on the way

life-of-an-architecture-student: archistudent: Holy shit. I...

Fri, 10 May 2013 01:03:04 -0400

archistudent:

Holy shit. I discovered this book in my local design book store today. WHY DIDN’T I FIND OUT ABOUT THIS IN YEAR ONE! It has all the essential information you need when you’re still struggling to find your way around the maze of line weights, representation, drawing, tools, model making and materials (to name just a few).

Anyway, even at the end of third year, there’s still information in it that’s pretty useful.

(It’s bloody thick, by the way.)

Studio Craft and Technique: The Architecture Student’s Handbook by Miriam Delaney and Anne Gorman

A must buy

drawingarchitecture: section by ~wabisabimade

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:40:45 -0400

drawingarchitecture:

section by ~wabisabimade

architizer: Check Out This Insane ‘Water Map’ That’s Also a...

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:35:30 -0400

Photo: Julia Kononenko [h/t Dvice]

Photo: Julia Kononenko [h/t Dvice]

architizer:

Check Out This Insane ‘Water Map’ That’s Also a Sink!

Tesla vs. Edison Debate Ignites at SxSW

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 08:14:34 -0400

txchnologist:

by Matthew Van Dusen

Paleofuture blogger Matt Novak’s South by Southwest March 11 talk on the Edison versus Tesla debate and myth of the lone inventor went electric when web comic artist Matthew Inman of The Oatmeal, whose Tesla comic spurred the debate, showed up to defend his work.

“The goal with my comic wasn’t to write nonfiction, it was more to paint a portrait of Tesla’s character and why I admire that and why I admire geeks in general,”* Inman said when he emerged from the audience to ask a question at the end of the session.

Novak had taken issue with Inman’s viral comic “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived” comic, saying that it fed the “Great Man Theory of History” and the myth of the lone inventor.

Read More

isomorphismes: Monotone and antitone functions (not over R just...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 01:18:28 -0400

isomorphismes:

Monotone and antitone functions

(not over R just the domain you see = 0)

fuckyeahpermaculture: 9 Basic Principles of Biomimicry Nature...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 00:59:23 -0400

fuckyeahpermaculture:

9 Basic Principles of Biomimicry

Nature runs on sunlight.

Nature uses only the energy it needs.

Nature fits form to function.

Nature recycles everything.

Nature rewards cooperation.

Nature banks on diversity.

Nature demands local expertise.

Nature curbs excesses from within.

Nature taps the power of limits.

fuckyeahbehindthescenes: The producers constructed a 1.5-mile...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:46:24 -0400

fuckyeahbehindthescenes:

The producers constructed a 1.5-mile freeway on unused runways specifically for the film.

The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

earth911: thegreenspeech: An hostel in Hamburg where...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 00:45:26 -0400

earth911:

thegreenspeech:

An hostel in Hamburg where recycling becomes design

The german firm Dreimeta ( www.dreimeta.com ) carried out a project of renovation of the interior spaces of a hostel in Hamburg ( www.superbude.de), where the characteristic is in the details.

Many objects are transformed and take on a new function and appearance. From the suction cups that become hangers, old newspaper pages used as wallpaper and wheelbarrows that make chairs.

Here are our picks for eco-friendly home office designs.

aycarambas: 1872 Steam Pile Driver Antique French Technical...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 11:22:02 -0400

aycarambas:

1872 Steam Pile Driver Antique French Technical Drawing Original Machinery at CarambasVintage http://etsy.me/YT0qsK

fuckyeahfluiddynamics: Arctic sea ice often appears as a single...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 11:43:33 -0400

fuckyeahfluiddynamics:

Arctic sea ice often appears as a single extensive sheet when, in reality, it is made up of many smaller sections of ice shifting and grinding against one another under the influence of winds and ocean currents. This can cause cracks—known as leads—to open up between sections of the ice. This animation, constructed from infrared satellite images, shows the growth of several cracks, leading to extensive break-up of the ice sheet from late-January through March. The fracturing was driven by a high-pressure system that parked over the region, bringing warmer temperatures and southwesterly winds that fueled the Beaufort Gyre, a large-scale, wind-driven, clockwise circulation in the sea that helped pull the ice apart. For more, see NASA EO’s explanation. (Video credit: NASA Earth Observatory)

fuckyeahhistorycrushes: James Clerk Maxwell- Scottish...

Sat, 06 Apr 2013 00:30:50 -0400

fuckyeahhistorycrushes:

James Clerk Maxwell- Scottish theoretical physicist

His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This unites all previously unrelated observations, experiments, and equations of electricity, magnetism, and optics into a consistent theory. Maxwell’s equations demonstrate that electricity, magnetism and light are all manifestations of the same phenomenon, namely the electromagnetic field. Subsequently, all other classical laws or equations of these disciplines became simplified cases of Maxwell’s equations. Maxwell’s achievements concerning electromagnetism have been called the “second great unification in physics”, after the first one realised by Isaac Newton.

Maxwell demonstrated that electric and magnetic fields travel through space in the form of waves and at the constant speed of light. In 1865, Maxwell published A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field. It was with this that he first proposed that light was in fact undulations in the same medium that is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. His work in producing a unified model of electromagnetism is one of the greatest advances in physics.

Maxwell also helped develop the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution, which is a statistical means of describing aspects of the kinetic theory of gases. These two discoveries helped usher in the era of modern physics, laying the foundation for such fields as special relativity and quantum mechanics.

Maxwell is also known for presenting the first durable colour photograph in 1861 and for his foundational work on the rigidity of rod-and-joint frameworks (trusses) like those in many bridges.

Many physicists consider Maxwell to be the 19th-century scientist having the greatest influence on 20th-century physics. His contributions to the science are considered by many to be of the same magnitude as those of Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. In the millennium poll—a survey of the 100 most prominent physicists—Maxwell was voted the third greatest physicist of all time, behind only Newton and Einstein. On the centennial of Maxwell’s birthday, Einstein himself described Maxwell’s work as the “most profound and the most fruitful that physics has experienced since the time of Newton.” Einstein kept a photograph of Maxwell on his study wall, alongside pictures of Michael Faraday and Newton.

pergoogle: “Panopticon,” Google Image search by Rob Walker,...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:15:09 -0400

pergoogle:

“Panopticon,” Google Image search by Rob Walker, March 25, 2013

laboratoryequipment: Early Number Sense Key to Later Math...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 12:02:52 -0400

laboratoryequipment:

Early Number Sense Key to Later Math Skills

We know a lot about how babies learn to talk, and youngsters learn to read. Now scientists are unraveling the earliest building blocks of math — and what children know about numbers as they begin first grade seems to play a big role in how well they do everyday calculations later on.

The findings have specialists considering steps that parents might take to spur math abilities, just like they do to try to raise a good reader. This isn’t only about trying to improve the nation’s math scores and attract kids to become engineers. It’s far more basic.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/early-number-sense-key-later-math-skills

fuckyeahpermaculture: Earthship Biotecture

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 01:30:12 -0400

fuckyeahpermaculture:

Earthship Biotecture

Photo

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:22:50 -0400

neurosciencestuff: Study indicates reverse impulses clear...

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 05:09:43 -0400

neurosciencestuff:

Study indicates reverse impulses clear useless information, prime brain for learning

When the mind is at rest, the electrical signals by which brain cells communicate appear to travel in reverse, wiping out unimportant information in the process, but sensitizing the cells for future sensory learning, according to a study of rats conducted by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

The finding has implications not only for studies seeking to help people learn more efficiently, but also for attempts to understand and treat post-traumatic stress disorder—in which the mind has difficulty moving beyond a disturbing experience.

During waking hours, brain cells, or neurons, communicate via high-speed electrical signals that travel the length of the cell. These communications are the foundation for learning. As learning progresses, these signals travel across groups of neurons with increasing rapidity, forming circuits that work together to recall a memory.

It was previously known that, during sleep, these impulses were reversed, arising from waves of electrical activity originating deep within the brain. In the current study, the researchers found that these reverse signals weakened circuits formed during waking hours, apparently so that unimportant information could be erased from the brain. But the reverse signals also appeared to prime the brain to relearn at least some of the forgotten information. If the animals encountered the same information upon awakening, the circuits re-formed much more rapidly than when they originally encountered the information.

“The brain doesn’t store all the information it encounters, so there must be a mechanism for discarding what isn’t important,” said senior author R. Douglas Fields, Ph.D., head of the Section on Nervous System Development and Plasticity at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the NIH institute where the research was conducted. “These reverse brain signals appear to be the mechanism by which the brain clears itself of unimportant information.”

Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The researchers studied the activity of rats’ brain cells from the hippocampus, a tube-like structure deep in the brain. The hippocampus relays information to and from many other regions of the brain. It plays an important role in memory, orientation, and navigation.

The classic understanding of brain cell activity is that electrical signals travel from dendrites—antenna-like projections at one end of the cell—through the cell body. From the cell body, they then travel the length of the axon, a single long projection at the other end of the cell. This electrical signal stimulates the release of chemicals at the end of the axon, which bind to dendrites on adjacent cells, stimulating these recipient cells to fire electrical signals, and so on. When groups of cells repeatedly fire in this way, the electrical signals increase in intensity.

Dr. Bukalo and her team examined electrical signals that traveled in reverse—from the cell’s axon, to the cell body, and out its many dendrites. This reverse firing happens during sleep and at rest, appearing to reset the cell, the researchers found.

After first stimulating the cells with reverse electrical impulses, the researchers next stimulated the dendrites again with electrical impulses traveling in the forward direction. In response, the neurons generated a stronger signal, with the connections appearing to strengthen with repeated electrical stimulation.

This pattern appears to underlie the formation of new memories. A connection that is reset but never stimulated again may simply fade from use over time, Dr. Bukalo explained. But when a cell is stimulated again, it fires a stronger signal and may be more easily synchronized to the reinforced signals of other brain cells, all of which act in concert over time.

primenyc: The engineering firm, Arup designed a mock-up...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:43:29 -0500

primenyc:

The engineering firm, Arup designed a mock-up building aimed at sustainability, regeneration, and efficiency. Arup’s design would utilize vertical space to integrate agriculture, energy systems, and community in a way that is flexible and smart.

malventurado: Russian Meteor Strike, February 2013

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 22:06:18 -0500

malventurado:

Russian Meteor Strike, February 2013

Photo

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:02:18 -0500

vanished: Michael Wolf - Architecture of Density

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 03:25:10 -0500

vanished:

Michael Wolf - Architecture of Density