Recently in history Category
Macrohistory and World Report may be the best history site out there. It comes equipped with a timeline that begins in the year 300,000 B.C. and runs until yesterday...updated daily.
So last night I was introduced to the Gigapan.
Gigapan is a collaborative project of Google, Carnegie Mellon University and NASA Ames Intelligent Systems Division's Robotics Group. It is a robotic platform that attaches to a digital camera and some computer software. The robotic platform allows a user to take a photograph, then it will re-aim the camera with great precision, to take another photograph. After taking many photos, the software stitches all the pictures into a gigapixel image.
The results are absolutely stunning. Check out this panoramic picture from Obama's Inauguration. Zoom in. Keep going and going and going and going and going and well, you get the point. The shot contains 220 individual pictures and totals a whopping 1,474 megapixels! Enjoy crowd surfing.
If you want to check out more photos using this technology head over to the Gigapan website. (thanks morgan)
History will take place today, so be sure to watch it. If you can't watch it on television, here is where you can watch it online.
So stop surfing the Net already.
The Internet really is a beautiful thing. It truly is one stop shopping. No, not that kind of shopping, but one stop shopping in the sense that any little thing that catches your eye or interest can be investigated. From particle colliders studying the smallest scales of science we've only begun to discover to cameras with the ability to photograph the far off in outer space and bring it into the palm of your hand like never before, and everything imaginable in between. It truly is the first fully comprehensive encyclopedic record of all that constitutes knowledgeable life as we know it, perhaps even that which is as yet unknown, try to wrap your mind around that. I know, your mind has just been blown, take a minute, I'll wait. In all seriousness though, it really is approaching "everything proportions".
The dynamic between you and people of another color is one that, at times, is far too complex to understand. You know it’s there, but you were never sure exactly how to explain it. You’ve struggled to pinpoint the root of your feelings but somewhere under the surface you know they exist. They don’t necessarily make up who you are and in many ways these feelings are contrary to what you truly believe in your heart but they still affect how you function in the world. At times, when your feelings would boil to the surface, a momentary eruption of emotion, anger, hostility and frustration, you would be left feeling ashamed and confused.
I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in providence, for the illumination of the ignorant and the emancipation of the slavish part of mankind all over the earth.
This TED video is, well, a prerequisite for today. Howard Rheingold's ability to sum the history and present state of collaboration - conveying theoretical games like the prisoner's dilemma, the ultimatum game, and the tragedy of the commons - in under 20 minutes is very impressive.
I think often about where we came from, where we are now, where we may advance to, and the decisions, either conscious or subconscious, that guide us along the way. The majority of our day to day life is dictated by our inertia. We compile pieces of ourselves, like a Russian nesting doll growing layer by layer, aggregating components from generations past to what comprises our daily lives. These pieces are typically seen as advancements, so called improvements, in how we live, work, and play. We use science, industry, technology, medicine, and religion – fostered by our inertia – to work toward the greater goal of growth.
