Cute Animal...

Hedgehog >.<

Hedgehog mammals grow to 6” to 15”. The average adult hedgehog has about 5,000 spines, modified hair that are 2-3 cm. (1”) long. Hedgehogs have poor eyesight, acute hearing, short legs, a long pointed snout, and 36-44 teeth. Their color ranges from white to dark brown. There are fourteen species in four genera found in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Hedgehogs were also introduced in New Zealand. Their habitat is wooded or cultivated land, including gardens, where they enjoy a close relationship with man, tropical rain forests, steppe, and desert. Desert and long-eared species have powerful legs and strong claws for digging burrows in dry areas. Other hedgehog differences are size, color, and the length of ears and toes. All species, with the exception of the Four-Toed, have five toes on each foot.

These mammals are nocturnal, sleeping during the day and eating at night. Desert and temperate hedgehogs can have dormant periods of hibernation when their body temperature drops to near the same temperature as their surroundings. They sometimes hibernate when there is no food. Northern African hedgehogs hibernate from October to late April. Tropical hedgehogs do not hibernate in their normal environment, but will if there is a lack of food. Occasionally a hedgehog will produce foamy saliva when stimulated by strong smells or tastes and smear it all over their body. This act, called self-anointing, is little understood. Some species can swim and climb, but mostly they stay on the ground.

Hedgehogs provide a valuable insect pest control service. They are insectivores, eating earthworms, beetles, earwigs, slugs, millipedes, and caterpillars. Some species will eat bird’s eggs, mice, frogs, and other small rodents. They also have been known to eat seeds, berries, grasses and leaves, and fallen fruit. Stories in Russia and China tell of hedgehogs impaling fruit on their spines.

If threatened, the hedgehog freezes and rolls into a ball with its spines sticking out for defense. When erected, the spines stick out at different angles to create an impassable barrier. Strong muscles curl the skin tightly over their body. European species appear to be immune to toxins, since they are able to eat bees and wasps. They can eat some venomous snakes, but cannot withstand a direct bite from them. They are vulnerable in India and China due to loss of habitat.

Different hedgehog species breed at different times of the year, but most mate in the spring, and produce 4-6 offspring. Also the gestation period varies between 30-45 days. The young are born naked with ears and eyes closed. Spines are present at birth, but lie just under the skin and sprout in 36 hours. Their eyes open after fourteen days, their teeth at 21 days, and weaning occurs at 6-7 weeks. The hedgehog is a known carrier of fleas. Adults are solitary. They make snuffling noises when courting. They communicate and find food best through their well-developed sense of smell. Hedgehogs in the wild live from 3 to eight years; in captivity they may live up to 10 years.

Concept of God in Islam

Literally, Islam has sort of definitions, the verb is ‘salama’ that contributes into three definitions which are pure/clean, peace/harmony and loyal/surrender. Terminologically, Islam means loyal, bow, sincere in fulfilling His tasks and sincere to Him by having good faith. Beside that, Islam is a revealed religion which wanted it followers to be pious to Him, his Angels, books, massengers, hereafter and lastly is the faith.

The word Islam means submission to the God’s commandments. It is totally about acceptance and implementation of His commands. Islam deals with deeds (amal). The submission of God’s commandments will bring the inner peace to individual and then the society as well. X t . hat, Islam is a revealed religion which wanted it followers to be pious to Him, his Angels, books, massengers, hereafter and lastly is the faith.In Islam, Allah is the foremost other than anything. He should be in the first place of the heart of each Muslims because Allah the one who create human as well. Apart from that, the God (Allah) has 99 names.

from : Azieyati Abd Malik

My dad and I ...

When I was 4 years old: My dad is the best .

When I was 6 years old: My dad seems to know everyone.

When I was 10 years old: My dad is excellent but he is short tempered.

When I was 12 years old: My dad was nice when I was little.

When I was 14 years old: My dad started being too sensitive.

When I was 16 years old: My dad can't keep up with modern time.

When I was 18 years old: My dad is getting less tolerant as the days pass by.

When I was 20 years old: It's too hard to forgive my father, how could my mum stand with him all these years.

When I was 25 years old: My father seems to be objective to everything I do.

When I was 30 years old: It's very difficult to be in agreement with my father, I wonder if my grandfather was troubled by my father when he was a youth.

When I was 40 years old: My father brought me up with alot of discipline, I must do the same !

When I was 45 years old: I am puzzled how did my father manage to raise all of us.

When I was 50 years old: It's rather difficult to control my kids, how much did my father suffer for the sake of upbringing and protecting us.

When I was 55 years old: My dad was far looking and had wide plans for us, he was gentle and outstanding.

When I was 60 years old: My dad is THE BEST.

Note that it took 56 years to complete the cycle and return to the starting point " My dad is The Best" .

Let's be good to our parents before it's too late and pray that our children will treat us even better than the way we treated our parents.

Don't complicate the simple things.

There is a funny story i would like to share with you all.

During the beginning period of the space program, NASA was seeking for a pen that can be used in the space:

-It must be applicable in any directions.
-It can function in vacuum space.
-The ink does not really need to be refilled.

NASA was taking this matter seriously and they thought many scientists would start studying to invent this kind of pen.


After three days, they received a fax from Germany, written: "try pencil before?"

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Don't make simple things complicated. Sometimes when we are facing a problem, try to calm ourselves down and think : "Is this problem really that complicated?"

=)

Should boys learn to cook?

Last time i went back to Kuching for celebrating Chinese New Year, and guess what they all asked me?

"Are you going out to eat everyday or you cook yourself?"

"erm........going out to eat."

"Harh? you yourself dunno how to cook meh?"

"Urm.. I know how to cook maggie mee. Trust me it is nice. >.<"

So should i ask, should boys learn to cook? It is universally acknowledged that every nation nay, every individual must be self sufficient and that amounts to saying self supporting. In Japan, one of the most advanced country in the world, cookery is a compulsary subject in the Japanese school curriculum. Can we say they are foolish to introduce this women's job in the curriculum among science and arts?

Actually, the object of learning how to cook is to make an individual self supporting. Needless to say a knowledge of cooking helps an individual tremendously. What will happen after we graduated from Taylor and decide to go overseas to study but yet we still do not know how to cook? In this scientific age a stove can be had for a few dollars and we can devote a few minutes in cooking our food. Hence, the benefits of knowing how to cook is not only saves ur from starvation but it is more economical, hygenic and fascinating. For the sake of cleanliness and variety also, people always prefer to cook thier own food.

Of cause i admit my "mood" is totally being destroyed when i heard the "harh" from the mouth of the relatives. So.. do i need to start learning how to cook from today? Anyone wants to join me...? => to cook Maggie. =D

Green lamps, u want?

I was doing a research on "how to make a taylor's classroom more eco-friendly" and i found this. I decided to install this in my future house. MUST! >.<
I seriously love the idea of this green lamp that blends natural textures with recycled materials to bring a bit of nature indoors.

This green lamp is conceived by three Venetian architects for a charity competition, the Grass-On Lamp by ITlab is made entirely of recycled materials, including the synthetic grass, and completely recyclable. The cube structure of the lamp gives it added versatility, letting it rest on the floor, on a table, or suspended from the air.

This idea is actually the combination of architect, design and interiors by using surprising materials and forms. I personally like this imteractive nature-if you prefer this green lamp to be lighter, you can just trim back the green to let more shine through.

By installing this lovely lamp inside the house, one can sense the closeness of the nature although you are actually inside your concrete house.

A little big idea can make the earth better. Go green with me today. =)

What is law?

There is no comprehensive definition of law.However,law may be defined as a body of rules which are given by the state(government).It is a command by the state to the individuals or groups or corporations and is enforceable by sanctions.

Some people define law as a set of rules, developed over a long period of time to regulate people’s interaction with each other, and which sets standards of conducts between individuals and other individuals, and individuals and the government.

Are rules always law?

Even if law is a set of rules, it does not necessarily follow that all rules are law.There are rules that govern human behaviour but are not law.Examples of such rules are family rules,sports rules and school rules.

Why do we need law?

There is a need for law so that:-

→Peace and order in the society can be mainted.

→Anarchy can be avoided.

→People can settle their dispute in ammicable manner.

→Social justice is promoted.

FROM : AZIEYATI ABD MALIK

What Is National Integrity Plan?

National Integrity Plan (NIP) is a concept that has been introduced by the ex-prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is to fulfill the challenge at the Vision 2020 in order to establish a fully moral and ethical society whose citizens are strong in religious and spiritual values and imbued with the highest ethical standards.

The components or institutions that involved in the concept of National Integrity Plan are family, community, civil society(NGOs), socio culture(education, sports and recreation, health, media, arts, literature and heritage),religion, economy, politics and administration. Other than that, the National Integrity Plan also has its own objectives. There are five main objectives; Firstly the aim is to reduce corruption and abuses of power. Secondly, is focusing on increasing the efficiency of the public delivery system. Thirdly, it wanted to enhance the corporate governance and business ethics. Apart from that, it is also want to strengthen the family institution. Last but not least, it wanted to improve the quality of people’s life.

FROM : AZIEYATI ABD MALIK

WHAT IS CRITICAL THINKING?

Often when we use the word 'critical' we mean "negative and fault-finding". This is the sense we have in mind, for example, when we complain about a parent or a friend who we think is unfairly critical of what we do or say. But critical also means 'involving or excercising skilled judgement or observation'.

In this sense critical thinking means thinking clearly and intelligently. More precisely, critical thinking is the general term. We need to effectively identify, analyze and evaluate arguments and truth claims to discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases to present the convincing reasons in order to support the conclusion and to make a reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.

There are few elements that involves in critical thinking which are clarity, precision , accuracy, relevance, consistency, logical correctness, completeness and fairness.

FROM : AZIEYATI ABDUL MALIK

TYPES OF FREEDOM

a)’freedom to’ or ‘freedom of’ such as→freedom to move, freedom of speech, freedom of religion.

b)’freedom from’ such as→freedom from oppression, freedom from want, etc.

NEGATIVE & POSITIVE FREEDOM:

a)Negative freedom→is the absence of constrains, and refers to the sphere of action within which an individual is left alone to do or be whatever he or she may want to do.

b)Positive freedom→is the presence of control, and refers to the question “who determines that an agent does one thing rather than another?”.It is about self-government, rather than about being left alone.The word “positive freedom” is being used to describe the control exercised by a “collective self” over its intractable members.

FROM : AZIEYATI ABDUL MALIK

TYPES OF FREEDOM

a)’freedom to’ or ‘freedom of’ such as→freedom to move, freedom of speech, freedom of religion.

b)’freedom from’ such as→freedom from opression, freedom from want, etc.

NEGATIVE & POSITIVE FREEDOM:

a)Negative freedom→is the absence of constrains, and refers to the sphere of action within which an individual is left alone to do or be whatever he or she may want to do.

b)Positive freedom→is the presence of control, and refers to the question “who determines that an agent does one thing rather than another?”.It is about self-government, rather than about being left alone.The word “positive freedom” is being used to describe the control exercised by a “collective self” over its intractable members.

FROM : AZIEYATI ABDUL MALIK

MORPHO TOWER

The Morpho Towers are created by Sachiko kodama and Yasushi Mijayima. Sachiko is a Japanese artist who is a physic graduate in the Faculty of Science at Hokkaido University in 1993. She is matriculated in the Fine Arts Department at the Universiy of Tsukuba in Plastic art and Mixed media. She then completed her Master’s and Doctoral Programme in Art and Design. She used to have an interactive art project named “PROTRUDE FLOW”.

The idea of Morpho Towes comes from life and nature. It related to the matter of flora and fauna, the way of movement of animals. Another her main objective is to relate these elements in computer display design as well. The motif of the Morpho towers are sea, tornadoes and lightning.

In my opinion,its really a good invention as it is unique, fascinate, beautiful and technology advanced. It introduced people about the ferrofluid, which is the thing that i have never know before. Now I know about the usage of ferrofluid.Other than that, it makes people think of how can someone create something like this? Nobody expect that human can create something like this which are a different and unique invention. The creation of these Morpho Towers really make us think of how the natural shapes occur as well.

FROM : AZIEYATI ABD MALIK

Respite

Full moon today. Not something you get to see everyday, eh?

.

.

Right now, I can imagine most of us FNBE students would be stressed out from the avalanche of assignments, especially the CCM meeting coming up this Wednesday (40% ler...), and a lot more. While these assignments would be crucial for our final marks, and understandably most of us would want to do our best, try not to stress yourselves too much okay? After all its college, we're supposed to have fun =)

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And before I forget, Happy Chap Goh Meh. Enjoy it while it lasts. x)

Beach Beast part 1

There are some gigantic moving sculptures in some parts of the world !


Yeah, they are kinetic sculptures, invented by Theo Jansen. He calls them 'Strandbeest' , or some call them ' Beach Beast' .

Who is Theo Jansen?
Well, Theo Jansen is a Dutch artist, or i should say he is a scientist turned artist, he born March 14 ,1948 in The Hague , Netherlands. He has been occupied with the making of new nature since 1990. Over the years, successive generation of his new natures have evolved into increasingly complex animals .

What is his idea ?
Theo Jansen wants to make "life" and he figures out the best way to do it is to start from scratch



He builds large works which resemble skeletons of animals and are able to walk using the wind on the beach, his bizzare beach animals have their roots in a computer program that he designed 17 years ago which virtual four-legged creatures raced against each othere to identify survivors fit enough to reproduce. Deetermined to translate the evolutionary process off-screen, Jansen went to a local shop and found his own alternative to the biological cell , the humbe plastic tube.

He insists that animals are machines as well, he was making animals with just the tubes because they are cheap but later on they turned out to be very helpful in making artificial life because they are very flexible and mulifunctional as well. " There's a lot of variety in what you can do with just one material and this is what i try to do as well."

to be continued ....

Facts and Opinion

When I watched the video,i’ve totally no idea about it.I couldn’t believe it that it is real.Well,As you can see, the iron-containing fluid is no ordinary liquid.It is called ferrofluid. Ferrofluid is an assemblage of magnetic particles engineered at the nanoscale, 100 times smaller than the wavelength visible light. Although too small to be imaged with microscopes, nano-products harness surprising properties from nanoscale physics for use in the macroscale world

A ferrofluid in a magnetic field showing normal-field instability caused by a neodymium magnet beneath the dish

when there is magnetism around the ferrofluid, the fluid will change it's shape into minute moss, or spiky teeth, or even hard iron surface depending on the strenght of magnetic field.

Morpho Towers also known as Two Standing Spirals. The creators of morpho towers are Sachiko Kodama and Yasushi Miyajima. They are both from Japan.

You can see from the video that the motion of liquid metal dancing playfully to the piano notes absolutely fascinating and oh-so delicate.

“Morpho Towers--Two Standing Spirals” is an installation that consists of two ferrofluid sculptures that moves synthetically to music. The body of the tower was made by “ferrofluid sculpture” The ferrofluid covers the sculpted that was made on an electronic NC lathe. When the music starts, the magnetic field around the tower is strengthened. Spikes of ferrofluid are born from the bottom plate and move up, trembling and rotating around the edge of the iron spiral.The movement of the spikes in the fluid is controlled dynamically on the surface by adjusting the power of the electromagnet. The shape of the iron body is designed as helical so that the fluid can move to the top of the helical tower when the magnetic field is strong enough.The changing of the magnetic fields affect the ferrofluid shape accordingly

The pair of ferrofluid sculptures were deigned to stand in a platter of ferrofluid and move "synthetically to music," which translates into a magnetic field being generated by sound and creating autonomous art. Subsequently, the towers react by attracting "spikes of ferrofluid" from the bottom-up, which can mold itself and transform into a variety of stunning shapes. The spikes themselves are designed to "rotate around the edge of the spiral cone, becoming large or small depending on the strength of the magnetic field,"

Dynamix,organic shapes and the movement produced by black lustrous fluid(magnetic fluid)are incorporated into certain sections of the installation to express desire and passion toward life.the phenomenon in which fluid ascends upward against the forces of gravity reminds us of living forms.the fluid moves in response to the rhythms of synchronous sound.these interactive installations are not machine-like in nature,but rather exhibit the energy of pulsating fluid in actual life forms.

Defining innovation "Strandbeest"

Nowadays, There is many creative ideas, but a few ideas that would be more than creative !

As this ...

What is this? What does this means?

This called Strandbeest. And it means "beach beast", and it is a type of kinetic sculpture made from tools like plastic tubing, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, hose, tape, etc ...

How these sculptures work?

These sculptures walk by flapping wings in response to the wind, discerning obstacles in their path through feelers.

What kind of system they use?

Strandbeest use Klann Linkage system which is a planar mechanism created to imitate the gait of legged animal and work as a wheel replacement. The linkage consists of the frame, a crank, two grounded rockers, and two couplers all connected by pivot joints.

Who made these?

His name is Theo Jansen, he born in 14/3/1948, in The Hague, Netherlands.

He is a Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor. He is working on that type of work for more than fifteen years.

Does he has another concept design ?

Yes, he has many concept designs . As these ...

In my opinion, this last design is the best design I have seen from theo jansen. and also you can see how huge that is !!

And also he had a hard time with his toy!!!

In my conclusion, I would say that probably we would see something will be useful for the environment and life in the future. And I wish that ...

for more information, you can visit Theo jansen's website: http://www.strandbeest.com/

I hope you enjoyed ...

Imagination has no limits-Part 2

A little update on the Morpho Towers. To those of you who want to make your own ferrofluid to play around with, here's a little guide.

Firstly, you'll need these:

1. Laser jet toner
2. Rare earth magnet (can be bought from any hardware store)
3. Some vegetable oil
   
   

Ok, when you have those, follow these steps:

1. Pour roughly 50ml of toner into a cup

2. Put 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil into the toner. You may need to add slightly more, depending on how much toner you use

3. Stir the mixture until it achieves a nice, thin consistency (not too thick)

4. Transfer the mixture into a smaller jar, so that it is easier to handle the mixture

5. Place the magnet underneath the jar-you'll see the same spiky effect as in the video! (If this doesn't work, you will need a stronger magnet)

Hope that helps =)

Are you willing to drive this car?

hi everyone, this is my first time here, first time playing blogger as well, so hopefully my first post up can impress you guys




The car shown in the video is actually Toyato Vios ...i guess, but they modify the car by using human for all the functions in their car, they call it 'Human Touch' ...That's cool , isn't ?

Some of you may think that this is just another creative advertisement from Toyota to boost their sale , to attract public's attention ...... but who knows? your children might be driving this to fetch you in the future

Personally, i think this idea from the Japanese is awesome. If someone is planning to steal your car, he would be wondering if the 'guys' inside your car are made of plastic or real human being.

If i had a chance to suggest, my suggestion would be changing the face of the 'guys' inside to popular celebrities' face, i would like Paris Hilton to be my seat and Jay Chow to be my viper xD

Thank You, hope you guys enjoy the video

Imagination has no limits

After looking at the Morpho Towers video, most of us would be thinking: "No way that could be real..must be some kind of 3D animation or special effects..it's impossible for the liquid to move in such a way!"

But it IS real, there are no special effects, animatronics or whatsoever. I shall attempt to explain what happened in the video in as simple a manner as possible.

Firstly, the silver liquid you see is called ferrofluid, a kind of slippery oil that contains iron oxide particles-which are responsive to the presence of magnets.

The ferrofluid is attracted to the magnetic field, and at the same time the magnetic field is attracted to the ferrofluid. This helps to shape the ferrofluid into concentrated columns. Surface tension in the oil causes each column to pull in on itself, forming sharp spikes.

The following photos (from the internet) shows a magnet being brought closer to the underside of ferrofluid, from top to bottom:

The magnet will pull iron oxide particles out of the oil, forming a clump of magnetic dust near the magnet. Iron oxide in the ferrofluid will not be pulled out of the fluid due to the presence of surfactants, which is active on the surface between the oil and the magnetic specks.

One end of the surfactant molecule holds on to the iron oxide, while the other holds on to the oil. When completely surrounded by surfactants, the particles will not be able to clump together. This means that wherever the iron oxide goes, the oil will follow.

Using this knowledge, the artists who made this video placed two spiral towers on a large plate containing ferrofluid. When the music starts, the magnetic field around the tower is strengthened.

The body of the tower was made using a new technique which utilizes one electromagnet, and its iron core is extended and sculpted. The ferrofluid covers the sculpted surface of the iron.

Movement of the spikes in the fluid is controlled on the surface by adjusting the power of the electromagnet. The iron body is shaped as a helical cone so that the fluid can move to the top of the cone when the magnetic field has enough strength.

Nowadays, ferrofluids are commonly used for commercial applications such as car suspensions and CDs. The artists were revolutionary in the sense that they applied the dynamic qualities of ferrofluid in the fine arts scene, with the aid of a computer to manipulate electromagnetic fields in the sculpture.

A bit of information on the artists:

SACHIKO KODAMA:

• Born in 1970.
• Has a strong interest in both science and the arts.
• Graduated from the Physics course in the Faculty of Science at Hokkaido University.
• Studied Plastic and Mixed Media in the Fine Arts Department of University of Tsukuba.
• Completed her Master's and Doctoral Program in Art and Design at Uni. of Tsukuba.
• Studied Computer Graphics and Holography Art in her doctoral research.

YASUSHI MIYAJIMA:

• Works with Sony Computer Science Laboratories (CSL).
• Contributed by synchronizing the ferrofluid movement to the musical playback in real time (using time series metadata).

Quote from Kodama in an interview with Patricia Faure Gallery:

"I am using a liquid material in this piece, and the liquid is moving like a creature. I met this material when I was studying Computer Graphics and Holography. When I met this material, I was so amazed, I thought I could make a new style of art."

Interesting, eh?

Theo Jansen - Strandbeest

Theo Jansen

Born in MARCH 14, 1948, in The Hague, Netherlands. He is a Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor. For the past fifteen years, Theo Jansen has been creating 'beach beast' or better known as STRANDBEEST. Here a little movie:

From on the video, what do you think?Unbelievable? Believe It.

What is Strandbeest?
As I mentioned Strandbeests, which means "beach beasts," are a type of kinetic sculpture made by Theo Jansen. They are made from commonly available tools like plastic tubing, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, hose, tape, and all sorts of other stuff.
These sculptures walk by flapping wings in response to the wind, discerning obstacles in their path through feelers and what so interesting is that it can hammering themselves into the sand on sensing an approaching storm.
The designs grow more complex over time,

• have legs,
• muscles (pneumatic pistons within the plastic tubing),
• have artificial stomachs (plastic bottles for storing air), and
  
• nerves (collections of on/off values that work pretty much like logic gates).

The walking mechanism. How does it work?
For you information, strandbeest use Klann Linkage system to function. What is Klann Linkage? Klann Linkage is a planar mechanism created to imitate the gait of legged animal and work as a wheel replacement. The linkage consists of the frame, a crank, two grounded rockers, and two couplers all connected by pivot joints.

The proportions of each of the links in the mechanism are characterize to optimize the linearity of the foot for one-half of the rotation of the crank. The remaining rotation of the crank allows the foot to be raised to a predetermined height before returning to the starting position and repeating the cycle. Two of these linkages coupled together at the crank and one-half cycle out of phase with each other will allow the frame of a vehicle to travel parallel to the ground. Here is a little movie showing the walking mechanism:

Klann linkage preserve many of the advantages of more advanced walking vehicles without some of their limitations. It can step over curbs, climb stairs, or travel into areas that are currently not accessible with wheels but does not require microprocessor control or multitudes of actuator mechanisms. It fits into the technological space between these walking devices and axle-driven wheels.


Furthermore it is also quite special that the trajectories of the feet are shaped like an airfoil, created by such a simple construction of triangles.

Legs instead of wheel. Why?

The proportion of the tube are very important for the walking. There are 11 numbers which are called the 11 holy numbers. The distances of the tube which makes it walk that way. Affect this is a new invention of the wheel. Legs is better than a wheel because when you try to drive a bicycle on the beach, you will notice that it is very difficult to do. In conclusion, legs function better than wheel on the beach.

A little movie of Theo Jansen sculpture function.

Movie include sculptures walk by flapping wings in response to the wind, discerning obstacles in their path through feelers and hammering themselves into the sand on sensing an approaching storm:

Impact that Theo Jansen hope will have both in practical and artistic terms?
What Jansen see now, a lot of people seem to recognize what he do in their own imagination and follow him in his fairytale and become sort of partners or participants. Obviously they don't work with him but stand behind him, support him and really talk with him as if they are part of his project. That of course is something for an artist is very nice when people seem to understand your work.

In the future Jansen hope that these animals will develop in the end that they can live on their own and Jansen don't have to cure them any more and at the end of his life that they will live for a long time after He's done.

Where is Theo Jansen make his beast?

Theo Jansen's workshop in Ypenburg, Holland

The lab consists of a sandpit measuring 30x15 meter, a cabin, a large sea container and lots willow trees. There is the bone yard as well.The sandpit is the pre-heaven for the beach animals.

WEBCAM:
Click HERE to see work going on inside the cabin. If Jansen is not there, He might be outside doing some experiments.

It's just an explainable Miracle.

Do not think that this is a Christmas tree with snowflakes covering it's leaves. Well, photoshop can't be that perfect and i strongly believe that this creation is real when i watched the video for the first time.Here I'm going to separate me facts and opinions to give a better understanding.

Honestly, I think this is an amazing tower. I even had my sleepless nights to think about the explanations for this phenomena. In my opinion, the tower is made out of metal materials and the fluid below is just an ordinary water. When electric currents pass through the morpho towers, they start to charge the water molecules at the same time.



I assume that everyone knows water is neutral. "Water is a polar molecule. A polar molecule is a molecule with an unequal distribution of charges, that is, each molecule has a positive end and a negative end. Polar molecules attract each other as well as ions and other polar molecules. "(from Biology SPM SUCCESS reference book 2007 page 84- Chapter 4 Chemical Composition of the Cell)-from the reference book that i'm going to burn recycle. The time still haven't erase this part of memories from my brain. With this knowledge i try to make an analysis. That is -

When the electric currents pass through the metallic towers (or materials that can conduct electricity), the towers become electromagnets, which will lose thier magnetism when there is no current supply. The currents SOMEHOW attract the positive ions in the water molecules and thus, the water changes into the shape of spikes.
Then i have headache why it is a spike, but not square, or cube? I try to explain my hypothesis physically:The positive ions is heavier than the negative ions. That's why the positive ions occupy the larger portion-which made out the larger base of a spike. i was satisfied with my OWN hypothesis. =3

All these are just my opinions. To my surprise, my opinions are actually quite close to the FACTS. From my research, the installation is not containing ordinary water, but a type of fluid called ferrofluid(to know more about ferrofluid, click here!).


-to be continue. i will still explain the principle of this creation later. I WANT TO SLEEP NOW. >.< 3.22 a.m.

To cut the story short, ferrofluid is a liquid which becomes strongly polarised in the presence of magnetism. It consisted of nanoparticles of magnetite, hematite and iron. It is usually used in electronic devices, mechanical engineering, medicine and even art.



The principle of this installation is actually simple. We need one electromagnet, which iron core is extended and sculpted. The magnetism of the helical tower is strenghthened when music plays. The helical shape of the tower enable the ferrofluid to move to it's top if the magnetic field is strong enough. Ferrofluid with the shape of spikes are born from bottom, moving up by rotating around the edge of the spiral.

One amazing fact is that this installation moves synthetically to music! How does music affects the movements of the ferrofluid? Actually, time series metadata which consists of musical information(chord proggression,beat position,melody block information, ferrofluid control information) are added to the music played beforehand. This explains why the rhythm of the ferrofluid moves with the musical rhythm coincedentally. Therefore, the fluid remains at the bottom of the plate when there is no sound.

The morpho tower is just a simple spiral shape when there is no magnetic force created. BUt when the magnetism around the tower increased, the tower will change it's shape into minute moss, or spiky teeth, or even hard iron surface depending on the strenght of magnetic field. In the nutshell, the shape of the ferrofluid on the surface of the tower can be altered by simply control the magnetic field.

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Breathtaking. The only way to describe the feeling to see this beauty in motion is "breathtaking". You know, the fact is we usually just remember the name of the creation, but not the name of the creator,or the artist perhaps. The creators of morpho tower are Sachiko Kodama and Yasushi Miyajima. They are both from Japan.

Sachiko Kodama :
-born in 1970.
-loved art and literature when she was young.
-interested in science.

Awards :
-The 5th Media Arts Festival, Agency for Cultural Affairs, Grand Prize (Digital Art Interactive Division)2001
-The 16th Digital Content Grand Prix, Digital Content Association of Japan, Art Award, 2001
-Japan Information-Culture Society, Art Award 2002

In 2006, she had her sole exhibition with the title "Morpho Towers" in Gallery Sakamaki, Tokyo.


Yasushi Miyajima :
-from Sony CSL.
-he contributed most to the music part of the morpho towers. He installed the time series metadata which consists of musical information into the music played to make the ferrofluid moves coincident with the music.

Yay! i've done! I hope my explanations are clear enough. Good night everyone! =D

Streetscapes

Hey guys, hows the CNY holidays going? Hope you all are having a great time :D

And credits to Chon Fan and Nicholas for coming up with the caterpillar theme, its really creative. At the same time, its something we FNBE students can agree on-after all, we are caterpillars, and with much hard work and perseverance we'll become like that butterfly..

Anyways, I will now show you bits of the environment we live in: urban Kuala Lumpur. It is the economic capital of Malaysia, former mining town, home to countless kopitiams, and much, much more. These pics were taken by me sometime ago, hope you enjoy it:

Apartments around KLCC

Work hard, play hard

Jalan Tun Perak during an afternoon

Penchala Link around 7am

Taken in a mamak shop. Where else can you find Chinese decorations in an Indian eatery?

Chinese temple-just a stone's throw away from KLCC

OK, that's all for now. Will be posting something about the Morpho Towers video later on.

Ciao~