This is a video of a fleet of (mostly?) Fedex planes trying to get around a thunderstorm that is approaching their base. Like many people have commented, this would make a great ad. Being a popular viral video, that is what it essentially already is. Sometimes you don’t need to spend big bucks to stage the whole thing, like Marck Ecko did.
One of the first computer games I ever got hooked on was Air Traffic Controller on Apple II. It was programmed by a former air traffic controller David Mannering in 1982. It was on the best seller list for quite some time in the beginning of 80’s. The game field was a 20×20 black and white grid of ASCII characters! Nethack has superb visual effects compared to this one.
Like the air traffic controller’s job, the simulation demands steady nerves under pressure and the ability to analyze complex situations quickly under pressure.
The player’s goal is to get all of the aircraft to their destination before the end of his shift. The computer screen shows a radar display of aircraft positions in the control area; coded information giving aircraft heading, destination and fuel supply; and navaids where aircraft can circle or be assigned automatic approaches.
In Air Traffic Controller the player assumes responsibility for the safety of air traffic in a 400 square mile sector. During one shift in charge of this airspace, 26 aircraft come under his control. jets and prop planes must be guided to and from airports, navigational beacons and entry/exit fixes. The aircraft enter the airspace at various altitudes and headings, and they enter whether the controller is ready or not.
The controller alters the altitudes and headings of the various aircraft by typing commands on the keyboard of the computer.
An advanced version allows more aircraft, introduces fuel limitations, and has four additional area maps, each with different challenges. No two games in either version are ever alike.
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Ol Doinyo Lengai - The mountain of Gods
I have climbed about 50 active volcanoes in various parts of the world, but Ol Doinyo Lengai has captured my interest like no other volcano ever has. As of 2005 I have climbed Ol Doinyo Lengai 10 times and have spent 100 nights camping at the summit craters. During my first visit on July 17, 1997, I went up and down in one day and spent about 4 hours in the crater. There was some very minor activity, but four hours is not long enough to have a very good chance of seeing an eruption. I decided that I wanted to spend several nights there to increase my chances of seeing some flowing lava, which is what I did twice in 1998 and once in 1999. The more time I spent on Ol Doinyo Lengai, the more fascinated I became. In July 2000 and July 2001 I organized camping expeditions to the crater for small groups of clients. In August 2002 my expedition, which included photographers, a film team, and a volcanologist, encountered hazardous camping conditions due to violent lava fountains and extremely rapid lava flows. Part of our camp was destroyed by lava and a Tanzanian guide was injured.
Volcano spotting! Now there’s a hobby I can appreciate. Oldoinyo Lengai is the only volcano in the world that erupts natrocarbonatite lava. It’s cooler than other types of lava and looks like black mud or oil during the day, but glows in a mysterious orange hue during night. It also the most fluid lava in the world… almost like water.
This was the volcano of the week at Volcano World. The report is by Frederick A. Belton.
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Tho-Radia creme and powder
Some beauty products once assumed that low doses of radiation are good for you
See also Marie Curie and the history of radioactivity
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Charisma, Crowd Psychology and Altered States of Consciousness
Of even greater importance is charisma, which stands in absolute contrast to tradition. In its simplest form, charisma is defined by Weber as “a certain quality of an individual personality by virtue of which he is considered extraordinary and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman or at least specifically exceptional powers or qualities” (Weber 1978: 242). Individuals possessing charisma are portrayed by Weber as above all else emotional and vitalizing, in complete opposition both to the ennervating authority of the patriarch and the rational efficiency of the technician-bureaucrat. Instead, whatever the charismatic leader says is right not because it makes sense, or because it coincides with what has always been done, but because the leader says it. Orders can therefore be completely whimsical, self-contradictory and even lead to death or destruction for the follower, demonstrating the disciple’s inner emotional compulsion to obey without regard for coherence or consequence.
The extraordinary figures who inspire such unreasoning devotion are imagined by Weber to be, in their typical form, berserk warriors, pirates and demagogues. They reveal their capacities through a highly intensified and emotionally labile state of consciousness that excites and awes the onlookers, and jolts them from the everyday 6.
The primary type, from which the others spring, is the epileptoid magician-shaman who can incorporate the Gods and display divine powers primarily through convulsions, trembling and intense effusions of excitement (Weber 1972: 327, 1978: 401) 7. Through his capacity for epileptoid states, the shaman served both as an exemplar of ecstasy and as the leader in the rituals of communal intoxication and orgy Weber took as the original sacred experience (Weber 1978: 401, 539).
Why should such manifestations of apparent abnormality appeal to an audience? It is not intuitively obvious that a display of epileptoid behavior would be attractive to anyone; in our society quite the contrary is the case. But Weber postulated that extreme emotional states, such as those generated in seizures and other forms of emotionally heightened altered states of consciousness, had a contagious effect, spreading through the audience and infecting its members with corresponding sensations of enhanced emotionality and vitality; these expansive sensation are felt to be emanating from the stimulating individual, who is then attributed with superhuman powers. The charismatic appeal therefore lies precisely in the capacity of a person to display heightened emotionality and in the reciprocal capacity of the audience to imitation and corresponding sensations of altered awareness.
After seeing my friendly little neighbourhood being invaded by tens of thousands of beer wielding devotees, I couldn’t help but to think about the psychology of crowds, swarms, herds and other such groups of living matter. All the mechanisms for behaving in such situations have obviously been hard coded in our genetic heritage for thousands of years. It is exciting to think of our mythical past and try to imagine what mass gatherings have been like before the population explosion, television and urban life.
Charismatic
The term charismatic is also used by certain Christian denominations and movements to indicate that they believe in and practice the spiritual gifts of tongues, prophecy and words of knowledge, as well as other gifts of the Holy Spirit as found in the Bible (I Cor. 12:2- 11; Eph. 4:11-12), without the preeminence of glossolalia and legalism prevalent in Pentecostalism.
Charisma is also commonly referred to in role-playing games, being one of the abilities of a character. Charismatic ability modifies dice rolls concerning communication, persuasion, lying, inspiring trust in others, etc.
Charisma is a difficult thing to define, but one does immediately recognize it upon sight.
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There were about 70000-80000 people at the Eurovision celebration party that was held three blocks down the street at the Market Square. I saw a lot of blood, some of it fake, some of it not. I also saw several stampedes about to start and someone who had passed out so bad that it looked like he might suffocate in his own bodily fluids.
All in all, it was a monstrous event in all respects.. the scale, the style, the crowd. A fitting end to this crazy Eurovision victory week I suppose. I have no complaints though. Lordi rules.
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AAS Feature: Nokia 5500 Hands-on Preview
Last week Nokia announced its smallest ever smartphone, the Nokia 5500, with dimensions of 107 x 45 x 18 mm and a volume of just 77cc. The Nokia 5500 is an active/sports lifestyle-focused tri band EGSM (900) / GSM (1800/1900) phone which can be seen as a replacement for the popular Nokia 5140. Headlines features of the 5500 include an instant swap key for switching the phone into different modes (phone, music and sport), a 3D sensor (accelerometer) which enables pedometer functionality for sports tracking and an alternative interaction method, text to speech capabilities for various functions, and an active (stainless steel and rubberised casing) orientated design.
I guess this is the phone I’ve been waiting for. Nokia 5500 is a Series 60 phone and I would have a hard time convincing myself that I could get by with anything less after years of trundling along with my geeky, sidetalking, plastic retro burrito that is the N-Gage. Bluetooth is another must and so is an MP3 player, since I haven’t managed to get an iPod for myself yet.
I’m glad to see that there are a lot of new innovations on the gadget front for all the geeks in the active/sports lifestyle customer segment. Nike Plus is so cool that it’s almost incomprehensible. Just like Lordi.
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Squels of derision rang through the room. “You program a computer?” someone asked incredulously. “Now I’ve heard everything!”
“Enjoy your laugh, beetface,” I thought. “You won’t be chuckling for long.” Little did they know I had MICROSOFT BASIC II, the powerful programming language that uses simple English commands.
I slipped the potent little cartridge into my ATARI Home Computer and closed the door with a confident slap. In a very short time, my friends were astounded at my programming prowess. Information, sounds, colors - even player-missile graphics - leapt across the screen. True, at one point I did have a little bug in a program, but MICROSOFT BASIC IIs debugging features helped me correct it easily. I finished my tour de force by typing in a program written in another computer’s MICROSOFT BASIC dialect.
Oohs and ahs filled the air. “Top Drawer” snapped the Colonel. “What a man,” Mimi cooed. MICROSOFT BASIC II and I had won the day.
EDIT: I can’t believe I managed to write a post without mentioning the all important subject of the week. So here goes: Lordi, Lordi, Lordi.
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I have been permanently cured of a deep, deep traumatic disorder!
Thank you Lordi, Thank you European Broadcasting Union, Thank You Ladbrokes, Thank you God!
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Ever since I got interested in hiking and camping, I’ve been looking for a new, improved shelter to replace the de-facto standard shelter practically everyone is using for this purpose: the ubiquitous camping tent.
Designmai seems to have yet another bunch of most inpractical instant housing concepts for “urban nomads”. I’ve been testing hammocks and various ultralight weight tents and I still believe that there is a breakthrough commercial success just waiting to be made in this area. It is not entirely unfeasible to combine a sleeping bag, a sleeping pad and a wind/rain shelter to a single compact unit. Obviously the Designmai concepts are not designed to be very mobile shelters, but they still provide crunchy food for thought in this area.
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Kuluttajaviraston uutiskirje
The Consumer Agency believes that from the viewpoint of general principles (the recognizability of advertising and the prohibition of surreptitious advertising) products can be shown in programmes if this is based on editorial choice. For example, in magazine-type programmes different products could be compared and evaluated. Brands could also be shown in natural connections in drama programmes, for example.
Showing products or brands in programmes becomes advertising - and in practice usually surreptitious advertising - when it is done in return for payment or for similar consideration.
The proposed Directive would allow product placement on certain conditions. Product placement would be prohibited if it contains references of an advertising nature or if it meets the criteria for surreptitious advertising: it is intentional, it serves an advertising purpose and there is a risk that it will mislead the audience as to the nature of the presentation.
The line between permitted product placement and prohibited surreptitious advertising remains unclear and complex in the proposal. If advertising is allowed inside programming, it should be subject to the same rules as marketing elsewhere. It should always be recognizable as advertising and consumers should not be misled in this respect. This risk cannot be eliminated by mentioning product placement at the beginning or end of a programme, since consumers may not notice these texts - few people watch all the texts at the beginning or end of a programme. In practice it is hard to imagine product placement that is not surreptitious advertising.
It may come as a surprise to many, but hidden advertising is actually strictly forbidden in Finland and many other European countries. The key definition is that viewer’s should always be able to discern between an advertisment and a plot element or “actual content”. This is obviously a joke when product placement is integrated in the movie scripts in a very early stage. The highly popular reality tv shows have a not so secret love affair with the product placement specialists as well.
This is indeed a subject that needs a much clearer vision on European union directive level. Although there are a few big European names (VW, Nokia etc) that do occasional product placements in Hollywood movies, there is very little of this happening on the television front. I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing, but the fact is that soon less and less people (excepting the people who can’t afford a HD based television recording device) will watch commercial breaks. Analogue television broadcasts will end here in about one year’s time.
For reference, see recent Product Placements in movies
Here’s another interesting quote:
Tracking product placement in movies
However, the recognition headliner for 2005 is Germany’s largest public broadcaster ARD along with its foremost TV production group Bavaria Film. Arrests, resignations, sackings, and much public outrage was the result of mid-year revelations that Bavaria Films had, for years, been taking payments for placements it would then insert into shows it produced for ARD.
Both Germany and Britain have very stringent laws controlling product placement. The 2005 scandals led to involvement by the European Union, which is now examining the practice of product placement and how it may be treated in the future.
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Right after I graduated from college and realized that some sort of artistic career might be my thing, I applied for a job as an intern at Villealfa film productions. They were a bit suspicious on the phone, but once I told that government would pay hard cold cash to them if they hired me, they invited me over for an interview. Needless to say I never got the job, but it was a valuable lesson in life, as the saying goes.
For a young person it felt a bit like being in a movie by itself. I was asked a single question: “What do you know, son?”. Based on the answer I was told that on location an inexperienced errand boy would be more of a hindrance than an asset.
However, somehow I did manage to create a relatively successful career for myself in the slippery ground between artistic and technical disciplines. Although the appreciation for highly specialized skill sets is becoming more and more prominent every year, I have no regrets in choosing the jack-of-all-trades/master of none career route. There are no hard and fast rules for decisions like this. Often luck plays a major role in determining a person’s eventual profession.
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Millennium Park : Cloud Gate on SBC Plaza
Cloud Gate is British artist Anish Kapoor’s first public outdoor work installed in the United States. The 110-ton elliptical sculpture is forged of a seamless series of highly polished stainless steel plates, which reflect the city’s famous skyline and the clouds above. A 12-foot-high arch provides a “gate” to the concave chamber beneath the sculpture, inviting visitors to touch its mirror-like surface and see their image reflected back from a variety of perspectives.
Inspired by liquid mercury, the sculpture is among the largest of its kind in the world, measuring 66-feet long by 33-feet high. Cloud Gate sits upon the SBC Plaza, which was made possible by a gift from the SBC Communications.
It takes a lot of determination to get something this big built. As the last step of the building process, the seams between individual components beneath the gate are hidden by polishing them.
Being an artist in projects like this also means being a construction supervisor. Many of the most acclaimed contemporary artists don’t create that much with their own hands anymore. They design the piece and work closely with construction engineers to have it finalized.
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Museum of the Improbable | Exclusive 3D Models
Accidently established in 1804, by Colonel Proximal T. Caustic (while on an expedition to document the migratory and mating habits of the giant sea sponge), the Museum of the Improbable is dedicated to finding and exhibiting the rarest antiquities, fauna and mechanical curiosities from the five corners of the globe (and beyond).
Conveniently located at the center of the Sargasso Sea, the Museum is free to the public, and open 364 days a year (closed Chinese New Year and Leap Day). Museum visitors are welcome to browse through the online model collection, and purchase digital reproductions of their favorite artifacts at TurboSquid.com.
From a technical viewpoint, the work of Greg and Pascal is just amazing. Another well known CG artist Ray Caesar also shares the passion for creating ultra detailed models like these. It is very inspiring to see people work this meticulously on models that exist only in the virtual world. I see a clear mental connection between their work and the ancient artisan and craftsman traditions.
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Helsinki by Night
Sightseeing. In this performance the audience will be taken for a bus sightseeing tour around Helsinki. In this performance the “stage” is outside of the bus and the “performance” is in the inside. In this performance reality and the performative material will blend in the consciousness of the spectator.
The art of perception. Performance art uses many different levels of communication. Normally the artistic or the symbolic levels are stressed. The art of perception underlines the sensory communication, what does the spectator experience with his or her senses or as his or her immediate impressions. The art of perception concentrates in fine tuning the spectator’s way of perception and focus of observation. The aim is to alternate the spectator’s consciousness and the way of perception for a short while during the performance - or permanently for the rest of one’s life.
We were lucky enough to get tickets to this truly phenomenal performance by Reality Research Centre. I’ve been working with the marketing of several professional theatres for more than a decade now, but this piece is really something else. It has completely renewed my faith in this particular field of art.
To cut a long story short, the Helsinki By Night has a superb dramaturgy, several very pleasant participatory aspects and a deep and meaningful message conveyed in many innovative and unique ways. There was a multitude of different “mini-shows” happening on the street during the sight seeing tour and it was all totally immersive and fascinating. Real life events blended with the staged components just perfectly.. the MC Cannonball birthday party, the burnt Storage houses next Kiasma, the passers-by in Tattarisuo industrial area and the Tax Office building… the show kept on surprising the viewers time and time again. Underlining the contrast to some of the main stream entertainment, I still had the highly predictable plot of Mission Impossible III fresh on my memory. It’s not a fair match to compary live theatre and a movie, but I’ll do it anyway. On a scale of 1-10, I’d rate this a 10- and give M:i:III a 3 or 4.
Helsinki by Night is sold out already, but here’s another modern and cleverly produced piece that I can highly recommend: Helsingin Taivaan Alla by Ryhmäteatteri.
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