Category: learning curve

Fibonacci Zoetrope Sculptures are trippy

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This is a bit complicated – so much so that I don’t really understand exactly what’s going on (although we’ve done zoetropes and Finonacci sprials on the blog before). All I know is that it’s all to do with the spinning, the lighting and your eyes and mind playing tricks on you.

[vimeo clip_id=”116582567″ width=”678″ height =”381″]

Here we go:

These are 3D printed sculptures designed to animate when spun under a strobe light. The placement of the appendages is determined by the same method nature uses in pinecones and sunflowers. The rotation speed is synchronized to the strobe so that one flash occurs every time the sculpture turns 137.5º – the golden angle. If you count the number of spirals on any of these sculptures you will find that they are always Fibonacci numbers.

Hmm. It’s not that much clearer, is it? Still, the great thing about complicated stuff is that you don’t always have to understand exactly what’s going on to enjoy what you’re seeing.

Literally every goat in the United States

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Yes. You read right.
Literally every last one.

imrs

TIL: There are very few goats in Alaska.

America’s goat population is heavily concentrated in the Southwest, Texas in particular. Nearly 80 percent of America’s goats are raised for meat. Sixteen percent are raised for milk, with the remaining 6 percent is comprised of Angora goats raised for mohair.

Now we know (that there are 102% of goats in the USA).

More here.

Clever Norwegian Airline ad

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This is very nifty, especially if you are vexillologically inclined. A simple print ad, with prices and destinations highlighted as part of the airline’s national flag:the_flag_of_flags_aotw

Simple and effective, although comparing prices to distance traveled is (as ever with airlines’ fare structures, it seems to me) less straightforward.

Bramble Banked

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We watched loads of vehicle carriers rounding Cape Agulhas this last week. None of them got stuck on any rocks or sandbanks (and there are both around the Southern Tip). But they were obviously just lucky.
Here’s a great picture of the grounded Hoegh Osaka on Bramble Bank in the Solent:

ho

Initial reports suggest that the captain made a decision to delberately run the listing vehicle carrier aground there in order to stop it falling over completely capsizing [Loving the technical terminology. Nice work. – Ed.]. If so, that probably represents the best demonstration of parking under pressure since I swung into that gap 30cm longer than my car directly outside Caprice in late December 2009.

Marine Traffic reports (entirely accurately, I suppose) that the Hoegh Osaka is currently “Stopped”:

mt ho

Next to it are the tugs Lomax and Svitzer Alma. That red diamond is the West Bramble Buoy – warning big ships of the sandbank there. And acting as a parking marker for listing carrier captains everywhere.

Stuff you should know about Bramble Bank: It’s an underwater sandbank between Southampton and the Isle of Wight. Oh, and THEY HAVE A CRICKET MATCH ON IT EVERY YEAR!

The Bramble Bank is renowned for the annual cricket match held there, when the Royal Southern Yacht Club play the Island Sailing Club. The match takes place when the bank is exposed but never lasts very long before the tide returns. The undulating surface with large puddles ensures it is more a social occasion than a serious cricket match, and the scoring reflects this – the victor of the game is pre-determined, and the two clubs simply take it in turns to “win” the match, regardless of play. The Brambles cricket match has been described as “quintessentially English”.

Yep:

bb2 bb1Brilliant. Just brilliant.