Friday, July 31, 2009

Zombies, ants, and fungi

For those of you just about to sit down to enjoy a bowl of wild mushroom risotto, you might consider the potential consequences....

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=fungus-makes-zombie-ants

Thursday, July 23, 2009

synthy synths from Easter Island 2009

More synths for the viewing per square meter than any other blog around. All that I've done can be found here: http://photosynth.net/UserProfilePage.aspx?user=clipo&content=Synths

Puna Pau: the hat quarry -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=818c127b-d00c-4dba-a398-21272605de17

Moai at Rano Raraku -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=3c2daf90-cdcc-42fb-a91f-8e3f2057af21

Tongariki -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=1a605039-e964-4b87-aa91-e6c8f777a261

Pukao at Tongariki -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=0dd2f6cf-a9b4-4906-bc4e-d464f5d97d8a

Road Moai along South Coast -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=f895e1a6-cb75-4a24-b136-c79ee44d48eb

Road Moai at Vai Mata -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=f0f45b30-9dac-4073-bbc1-7e06b005143a

Vinapu -- http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=e59fb781-1072-4965-b06a-9bea8e19252e

Fallen Moai II

This photosynth was created for one of the road moais on the south coast a little past Akahanga. The statue fell on its back so the front surface is more visible than the previous synth at Vai Mata.

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=F895E1A6-CB75-4A24-B136-C79EE44D48EB

Monday, July 20, 2009

Fallen Moai

Part of our analyses here on Rapa Nui consist of observing moai in their various forms -- at the quarry, in the roads, on the ahus. There are a number of attributes related to the technology of carving, transporting and displaying the statues that can be discerned - a fact I puzzle over given the lack of previous acknowledgement and abundant crazy speculation. To paraphrase: "What were they thinking when they described the moai?"

Anyways to help document some of these things, I created a photosynth of one of the "fallen" moai that failed during transport (or at least that is my current hypothesis). This synth worked out fairly well and has a lot of good detail about moai morphology (click the ctrl key to see the point cloud).

http://photosynth.net/view.aspx?cid=F0F45B30-9DAC-4073-BBC1-7E06B005143A


Rapa Nui 2009 180.JPG