A smudge on your screen! How does it work?

(Dutch below)Currently people are (re)tweeting a 'crack on your screen':
.̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̸̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨̨.̸̸̨̨



How is this done? Well, i haven't found the creator, but as far as i know, it is a smart combination of Unicode. If you visit this Unicode Convertor website, and paste the following code in the 'Unicode U+hex notation'-block and press Convert, you see that it creates this 'smudge' character. The code you need to paste:

.U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338.U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328

And now you know the code, you can experiment with it...

(Dutch)Terwijl ik dit schrijf, (re)tweeten mensen een bericht waarin een bijzonder (tekst)effect zit. Het bericht is bv 'Er zit wat op je scherm' (een vlek, een barst). Iemand vroeg me of ik wist hoe dat kon. Voor zover ik weet is het een slimme combinatie van zogenaamde Unicode-karakters.

Als je naar de Unicode Convertor website gaat, daar de volgende code plakt in het blok 'Unicode U+hex notation' en op Convert drukt, zie je dat die combinatie die 'vlek' vormt. De code die je moet plakken:

.U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0328 U+0338 U+0338.U+0328 U+0338 U+0338 U+0328

Nu je de code weet, kun je er mee experimenteren... Dit werkt dus op Twitter, maar vast ook op Hyves, Facebook etc.

Kraaien ruimen onze rommel op?

(Dutch) Weer een leuke TED-video; dit keer over hoe slim kraaien zijn. Dat je ze prima kunt leren om dingen in te leveren voor wat voer (bv een pinda). En dat je die vogels, die zich prima aanpassen aan mensen, en dus bijna overal te vinden zijn waar mensen zijn, misschien kunt slim kunt inzetten, in plaats van ze als plaag te zien. Misschien leuk om daar een wedstrijd van te maken, bv voor op scholen: wie bedenkt de slimste toepassing voor kraaien.

Op ca 3:00 en 5:20 van het filmpje kun je 2 voorbeelden zien van hoe slim kraaien zijn. En vanaf ca 07:20 legt de spreker uit hoe je kraaien kunt trainen.

Mensen verleiden: the fun factor

Kun je mensen wat anders laten doen, door het leuk voor ze te maken?

Extreme optical illusion

It's a coincidence i blog about reliability of our observation skills twice in a row. Via Twitter i just read about this unbelievable optical illusion.

It really looks there is both green and blue in this picture. It is said both what most people see as blue and green in the picture, is actual the same color! I could not believe this. I went to an online picture edit tool, Splashup. You can load the picture in there by url, and use the Eyedropper tool in the right lower corner of the toolbar (the vertical bar on the left of the screen) to point to any pixel in the picture. On the right, you will be shown the color value. And it is true: even while your brain says you're seeing 2 different colors, the tool shows you it really is one! Unbelievable!

A friend reminded me of another good one with 2 images in 1, where depending on the distance you look at it, you see either the first or second image. Or this one, where a girl is revolving (Dutch, over hersens), and you can either see her turn left, right or (some people) both ways (which is supposed to say something about your brain).

See the comments for at least one (maybe over time more will follow, but i won't update this post, and you can google/search for more ;-)) other website with a collection of optical illusions.

How reliable are human observations: test yours!

This is a neat mind trick. There is this clip where you see a couple of people throwing 2 balls. There is a group with black shirts, and a group with white shirts. Your goal: count how many times the balls are thrown by the people with white shirts. You can find the video at Viscog.

Don't read this message any further before having watched the video. No, really, stop reading, you'll spoil the trick!

Now: watch the same movie again, but DON'T watch the ball. Watch the monkey / gorilla that walks into the video from the right a few seconds after the video starts. Can you believe you actually missed this the first time? Amazing how your mind can filter information! Now, what could you be missing on other moments in your live? How trustworthy are your, or anybody's, observations?

You DID see the monkey the first time? Good for you! Most people don't see it!

In case the video ever moves: it's copyrighted by Daniel J. Simons (you might be able to google the video's new location).

(Dutch): bekijk deze video waarin 2 teams een bal over gooien. Je doel: tel het aantal keren dat de bal van het witte team van handen wisselt. Stop nu direct met lezen. Bekijk 1st de video en tel. Ik ga nu vertellen wat de clou is, en als je dat leest voordat je de video bekijkt, werkt het natuurlijk niet. Goed. Bekijk dan de video voor de 2de keer. Zie je de aap/gorilla in beeld? Had je die de 1ste keer ook gezien, zonder dat je wist dat hij in beeld zou komen? De meeste mensen zien hem niet. Je bent zo gefocused op de bal, dat je hem niet bewust ziet. Dus wat zegt dat over het waarnemingsvermogen van mensen? Hoe betrouwbaar zijn getuigenverklaringen etc? En zie je dus ook in het dagelijks leven veel dingen niet?

A similar video:

Een video die in dezelfde sfeer zit:
Image source: mrhorie.com.

Outsource your work

Just read about the 4 hour work week ... Would that work like below?

Real life Twitter

I compared Twitter to climbing some high building, taking some sound installation/speaker/mic and sharing thoughts and stuff aloud and asume parts of your message make it to somebody who cares. This video is another way of Twitter IRL.

Watch Real Life Twitter and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

Hey, i know: there are gems between all those Tweets! You just need some way of finding them. Accidentally hoping to notice them seems such a waste. Anybody knows of tools that make you only notice relevant tweets (instead of all those tweets about someone eating, going to bed etc)?

Consultants, designers and what the customers wanted

There are several cartoon-like pictures showing what often happens in projects. A customer wants something, explains it in a way, it gets designed, built and in all those steps people have a different picture of what is supposed to be build. Click the picture for a larger image.

Update: Jeroen van Beijnen points out you on his blog there even is a site where you can edit this cartoon to your liking.

(Dutch) Een klant wil wat, beschrijft het aan een ontwerper, die maakt een ontwerp, een bouwer bouwt het, maar wat uiteindelijk wordt geleverd wijkt sterk af van wat de klant bedoelde. Er zijn verschillende cartoon-achtige plaatjes waarin dat beeldend wordt weergegeven. Klik het plaatje voor een grotere weergave van zo'n plaatje.

Update: Jeroen van Beijnen wijst er in zijn blog op dat er zelfs een site is waar je de cartoon naar eigen wens kunt aanpassen.

If you believe in an idea

go for it, or risk having the idea killed by like a focus group. What if the invention of fire got handled as so much ideas today in companies get treated?

Cool collection of past computer adds

A nice collection of past computer commercials. I remember a few of them ... if i recall correctly, i bought my Commodore 64 for 1.999 Dutch guilders when it was launched ...

Brain magic

I love this demo of how we (apparantly) can be tricked ... I had a live demo of someone doing just this, and it's impressive.

Creative with your out-of-office-reply

Never thought of being creative with that. A few examples:

1. I am currently out of the office at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Please be prepared for my mood.
2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.
...
10. I will be out of the office for the next two weeks for medical reasons. When I return, please refer to me as ‘Kate’ instead of Dave.

More inspiration at Ron Crumbaker ITForum.
(Picture from Technet)

Investment tip: invest in donkeys!

De prices of donkeys is rising (at least in Turkey) as demand rises because of the oil prices going up and tractors getting more expensive to use... I wish i had realized i should have been investing in donkeys, but maybe we're still in the low part of the price curve....
(image from thirdrail.smorgasblog.com )

Funny video

Achmed the Dead terrorist

Create your own physics animation

I have no idea how difficult this is, but it sure looks nice.

Phun is a 2D physics environment where you can build/destroy and otherwise have a jolly good time with all sorts of objects (including your own). You can download the software for free. Made me think of the "Interactive Physics", which also has a version for the Nintendo DS (Pocket Physics). Source: Geekologie.

PS Thanks for the anonymous reaction pointing out there is also an iPhone-version, even cooler as that version reacts to how your holding your iphone: follow the link to the video :-)!

PS2 I was told Interactive Physics (IP) is a more professional version of the similar looking versions like Phun, DS and iPhone. IP does more lifelike simulations of actual conditions and fomulas, is better configurable and is used at universities, while it's even more pro-version Working Model is used by engineers. Comparing Phun with IP or WM is like comparing MS Paint with AutoCAD :-). This source also pointed me to Crayon Physics, which also stars in the mentioned iPod-YouTube-video or can be seen here.

An alternative is Physion:


And Algodoo:


Dutch: Hoe reageren objecten op de zwaartekracht? En op elkaar? Bouw met de software die je hierboven ziet zelf allerlei voorwerpen, auto's, geef het een motor, en zie hoe ze op elkaar reageren.

Nintendo DS brain training chimp

This chimp would be the champ in those NDS brain trainer games! Unbelievable!

Source: Mijn Kind Online weblog.

Very funny MS-made movie about last day of Bill

Bill Gates will be leaving Microsoft, and this funny clip, with people like Bono, Hillary Clinton, Gore and Spielberg was made for his keynote during the Consumer Electronics Show 2008. Funny till the last second. The sound is a bit poor, as the clip was probably recorded while being shown to a large audience.

Power of groups - how strong would you be?

What do you do when all people around you face the same direction? Or take off their hats? You have to watch this to the end... Wonder what you would do :-)...

What do you expect to see when you enter a washroom? A mirror, and in the mirror, your image. That expectation is just what bothers these people...