Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer

I love Der Wanderer über dem Nebelmeer (1818), by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840):

[ source ]

The Age of Graphical Computing

Ron Doerfler has created a truly gorgeous 2010 calendar titled The Age of Graphical Computing. Ron has transformed nomography into a form of art.

[ image courtesy of Ron Doerfler ]

The calendar is free and available for downloading and printing in two formats (PDF files of about 5 MB):

• Flip-up landscape printing with binding: with major U.S. holidays, with no holidays.

• Double portrait printing with stapling: with major U.S. holidays, with no holidays.

Most nomograms in this calendar were created using PyNomo.

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Related:

• The Art of Nomography I: Geometric Design

• The Art of Nomography II: Designing with Determinants

• The Art of Nomography III: Transformations

• Creating Nomograms with the PyNomo Software

The Binary Marble Adding Machine

Matthias Wandel built a rudimentary digital computer out of wood. The ingenious Binary Marble Adding Machine is, basically, a 6-bit adder that runs on gravity and uses mechanical flip-flops for memory storage.

[ schematic courtesy of Matthias Wandel ]

Here’s a demo video:

More info on the lovely Marble Adding Machine:

• More on the binary marble adding machine

• Plans for the marble adding machine

• How the marble flip-flop works

Other interesting creations of Matthias Wandel:

• Wooden Machines

• Marble Machines

(hat tip: Rick Regan)

Geometry with POV-Ray

If you would like to use POV-Ray to visualize 3-dimensional geometrical objects, I highly recommend Friedrich A. Lohmueller‘s beautiful tutorial on Analytical Geometry with POV-Ray. Other POV-Ray tutorials by Friedrich A. Lohmueller can be found here.

[ image courtesy of Friedrich A. Lohmueller ]

In my humble opinion, this is how Analytical Geometry should be taught. Descartes had no access to 3-d graphics. We do. Why not take advantage of the technology?

Radiology Art

The Radiology Art project was started by artist and medical student Satre Stuelke in the Summer of 2007. Stuelke uses a CT scanner to acquire DICOM images of various objects (e.g., electronic apparatuses, toys) and then processes them with OsiriX Imaging Software and Adobe Photoshop. Colors are assigned based on the varying densities of materials present throughout the object. The post-processed images are stunning.

For example, here’s a CT scan of a Teslovak KT88S vacuum tube:

[ image courtesy of Satre Stuelke ]

Related:

• A Cultural Scan

• Diagnostic Art