Visual TIME Machine Offers Tourists A Glimpse Of The Past
A ruined temple, ancient frescos and even a long-dead king have been brought to life by a “visual time machine” developed by European researchers.
The Palace of Venaria near Turin, Italy, and Winchester Castle in the United Kingdom have already benefited from the technology, which combines augmented reality (AR) content with location awareness on mobile devices to give visitors to historic and cultural sites a deeper, richer and more enJoyable experience. Other placEs of interest are also set for a virtual renaissance in the near future with a commercial version of the system being developed to run on smart phones.
Augmented reality allows people to see and discover much more than they Would normally be able to by overlaying information and images in real time on photos and video taken using a mobile device. Innovative softwarE matches the image being viewed with suitable AR content stored on a centraL server.
Science Daily (Thanks Paul)
A BOOK – Physics of the Impossible
Ever wondered whether the dreams of Sci-Fi could be a reality?
Internationally acclaimed physicist Michio Kaku’s book, “Physics of the Impossible” does just that.
From UFO’s to Force Fields Michio tells us (with our current knowledge of the laws of physics) which Sci-Fi ideas could become a reality and why.
It’s amazing to think scientists have ALREADY teleported atoms across a room or under the Danube River!
Check it out
P.S Yes, I had a fantastic holiday.
More recommended titles here
Randy Ford – amazing realist painter
Randy Ford is an amazing AmeRican realist painter, whose works actually look like photos, no kidding, take a loOk and see for yourselves.
Randy claims to paint, ‘For the passion derived from the process, hoping to produce works that will be relevanT during their generation and enduring through time.’
More wORk can be found on his website here: randyfordamericanartist (Thanks Kirsty)
British woman wins World Bodypainting Championship
A British woman, Carolyn Roper, has been crowned World Bodypainting Champion for the second time. Miss Roper, 27, won the competition held in Austria last month after taking seven hours to paint her model and entering him in the bodypainting special FX category. Her art work shows naked models covered in a host of flamboyant and colourful designs.
More than 23,000 visitors attended the weekend-long event in Seeboden to see over 100 artists from more than 40 countries compete in a variety of categories. The colourful theme of competition was “Spirituality beyond the visible eye” and to fit in with that Miss Roper took her inspiration from a book about good and bad fairies.
Each of the tiny fairies moulded on to the painted body took months of designing and involved pain-staking casting and moulding to get the right look and fit. The process took so long that Miss Roper decided to ask a friend who was a former Queen’s Guard to pose as her model – simply because he was used to standing still for so long.
Telegraph (Thanks Kirsty)
See more of Carolyn’s work here.
Buddhism fastest-growing religion in English jails
Buddhism is the fastest-growing religion in England’s jails, with the number of followers rising eightfold over the past decade. Although adherents to the Eastern faith believe in peace and the sanctity of life, almost all of the Buddhists behind bars in this country are serving lengthy sentences for serious crimes such as violence and sex offences.
Some jails and secure hospitals including Broadmoor have opened shrines known as Buddha Groves in their grounds, and there is a nationwide network of chaplains to cater for the growing population. It is claimed that most of the Buddhists in jail converted after their conviction, and chose it over other religions because its emphasis on meditation helps them cope with being locked up. Supporters of Buddhist criminals say they also believe the spiritual development they gain in prison will help them once they are released, and prevent them from re-offending.
Telegraph (Thanks Kirsty)
Lucky sleep mutants need fewer zzzzzs
No one knows why some lucky folks thrive on five or six hours of sleep per night, while the rest of us suffer if we don’t get eight hours of shut-eye. But now scientists have discovered a genetic mutation that could be responsible for the eternal perkiness of short-sleepers.
Combing through a database of sleep-study volunteers, the researchers found two people who needed far less sleep than average. Both had abnormal copies of a gene called DEC2, which is known to affect circadian rhythms and oxygen regulation in mammals. When the scientists bred mice to have the same mutation, the mice slept less and were more active than their regular rodent peers.
So far, the researchers don’t know why swapping a single base pair in the DEC2 gene makes mammals need less sleep. But unlike most people who skimp on sleep for long periods of time, subjects with the mutation don’t experience the negative health effects of sleep deprivation, such as mood or metabolic changes.
“Finding the mutation is just the first step,” said sleep researcher Ying-Hui Fu of the University of California, San Francisco, who co-authored the paper in Science Thursday. “To understand the mechanism is really what’s important for us. We want to understand the how, what and why of sleep — how does it affect our health?”
Wired (thanks, BethanDenro)
Doctors baffled by Indian village of over 200 sets of twins
KODINJI, India (Reuters Life!) – Walk around Kodinji village and you’ll think that you have double vision.
The village is home to as many as 230 sets of twins. Nobody knows why there are so many twins in the village of 15,000 people, although one local doctor suspects it might be due to the water.
In fact with about 35-45 twins per live birth, this village in North Kerala, India, has four times more twins than normal. Not surprisingly, the village has been dubbed “the twin village.”
Yahoo (Thanks Sarah)
Competition: End of one – start of another.
I just had a whopping pile of stuff land in my lap. Coops is back off holiday and is in one of those moods where we had to pry him off the ceiling with a rake. He’s been saying that we should gather up a whole heap of prizes to give away to the lovely blog readers. So we’re going to do so in a series of giveaways over the next month.
The previous myspace competition has been won by a school teacher – Jeff – well done, your signed Portraits book is on its way to you.
NEXT COMPETITION
Up next is a pile of the lovely Portraits postcard sets. We have 5 SETS to giveaway. Here’s how to win:
Identify which of these prints the following eyeballs are from.
Send your answers HERE (This competition is now closed) and we’ll pick out 5 of you to receive a pack – if you are having trouble get a friend to help as it makes things much easier.
If your’e too late, too tired or too stupid to take part you can always use the old fashioned method of buying them here – and everyone who purchases a pack before September will automatically be entered for the chance to get ANY print of their choice COMPLETELY FREE. Competitionalicious!
Strapped for cash? invest in God
Onstage before thousands of believers weighed down by debt and economic insecurity, Kenneth and Gloria Copelandand their all-star lineup of “prosperity gospel” preachers delighted the crowd with anecdotes about the luxurious lives they had attained by following the Word of God.
Private airplanes and boats. A motorcycle sent by an anonymous supporter. Vacations in Hawaii and cruises in Alaska. Designer handbags. A ring of emeralds and diamonds.
“God knows where the money is, and he knows how to get the money to you,” preached Mrs. Copeland, dressed in a crisp pants ensemble like those worn by C.E.O.’s.
Even in an economic downturn, preachers in the “prosperity gospel” movement are drawing sizable, adoring audiences. Their message — that if you have sufficient faith in God and the Bible and donate generously, God will multiply your offerings a hundredfold — is reassuring to many in hard times.
The preachers barely acknowledged the recession, though they did say it was no excuse to curtail giving. “Fear will make you stingy,” Mr. Copeland said.
NY Times (Thanks ReliegiousMarie)
Trick Of the Mind Most popular on MSN video
Microsoft’s online TV player has attracted almost 170,000 views of shows including Shameless, Peep Show and The Young Ones in the first 11 full days since it launched in the UK.
The US software giant quietly launched a pilot of the MSN Video Player on 3 August, rushing the service to market after the scuppering of Project Kangaroo by competition regulators in February.
The first figures on usage, revealed by MediaGuardian.co.uk, show that up until the morning of 14 August, 11 full days, there had been 167,487 views of shows and the video website has attracted 154,841 users.
So far, the most popular shows are Derren Brown: Trick of the Mind, that Mitchell and Webb Look and The Young Ones.
Ashley Highfield, the managing director of consumer and online at Microsoft UK, described these as promising figures – especially as MSN Video Player offers archive programming, not a catchup service of the kind already proven to be a winner with consumers.
“We are very happy with the first numbers – it is a very encouraging start,” he said – whilst licking a picture of Derren.
