Magnetic fields are weird, something that’s invisible in and of itself, but nevertheless acts on the other objects. By way of visualising magnetic fields, some boffins from Semiconductor working at NASA Space Laboratory as “artists in residence” - Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt - have created this incredible movie depicting magnetic fields:
There isn’t much explanation as to what this is - how abstract is the representation? From Semiconductor Films:
In Magnetic Movie, Semiconductor have taken the magnificent scientific visualisations of the sun and solar winds conducted at the Space Sciences Laboratory and Semiconducted them. Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt of Semiconductor were artists-in-residence at SSL. Combining their in-house lab culture experience with formidable artistic instincts in sound, animation and programming, they have created a magnetic magnum opus in nuce, a tour de force of a massive invisible force brought down to human scale, and a “very most beautiful thing.”
Well it sure is pretty, but it would be nice if there were some details as to how the effect was created. It reminds me of the “fields” of the drones from Iain M Bank’s billiant Cultureseries, which use coloured “fields” to convey emotion and also as manipulators.
When the first cyberpunk writers picked up their pens in the eighties and wrote about conflict acted out over computer networks, it seemed like a lifetime away. In recent years we’ve seen internet attacks on Estoniaand on power infrastructure. Countless griefers, hackers and virus-creators have found a way to virtually attack others.
It seems like every day I learn about some new, uberbrainy conference that I can’t afford to attend and aren’t smart enough to speak at, the most recent being Supernova. Supernova is all about “how decentralization and pervasive connectivity are changing our world.” Mitigating my frustration is the fact that many of these conferences are now publishing their proceedings online (to name two biggies: TED and SXSW). Supernova’s got video too. Don’t miss Clay Shirky, always a healthy dash of common sense for our collective moments of irrational exuberance. [oreilly radar]
MAQUECH by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: Gerardo put down the eyeglass.
“It’s not my usual purchase,” he said.
“It’s rare,” Mario replied. “This is the last one my grandfather made before he passed away.”
“Monkeys are the thing now. Everyone wants a monkey.”
“But it doesn’t need a lot of food or water,” Mario protested. “That’s a benefit.”
“Do you think my clients worry about things
It seems like every day I learn about some new, uberbrainy conference that I can’t afford to attend and aren’t smart enough to speak at, the most recent being 