His Nibs

BUCKMINSTER FULLER segment on CBS Sunday Morning show

2012-02-02T02:14:00.000-05:00

Attending a weekend symposium with Bucky at the Harvard Science Center when I was 20 or 21, is still one of my life's highlights.

Anti-matter atoms to address anti-gravity question

2012-01-28T23:31:00.004-05:00

"The question of whethernormal matter's shadowy counterpart anti-matter exerts a kind of"anti-gravity" is set to be answered, according to a new report.

Normal matter attracts all other matter in the Universe, but it remains unclear if anti-matter attracts or repels it.
A team reporting in Physics Review Letters says it has prepared stable pairs of electrons and their anti-matter particles, positrons.

A beam of these pairs can be used to finally solve the anti-gravity puzzle."

Why Does Our Universe Have Three Dimensions?

2012-01-22T00:05:00.003-05:00

"Why does our universe look the way it does? In particular, why do weonly experience three spatial dimensions in our universe, whensuperstring theory, for instance, claims that there are ten dimensions -- nine spatial dimensions and a tenth dimension of time?

Japanese scientists think they may have an explanation for how athree-dimensional universe emerged from the original nine dimensions ofspace. They describe their new supercomputer calculations simulating the birth of our universe in a forthcoming paper in Physical Review Letters."

Read more here.

Gorgeous Ink Portraits Drawn on the Backs of Old Envelopes

2012-01-17T05:22:00.001-05:00

"Mark Powell, whose work we discovered over at Colossal,draws incredibly detailed, sumptuous portraits on the backs of vintageenvelopes with nothing but a regular old Bic Biro pen. These portraits,often of the elderly subjects, are drawn on the backs of vintageenvelopes, and Powell subtly incorporates remnant text, stamps, or justthe lines of folding into his work. The result is an extremelycompelling series that makes us reconsider the lost art of letterwriting — and makes us want to call our grandparents."

See more here.

The Discovery of Dolphin Language

2012-01-08T02:49:00.000-05:00

BREAKING NEWS

We Are Not Alone

The Discovery of Dolphin Language

For immediate release—November 2011

Key words: Dolphin, Cetacean, Echolocation, Cymatics, Holography, Language, CymaScope.

Researchers in the United States and Great Britain have made asignificant breakthrough in deciphering dolphin language in which aseries of eight objects have been sonically identified by dolphins.Team leader, Jack Kassewitz of SpeakDolphin.com, ‘spoke’ to dolphinswith the dolphin’s own sound picture words. Dolphins in two separateresearch centers understood the words, presenting convincing evidencethat dolphins employ a universal “sono-pictorial” language ofcommunication.
The team was able to teach the dolphins simple and complex sentencesinvolving nouns and verbs, revealing that dolphins comprehend elementsof human language, as well as having a complex visual language of theirown. Kassewitz commented, “We are beginning to understand the visualaspects of their language, for example in the identification of eightdolphin visual sounds for nouns, recorded by hydrophone as the dolphinsecholocated on a range of submersed plastic objects.”
The British member of the research team, John Stuart Reid, used aCymaScope instrument, a device that makes sound visible, to gain abetter understanding of how dolphins see with sound. He imaged a seriesof the test objects as sono-pictorially created by one of the researchdolphins.

In his bid to “speak dolphin” Jack Kassewitz of SpeakDolphin.com,based in Miami, Florida, designed an experiment in which he recordeddolphin echolocation sounds as they reflected off a range of eightsubmersed objects, including a plastic cube, a toy duck and aflowerpot. He discovered that the reflected sounds actually containsound pictures and when replayed to the dolphin in the form of a game,the dolphin was able to identify the objects with 86% accuracy,providing evidence that dolphins understand echolocation sounds aspictures. Kassewitz then drove to a different facility and replayed thesound pictures to a dolphin that had not previously experienced them.The second dolphin identified the objects with a similar high successrate, confirming that dolphins possess a sono-pictorial form ofcommunication. It has been suspected by some researchers that dolphinsemploy a sono-visual sense to ‘photograph’ (in sound) a predatorapproaching their family pod, in order to beam the picture to othermembers of their pod, alerting them of danger. In this scenario it isassumed that the picture of the predator will be perceived in themind’s eye of the other dolphins.
When Reid imaged the reflected echolocation sounds on the CymaScopeit became possible for the first time to see the sono-pictorial imagesthat the dolphin created. The resulting pictures resemble typicalultrasound images seen in hospitals. Reid explained: “When a dolphinscans an object with its high frequency sound beam, emitted in the formof short clicks, each click captures a still image, similar to a camerataking photographs. Each dolphin click is a pulse of pure sound thatbecomes modulated by the shape of the object. In other words, the pulseof reflected sound contains a semi-holographic representation of theobject. A portion of the reflected sound is collected by the dolphin’slower jaw, its mandible, where it travels through twin fat-filled‘acoustic horns’ to the dolphin’s inner ears to create thesono-pictorial image.”
The precise mechanism concerning how the sonic image is ‘read’ bythe cochleae is still unknown but the team’s present hypothesis is thateach click-pulse causes the image to momentarily manifest on thebasilar and tectorial membranes, thin sheets of tissue situated in theheart of each cochlea. Microscopic cilia connect with the tectorialmembrane and ‘read’ the shape of the imprint, creating a compositeelectrical signal representing the object’s shape. This electricalsignal travels to the brain via the cochlea nerve and is interpreted asan image. (The example in the graphic shows a flowerpot.) The teampostulates that dolphins are able to perceive stereoscopically withtheir sound imaging sense. Since the dolphin emits long trains ofclick-pulses it is believed that it has persistence of sono-pictorialperception, analogous to video playback in which a series of stillframes are viewed as moving images.
Reid said, “The CymaScope imaging technique substitutes a circularwater membrane for the dolphin's tectorial, gel-like membrane and acamera for the dolphin's brain. We image the sono-picture as itimprints on the surface tension of water, a technique we call‘bio-cymatic imaging,’ capturing the picture before it expands to theboundary. We think that something similar happens in the dolphin’scochleae where the sonic image, contained in the reflected click-pulse,travels as a surface acoustic wave along the basilar and tectorialmembranes and imprints in an area that relates to the carrier frequencyof the click-pulse. With our biocymatic imaging technique we believe wesee a similar image to that which the dolphin sees when it scans anobject with sound. In the flowerpot image the hand of the personholding it can even be seen. The images are rather fuzzy at present butwe hope to enhance the technique in future.”
Dr Horace Dobbs is Director of International Dolphin Watch and aleading authority on dolphin-assisted therapy. “I find the dolphinmechanism for sonic imaging proposed by Jack Kassewitz and John StuartReid plausible from a scientific standpoint. I have long maintainedthat dolphins have a sono-visual language so I am naturally gratifiedthat this latest research has produced a rational explanation andexperimental data to verify my conjectures. As early as 1994, in a bookI wrote for children, Dilo and the Call of the Deep, I referred toDilo's ‘Magic Sound’ as the method by which Dilo and his mother passinformation between each other using sonic imaging, not just ofexternal visual appearances, but also of internal structures andorgans.”
As a result of Reid’s bio-cymatic imaging technique Kassewitz, incollaboration with research intern Christopher Brown, of the Universityof Central Florida, is beginning to develop a new model of dolphinlanguage that they are calling Sono-Pictorial Exo-holographic Language,(SPEL). Kassewitz explained, “The ‘exo-holographic’ part of the acronymderives from the fact that the dolphin pictorial language is actuallypropagated all around the dolphin whenever one or more dolphins in thepod send or receive sono-pictures. John Stuart Reid has found that anysmall part of the dolphin’s reflected echolocation beam contains allthe data needed to recreate the image cymatically in the laboratory or,he postulates, in the dolphin’s brain. Our new model of dolphinlanguage is one in which dolphins can not only send and receivepictures of objects around them but can create entirely newsono-pictures simply by imagining what they want to communicate. It isperhaps challenging for us as humans to step outside our symbolicthought processes to truly appreciate the dolphin’s world in which, webelieve, pictorial rather than symbolic thoughts are king. Our personalbiases, beliefs, ideologies, and memories penetrate and encompass allof our communication, including our description and understanding ofsomething devoid of symbols, such as SPEL. Dolphins appear to haveleap-frogged human symbolic language and instead have evolved a form ofcommunication outside the human evolutionary path. In a sense we nowhave a ‘Rosetta Stone’ that will allow us to tap into their world in away we could not have even conceived just a year ago. The old adage, ‘apicture speaks a thousand words’ suddenly takes on a whole new meaning.”
David M. Cole, founder of the The AquaThought Foundation, a researchorganization that studied human-dolphin interaction for more than adecade said, “Kassewitz and Reid have contributed a novel model fordolphins' sonic perception, which almost certainly evolved out of thecreature's need to perceive its underwater world when vision wasinhibited. Several conventional linguistic approaches to understandingdolphin communication have dead-ended in the last 20 years so it isrefreshing to see this new and highly-nuanced paradigm being explored.”
The human capacity for language involves the acquisition and use ofa complex system of vocal sounds to which we attribute specificmeanings. Language, the relationship between sounds and meaningsevolved differently for each tribe of humans and for each nation. It isgenerally believed that the human language faculty is fundamentallydifferent from that of other species and of a much higher complexity.The development of vocal language is believed to have coincided with anincrease in brain volume. Many researchers have wondered why dolphinshave brains comparable in size with those of humans, considering thatNature creates organs according to need. The Kassewitz team’s findingssuggest the large dolphin brain is necessary for the acquisition andutilization of a sono-pictorial language that requires significantbrain mass.
Dolphins enjoy constant auditory and visual stimulation throughouttheir lives, a fact that may contribute to their hemispheric braincoordination. The dolphin’s auditory neocortical fields extend far intothe midbrain, influencing the motor areas in such a way as to allow thesmooth regulation of sound-induced motor activity as well assophisticated phonation needed for production of signature whistles andsonopictures. These advantages are powered not only by a brain that iscomparable in size to that of a human but also by a brain stemtransmission time that is considerably faster than the human brain.
Kassewitz said, “Our research has provided an answer to an age-oldquestion highlighted by Dr Jill Tarter of the SETI Institute, ‘Are wealone?’ We can now unequivocally answer, ‘no.’ SETI’s search fornon-human intelligence in outer space has been found right here onearth in the graceful form of dolphins.”

Full results of this research are available on request from Jack Kassewitz.

Jack Kassewitz: speakdolphin@mac.com
305-807-5812 - Miami, Florida
John Stuart Reid: john@sonic-age.com

Doodling in Math Class

2011-12-29T02:11:00.001-05:00

People are awesome

2011-12-22T02:38:00.000-05:00

The Giants' Jason Pierre-Paul

2011-12-18T23:37:00.002-05:00

Ink and Water Color Explosion

2011-12-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

"U.K. photographer Mark Mawson has added another impressive group of photographs to his already amazing portfolio. Entitled Aqueous Fluoreau, the series is an extension of a previous group of work similarly titled called Aqueous. Using ink and water, Mawson uses a secret technique to take these remarkable photographs that he is not sharing."

See more images here.

Oh, those wacky, wacky Germans

2011-12-18T00:11:00.002-05:00

Just Glue Some Gears On It (And Call It Steampunk)

2011-12-07T04:21:00.001-05:00

An Art Installation Sculpted by a Team of Swarming Autonomous Flying Robots

2011-12-04T01:39:00.001-05:00

My life as a turkey

2011-11-18T06:00:00.001-05:00

No, not my autobiography! Rather, one of the most fascinating nature documentaries I've ever seen, as naturalist Joe Hutto shares his story of living with wild turkeys for more than a year. Your Thanksgiving will never be the same!

Click here to see the episode from the PBS series 'Nature'.

William Shatner & State Farm® present "Eat, Fry, Love

2011-11-17T01:20:00.001-05:00

Help me! I've glued a hat to my head!

2011-11-15T06:22:00.001-05:00

Sylvester Stallone: My Pen Is Ridiculously Ugly

2011-11-12T18:49:00.001-05:00

video platform video management video solutions video player

Writing

2011-11-09T16:35:00.000-05:00

A terrific slide show and narration by Wendy Stein of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, concerning handwriting.

Link

Poor Penmanship Spells Job Security for Post Office's Scribble Specialists

2011-11-04T18:46:00.000-04:00

"A man in Emden, Mo., recently mailed a letter that he had addressed, in a scribble, to somebody in "Shelhjreille, Mo." That's the way his handwriting made it look, anyhow.

The letter was delivered the next day. Gary Oliver, a postal clerk 1,200 miles away, got it there. Mr. Oliver works in the Salt Lake City "Remote Encoding Center" of the U.S. Postal Service—a room where hundreds of clerks sit in silence, day and night, staring at America's worst-addressed envelopes."

Read the full article here.

Star Trek Enterprise Light-Up Feeding System from ThinkGeek

2011-10-20T08:44:00.002-04:00

Why oh why didn't they have this for me when I was a baby? Something to look forward to when I get too old to feed myself though!

Steve Jobs in Heaven

2011-10-16T01:32:00.001-04:00

Thank-you cards from China pose mystery for WWII vets

2011-10-16T01:26:00.000-04:00

"The postcard arrived in Ed Denzler's mailbox in Pearland last month, a mystery from his past nestled among the routine bills and coupons.

Addressed in neat block letters to Denzler, the handwritten note reads, in English: "It takes a strong man to save himself, a great man to save another. Thank you for 1944. From China."

On the front is a black-and-white photograph of U.S. and Chinese service members listening to an American with a fiddle accompany two Chinese soldiers on traditional stringed instruments called erhus

The card was mailed from China, postmarked Aug. 27, and had Chinese writing on the back that Denzler couldn't decipher."

Click here to read the rest of this fascinating story.

Painting Box -- The Incredible String Band

2011-10-15T07:07:00.002-04:00

The Crazy Ones

2011-10-06T19:14:00.000-04:00

Narrated by Steve Jobs in 1997. Never aired. R.I.P.

Shatner Rules

2011-10-04T22:41:00.000-04:00

Rolling off the 3D printing press... the world's first 'printed' car - and it actually works

2011-09-25T00:37:00.003-04:00

"The world’s first 'printed' car has finally rolled off the printing press.

The 'Urbee' was made using a special printer which built up layer upon layer of bodywork - almost as if the car was 'painted' into existence, except using layers of ultra-thin composite that are slowly 'fused' into a solid.

But unlike most 'innovations' in cars, this one won't break down after 5 years - Urbee is built to last 30. Project leader Jim Kor, told MailOnline today: 'For us, this unveiling was quite a milestone."

More photos and article here.

How Far Will Dolphins Go to Relate to Humans?

2011-09-20T23:27:00.001-04:00

A terrific NY Times article and video about the Wild Dolphin Project.

How It's Made PENCIL

2011-09-19T05:17:00.004-04:00

How It's Made Retractable Ballpoint Pens

2011-09-19T05:16:00.003-04:00

How its Made - Fountain Pens

2011-09-19T05:15:00.000-04:00

CHANGE THE WORLD. DROP OUT OF SCHOOL

2011-09-17T19:55:00.000-04:00

Follow @thnk_org
PEOPLE | When you’re super smart and want to learn – or simply don’t fit the mold – what other choice do you have? Some of the world’s greatest creative leaders didn’t have the patience to earn their degree. They dropped out, found a way to create the type of education they needed. And changed our world.

School’s not for everyone. All that linear thinking and standardized examination. Looking at the article “8 famous Harvard drop outs not named Gates or Zuckerberg”, you see an impressive list of people who just didn’t fit in, and yet made it somehow. On their own, or with some help.

Edwin Land, co-founder of Polaroid, dropped out to focus on research. In his lifetime he had registered than 500 patents and introduced the world to instant photography. Then there’s Buckminster Fuller, certainly one of the geniuses of the 20th century. He dropped out, went back, got bored and dropped out again. And went on to invent the geodesic dome.

Interestingly enough, once they’d proven themselves to the world, many of these dropouts later received honorary degrees. Not to bash Harvard, but it’s as if they wanted to claim credit retroactively for creating these innovative souls.

It’s tempting to think of what Bucky and Bill and Edwin would have been able to achieve had their education better suited their needs. Perhaps a single institution wasn’t enough – or maybe the concept “institution” is all wrong, and these famous dropouts had to drop out in order to find the various bits and pieces of education and inspiration and experimentation they needed to achieve that gut feeling we call “vision”.

Dropping out is nothing new. In fact, it seems like a good old tradition in some worlds. Back in 1962, TIME magazine’s list of famous dropouts included astronauts Scott Carpenter and John Glenn, President John F Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize winning poet Robert Frost, Nobel Prize in Literature winner, William Faulkner…

If that’s the company dropouts are keeping, count me in!

“College psychiatrists by no means disapprove of all dropouts,” the 1962 Time article says. “If dropouts lack ‘motivation,’ it may be a healthy reaction against too many rules and goals that—for them—are momentarily false.” And perhaps dropping out actually provided the motivation needed to look elsewhere for a satisfactory learning experience, and the chance to create something no one every imagined possible.

Image: Buckminster Fuller stamp issued by the US Post Office

Author: Claire Taylor
Date: September 16th, 2011

Read the article and find interesting links here.

In Case You Wondered, a Real Human Wrote This Column

2011-09-11T04:05:00.000-04:00

Business DayIn Case You Wondered, a Real Human Wrote This ColumnBy STEVE LOHRPublished: September 10, 2011Using more than a decade of research, a start-up company is taking computer-generated news articles to a more sophisticated level.Read the full article here.

In Celebration of the 45th anniversary of Star Trek

2011-09-09T02:08:00.001-04:00

Which was yesterday, the 8th of September!

From Scroll to Screen

2011-09-06T01:47:00.000-04:00

BOOKS
From Scroll to Screen
By LEV GROSSMAN
Published: September 2, 2011
Centuries before e-books changed the way people read, the codex replaced the scroll.

Click the title to read the article

2011-08-25T04:10:00.000-04:00

This guy is a riot. I read about his slingshot channel in this month's issue of 'Wired'. Here's one to get you started:

I remember my father making me a 'machine gun' slingshot when I was a boy. It only fired one rubberband at a time, but it looked like a machine gun, including a removable 'clip'. :-) I wish I'd kept it!

Snail Mail My Email

2011-08-10T01:52:00.000-04:00

This project only runs until August 15th.

BBC News - Japan tsunami battered ice shelf in Antarctic

2011-08-10T01:41:00.000-04:00

BBC News - Japan tsunami battered ice shelf in Antarctic

Fountain of imagination and joy in the hand - Opinion - Editorial - General - The Canberra Times

2011-08-08T23:47:00.000-04:00

File photo: Getty

"It's true that fountain pens are anachronistic: relics of an age before television and radio, let alone internet and mobile phones. Moreover, they have acquired a certain status. For my parents' generation, they evoke ink-spills, exercise books and schoolroom whippings. Nowadays, they are a mark of wealth or style, particularly if they are topped by Mont Blanc's white snowflake. But my pen is not primarily a status symbol. It is a simple, useful tool..."

Click the title to read the rest of the editorial

When Data Disappears

2011-08-08T03:13:00.000-04:00

When Data Disappears
By KARI KRAUS
Published: August 6, 2011
To avoid a “digital dark age,” we have to rethink preservation.

LAST spring, the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas acquired the papers of Bruce Sterling, a renowned science fiction writer and futurist. But not a single floppy disk or CD-ROM was included among his notes and manuscripts. When pressed to explain why, the prophet of high-tech said digital preservation was doomed to fail. “There are forms of media which are just inherently unstable,” he said, “and the attempt to stabilize them is like the attempt to go out and stabilize the corkboard at the laundromat.”

Click title to read full article

Handwriting in the Digital Age

2011-07-29T01:51:00.000-04:00

A very interesting radio interview on the subject! Just click on the title above to go to the webpage, then click on 'Listen'.

A little of the Bard

2011-07-23T23:00:00.002-04:00

Yafa New Building Opening and Speech

2011-07-14T19:46:00.000-04:00

YAFA is the parent company of Monteverde and Conklin pens, as well as the distributor for Delta and Stipula from Italy.

If we're not careful, our children will soon be signing their names with an X

2011-07-14T19:11:00.000-04:00

Nearly the whole of the US has stopped teaching joined-up writing in schools. Soon we will be doing the same here

by Michele Hanson
guardian.co.uk

"It is time to panic. Another US state, Indiana, can't be fagged to teach joined-up writing in its primary schools. US core standards say it doesn't have to, so it isn't going to. It is the 42nd state to give up on joined-up writing and concentrate on keyboard skills. That is nearly the whole of the US, and if it is doing it, you can bet your life we will soon be doing it – which means the end of civilisation as we know it. In my opinion.

It will be goodbye to improved hand-eye co-ordination, individuality, personal touch, diaries, thank-you and love letters, fine motor control, communication with anyone who isn't glued to a screen, and pretty gorgeous italic handwriting such as mine.

"You're past your sell-by date," says Fielding rudely. "We've moved on. You're flogging a dead duck."

No I am not. Even Rosemary agrees. She is thrilled when a handwritten letter plops through the letter box. "But I'm not expecting them to go back to dip-pens, inkwells and blotting paper," says she. "They can use ballpoint pens." How moderate she is. Ballpoint pen-writing doesn't look half as lovely, and has no character. Were I in charge, I'd have fountain pens with levers, and half-an-hour compulsory joined-up practice a day in all junior schools, otherwise, before we know it, they'll all be signing their names with an X, and it will be only e-birthday and Christmas cards, so you won't be able to put them on your mantelpiece. Don't ever send me an e-card, anybody, thank you very much.

Not that I don't appreciate technology. It is bliss to be able to cut, paste, copy, scan, send and all the rest of it in a millisecond, but we need both. Old and new, otherwise one day, when all the power goes, or some crazed hyper-blogger manages to cock-up the whole system and everything ever written on screens dwiddles off into the ether, I and all the others you techno-people have dismissed as nostalgic wets stuck in the dark ages, will be proved right, and we'll be out in what's left of the streets, writing our memoirs by hand and shouting: "I TOLD YOU SO."

Journey through life

2011-07-12T19:54:00.000-04:00

Flash Mob at Cape Cod Stop and Shop - Spirit of America

2011-07-11T04:10:00.001-04:00

A belated Happy 4th of July!

Freedom Pen project lets Thompson honor soldiers, remember son

2011-07-07T04:41:00.000-04:00

Freedom Pen project from Mankato Free Press on Vimeo.

Read more about Mr. Thompson's project by clicking on the title bar above.

Singing Bird Pistols

2011-07-06T04:41:00.000-04:00

I knew I was missing something in my collecting life!

Porcelain Unicorn

2011-07-05T22:12:00.001-04:00

Click the title bar to go to film's website

Bill Cosby brings Fountain Pen Hospital to Letterman

2011-06-30T22:59:00.000-04:00

Vulcan lassitude

2011-06-22T23:10:00.001-04:00

A commercial that sucks you in!

2011-06-13T23:24:00.002-04:00

Dirt Devil-The Exorcist from MrPrice2U on Vimeo.

Korea's Got Talent

2011-06-08T02:09:00.001-04:00

Show Your Thanks to World War II Vets by Watching This 2-min Video

2011-05-27T23:28:00.000-04:00

My father Alan -- like many veterans -- never talked about WWII, except for one or two humorous incidents. Passing away at age 63, he was decades from being able to visit the memorial. My godfather George however, still meets regularly with his buddies from the the 10th Mountain Division. I was named Norman after a mutual friend of my father and godfather -- who died while serving in Italy during the war.

Watch the video here.

Bob Dylan: To my fans and followers

2011-05-15T00:43:00.000-04:00

Bob Dylan has written a letter to his fans (first one I recall in his almost 70 years), about the 'controversy' surrounding his trip to China and the reports that he accepted censorship of some of his songs. Read it here.

Loosening China’s Grip on Table Tennis

2011-05-14T23:13:00.000-04:00

By DANIEL KRIEGER
Published: May 13, 2011
As players of Chinese ethnicity continue to dominate, the sport’s governing body recently changed its rules to make it harder for players to represent other countries after relocating.

It's always good to see coverage of table tennis. There are lots of familiar names in this article for me, including David Zhuang, who was my coach prior to the '92 Paralympic Games.

The Power of Words

2011-05-04T04:25:00.002-04:00

Did you ever build something with toothpicks?

2011-05-04T04:12:00.002-04:00

Scott Weaver's Rolling through the Bay from Learning Studio on Vimeo.

Cat and dolphins playing together

2011-05-02T02:29:00.003-04:00

No embedded player with this video, just click here.

Weathering a Midlife Crisis In the Haunts of Table Tennis

2011-04-17T04:02:00.000-04:00

As part of a midlife crisis last April, Bob Eckstein embarked on a tour of New York City’s table tennis haunts, seeking to build street cred and finally master the game.

Click the title to read the NY Times article.

The author mentions taking lessons from 'The Chief', George Braithwaite, who had been a member of the U.S. delegation to China -- part of 'Ping Pong' diplomacy instigated during the Nixon administration.

I also had the pleasure of playing with the ageless Braithwaite, who was my first coach's (Sam Hammond of Ghana) practice partner back in the '70s. You can read a bit more about that if interested here.

The Mirrors Project

2011-04-15T00:04:00.000-04:00

What simple, yet really terrific idea. I've contributed -- hope you will too.

China to build racket-shaped hotel

2011-04-10T23:12:00.000-04:00

'The design idea is from ping-pong. An erected ping-pong racket has a perfect architectural shape for a hotel,' said Jin Chang, director with Huainan Municipal Bureau of Sports. -- PHOTO: CHINA DAILY

CHINA - A 150M TALL hotel designed in the shape of a ping-pong racket will be built in Huainan city, East China's Anhui province, as part of a complex to tap the wealth of the sports industry.

The hotel, located in a planned Olympic park covering an area of over 67 hectares, has an estimated investment of 300 million yuan (S$58 million). It will feature three parts, the top designed for sight-seeing, the middle will house guest rooms, and bottom used for conference facilities.

'The design idea is from ping-pong. An erected ping-pong racket has a perfect architectural shape for a hotel,' said Jin Chang, director with Huainan Municipal Bureau of Sports.

The buildings were all designed by Mei Jikui, a renowned architect for sports structures. Supporting facilities such as a swimming pool are also included in the plans.

How about Sulu as Spiderman?

2011-04-07T02:13:00.002-04:00

F.B.I. Seeks Help Cracking Code in Victim’s Notes

2011-04-03T01:04:00.000-04:00

By TIMOTHY WILLIAMS
Published: March 31, 2011
The F.B.I. is asking for the public’s help in deciphering two encrypted notes found on a man who was killed in 1999.

Isabel Behncke: Evolution's gift of play, from bonobo apes to humans

2011-03-22T18:04:00.000-04:00

An hour with Buckminster Fuller

2011-03-20T22:57:00.001-04:00

Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion car lives again

2011-03-19T06:28:00.003-04:00

Architect Norman Foster recreates Bucky's Dymaxion car from the 1930's.

Lord Foster's Dymaxion Car from Metropolis magazine on Vimeo.

"What inspired you to recreate Bucky’s famous Dymaxion Car?

Bucky is never far from my thoughts. We collaborated on projects for the last twelve years of his life. When I was awarded the Royal Guild Gold medal in London, he gave the talk. At that point we had decided to do houses for each other. So he came over and we talked about the project. He gave the talk and then he left for America, off to see his terminally ill wife, Ann, in the hospital. On arrival, he had a fatal heart attack at her bedside and she died thirty six hours later. Curiously, on that trip to England, he said to me, “You know, Norman, anytime, I can pull the plug.” I guess that’s when he pulled the plug. He got there and realized that his wife wasn’t going to recover."

Click the title bar to read the full interview with Norman Foster

Jimmy Fallon channels Dylan

2011-03-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

High School Memory Champs

2011-03-10T03:49:00.000-05:00

What's in Spock's Scanner?

2011-03-09T21:43:00.000-05:00

Captain Kirk wakes up shuttle crew

2011-03-09T00:40:00.000-05:00

Captain Kirk wakes up shuttle crew: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

An early Father's Day video

2011-02-23T02:19:00.000-05:00

"Family Man" from Trevor Little on Vimeo.

Watson on Jeopardy

2011-02-16T03:57:00.000-05:00

Very impressive -- until Tuesday night's Final Jeopardy answer! Since when is Toronto a U.S. city?

Watch the full episode. See more NOVA.

An interesting use of space

2011-02-13T00:05:00.000-05:00

Gas explosion in Allentown

2011-02-11T23:14:00.000-05:00

Although we didn't realize the cause until the next day, our power went out for about 10 seconds at the time of the explosion. It took place on 13th Street, and we're near 26th.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Heather Knight: Silicon-based comedy

2011-01-25T23:09:00.000-05:00

National Archives Discovers Date Change on Lincoln Record

2011-01-25T22:45:00.000-05:00

"Washington, DC…Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero announced today that Thomas Lowry, a long-time Lincoln researcher from Woodbridge, VA, confessed on January 12, 2011, to altering an Abraham Lincoln Presidential pardon that is part of the permanent records of the U.S. National Archives. The pardon was for Patrick Murphy, a Civil War soldier in the Union Army who was court-martialed for desertion.

Lowry admitted to changing the date of Murphy’s pardon, written in Lincoln’s hand, from April 14, 1864, to April 14, 1865, the day John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. Having changed the year from 1864 to 1865, Lowry was then able to claim that this pardon was of significant historical relevance because it could be considered one of, if not the final official act by President Lincoln before his assassination....

Against National Archives regulations, Lowry brought a fountain pen into a National Archives research room where, using fadeproof, pigment-based ink, he altered the date of the Murphy pardon in order to change its historical significance."

Click the title bar to see a video and photos of the alteration

Evolving fractals

2011-01-25T20:23:00.000-05:00

Surface detail from subBlue on Vimeo.

A Farewell to Handwriting?

2011-01-23T23:01:00.000-05:00

Active Camouflage System Uses E-Ink to Make Tanks Invisible on the Battlefield

2011-01-19T03:28:00.000-05:00

"Tank camouflage has come a long way since the good old days of painting them green and slapping a white star on the side. British defense tech firm BAE Systems is developing an active “e-camouflage” system that will employ a form of electronic ink to project imagery of a vehicles surrounding terrain, rendering the vehicle somewhat invisible to potential attackers."

Click the title bar to read the entire article

NoteTaker digital pen

2011-01-03T23:49:00.000-05:00

Vivian Maier, photographer

2010-12-26T23:01:00.000-05:00

We learn the amazing story of Vivian Maier, a Chicago nanny who took more than 100,000 photos during her lifetime but never showed them to anyone. Now that she's gone and her photos have been discovered, some say she may rank among the top street photographers of the 20th century.

Samuel Sevian, 9, is youngest US national chess master

2010-12-24T17:17:00.000-05:00

America on Wheels in Allentown

2010-12-22T14:45:00.000-05:00

View more news videos at: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/video.

Have you wrapped your cat yet?

2010-12-22T14:38:00.002-05:00

Remix a Classic Bob Dylan Track With Your Own Music [APPS]

2010-12-22T14:19:00.000-05:00

Remix a Classic Bob Dylan Track With Your Own Music [APPS]

Sony’s giving users a chance to perform a remix of the classic “Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Bob Dylan, and whoever does the best job of re-creating the song wins a trip to South by Southwest in Austin in March.

Each of Dylan’s recorded tracks are separated for your mixing pleasure. Individual Dylan vocals, drums, electric guitar and bass lines, along with dozens of other tracks performed by various artists, can all be mixed together for a unique result.

The World: The last 200 years

2010-12-07T00:04:00.000-05:00

Hans Rosling's famous lectures combine enormous quantities of public data with a sport's commentator's style to reveal the story of the world's past, present and future development. Now he explores stats in a way he has never done before - using augmented reality animation. In this spectacular section of 'The Joy of Stats' he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers - in just four minutes. Plotting life expectancy against income for every country since 1810, Hans shows how the world we live in is radically different from the world most of us imagine.

William Shatner on William Shatner

2010-12-05T22:46:00.000-05:00

A modern use of pen, ink and notebook

2010-11-26T03:02:00.000-05:00

Save the Words

2010-11-21T05:33:00.000-05:00

Here's your chance to adopt your very own word -- before it's gone forever! :-)

A very neat site.

Quoting from Kim Komando's website, that alerted me to this site:

"Today's Cool Site aims to keep our language alive. Appropriately, it is called Save the Words. It features a list of words being retired by the Oxford English Dictionary.
You can click on words to find out what they mean. If you like a word, you can "adopt" it. You're simply committing to use the word often.

Adoption does require a free registration. But you don't need to register to use a word, of course. Feel free to use or adopt as many words as you want.

Hopefully, the words you adopt will become celeberrimous (highly celebrated) and noscible (well-known) again!"

Click on the title bar to go to the website

Remember this one?

2010-11-20T05:43:00.000-05:00

Perhaps the best Twilight Episode of all. Here's the ending.

Big Interest in Tiny Cars

2010-11-16T01:00:00.000-05:00

Bob Dylan at Stabler Arena

2010-11-14T14:58:00.000-05:00


My ticket stub

The reviewer from the Morning Call newspaper sums it up well:

mcall.com
Bob Dylan shows Stabler a whoppin' good time
Veteran rocker delivers a near masterpiece

By John J. Moser, OF THE MORNING CALL

8:14 PM EST, November 13, 2010
Advertisement

The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.

The question is what made Bob Dylan, at 69 years old and having muddled through a mediocre show last summer at Allentown's Coca-Cola Park, put on a performance Friday at Bethlehem's Stabler Arena that was vital and exciting — a near masterpiece that was far better than anyone had a right to expect?

For 103 minutes, Dylan became an animated performer, broadly and intently gesturing as he stood at a microphone in front of the stage and sang — really sang, infusing his vocals with texture and emotion.

Or dancing as he added inspired flourishes on his keyboard. Or playing rich, inviting harmonica.

Dylan's five-piece backing band, again being led by guitar whiz Charlie Sexton, was just as good — crackling and tight, urgent and intuitive.

It wasn't that Dylan — playing his sixth show at Stabler; a record for the venue — changed his set that much from last year's show. Eight of Friday's 16 songs also were played at Coca-Cola Park. He simply played them much better.

Such was the case on the opening "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat," with which he also opened last year. In a wide-brimmed white hat, he twisted his shoulders and kicked his legs as he played keyboards; his singing and phrasing were animated.

And he only got better as he went along. He strapped on his guitar for a jaunty "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" and croaked and growled the lyrics, sometimes spitting out the words as he and Sexton — playing his guitar like a gunslinger or from his knees — dueled to a hootchie-cootchie finish.

The band was wonderfully expressive on "Just Like a Woman," and Dylan was at his playful best, pausing during each chorus to let the audience sing "just like a woman" before he did. He played his keyboard like a carousel calliope as Donnie Herron accompanied him on lap steel guitar.

Dylan played lead guitar and sang so well on "Simple Twist of Fate" that the audience spontaneously broke into applause mid-song.

And his singing was exceptional — that's a compliment you don't hear much these days — on "Summer Days." His voice reached high — also something you don't hear — to complement his keyboard playing.

But the highlight was "Tangled Up in Blue." In a spotlight at the front of the stage, Dylan performed his mid-career masterpiece as well as he ever has. He transformed it from a young man's searching to the studying, understanding and regret that comes with age.

But that was only the mid-point of the show. He followed with a nine-minute churning, burning, steamrolling "Highway 61 Revisited," yelling the lyrics and duck-walking at the piano.

And Dylan's voice was again wonderful on a shuffling, tender "Working Man Blues #2." As he sang, he pointed to the audience, reached out his hand like a carnival barker, or sang open-armed.

The requisite closer, "Like a Rolling Stone," was, of course, wonderful — both beat-heavy and chiming; Sexton's guitar swirling amid Dylan playing the familiar keyboard riff. It, too, became less a tale of spite and revenge than Dylan imparting knowledge: more knowing, less hurt, acceptance replacing bitterness.

Dylan went nearly the entire night without speaking to the mixed-age crowd of more than 3,000 people, finally saying, "Well, thank you," before the encore and playfully introducing his band members.

But throughout the night, his music spoke volumes to the people in the crowd. And they clearly understood – not just the songs' meanings, but that they were seeing something special at Stabler.

During yet another wonderfully voiced song, "Spirit on the Water," in mid-show, Dylan sang, "You think I'm over the hill."

"No!" the crowd roared back.

"Think I'm past my prime/Let me see what you got/We can have a whoppin' good time."

Friday was, indeed, a whopping good time. As good as you'll ever see Bob Dylan.

Copyright © 2010, The Morning Call

The Desk

2010-10-31T21:30:00.000-04:00

Desk - Music and Sound Design from Aaron Trinder Film:Motion:Music on Vimeo.

Dick Miles, Record-Setting U.S. Table Tennis Player, Dies at 85

2010-10-24T02:25:00.000-04:00

By BRUCE WEBER

Published: October 23, 2010

Miles had a powerful forehand and exceptional defensive skills, which helped him win a record-setting 10 national championships.

Dick Miles, right, with Erwin Kline in 1961. Miles was known for his strong forehand stroke.

One of the real greats in my sport. Click the title above to read the NY Times article.

Chess sets for the Jet Set

2010-10-20T02:49:00.000-04:00

One of several terrific chess sets shown at the title link. This one uses the New York skyline as its inspiration.

iPhone or Android?

2010-10-11T20:41:00.000-04:00

I've been going back and forth about which Smartphone to get. I kind of like this Android one:

10.10.10 -- Spaceship 2 (Enterprise) first glide flight

2010-10-11T20:23:00.000-04:00

The President Speaks: Hear Obama Describe What Happened When Bob Dylan and Paul McCartney Performed at the White House

2010-10-09T19:56:00.000-04:00

New archaeological discovery!

2010-10-08T19:56:00.000-04:00

How Handwriting Trains the Brain

2010-10-06T02:28:00.000-04:00

Click the title to read the WSJ article

Star Trek pizza cutter

2010-09-22T16:13:00.002-04:00

Finally! Two of my favorite things, brought together!