Tracking Faces in Places: Google Earth Pareidolia
Über Maschinen-Pareidolia – der psychologische Effekt, Gesichter in Mustern oder Strukturen zu erkennen, übertragen auf Face-Tracking-Software –, habe ich schon ein paar mal gebloggt. Jetzt haben die Leute vom Onformative Studio das Prinzip durch Google Earth gejagt:
One of the key aspects of this project, is the autonomy of the face searching agent and the amount of data we are investigating. The source of our image data is halfway voluntary provided by Google Maps. Our agent flips through one satellite image after the other, in order to feed the face detection algorithm with landscape samples. The corresponding iteration algorithm steps sequentially along the latitude and longitude of our globe. Once the agent circumnavigated the world, it switches to the next zoom level and starts all over again.
Google Faces – searching for faces on Google Maps (via Creative Applications)
Vorher auf Nerdcore:
Tracking Faces in Places
Tracking Faces in Places: Machine Pareidolia
Malformed Brain-Photography
Andy Deemer war im Hirnmuseum in Bangalore, Indien, und hat ein paar sehr nette Bilder mitgebracht (via BB). Und ein paar Tage vorher hatte Adam Voorhes ein paar Bilder einer Fotoserie über missgebildtete Gehirne gepostet, die er damals in der Uni Austin für Scientific American gemacht hatte. BRAINS!
Two years ago Scientific American magazine sent me to the University of Texas at Austin to borrow a human brain. They needed me to photograph a normal, adult, non-dissected brain that the university had obtained by trading a syphilitic lung with another institution. The specimen was waiting for me, but before I left they asked if I’d like to see their collection.
I walked into a storage closet filled with approximately one-hundred human brains, none of them normal, taken from patients at the Texas State Mental Hospital.
Malformed – A Collection of Human Brains from the Texas State Mental Hospital
Virtual Depression-Diagnosis with Kinect-Hack
Das Institute for Creative Technologies an der University of Southern California arbeitet an virtuellen Psychotherapeuten namens SimSensei, die Depressionen anhand von Körpersprache und Mimik diagnostizieren können – mittels einem gehackten Kinect. Ein bisschen wie ein invertierter Voight-Kampff-Test.
A new program called SimSensei, still in the early stages of development, logs people’s subtle body language and fleeting facial expressions to help diagnose depression, the New Scientist reported. The program even comes with an animated avatar who asks patients questions, “Hmms” at appropriates times, and guides the conversation according to patient’s answers… all while tracking the patient’s movements using Microsoft Kinect sensors and face recognition software.
Kinect-Powered Virtual Therapist Tracks Your Body Language To Help Diagnose You
Sigmund Freud Script-Font
Harald Geisler aus Frankfurt finanziert sich grade eine Umsetzung von Sigmund Freuds Handschrift als digitaler Script-Font. Schönes Projekt!
To make the Sigmund Freud typeface look vivid, the font will be programmed to produce variations or ‘alternates’ during writing. Two different ‘o’ have to be drawn and stored in the font’s memory. In the next step the font is programmed‚ to replace the second ‘o’ with the alternate ‘o’.
Every language has letter combinations that occur more often than others. In English (counting the complete text of James Joyce’s Ulysses) the top three pairs are ‘he’ ‘th’ ‘in’. While in German (analyzing Goethe’s Faust I) the most found letter pairs are ‘ch’ ‘en’ and ‘er’ (French: ‘es’ ‘le’ ‘ou’, Spanish ‘ue’ ‘de’ ‘en’)
To make the Sigmund Freud font look as handwritten as possible I will include alternates for the most common letter combinations in English, Spanish, German and French as alternates into the font.
Sigmund Freud Typeface – A Letter to your Shrink (via Open Culture)
Memory Loss Reminder-List
Großartig: Eine Reminder-Liste von der besten Freundin einer Dame, die bei ‘nem Behandlungsfehler ihr Kurzzeitgedächtnis verloren hat. Unbedingt die Kommentare lesen, superinteressant:
ARE YOU GUYS OR GIRLS!?: We’re both female, and use bro jokingly. Sis doesn’t have the same ring. […]
HOW ARE YOU NOW?: She has hearing loss and still struggles with short term memory. For the most part, you would probably meet her and just think she’s really forgetful. Her life is a lot of lists, alarms, and calendar dates so she can always know whats going on, and when. […]
YOU’RE A GREAT FRIEND: Aw jeez. I did fuck with her though. I told her the same series of jokes, tweaking them each time so they were funnier and funnier. Every five minutes, I was A COMEDY GOD.
This is the letter my best friend made me when I was in ICU with short term memory loss. (via Gawker)
The Science of Mick Jaggers sexy Hip-Wiggle
Wissenschaftler in Finnland haben im Detail untersucht, welche Körperbewegungen beim Tanz sexy wirken, vor allem am Beispiel von Mick Jaggers Hüftschwung. Die Studie heisst Moves Like Jagger: Multidimensional Attractiveness Ratings of opposite-sex Dancers. Multidimensional Attractiveness.
[The Study] details a set of experiments which not only attempted to quantify the attractiveness of hip-wiggling, [Defined as : The mean absolute angular velocity of the hips around the anteroposterior axis] but also Downforce, Shoulder vs. hip angle, Hip-knee phase, Shoulder-hip ratio, Hip-body ratio, and Body symmetry.
“Sixty-two heterosexual adult participants watched 48 short audio-visual point-light animations of eight male and eight female adults dancing individually to Techno, Pop, and Latin music. Participants rated perceived Femininity/Masculinity (as appropriate), Sensuality, Sexiness, Mood, and Interestingness of each dancer.”
The results: “We found that, for men watching women, Hip-knee phase angle was positively related to Interestingness and Mood, and that Hip-body ratio was positively related to Sensuality. For women watching men, Downforce was positively related to Sensuality. Other prominent but nonsignificant correlations supported the view that these three features are relevant to ratings of female and male dancers’ attractiveness in general.”
Attractions of the hip wiggle / Moves like Jagger in Finland
Dexters Psychopath-Podcasts
Ich hab’ noch nicht reingehört, aber wenn sich Michael C. „Dexter“ Hall mit Kevin Dutton, Autor des Buchs „The Wisdom of Psychopaths“, über Serienkiller und Neuroscience unterhält, dann dürfte das ziemlich unterhaltsam werden: Michael C. Hall Analyzes His Dexter’s Mind, Part 1 (MP3), Part 2 (MP3).
Passend dazu hat der Scientific American einen Vortrag von Kevin Dutton als zweiteiligen Podcast: Psychopathy’s Bright Side: Kevin Dutton on the Benefits of Being a Bit Psychopathic, Part 1 (MP3), Part 2 (MP3).
Why we drink and smoke and get so high…
Ich brauch jetzt nicht zwingend Silvester und Neujahr, um auf einen großartigen Podcast der BBC über Drogen und Alk, die Neurobiologie und Psychologie dahinter hinzuweisen, aber so passt das natürlich nochmal besser. In diesem Sinne: Hier ein großartiger Podcast der BBC über Drogen und Alk, die Neurobiologie und Psychologie dahinter:
Intoxication – In a special programme, Laurie Taylor explores the role and meaning of both alcohol and drugs in human life. Why do so many people chose to alter their consciousness with stimulants, whether legal or illicit? Professor James Mills, the author of ‘Cannabis Nation..’ is joined by Dr Fiona Meesham and Professor Chris Hackley.
Intoxication, MP3 (via Mindhacks)
Wil Wheaton talks about Depression with his Face covered in Googly Eyes
Youtube Direktgoogly, via Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton in einer Diskussionsrunde auf GooglePlus über Depressionen und Panikattacken, das Gesicht vollgeklebt mit Googly Eyes, die dem Thema den nötigen Humor geben. Wheaton leidet selbst unter Depressionen, ich kenne selbst einige betroffene Leute und ich würde mich selbst ebenfalls als sowas wie „Bipolar Light“ bezeichnen, wobei den Begriff wiederum Stephen Fry erfunden hat. Wenn ich mir die Storys von anderen so ansehe, schätze ich mich auf ‘ner Skala bis 100 so circa bei 20%, vielleicht 25%. Ziemlich light, will sagen: Ich komm’ klar.
Aber eben auch: Ich kenne das und hab’ genau drei Dinge daraus gelernt. 1.) Der ganze Kram spielt sich nur in meinem Kopf ab und zwar nur da. 2.) Sich ‘ne bessere Laune und Selbstsicherheit vorgaukeln hilft. Man lügt sich zwar ins Knie, aber aus irgendeinem Grund funktioniert das ganze trotzdem, gab’s neulich auch ‘ne Studie drüber. 3.) Reden hilft. Und wenn man sich das Gesicht mit Augen vollgeklebt hat, funktioniert das Ganze noch viel besser. In diesem Sinne: Danke, Wil Wheaton!
RSA Animated: The Power of Outrospection
Schönes neues Ding von RSA mit einer animierten Version von Roman Krznarics Vortrag über Empathie. Der Clip basiert auf seinem Vortrag „The Six Habits of Highly Empathic People“.
Tokyos crowdcontrolled Comic-Market, timelapsed
Youtube Direktcomics, via IlovePluto
Faszinierendes Video vom Comiket, dem weltgrößten Comikmarkt für Selbstverlage, der zweimal in Tokyo stattfindet, das Video ist eine Timelapse-Aufnahme des Handlings der Menschenmassen. Ich hab sowas ähnliches mal vor mehr als zehn Jahren (in Flash) für einen Kunden visualisiert, das war ein ÖPNV-Unternehmen und die haben untersucht, welche Aufsteller und Papierkörbe und Automaten an welcher Stelle in U-Bahn-Stationen zu welchen Veränderungen bei den Wegen der Menschen führten. Spannend!
Comiket which is the world’s largest self publishing comic book fair that is held twice a year in Tokyo. The Convention draws crowds over 5000 attendees and they use strict crowd control to easily manage the amount of people that attend. The footage, which was compiled from photographs taken at intervals of 5 seconds, was filmed on the last day of Comiket from around 1:30 AM to 2:30 PM from the balcony of the nearby Washington Hotel.
Man with a Fetish for making People carry other People around
Gary Medrow ruft bei Leuten an und überzeugt sie, er wäre Polizist oder Arzt oder beides und erfindet Geschichten, damit die Leute sich gegenseitig rumtragen. Is’n Fetisch von ihm, macht er so seit 40 Jahren. Ich glaube, von allen Fetischen, von denen ich jemals gehört hab’, ist das hier der seltsamste.
During his “careers” Medrow has talked cheerleaders into lifting one another, motel workers into carrying one another and business executives into toting their secretaries around the office.
In 2006 he was accused of calling women in Waukesha and Monroe counties and identifying himself as Department of Motor Vehicle crash investigator “Mike Clark.”
He told one woman his investigation required her to carry around another female so he could determine if they were involved in a hit-and-run accident in which a woman was carried away from the scene by another woman.
Man with fetish for persuading strangers to carry each other around back in action
The Willard Asylum Suitcases: Interview with Jon Crispin
Jon Crispin fotografiert seit rund zwei Jahren alte und längst vergessene Koffer aus der verlassenen Willard Anstalt, über das Projekt hatte ich schon ein paar mal gebloggt. Das Projekt ist jetzt abgeschlossen, Collectors Weekly hat ein Interview und einige bisher unveröffentlichte Fotos:
Dmytre’s suitcase is another that I really like, it’s the last case I did. Dmytre was very moving. He was Ukrainian and clearly brilliant. He had notebooks filled with drawings of sine waves and mathematical things like that. There’s a wedding picture of Dmytre and his wife, and she’s holding a bouquet of fake flowers, which were also in the case.
Dmytre was interesting because he got arrested by the Secret Service because he went to Washington, D.C. and said that he was actually married to the wife of the president. He said he was married to Margaret Truman. And what’s great is there’s a little Washington monument thermometer in the case, so clearly he bought a little tchotchke on his trip to D.C. and then later got arrested for saying that he was Margaret Truman’s husband.
Abandoned Suitcases Reveal Private Lives of Insane Asylum Patients
Vorher auf Nerdcore:
The Willard Asylum Suitcases
Abandoned Asylums, deren verlorene Koffer und die Bibliothek aus Staub
Autism Visualized: Sensory Overload
Schöne Animation Miguel Jiron für Interacting With Autism, der versucht, die Überstimulation der Sinne eines Autisten zu visualisieren: „Some people with autism have difficulty processing intense, multiple sensory experiences at once. This animation gives the viewer a glimpse into sensory overload, and how often our sensory experiences intertwine in everyday life.“
