transforming origami

The link below is a video of a paper rose turning into a cube. Neat idea to create paper models that transform.

http://fold.tv/videos-origami-magic-rose-cube-valerie-vann-[A8EyLFWXV_0].cfm

Ghost in the machine

awesome quote from the movie I,Robot

Dr. Alfred Lanning

Lanning (on Police Recording): Ever since the first computers, there have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code that have grouped together to form unexpected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free will, creativity, and even the nature of what we might call the soul. Why is it that when some robots are left in darkness, they will seek out the light? Why is it that when robots are stored in an empty space, they will group together, rather than stand alone? How do we explain this behavior? Random segments of code? Or is it something more? When does a perceptual schematic become consciousness? When does a difference engine become the search for truth? When does a personality simulation become the bitter mote... of a soul?

Hologram of Dr. Lanning: I'm sorry, my responses are limited...you must ask the right questions.

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/I,_Robot#Dr._Alfred_Lanning

Humanity of Robots

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-pS0t27-nM&feature=related

A copy of a copy, mapping of sf

So this whole mapping exercise has reminded me a lot of this philosophy/art history course I had taken. A portion of the course talks about Plato notion of art as a form of imitation (a concept of reality vs simulacrum, kind of what I am gearing towards in my project) further explains it in his two theories.

"One may be found in his dialogue The Republic, and seems to be the theory that Plato himself believed. According to this theory, since art imitates physical things, which in turn imitate the Forms, art is always a copy of a copy, and leads us even further from truth and toward illusion. For this reason, as well as because of its power to stir the emotions, art is dangerous. Plato's other theory is hinted at in his shorter dialogue Ion, and in his exquisitely crafted Symposium. According to this theory the artist, perhaps by divine inspiration, makes a better copy of the True than may be found in ordinary experience. thus the artist is a kind of prophet."

http://www.rowan.edu/open/philosop/clowney/Aesthetics/philos_artists_onart/plato.htm

Came across a few interesting mappings of san francisco

text and image taken from

http://blog.rhondafriberg.com/2010/05/san-francisco-maps/

The second has seen a lot of press lately and is one of the maps from the Geotagger’s World Atlas by Eric Fischer:

This map represents Flickr photos taken around the city. Using the photos’ timestamps and geotags, Fischer could determine where and at what speed the photographers were traveling – black lines represent speeds less than 7 mph (walking), red is less than 19 mph (biking), blue is less than 43 mph (motoring), and green is faster (jetpacking) – all plotted on an OpenStreetMap base layer.

Eric Fischer is responsible for another great San Francisco map, A day of Muni, according to NextBus:

This map uses the same color scheme to show average speeds of Muni vehicles over 24 hours. Data was pulled from the SFMTA website.

This fourth map was created by my colleague, Tim Sinnot over at The Swordpress:

Sinnott used address data from DataSF to shade locations based on their address number. As you walk down a block, the color changes as the address numbers change. Cool map based on a cool idea.S

http://blog.rhondafriberg.com/2010/05/san-francisco-maps/

robotic love

A robot love story "I'm here" by Spike Jonze. Beautiful.

http://www.imheremovie.com/

SF CRIME in 3d and lit up at night

I'd like to share the example of 3D data representation, which seem to me a very interesting and dynamic way to visualize and explore maps of any sort . A guy named Doug created models of different types and concentration of crime in San Francisco based on city’s DataSF website.

The same crime data was visualized as a city night lights (supporting Brittany's 'cities from the sky'!)

Check out his blog http://dougmccune.com/blog/2010/06/05/if-san-francisco-crime-was-elevation/ for details and more data processing projects.

cities from the sky

As I was flying to and from Boston this weekend I kept finding myself staring out the window at the view below realizing that I was frustrated. With mapping constantly on my mind, I looked at the mountains and the cities below knowing that the exercises we have been doing with mapping, were happening naturally below me. The frustrating part was the feeling that I was looking for...something...some meaning, something to make sense of the naturally occurring maps. The most interesting part to me (especially looking at the city lights at night) was that there was a very small range of color and shape. What distinguished what you were looking at was based on the density and path of the lights.

Shanghai Highrises

Here's a few images of highrises that i took while on my summer trip to Shanghai. I particularly like the spacing of the towers - very Corbusier. Between the towers are large green spaces and gardens, and the towers are few by wide arteries. Note that most of the images are from the new downtown, and is very different from the rest of the city.