Tuesday, April 28, 2009

What is Art?

Art fanboys (or fangirls??) should read no further into this rant. Those who post flames will be convicted of not reading the instructions.

My common rule of thumb when it comes to art is whether my six-year-old can make a relatively close guess as to what it is. Sorry, but if he looks at a Picasso and says it is a bunch of lines, I'm pretty sure that's what it is. I like to know what the heck I'm looking at.

I once saw a dispay of marble sculptured into human forms to be used as benches. Yeah, that was different, but put them in a park or garden. Why surrond them with rope barriers and armed guards?

Or how about the other display I saw of large pieces of handmade paper, each died in a different color and framed? I'm certain my boy would have said something like, "That's a piece of green paper." I would have agreed. Printing Shakespeare on it may have turned it into art; but then, who was truly the artist?

So, why the rant? Well, I saw some real art and wanted to share it. I don't yet know how this fits my rule-of-thumb. My boy would probably say, "That's a book." Maybe he is right. Or, maybe my rule needs modified.

http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2009/04/brian_dettmer.php

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Full Rotation Micro Servo

This is a must-try project whenever I get the chance. I had no idea that one could find such inexpensive servos. This particular project shows how to hack a micro servo so that it will perform full rotation.

http://todbot.com/blog/2009/04/11/tiny-servos-as-continuous-rotation-gearmotors/

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Tweenbots Provide Glimpse into Good in Society

Interesting project. In some ways I'm am not surprised by the result, but I have to wonder how long it would be and at what level of saturation in numbers before they would be perceived as annoying and be ignored.

http://www.tweenbots.com/