See the world for what it is,
make plans for how you want it to be.
Bear = Yeti? Bigfoot? Sasquatch?
Ever wondered where the theories of Yeti, Bigfoot and the likes are coming from? I think they might have been bear sightings (unless of course there was some odd – human – fellow living out there in the wilderness).
I mean, imagine this guy walking past you late one night… no wonder if you start spreading rumours of strange “creatures” in the wilderness…
Orphan Black, TV-tip
Orphan Black is a science fiction TV-show. It features Sarah Manning, a street-wise Orphan from England, who witnesses a woman looking exactly like her committing suicide by jumping in front of a train.
Being a survivor-type, and perhaps also driven by curiosity, Sarah picks up the dead woman’s bag, abandoned at the platform, and concoct a plan to take over her identity in order to steal money from her.
Sarah needs the money to get away with her daughter, Kira, whom she has not seen in almost a year, and her step-brother, Felix.
Taking over the dead woman’s life proves to present more problems than solutions and soon Sarah finds herself in the middle of a complex plot involving murderers, clones and dirty cops.
Tatiana Maslany plays Sarah, and Allison, and Cosima and…
It soon turns out that the woman Sarah witnessed committing suicide is far from the only one looking like her. In fact, the plot is full of Sarah-Manning-look-a-like clones, from the home making soccer mom Allison, to the smart scientist Cosima, to the outright crazy Helena.
All these characters are played by one actor, Tatiana Maslany. Since most every scene of the show features at least one clone, Maslany is pulling the show in the most literary sense!
From a technical point of view it gets extra interesting when there’s more than one clone in front of the camera, especially when they interact by touch.
If you check the above film you might pick up that there’s no green screen thing going on here. Instead the camera is programmed so that it will make the exact same moves repeatedly and Tatiana can play the scene as one clone, then the other, and finally the shots are merged digitally.
When clones are touching a recording of the scene with no actors is used to create a background that can be used to block out Tatianas double, Catherine. Then a scene where Tatiana plays the clone is superimposed on the blocked out area.
It’s pretty much subtraction and addition … but with moving pictures… 😀
When? Where? How?
Orphan Black has just finished season two and will, hopefully, be back for season three in 2015. So if you’re new to the show you have two nice seasons to catch up, and I really recommend you do!
Part from being a technical masterpiece and a proof that there are some really sharp actors out there, Orphan Black is also a mesmerizing story dipping into themes like identity and nature versus nurture.
If you haven’t seen it, I recommend that you check out Orphan Black!
Puppet Configuration Management
Puppet is an open source configuration management utility that works on Linux and Windows and has its own declarative language to describe system configuration. (Sounds like just what Windows needs!)
Saturn’s hexagonal storm
Did you know there’s a storm on Saturn’s north pole that is shaped as a hexagon?
So, what is this? Alien tech? A gate to hell? Are we living in the matrix? Did the Illuminati do it?
Here’s an example of how this happens in a fluid:
And here’s how a wobbly drill bit can create a pentagonal hole in a piece of metal:
It’s still amazing although it’s most likely not alien, the matrix, nor the Illuminati!
It could, however, be a gate to hell…
If you ride a spaceship in there, and you’ve been a bad person in life… you may go to hell… 😛
Google glass – resistance is futile!
See the similarities? I think the BoRG collective has arrived and become board members of Google!
We need more money because we can’t plan
Three identical cases, no?
- Housing company; we need to raise the rent considerably because we have a lot of planned renovations to perform this year
- Power company; we need to raise the network charge considerably because we have a lot of old nets that need to be fixed this year
- Employee; I need a raise in salary because I have to buy a new car this year…
Why is it that only some people have to plan their economy?
My checkered past
Who am I?
I was once in an employment interview with a recruiter from one of Sweden’s largest recruiting companies. She asked a question that made me speechless; “recount everything you’ve done since you left high school.”
Being a hero sucks
Being a hero sucks; wherever I go there’s conflict and drama and whatever I try to do there’s always complications! And it’s all because of these pompous authors! I hate them!
The Orion Nebula (M42)
The image above represents a part of the Orion nebula (M42, Messier 42, NGC 1976), taken by the Hubble telescope and released November 1, 2006. Source: Wikipedia Commons.
The Orion nebula has a diameter of about 24 light years and is approximately 1 300 light years from the earth (about 400 parsecs). The nebula is the closest known area in the Milky Way where star formation can be observed.
The Orion nebula is the second “star” in the sword under Orion’s belt. In the picture to the right, it is extra bright.
Read more about the Orion nebula on Wikipedia.
Images:
- Header image: by NASA, ESA, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA), Public Domain, Link
- Orion: by Skatebiker at English Wikipedia, Public Domain, Link
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