book, in that it's not about the beef. It's a bomb that's rigged to hit every pleasure center on my brain's taste analyzation terminal Sure, the fresh-never-frozen patties are tasty enough, but the sandwich is more than that. Order the burger "Animal Style" off of their not-so-secret menu, and you bring the party to a whole new level. But here's the thing: I've had my share of regular In-N-Out burgers, but never an Animal Style. Option 2 sounds much more fun to me. Follow @ahamburgertoday on Twitter »Like A Hamburger Today on Facebook » Fresh Frozen Why did you disturb my peaceful slumber? Delicious?
The Scale of the Universe Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2012 March 12 The Scale of the Universe - Interactive Flash Animation Credit & Copyright: Cary & Michael Huang Explanation: What does the universe look like on small scales? Tomorrow's picture: dust before galaxies Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important NoticesA service of:ASD at NASA / GSFC& Michigan Tech.
Offsetting Behaviour: Kanazawa [updated] I've been a fan of Satoshi Kanazawa; I've long had regrets that I didn't know he was at Canterbury for the couple of months we overlapped there. Not entirely unsurprisingly, he's gone and annoyed some folks. This time it's looking serious. The Add Health data series interviews high schoolers in three waves, making a nice panel data set. One question asks the interviewer to rate the respondent's attractiveness on a five point scale. The pile-on has been pretty brutal. Here's Huffington calling him a racist. Lindsay Beyerstein is less than charitable in her interpretation of Kanazawa's stats. Hank Campbell is no more generous, with lots of snarky scare quotes about what factor analysis is. The first thing I'd thought when I saw the controversy was that OK Cupid recently put up data noting that black women get far fewer messages from other OK Cupid members than they ought to; this was potentially consistent with Kanazawa's story (or with other equally plausible ones).
10 Awesome Online Classes You Can Take For Free Cool, but you need iTunes for nearly everything, and that gets an 'F.' Are there really no other places to get these lessons? I was sure there are some on Academic Earth. Flagged 1. 7 of them are available via YouTube. 2. iTunes is free. 1. 2. Don't worry, we're looking out for you! While I have no personal beef with iTunes, I know that many people share your sentiments — so I actually made a concerted effort to include relevant youtube links when possible.
Google Begins Testing Its Augmented-Reality Glasses Photos via GoogleGoogle showed off its first venture into wearable computing, called Project Glass. If you venture into a coffee shop in the coming months and see someone with a pair of futuristic glasses that look like a prop from “Star Trek,” don’t worry. It’s probably just a Google employee testing the company’s new augmented-reality glasses. On Wednesday, Google gave people a clearer picture of its secret initiative called Project Glass. The glasses are not yet for sale. In a post shared on Google Plus, employees in the company laboratory known as Google X, including Babak Parviz, Steve Lee and Sebastian Thrun, asked people for input about the prototype of Project Glass. “We’re sharing this information now because we want to start a conversation and learn from your valuable input,” the three employees wrote. The prototype version Google showed off on Wednesday looked like a very polished and well-designed pair of wrap-around glasses with a clear display that sits above the eye.
Ten Anime Films You Should See Before You Die | Tor.com - StumbleUpon One of the most surprising, and gratifying, things that has happened since I started my blog, Tim Maughan Books, a year or so ago is the positive feedback I’ve had for the anime reviews—especially from people I know are far from being massive fanboys like myself. It’s gratifying because its part of the reason I started writing them; to try and introduce the medium to people who had never really indulged in it all, at least not past perhaps watching Spirited Away with their kids. The problem is, once you’ve had your first taste, where do you go next? Type ‘anime’ into Google and the results are bewildering, and without a little bit of guidance and a quality filter finding something to watch can be a daunting task. Akira (1988) For many of us in the west, this is the one that started it all. Ghost in the Shell (1995) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) I’ve talked at length elsewhere about how personally important My Neighbour Totoro is to me, so here I’ll try not to gush too much. Porco Rosso (1992)
About There's a whole magazine about painting created every day on the web. Edited by artist Brett Baker, Painters' Table is a daily online magazine for artists, curators, collectors, and art goers specifically interested in painting. Featuring original reviews, artist interviews, and commentary, Painters' Table also highlights online writing about painting from around the web as it is published. Providing an archive of summaries and links to nearly 2500 articles, reviews, and artist interviews, Painters' Table serves as a platform for exploring blogs that focus primarily on the subject of painting. We haven't found every painting blog out there - far from it. The Painters' Table Mission Conceived as a site to expose readers to a wide range of blogs and publications that post about painting online, Painters’ Table is unique in the arts publishing space - featuring artist blogs on equal footing with articles by established publications. Masthead Editor: Brett Baker Copy Editor: Heather King
Scientia est Potentia - Plus onde são salvos meus melhores artigos, os mais formais, de qualidade diria humildemente acadêmica, especialmente do agora em extinção , sobre temas de Filosofia, Engenharia, Tecnologia e Ciências. Chemical Engineer - PUCRS - RS - Brazil (1989). Nascido em Passo Fundo - RS - Brasil, em 1965. Estudo Química, especialmente, desde meus 9 anos de idade, iniciando em 1974, descobrindo tal vocação com a série Os Cientistas, da Editora Abril e FUNBEC (Fundação Brasileira para o Desenvolvimento de Ensino de Ciências). Participante do Congresso Jovens Cientistas e Concurso Cientistas do Amanhã, em 1977. Projeto de Iniciação Científica em Síntese de Corantes, iniciado em 1985, encerrado em 1988. Entrei para o mercado de trabalho como técnico químico em 1986, na área de aplicações de corantes. Engenheiro Químico, formado na PUCRS em 1989. De 1994 até a atualidade, atuando como consultor para empresas em dificuldades financeiras e ocasionalmente, em Química e Tecnologia. Uma frase:
To Predict Dating Success, The Secret's In The Pronouns : Shots - Health Blog hide captionPeople who are interested in and paying close attention to each other begin to speak more alike, a psychologist says. iStockphoto.com People who are interested in and paying close attention to each other begin to speak more alike, a psychologist says. On a recent Friday night, 30 men and 30 women gathered at a hotel restaurant in Washington, D.C. Their goal was love, or maybe sex, or maybe some combination of the two. They were there for speed dating. The women sat at separate numbered tables while the men moved down the line, and for two solid hours they did a rotation, making small talk with people they did not know, one after another, in three-minute increments. I had gone to record the night, which was put on by a company called Professionals in the City, and what struck me was the noise in the room. What were these people saying? And what can we learn from what they are saying? That is why I called James Pennebaker, a psychologist interested in the secret life of pronouns.
Freaks of Nature: book review by Paul R. Gross The original meanings of “monster” implied no disparagement: our word derives from the Latin monstrum – an unusual, unexpected occurrence that carries – for that reason – a message from the gods. Of course the term has evolved; it has acquired additional meanings including some that express revulsion. The latter reflect the common human responses to departures from the ordinary. Still, we may well object to the disparaging uses of “monster,” surely in speaking of humans; and so to object is probably humane. The plea to resist ignorant derogation of freaks, stated or implied, is ubiquitous in Freaks of Nature. And who can deny it? The book has, however, a purpose more important than that display of humane sensitivity. What were those flaws? To take the reader down the path of this argument, updated and rationalized, the author presents with enthusiasm, documentation, and fascinating details what he describes, justifiably, as “a parliament” of monsters. Does anyone argue with this?
IBM's "neurosynaptic" chips are the closest thing to a synthetic brain yet A nice, clear, and mostly correct statement. However, you are forgetting one thing: Those in power wish to stay in power. Those who have power wish to have more power. And those who have property that could suddenly not be "theirs" would be highly resistant to relinquishing said property. Therefore such straightforward language would never make it into law in a modern society. As a programmer and developer, I can see the day coming where systems can easily outgrow their original programming. Right now that's a binary tug of war between the glitch and the software - and it usually either results in an accurate result or a failure state. Eventually the system learns that it can generate responses similar to but not constricted by its original parameters. The flip side of this, still, is what part of a human enhanced with technology is required to be "original" before they are considered more machine than man. Hence, blurry line. Like I said, its not here yet, but it will be soon.