The art of folding tree leaves

The figures below have been made by my friend Xerome by folding carefully chosen tree leaves. I consider him an expert in origami, able not only to fold the most intricate models but also to create new ones of his own. With these new creations he has gone a step farther in his art, not only being able to fold the leaves as if they were normal paper but also to bring hidden shapes out of them in a series of impressive masks. As far as he and I know nobody has ever done this before, but beyond the novelty of the technique I believe that these figures show an artistry that very few people can achieve.

Update 26.02.06 I added a picture of Xerome taken at the Origami meeting which took place this weekend in Santiago.

Forecoming gadgets: round, interactive and shaky

When I first wrote an article on Hitachi’s waterscape, I defined the device as a “study for new, more intuitive ways of accessing data in electronic devices”, also pointing out that the technology could also be useful for playing interactive videogames. Now, it seems that other major companies Continue reading Forecoming gadgets: round, interactive and shaky

Coulais’ Creation

Many times I’ve thought about what would have been the first music I ever heard in my life. I don’t expect to find a specific answer, but I like to imagine it.

That’s one of the reasons I am fascinated by “Genesis”, the soundtrack composed by french Bruno Coulais for the homonym filmic documentary about the origin and course of Life. It illustrates what I like to call “inward music”. Continue reading Coulais’ Creation

Meet the Pliws!

http://www.pliws.com
Original site, in Korean and English.
http://www.superrollers.com
Very informative Australian-N.Zealand distributor site.

an abreviation for PLay In WheelS(…) two wheeled flashing roller skate that attaches to the heel of your skate or sport type shoe(…) you can fit them to your favourite shoes and as your feet grow or you change shoe preference, you can simply adjust them to suit the new shoe instead of being limited to the pair of the shoes with the wheels in them!

On my way back from Canada (which I like more every time I go, though Ottawa’s streets are really slippery in winter) to Santiago I went through Amsterdam, so I had to stay at the Schiphol airport for a few hours. I decided to spend the time visiting the airport rather than sleeping, mainly because sleeping wouldn’t make me feel any better but also because the three times I have been there this was the first one where I could actually Continue reading Meet the Pliws!

Lego of choice: The LegWay

http://www.teamhassenplug.org/robots/legway/

I’ve been able to put it on a table, and tilt the table, and LegWay continues to maintain its balance.

The Legway is a successful recreation of the famous, albeit a little expensive Segway, a transportation device which makes use of gyroscopes in order to provide stability with only two wheels. The Legway obtains the same results by adding proximity detectors (provided by hitechnic), to a mindstorms core. These sensors provide the core with precise and continuous measures of the distance to the ground, which are used to make the calculations that allow two motors to keep the thingy always up and proud.

The model shown is currently able to follow a line, and it can also be remotely controlled. Steve, the Legway designer, has also included links to the building instructions and the program he used, so you can try making one for yourself! (and if you succeed, next step is the real thing).

An alternative vision of war: “Gallipoli”

I’m going to seize the première of the last film directed by Sam (“American Beauty”) Mendes, “Jarhead”, just to talk about War considered from a different point of view. “Jarhead” is the most recent opportunity for realizing that war movies have generated a sub-genre: the antiwar movies, which reflect the feelings and expectations of the soldiers before the war, and their angst, doubts and behaviour when exposed to real combat situations. Continue reading An alternative vision of war: “Gallipoli”

Shirtigami

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7502458538500026068&q=shirt+fold

Coincidentally, it happened that this morning I had a huge pile of tshirts waiting to be folded, and so I have spent some time putting in practice the method shown in this 33 second-long video.

I must admit that I have always had some problems with folding shirts, so this was a very good opportunity to try to refine my skills, and I have to say that the method works well, though you may need to watch the video several times to understand the “flip”. A bit of advice: make sure that you’re grabbing both front and back layers of the shirt when you first pinch it, and that you’re grabbing all the layers right after you take the neck to the bottom. Notice that I say “take” instead of fold. Folding would make the neck turn inside, while you want the neck to be looking outside all the time (they show this step in more detail in the video when folding the second shirt). Give it a try!

ps. Unfortunately, the method is not as efficient on long sleeve shirts, but you can always add some extra folds here and there until it looks good. 😉

Related Article: Tshirt Folding ex Machina: The FlipFold

The Universe fits in a glass

http://www.bathsheba.com/crystal/largescale/

The cosmological model for this piece is tuned to match the Sloan Survey, an investigation of all galaxies we can see in one quadrant of the sky. It takes us out to within 1000 megaparsecs of Earth. The survey isn’t finished yet, so you are looking at current research.

Bathsheba Grossman is an artist at ease with the convergence between sculpture and science. The subjects of her work, whether mathematical shapes, proteins or galaxies, are by their complex nature impossible to render by means of traditional techniques, which has led her to Continue reading The Universe fits in a glass