Youtube: Gravity Visualized. “Dan Burns explains his space-time warping demo.”
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Alan Rickman (1946 – 2016)
Obituaries:
The Atlantic: Alan Rickman’s Extraordinary Legacy. “Through more than four decades of work on stage and screen, the English star was a definitive actor for generations of audiences.”
BBC: Obituary: Alan Rickman. “British actor Alan Rickman, whose career ranged from Britain’s Royal Shakespeare Company to the Harry Potter films, has died. He was 69.”
BBC: Alan Rickman: A life in pictures. “Actor Alan Rickman, known for films including Harry Potter, Die Hard, Truly Madly Deeply and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, has died at the age of 69. A family statement said: “He was surrounded by family and friends.” Here, we present pictures of him in some of his best known roles.”
New York Times: Alan Rickman, Actor Known for ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Die Hard,’ Dies at 69. “Alan Rickman, the accomplished British stage actor who brought an erudite dignity to film roles like Hans Gruber, the nefarious mastermind of “Die Hard,“ and Severus Snape, the dour master of potions in the “Harry Potter“ series, died on Thursday in London. He was 69. A family statement published by the BBC said the cause was cancer.”
The Guardian: Alan Rickman, giant of British screen and stage, dies at 69. “Much-loved star of stage, TV and films including Harry Potter and Die Hard – and owner of one of the most singular voices in acting – has died in London.”
The Washington Post: Alan Rickman, actor who brought dynamic menace to ‘Die Hard’ and ‘Harry Potter,’ dies at 69. “Alan Rickman, the classically trained English actor who excelled as tormented fiends and aristocratic weasels in films such as “Die Hard“ and the “Harry Potter“ franchise, and who also used his languid manner to surprising effect in romantic comedy, died Jan. 14 in London. He was 69.”
The Washington Post: Daniel Radcliffe’s touching tribute to Alan Rickman: ‘He was so encouraging of me’. “Daniel Radcliffe grew up as the star of the “Harry Potter“ films, living out the first years of his career surrounded by some of the most established names in British acting. One of those actors: Alan Rickman, whose death at the age of 69 was confirmed by his family on Thursday.”
Die Zeit: Die Stimme von Witz und Noblesse. “Zwielichtige Gestalten prägten Alan Rickmans Weg zum weltbekannten Schauspieler. Doch er konnte weit mehr. Sein Tod ist ein großer Verlust für Kino und Theaterbühne.”
MetaFilter: Alan Rickman 1946 – 2016 obituary thread.
As usual there are a lot of links to articles and film clips in there, as well as some personal anecdotes.
Miniatur-Wunderland
Update:
Gizmodo: Google Used Tiny Cameras to Street View the World’s Largest Model Railway. “Brace yourself for perhaps the cutest views ever to appear on Street View. Google has scaled down its hardware to capture Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland—the world’s largest model railway.”
Hamburg’s Miniatur Wunderland (deutsch: Miniatur-Wunderland) is “[t]he largest model railway in the world, and one of the most successful permanent exhibitions in Northern Germany.” Take a look at their official video to get an idea of this great project. There even is a section called America aka “The United States of Wunderland” complete with Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Mount Rushmore and Cape Canaveral.
I attended a guided tour behind the scenes a few years ago shortly before they opened the airport, and it was fascinating.
If Hamburg is too far from where you live you can now visit Miniatur Wunderland virtually via Google Maps! Here’s America.
Links via MetaFilter, where it was featured twice before.
Smartphone Case
A small project I sewed last night.
100% cotton fabrics and batting.
The flap is closed with velcro.
As usual, I used the Pfaff 230 from 1955 that I got from my grandma.
Maths and physics visualizations
Lucas Vieira Barbosa: “Below is a mostly comprehensive gallery of all images — illustrations, diagrams and animations — that I have created for Wikipedia over the years, some of which have been selected as featured pictures, or even picture of the day. As you’ll probably notice, they’re mostly related to physics and mathematics, which are my main areas of interest.”
See for example the sine curve drawing process, cosine, sine and the unit circle, coupled oscillators. I often use these in my lessons, but have usually drawn them on the (chalk)board. My school is getting interactive whiteboards in more classrooms now, so these animations will come in very handy.
Matt Henderson publishes his animations on his Math and Science Blog matthen. Did you know that The focus of a rolling parabola traces out a catenary, the curve of a hanging chain held by its ends?
Links via MetaFilter.