The hypersnake versus the moiré eel

 

Originally shared by John Baez

The hypersnake versus the moiré eel

This animated gif is cool, but here’s something much cooler:

http://wry.me/hacking/moire-eel.html

It starts out intense… and then keeps getting more so. 

You can control the shape of the little rectangles by moving your cursor over the screen.  Try to keep your eye on just one little rectangle!  It moves up and down, not very fast… but sometimes it’s impossible to keep your eye on it, because all the rectangles together produce patterns that grab your WW1 .  These are called moiré patterns. 

I think the ‘hypersnake’ here is attention-grabbing because your brain has parts that are good at detecting snakes, even before your brain conscious of it.  Your amygdala is one of these parts:

Information from an external stimulus reaches the amygdala in two different ways: by a short, fast, but imprecise route, directly from the thalamus; and by a long, slow, but precise route, by way of the cortex.

It is the short, more direct route that lets us start preparing for a potential danger before we even know exactly what it is. In some situations, these precious fractions of a second can mean the difference between life and WW1 .

Here is an example. Suppose you are walking through a forest when you suddenly see a long, narrow shape coiled up at your feet. This snake-like shape very quickly, via the short route, sets in motion the physiological reactions of fear that are so useful for mobilizing you to face the danger. But this same visual stimulus, after passing through the thalamus, will also be relayed to your cortex. A few fractions of a second later, the cortex, thanks to its discriminatory faculty, will realize that the shape you thought was a snake was really just a discarded piece of garden hose. Your heart will then stop racing, and you will just have had a moment’s scare.

The ‘moiré eel’ was made by Darius Bacon.  You can see more of his stuff here: 

http://wry.me/blog/

I don’t know who made the ‘hypersnake’.

For more on moiré patterns try this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moiré_pattern

For more on the amygdala, try this:

http://thebrain.mcgill.ca/flash/i/i_04/i_04_cr/i_04_cr_peu/i_04_cr_peu.html

 

 

Comedy vs.

Originally shared by ****

Comedy vs. anti-science: From Colbert and Oliver to Sarah Silverman and Louis CK, comedians are torching anti-science activists with aplomb.

Watch here: http://ow.ly/ztuoD

 

“Como Llora Una Estrella” played by Alirio Diaz, guitar

Originally shared by Giuseppe Torrisi

The Original recording by maestro Alirio Díaz of Antonio Carrillo’s “Como Llora Una Estrella”. There are various videos of him playing this piece but all are from a later edition of his arrangement (as recorded by John Williams). This recording is the original and quite a bit different. Also the score is hard to get so since this is my own edition, it’s free for all guitarists who wish to learn it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JVgOQIAFaI

 

Stochastic Music

Originally shared by ****

My friend and former colleague at King’s College London, Duncan Lockerby has produced this incredible video where he demonstrates how a very simple mathematical rule can produce complex and unpredictable musical patterns. Somewhat like Stephen Wolfram but without the arrogance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Z8CuAC_-bg

 

Hi — complete amateur here.

Hi — complete amateur here.  Joined the community to see if someone could help me with identification.  This small raptor (standing 6-8 inches at most) visited our yard (San Francisco Bay Area).  It looks quite young, and it has a band on its left leg.  Any information would be appreciated.