THE BLACK KEYS TONIGHT

Tonight live in Chinatown, L.A.

IN THE PANCHINE - NON SIAMO NIENTE by BRANDO DE SICA

I want to share this music video directed by my dear friend Brando De Sica for his old time musician friends : In The Panchine. Everything has been done in the rush of the moment, while spending a weekend together in Amsterdam. Brando, was also inspired by a painting done by one of the singers of the band. The same one that appears at the end of the video. Hope you'll enjoy it!

IMAGINARY ROAD TO NOWHERE

If you’re in Sydney from now till October 23, 2011, make sure to walk around town and take in all the art! Art & About Sydney is the city’s annual public arts festival that’s basically like one big, open-air art gallery. Projects by Australian and international artists are creatively re-imagining the streets, turning the city into a giant canvas.

One standout is Deconstructing Ways by Isidro Blasco. It’s a crazy optical illusion that makes you think you’re looking down an actual, albeit colorful, street!
Thanks to: FeelDesein.com

CARLY WAITO: PERFECT OMAGE TO NATURAL BEAUTY

Beyond simple imitation, Carly Waito’s reproductions imbue further worth to objects that are naturally perfect: where each specimen inherently exudes an aura, Waito has both reiterated and enhanced it. The result is a reverent homage to nature’s marvel, the faculty of humankind and the unconditional value of their synergy. Through curating minerals, photographing them in macroscopic detail and rendering them in oil paints, Waito employs a layered process highlighting the ties between mimesis and levels of value.

JAPAN TODAY.

OUR DREAMS CAN BECOME DVDS

UC Berkeley scientists have developed a system to capture visual activity in human brains and reconstruct it as digital video clips. Eventually, this process will allow you to record and reconstruct your own dreams on a computer screen. According to Professor Jack Gallant—UC Berkeley neuroscientist and coauthor of the research published today in the journal Current Biology—"this is a major leap toward reconstructing internal imagery. We are opening a window into the movies in our minds."

Imagine that. Capturing your visual memories, your dreams, the wild ramblings of your imagination into a video that you and others can watch with your own eyes.

This is the first time in history that we have been able to decode brain activity and reconstruct motion pictures in a computer screen. The path that this research opens boggles the mind. Thanks to: Gizmodo.com

POSSIBLE ANSWERS TO POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

THE 2 SUNS

A word of caution for any Earthlings hoping to glimpse a double sunset though: you'd need to travel 200 light years first, and once you got there, you wouldn't be able to stand on the planet itself – it is gaseous.

At the heart of the newly discovered binary solar system, an orange star and a smaller red one orbit each other every 41 days, separated by about half the distance between Mercury and the sun. The orange dwarf and its red-dwarf partner have 69 and 20 per cent of the sun's mass, respectively.

The clues that the planet is there were picked up by NASA's Kepler space telescope. It detected tiny dips in brightness due to the planet occasionally passing in front of each star and blocking some of its light, reports a team led by Laurance Doyle of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. The planet traces out an orbit that is close to circular with the twin suns approximately at its centre.

LIVING ROBOTIC CELLS. ARE WE SURE?

 

Because there's absolutely no point, scientists have managed to create 'living' cells out of metals. Why? I JUST TOLD YOU, THERE'S NO REASON. 

To prove that it's at least physically possible, a team from the University of Glasgow has created some cell-like bubbles call iCHELLs out of metallic elements like tungsten bonded with oxygen and phosphorus. These bubbles can self-assemble, and they exhibit many of the same properties that allow biological cells to do what they do, including an internal structure and a selectively porous outer membrane that can let other molecules pass through. It may even be possible to set the metallic cells up to perform photosynthesis.
The tricky bit at this point is to figure out how to imbue the metallic cells with something like DNA to allow them to self-replicate and evolve, but this may in fact be possible: the bubbles can use each other as templates to create more bubbles, and experiments suggest that they may even be able to alter their own chemistry to adapt to different environments.

Yeah, so in the process of proving inorganic life could evolve somewhere, we're gonna wind up making some sort of sentient robotic race. That...sounds wonderful, really. Hold on, my gun just told me he wanted to talk to me.
THANKS TO: GEEKOLOGIE

10 WAYS THE NEXT 10 YEARS ARE GOING TO BE MINDBLOWING!

 

We are living in an extremely exciting time in terms of science and technology. Things that have always been considered science fiction are becoming normal day-to-day components of our lives. And while we have been seeing invention after breakthrough over and over in the last couple of decades, this next ten years is going to blow everything else out of the water.
The awesome thing about all these scientific discoveries it that they create technology that allows us to make more breakthroughs even faster. Our ability to innovate is increasing exponentially as the years go by. To give you an idea of the magnitude of this reality, here are 10 amazing innovations to different sectors of life. They should give you a pretty good idea of what changes will be made by 2020.

1) Bio Technology

 

It doesn’t let you crush rocks like you would think, BUT it does allow people without fingers to have fully functional hands that can pick up and handle delicate objects. It is completely controlled by the brain and requires no surgery. Touch Bionics, the company the produces the Pro Digits hand, is able to install the hand complete with “living skin,” a plastic covering resembling human skin, for under $50,000. A small price to pay for a new hand I think.

2) Architecture

 

Revolving Tower in Dubai: While Dubai is currently known for it’s ridiculous extravagance, developers in the region are building a tower that has fancy and extremely practical applications.This beautiful building is going to be made of 59 independently rotating modules/floors so that inhabitants will have a constantly shifting view of the outside world. Each floor will rotate at approximately 6 meters per minute so that the inhabitants will not notice the movement. The independent rotations will also give the building an ever-changing exterior that can warp into very complex designs.All of that aesthetic stuff is great and all, but the real innovation comes from the wind turbines built in between each floor. The resulting pollution-free energy will be enough to power the tower and several buildings in the surrounding area. Just Wow.

3) Computer Speed, Size and Usability

Most people tech-nerds know of Moore’s Law from 1965 (the number of transistors we are able to cheaply put in computer chips doubles every year, thereby doubling the speed).  However, most people don’t know that Moore, himself, came out and said his law will most likely fail finally in 2020 where the number of transistors we can put on chips will be limited by the laws of physics. Does this mean the exponential rise in computer processing speed will come to a halt in ten years?
Not a chance, says Jim Tully, chief of research for semi-conductors at Gartner. “The technology which will replace this is a bottom-up approach, where chips will be assembled using individual atoms or molecules, a type of nanotechnology.”
Ray Kurzweil, a well-respected Futurist, stated in 2008 that when this molecular computing technology comes out in 2020, computers will have the intellectual capability of human beings. You might want to digest that for a minute before moving onto the next section.

Size and Usability

That Macbook Air is pretty damn thin. So thin, in fact, that it makes you wonder if physical computers will even exist in 2020. Well according to developers at Intel, the keyboard and mouse surely won’t. Who needs QWERTY when you can control a computer with your mind?
“We’re trying to prove you can do interesting things with brain waves,” said Intel researcher Dean Pomerleau. “Eventually people may be willing to be more committed … to brain implants. Imagine being able to surf the Web with the power of your thoughts.”
Pomerleau and countless research groups around the world are working with brain scanning devices to map blood flow in the brain. They have found that when different individual focus on the same image, they have very similar patterns of blood flow in their brains. For example, one British group announced that they could discern where subjects where in a computer generated virtual environment by looking at where blood flowed in their brains.

4) Cars and Fuel

There are tons of different fuel-types for the “automobiles of tomorrow” but the only kind that seems to have any realistic chance of actually being used by the masses in the next ten years is electric. We still can’t figure out how to make hydrogen fuel cells efficient, safe and practical and hybrids/deisal cars are yesterday’s news. Fossil fuels are so 2009…

This is the Tesla Model S sedan that will be coming out in 2011 for the modest price of $57,000 (very good for a luxury, electric car).
Besides the sexy curves, you get 160, 230 or 300 miles per charge depending on the battery size you choose. And another small detail, it goes from 0 to 60 mph in 5.5 seconds while seating 7 people.
So despite all of the automaker’s best attempts at making alternative-fuel cars so hideous that no one would ever buy them, it looks like market competition will soon push some very attractive and efficient cars onto the market.

5) How We Interact With the World

The way in which we interact with the outside world has changed SO much since the introduction of the internet, smart phones, etc. In the very near future, another huge jump will be made: integrating the information on the internet with our surroundings.
By that I mean being able to look at a building, product or place and immediately seeing information about the subject on our devices and eventually just with our eyes.
If you’re still confused as to what I mean, check out the earliest innovation of this concept, Goggles by Google. This app allows you to take a picture of whatever you are looking at and instantly receive info about it on your Android phone.
Like the video says, Goggle is only scratching at the surface of this technology. Kurzweil says that “By 2020 we’ll routinely have pop ups in our visual field of view that give us background about the people and places that we’re looking at.” Your memory and the vast information bank of the internet will be one at all times.
Until we can do this with a chip in our brain, a new device has come out that overlays video onto our normal vision using special glasses. It’s called the Vuzix display Wrap 920AR and it goes on sale soon for around $800.

6) Energy

Solar energy will soon leave fossil fuels and inefficient wind farms in the dust. According to Kurzweil, “the cost per watt of solar energy is coming down rapidly and the total amount of solar energy is growing exponentially. It has in fact been doubling every two years for the past  20 years and is now only eight doublings away from meeting all of the world’s energy needs.”
Emerging technology from a company called Sandia is making the reality that much closer:

Sandia’s solar cells are made of 100 times less material than the current top solar cells while operating at the same efficiency. Since the biggest hurdle in the path of solar power is the expensive and large nature of solar panels, these new microscopic cells will make a huge difference. For example, current panels are massive and require large motors to move them to track the sun. Sandia’s cells, on the other hand, would only need to be moved a fraction of a millimeter to track the sun efficiently while weighing next to nothing.
Even more amazing, they can be suspended in liquids and printed on flexible materials, allowing the cells to be places on any surface. What if your entire car was covered in these powerhouses? Bye bye, Chevron.

7) Health

While we still can’t cure the common cold, custom-made organs are just around the corner.

A company called Organovo has developed the first commercial 3-D bio printer that builds custom organs cell-by-cell. Each individual cell is based upon sample cells from the body of the customer. Organovo reports that veins and arteries will be available in 5 years, and more complex organs like hearts and livers in 10.
On a more general note, nanotechnology is revolutionizing the health world. The awesome combination of a higher understanding of how DNA works and the ability to create very small cellular parts is painting a very bright future for medicine.
Scientists are finding specific sequences of DNA that code for conditions like schizophrenia, autism and even aging. The cures are actually in sight.

8) Success and Popularity Accessibility

By that, I mean the ability of a Joe Nobody to come from nowhere and suddenly gain recognition and become a well known someone. The internet has been continually leveling the playing field so that you don’t need million in capital or marketing to get your ideas, creations and business into the spotlight.
10 year-olds are making thousands off their viral YouTube videos. Anyone with a business idea can start a website and get going for little to no capital. Even Twitter (which I am not a big fan of) can launch people into the spotlight if they can work the system in the right way.
Many people are getting huge jobs because companies are seeing how well their content does on the web. For example, Fede Alvarez, a director from Uruguay, recently had this short film go viral and was offered $30 million from a Hollywood company to direct a film for them.
The internet is the perfect tool for capitalism, entrepreneurship, and dreaming. Whatever you can dream up, you can make possible on the World Wide Web.

9) Robots

The first decade of the 21st century has been a remarkable time for innovation in robotics. While we’re still far away from having bots helping around the house or doing our construction, big strides have been made towards that future.
Recently a robot was able to teach itself human facial expressions by randomly contorting its face and receiving feedback on what resembled real expressions.
Here’s another robot called BigDog that came out a couple of years ago, but if you haven’t seen the video, you really should. It’s a 4-legged robot that can navigate difficult terrain and correct its balance when shoved. If you can’t watch the whole video, at least fast-forward to 1:50 where the robot can be seen running and jumping.
And finally here is the bipedal version of BigDog that walks heel-to-toe just like humans do. Again, it can regain balance when shoved.

10) ClothinG

- Nano-fibres will make garments tremendously more comfortable and durable. “By this process the textile products can be made more attractive, strong and responsive to customers’ choice.”

Fiber-based nanogenerators will build up electrical energy in clothing from physical movement, ultrasonic waves and even blood flow. “If we can combine many of these fibers in double or triple layers in clothing, we could provide a flexible, foldable and wearable power source that, for example, would allow people to generate their own electrical current while walking.”
- Extremely hydrophobic (water-resistant) nanofilaments allow for completely waterproof clothing. It can be submerged in water for two months and still remain dry to the touch. “The water comes to rest on the top of the nanofilaments like a fakir sitting on a bed of nails.” (Whatever that means…)

"FREAKS" by TOD BROWNING (1932)

PAUL LAFFOLEY, THE HUMAN ARCHITECT

American artist and architect Paul Laffoley’s work is usually classified as visionary art or outsider art: most of his pieces are painted on large canvases and combine words and imagery to depict a spiritual architecture of explanation, tackling concepts like dimensionality, time travel through hacking relativity, connecting conceptual threads shared by philosophers through the millennia, and theories about the cosmic origins of mankind.

THANKS TO : "BEAUTIFUL DECAY".

ALEXEI POPOGREBSKY PLAYS WITH SPACE

BLOODROP (HD 2D) from Alexei Popogrebsky on Vimeo.

ISN'T IT A WONDERFUL WONDERFUL WORLD?

X RATED ALICE IN WONDERLAND: A VINTAGE PORNO MUSICAL!

SUPER EARTH IN CROWDED MILKY WAY

Whispers that the Milky Way is filled with planets have turned into a roar. Earlier this week, astronomers announced the discovery of 600 more exoplanet candidates, including one "super-Earth" which may be habitable.

The news strengthens many astronomers' suspicions that habitable planets are common and that more exciting discoveries are likely as better telescopes become available.

Called a super-Earth because it is only 3.6 times more massive than Earth and possibly rocky rather than gaseous, it resides in a 58-day orbit on the inner edge of its orange star's habitable zone. If protected by a thick, cloudy atmosphere, it could have liquid water on its surface. Called HD 85512b, the exoplanet is only the second small world to be found inside a habitable zone and lies just 36 light years away in the constellation of Vela. That is close enough for future telescopes to scour it for signs of life.

Planet-hunters announced their latest finds this week at the Extreme Solar Systems II conference in Moran, Wyoming. A ground-based telescope in Chile discovered 55 of these planets, including HD 85512b, using an instrument called the High Accuracy Radial Velocity Planets Searcher (HARPS). NASA's Kepler space telescope spotted the others, mostly much further away.

While the HARPS team monitors nearby stars for telltale wobbles caused by orbiting planets, Kepler scientists search a wide field of faraway stars, watching for planets that become silhouetted against their suns. The technique yields many candidates but confirmation is difficult over such great distances.

OLEG DOU. AWESOMLY CREEPY

 

ABOUT OLEG:

“Being electrocuted when I was two years old is the first thing I remember.”

“I like having a tradition and seeing how it can work with modern material, how it can translate into new ideas.”

“I want to concoct a situation that happens, for example, in European films: there doesn’t seem to be a specific message, but the situation plays with our head and makes us ask ourselves questions like ‘what is this’ and ‘what is this for?”

“I find it extremely important to do what I do ‘beautifully’; not for beauty itself, per se, but more so as a tool that makes my ideas both interesting and workable.
“I am looking for something bordering between the beautiful and the repulsive, living and dead. I want to attain the feeling of presence one can get when walking by a plastic manikin…”

ARCHITECTURE FROM THE FUTURE

Featured in swiss architectural magazine Hochparterre’s “Raumtraum” section, these visualizations of future architectures search for the accidental in computer driven manufacturing processes.

Based on iconic housing shapes, these buildings were intended as prototypes for mass-customization. Yet, as things go with computerized manufacturing, there have been misplots. The cartridge was not loaded properly. The concrete was set to the wrong parameters or scale. The printer module falsely translated a data set…

These misprints are the rejects of this early process, and they are now being used as shared homes by elderly people from the former squatter scene.