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Category Archives: odd
Spinning Silhouette Optical Illusion
Cool visual illusion. It may be difficult to make the mental switch at first, but it is quite intriguing. If you look at the spinning girl’s silhouette below, you will think it is spinning clockwise, probably. When you check her … Continue reading
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Binary marble adding machine
Matthias Wandel built this clever adder that uses marbles. It is quite pleasant to watch it in action…check out the video. It had occurred to me that perhaps with an insane amount of perseverance, it might be possible to build … Continue reading
Posted in computers, diy, odd, technology
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Helix — a 1D skyscraper with a single corridor
Would something like this actually be useful? The principle is a cylindrical building with a helical shape for the floor. The slope of the floor is 1.5% (it rises by 1.5 cm every meter), thus hardly noticeable. The height of … Continue reading
Posted in design, odd
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Nullity – the Nonsense Number
Following the astounding claim that a professor has “solved” the problem of division by zero, and inexplicably reported by BBC as seemingly legitimate news (imagine my head exploding at this point), here’s an article describing the obvious problems with the … Continue reading
Posted in math, odd
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A new way to multiply
This may not be that practical, but it is an interesting way to do multiplication visually by using intersecting lines. Video (via reddit)
Posted in math, odd
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The Computer/Domino Connection
This is a fascinating though useless diversion on how to perform basic computations using dominoes. My friend Cory and I were sitting around one day, as we often do, contemplating the mysteries of the universe, when one of us brought … Continue reading
Posted in computers, odd, programming, technology
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Poodle Exercise with Humans
I just had to post this. This is one of the oddest videos I’ve seen. Link (via Digg)
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Learning GNU Make Functions with Arithmetic
This article shows you how you can evaluate arithmetic expressions using GNU make, and even includes an implementation of a reverse polish notation calculator. Not only did the author spend the time to come up with this wild hack, but … Continue reading
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66 Optical Illusions & Visual Phenomena
Another nice collection of optical illusions. »Optical illusion« sounds pejorative, as if exposing a malfunction of the visual system. Rather, I view these phenomena as bringing out particular good adaptations of our visual system to standard viewing situations. These adaptations … Continue reading
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Optical illusion that will make you hallucinate
This is a video that temporarily messes with your vision if you stare at it long enough. Very cool. OK at first I definitely thought this was going to be one of those stare in the center and turn your … Continue reading
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Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo
Apparently, the title is a valid English sentence. Here’s the story. First, when I was a grad student in philosophy at Indiana a long time ago, John Tienson gave us the example of: Dogs dogs dog dog dogs whose syntax … Continue reading
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Optical Illusion that lasts overnight
Just what is going on here? It’s a mystery why this illusion persists long after the afterimage is gone. It is called the McCollough Effect, and was originally described by Celeste McCollough in a paper in Science in 1965. It … Continue reading
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Illusion of woman pulled apart at the waist
This is a freaky illusion by Criss Angel of a woman being pulled apart at the waist. Link (via Digg) Also on YouTube here
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Top 10 Coolest DIY Gadgets
TechBlog has posted a Top 10 list of some pretty crazy contraptions. Anyone need a USB Floppy Disk Striped RAID? Link (via Digg)
Posted in diy, funny, odd, technology, toys
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A Sixth Sense for a Wired World
An article at Wired News says that implanting a small magnet in your fingertip allows you to sense electromagnetic fields and metallic objects through your finger! According to Huffman, the magnet works by moving very slightly, or with a noticeable … Continue reading
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Pierced Glasses
Check out these wild glasses. You need to pierce the bridge of your nose to insert the supports, and then the glasses themselves are attached to the supports with magnets. Just don’t snag the piercing on anything. Link (via reddit)
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The Balance of Risk
Damn Interesting explains risk homeostasis. Let’s suppose your child wants to take a martial arts class. Being a conscientious parent, you check out the local dojos and find two good places. Both are suitable and well equipped. Both practice fighting … Continue reading
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Music video made with 2,500 Polaroids
This is an innovative idea for a music video. It was apparently created with 2,500 Polaroids. Link (via Digg)
Posted in audio, odd, photography
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Jumpy eggs caught on camera
Apparently a spinning hard-boiled egg can make small jumps into the air. After two years of work, with a purpose-built steel machine wired up to high-speed cameras, microphones and electronic sensors, a team of Japanese researchers has finally proved that … Continue reading
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