Don’t Piss Off Crows (mutually beneficial synanthropy)

I’ve always had a great admiration for crows. While other animals retreat from society, or scuttle around at night, crows embrace it and take an interest in finding ways to make the system work for them. I’ve witnessed them just down the street from my home using cars to crack walnuts. Most of the ways they have adapted society to their needs weren’t taught to them by people, they figured it out and taught their friends. 

Joshua Klein has shown himself to be smarter than the average crow, and if this works, the average person, by taking things one step further. He designed a vending machine for crows. They put in a coin, it spits out a peanut. He calls it mutually beneficial synanthropy. In the video (another great TED Talk) Klein explains how the system trains the crows. I don’t think this will be necessary. Once the first few learn how to use it, the whole continent will know in short order. Sure, it starts with picking up loose change they find lying around, but pretty soon you have murders of crows mugging people in dark alleys for their change so they can get their peanut fix. 

The crazy thing about crows is they are smart enough not only to figure out how this works, but also to teach their friends. They are natural pack rats and are attracted to coins anyway. There are a lot of crows in the world, and a lot of loose change. Klein professes an interest in advancing the project to teach crows how to pick up trash or other beneficial tasks, but I’m still back at the vending machine concept. The idea really is brilliant. I wonder what else we could teach them to do?

Yessss….everything will go according to plan…*cackle*

Persistence of vision app for the iphone

Light Writer is an iphone app that displays flashing lights in order to create a persistence of vision effect. It allows you to write messages or images in the air with a wave of the hand. It sounds like a great way to quietly send a message to anyone in sight. I imagine it would only be effective in pretty dark conditions ,but I’m betting we haven’t seen the end of this app. It could be big. Available here via itunes.

(via crunchgear)

Cajun Crawler: A Segway With Legs

I’ve stated before that Theo Jansen is my favorite artist. This group of University of Louisiana students do him proud. They have taken his specifications for leg design and built them into a way to travel in style. The device was tested and carried a 325 pound rider, and runs off of two 18V hand drill motors, which have a good amount of torque and are convenient to wire in.

I really think the Robot Games need to make this an event. The many legged robot races.

(via Crunchgear)

How to Make a 3-D Hologram With Stuff You Have Around the House

This is a way to make three dimensional holograms without lasers or special equipment. It uses stuff you already own, and the results are astounding. Bill Beaty shows us some examples in the video above. Here is a great page with pictures about how he stumbled upon the phenomenon one day out on a walk and pioneered the technique, and another page with detailed instructions. The technique relies upon the effect you see in very fine circular scratches on a shiny material (like car paint), where the reflection appears to form a straight line. By varying the location of the circles, you set the locations of the lines, and by varying their diameter, you vary their apparent depth.

Update: Reader Lali has noted that the above links aren’t working, so I’ll post a summary of the process:

1. Start with a material that can be scratched in a way that will create shiny scratches. A CD jewel case is a good first project.
2. Down at the very bottom of the material (or on something below and attached) do a small sketch of the object you want to make a hologram of. Something simple. I started with a cube and it was a bit tough for a first try, but it taught me what I needed to know. I’ll use it as an example.
3. using an adjustable circle drawing compass or something similar, put one point at the top point of your cube sketch and drag the other across near the top of the CD case to create a scratch arc. When you turn it near a point source of light, you should see a reflected point of light in the scratch that moves when you tilt the jewel case.
4. The 3D depth of the final hologram corresponds to the spacing between the compass points. repeat the above scratch process for the other points of the cube, setting the compass spacing closer for the closer portions of the cube, and farther for the more distant.
5. Set the bottom point at regular intervals along any lines that are going to be at the same 3D depth in the final hologram and continue making scratch arcs. For lines angling into the distance, you can just set your lower compass point at the midway point of the line in the sketch and set the spacing to fall between the lines you scratched for the endpoints. Continue this at regular intervals down the line. Your reflected points will now become reflected lines, complete with depth.

Not Your Grandpa’s Legos

Legos may have lost some of that box of blocks charm over the years, but they have become a toy that, rather than being left behind as a child, will continue to grow with you. The Mindstorm series of Legos is a serious step into the world of robotics and computer programming.

(via GeeksAreSexy)

See also:

Mindstorm Madness

The Uncomb

Keeping up those savage, boyish good looks isn’t always easy. The trick is getting everything placed just right in such a fashion that it looks like you didn’t do anything.

Finally, Martí Guixé has come to our aid with a grooming tool designed for men’s needs: The Uncomb. Did some well meaning individual try to comb your hair? Just leaving the office and losing the suit and tie, wanting to feel like a real human being again? Just pull the uncomb out of your back pocket and give it a few passes for that perfectly tousled look.

(Via GeeksAreSexy)