3DWorld Medium Format Stereo Camera

3DWorld medium format stereo cameraOh. Wow. A medium format stereo camera, now that is just f-ing cool!
The specs:
Camera Type: Medium Format Tri-lens Stereo Camera (Reflex Viewing Lens)
Lenses:   Anti-reflection coated glass optics, seven elements in six groups. f/2.8, 80mm focal length
Lens Separation:   63.5mm
Focusing:    manual adjustment, 0.8 m – infinity
Shutter Type: metal focal plane shutter
Aperture: F2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22 and six half stops
Shutter Speeds:   B – 1/500Sec.
Light Metering: consists of two of SPD’s (silicon photo diodes) for light measurement; aperture and shutter speeds are matched according to the LED display.
Viewfinder: consists of a viewfinder hood and lens, Eye-level pentaprism type with .0.7 X magnification
Focusing Screen: Split-image microprism type surrounded by a Fresnel screen. 3 LEDs in 5 exposure graduations display overexposure (+), correct exposure (O) & underexposure (-)
Flash Synchronization:   X-contact only, sync speed 1/30 sec. or slower
Film Advance:   Lever provided; 16° standoff angle and 128° winding angle, aligning film numbers through window on camera back
Film:   One roll of 120 reversal film for a pair of 58mm x 56mm stereo images. 6 pairs per roll.
Dimensions:  Approx. 207mm x 205mm x 134mm (8.15″ x 8.07″ x 5.28”), camera body only
Weight: 1960g or 69oz (camera body only)
 If the price wasn’t so high I’d buy one in a hearbeat.

3DWorld Medium Format Stereo Camera: ViewMaster, 3D Glasses, 3D Stereo Photography
(Thank you Brother Steve of the Church of the Holy Exposure for this one)

Things Creationists Hate

Things creationists hateThis is a handy list of topics that you may or may not want to bring up the next time you meet someone that is a firm believer in the ‘good book (no, not ‘Godel, Escher, Bach‘ although that is a fine read, I’m talking about The Holy Bible)

The following is not meant to be an all-inclusive list, nor is it meant to characterize the views of all creationists. But there are certainly some, if not most, who can be so characterized. The main objects of my satire, for so it is intended, are the young-Earth, biblical-literalist types, although other generations of creationists may detect some of their views skewered here also.

I particularly enjoyed this bit:

Ribs…human ribs, that is, present a real problem. I’ve been told, on good authority (by creationists, whose scientific authority is the Bible, and what could be more authoritative?), that men have one less rib than women, because one of Adam’s ribs was removed to mold into Eve. My creationist informant has generally become confused upon being asked if that means one less pair of ribs, or just one rib missing from one side. Then my instructor in human origins becomes red in the face and defensive, if not to say hostile, when asked if he has ever actually counted ribs on male and female human skeletons, living or deceased. None that I’ve met have ever actually tried this simplest of scientific experiments, which could go a long way toward proving a testable prediction of creationism. (For members of the Republic of Texas Militia: men have exactly the same number of ribs as women.)

 
SkepticReport * Things Creationists Hate

Plant life of Mars a la Disney Style

I remember this film when it was shown on ‘The Wonderful World of Disney’ and a fantastic speculative book on space exploration that had stills from this on it. Man, I loved that book! I remember the plant that used a clear membrane to focus the sun light into a killing beam of death that it used to zap passing critters. I tell you, it that don’t set a child’s mind spinning with ideas I don’t know what will.
The entire clip can be bought on the DVD set "Walt Disney Treasures – Tomorrowland: Disney in Space and Beyond"
[via Boing Boing]
Plan Life On Mars (1957 Disney Animation)

DCA (Sodium Dichloroacetate) Cancer Treatment for Pets

Special agent Greg on detachment in the Interzone had this to say recently:

It has begun: this link is to a site that is ostensibly to sell Sodium Dichloroacetate for experimental use in pets with terminal cancer. This compound has received much press recently due to some encouraging preliminary lab test results. Obviously, desperate people are going to be purchasing and using this compound long before clinical trials even begin.
It may very well interfere with conventional treatments, be harmful in itself, or be ineffective. DCA is known to cause peripheral neuropathy (tingling and numbness of the extremities) with chronic use.
On the other hand, if it proves to be the miracle cure that some are hyping, we will begin hearing reports in the next couple months of people with untreatable conditions making miraculous recoveries.

I think he is absolutely right. Expect to see more and more people rolling their own treatments with DCA in the near future. For better or for worse.

Buy DCA – DCA Sodium Dichloroacetate Cancer Treatment for Pets

An AVR-based Analog Plotbot with an E-Paper Display

This is just perfect! Using a Magna Doodle as an output device for a computer is just brilliant.

What do you get when you mix a 1970’s style analog chart recorder, an 8-bit microcontroller, and a Fisher-Price Doodle Pro? A truly 21st century toy: An analog PlotBot with e-paper display technology!
Our machine is based around a vintage analog X-Y data recorder. Its original purpose in life was to perform basic laboratory data collection, plotting two voltages against each other, and was one of the primary tools for that purpose right up until computers took over that job in the 1980’s. Because they were once so common and are now generally obsolete, it’s quite easy to get one of your own. There are usually several under $50 on eBay at any given time, and that’s where we got ours. …
The other major modification that we’ve made is that we’ve replaced the pen and paper with what seems like out of reach technology: an inexpensive and readily available e-paper display: the panel from a Doodle Pro. …
The Doodle Pro is a descendent of the Magna Doodle, a classic children’s toy dating to 1974. (I’m not sure what makes this a “Pro” anything, however.) It uses a simple magnetophoretic display, where ferromagnetic particles are suspended with near-neutral buoyancy in an opaque, viscous white liquid. Using a magnetic stylus, you can attract the black particles to the top surface, or with a magnetic “eraser” on the bottom side, pull the particles away, leaving only the white liquid visible.

Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories – An AVR-based Analog Plotbot with an E-Paper Display

Cassini Spacecraft Images Seas on Saturn’s Moon Titan

Lake in TitanVery nice, I hope the powers that be sign off on a Titan lander soon.

Instruments on NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have found evidence for seas, likely filled with liquid methane or ethane, in the high northern latitudes of Saturn’s moon Titan. One such feature is larger than any of the Great Lakes of North America and is about the same size as several seas on Earth.

NASA – Cassini-Huygens: Close Encounter with Saturn