Shanghai prepares for Expo 2010

wiki Universal Exposition or Expo (short for "exposition"), also known as the World Fair and World's Fair, is the name given to various large public exhibitions held in different parts of the world.The first Expo was held in The Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London, in 1851 under the title “Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations”. The main attractions at World's Fairs are the national pavilions, created by participating countries. At Expo 2000 Hanover, where countries created their own architecture, the average pavilion investment was around €13 million. Here are some pictures of the work in progress for the Expo 2010 in Shanghai. Above is the Dutch Pavilion. More pictures... Pictures are from The Big Picture, a really great news photography blog by the Boston Globe.

Amateur pictures of the Earth from near space

The Icarus project is a home brew project to send a camera high into the stratosphere to take pictures of the Earth from near space. The camera is enclosed in a flight box and attached to a helium weather balloon which lifts the camera to an altitude of approximately 35,000 meters above sea level. The camera is controlled by a small micro computer which takes pictures at timed intervals in various directions. Other sensors to measure temperature, barometric pressure and altitude are incorporated into the flight box.

Website and pictures. Apparently it only cost him around £500.

De Baas van Nederland

De Baas van Nederland is een website opgezet door Willem Vermeend en Rick van der Ploeg en heeft als doel dat iedere Nederlander zijn eigen pakket bezuiningsmaatregelen kan doorrekenen. "In dit programma bent u de baas van Nederland. U zult een balans moeten vinden tussen het stimuleren van de economische groei en werkgelegenheid, een aanvaardbaar beleid op de verschillende andere beleidsterreinen, zoals onderwijs, veiligheid, inkomenspolitiek, sociale zekerheid en het realiseren van gezonde overheidsfinanciën door het terugdringen van het begrotingstekort. Daarnaast speelt het klimaat en milieu een steeds belangrijkere rol binnen het overheidsbeleid. Veel succes!" Site, informatie en uitleg over de werking. Ik zal ergens deze week mijn score presenteren.

More examples of Adobe's content aware fill

GIMP OMGWTF!?!

The free GIMP's free resynthesizer plugin can do the content aware fill thing right now, as it can since 2005. On Linux and Windows. Debian/Ubuntu users simply do "apt-get install gimp-resynthesizer".

And video one and two showing the content removal function.
Free software needs better marketing. I only found out about this after the Adobe video.

Sam Harris: Science can answer moral questions

A nice TED Talk. I think Harris makes some good points and is an eloquent speaker.

I'm in love...