Rebus # 1 Key and Explanation
The previous rebus has a solution which is specified below. Sometimes, a challenging task is figuring out what an image represents. Possible representations are included next to each individual image in a key below. Make sure to click on the image to “zoom in.” After determining different possibilities, you have to determine which of these words–when pronounced–results in a new word, phrase, or sentence. Sometimes, word type and sense may need to be considered. For example, the noun “globe” has a corresponding adjective “global,” which is used to solve the rebus.
Rebus Revisited
This is an example of a rebus image composed of sub-images. It is a kind of puzzle that is read generally either left to right, or top to bottom as if you were reading a book. The puzzle spells out a four word phrase. Something in each picture suggests a sound. For example, a picture of an eye would likely represent the word “I” or a picture of a can, “can”. See if you can guess what this picture represents. The name of the first person who gets it will be posted.
Exploring the Streets of Culture
If you had to describe the function of art generally, it is to provide manifold human experiences to reality. A night sky can be explored in many different ways, and artists have pushed the boundaries of perception and cognitive and sensory experience. Speaking of “experience,” I recently noted that Google has created a new way of experiencing art that goes beyond mere image browsing. This way, termed the Google Art Project, is a kind of “street view” for museums (if you have used that feature when exploring Google Maps to experience streets through virtual walking). In the Art Project, you can just flip through the art work or you can walk through the museum much as you walk streets in Maps. A natural debate arises around the relative benefits of these two types of experiences: image flipping vs. virtual walking through the museum. The latter experience makes me feel as if I am really inside of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and so I can not only view the artworks but also experience the museum layout. Do you have preferences? Is virtually exploring the museum useful or engaging? How does this experience feel when compared with viewing images only?
Posted in 2D, 3D, Uncategorized
Tagged experience, Google Art Project, Presence, Van Gogh Museum
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Short Hops to the Past: A Story of Two Wars
People are our links to the past. History is, after all, a recounting of events, people, and places by one or more people–the more the merrier, since we would like different renditions of stories to agree more or less. Lately, the historical event of much interest in the US is the American Civil War because of its sesquicentennial. “Old people,” in particular, are wonderful because they are walking time machines and they have plenty of stories to tell. Nobody considers themselves “old,” but that is for another column. Let’s create a working definition so that we can make sense of people and their stories: consider a story to have a social network of length 0 if you are the one with that story. For example, you may recall the moon landing and if someone younger asks you about the moon landing, they are leveraging a social network of length 1. So, now to the question: what is the minimum social network length for first hand knowledge of the American Revolutionary War? Would you believe 2? Let’s begin with Mr. Walter Breuning‘s story: Walter recalled his grandfather’s battle stories of the American Civil War. Walter had only one hop to his grandfather (e.g., network of length 1) since they lived for a period at the same time. That is quite amazing when you think about it–to have a grandparent that lived through that event; it was such a long time ago. Here is another story: Mr. Lemuel Cook was the last surviving Revolutionary War veteran who died on May 20, 1866 at age 106. Lemuel’s picture is in this post to the left. In 1784, he received an honorable discharge from George Washington, and he was present at the Battle of Brandywine and at Cornwallis’ surrender at Yorktown, Virginia in 1781. So, the big question is: could Walter’s grandfather have known Lemuel? They lived at the same time. I cannot see any evidence for this but just imagine Walter saying “My grandfather sat me down in front of the fire and told of a man he met that fought in the Revolutionary War.” This short number of hops to the past seems almost impossible and yet it could happen, theoretically. If there are stories out there on short hops to the past, please feel free to comment. We’d like to hear your story.
Posted in Play, Uncategorized
Tagged Civil War, Lemuel Cook, Revolutionary War, Social Networks, Walter Breuning
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Reading: Let Me Count the Ways
Now that I have multiple ways to read my favorite material, I wonder about when to use which device: smart phone, e-reader, tablet, laptop, desktop. Take National Geographic (NG) Magazine for example. You can read it on a tablet, laptop, or desktop but not on a smartphone because of its significant photography. NG is interesting because when they made their iPad interface (the one I use is through Zinio), they made it fully interactive: text is easily read without pinching and zooming, there are embedded videos, and diagrams that can be explored to yield layers of information (e.g., the multiple routes for climbing El Capitan in Yosemite, in the most recent NG issue). Some other material is less interactive but readable on smart phones as well, using the “text mode”: the Economist magazine, which can be read on all devices and yet has a form on the iPad which is essentially a digital scan–no meaningful interaction. Other material (newspapers and books) may require an e-reader because of its excellent size, weight and readability, even in daylight. Where is all this headed? Ideally, if we were learning about Machu Picchu (inset figure), we’d like to read about it, watch videos, listen to audio commentary, and manipulate diagrams. But we’d also want to virtually visit the site through a fly-by (e.g., Google Earth) or by walking around a virtual environment. I’d like to talk with some of the former inhabitants, surfaced through avatar technology. And we probably need more social networking in these media–if I am in the “Machu Picchu reading space” then if others are also there, then maybe I’d like to talk with them.
Posted in 2D, 3D, General, Play, Visual
Tagged Machu Picchu, National Geographic, Reading
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