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Theo Jansen
Theodorus Gerardus Jozef Jansen (; born 14 March 1948) is a Dutch artist. In 1990, he began building large mechanisms out of PVC that are able to move on their own and, collectively, are titled ''Strandbeest'' (Dutch for 'beach beast'). The kinetic sculptures appear to walk. His animated works are intended to be a fusion of art and engineering. He has said that "The walls between art and engineering exist only in our minds." Some of his creations are reported to incorporate primitive logic gates for collision detection with obstacles such as the sea. Early life Jansen was born in Scheveningen in the Netherlands. He grew up with a talent for both physics and art, and studied physics at the Delft University of Technology. Jansen left the university in 1974 without a degree. While at Delft, Jansen was involved in many projects that involved both art and technology, including a paint machine and a flying-saucer machine. Flying saucer In 1979 Jansen started using cheap PVC pipes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scheveningen
Scheveningen () is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict () of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular for water sports such as windsurfing and Kitesurfing, kiteboarding. The harbour is used for both fishing and tourism. History The earliest reference to the name ''Sceveninghe'' goes back to around 1280. The first inhabitants may have been Anglo-Saxons. Other historians favour a Norsemen, Scandinavian origin. Fishing was the main source of food and income. The Battle of Scheveningen was fought between English and Dutch fleets off the coast of the village on 10 August 1653. Thousands of people gathered on the shore to watch. In 1660 Edward Montagu, 1st Earl of Sandwich, Montagu's flagship picked up the English king at Scheveningen in order to accomplish the Restoration (England), Restoration. A road to neighbouring The Hague was con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Nightmare After Krustmas
"The Nightmare After Krustmas" is the tenth episode of the twenty-eighth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons'', and the 606th episode of the series overall. The episode was directed by Rob Oliver and written by Jeff Westbrook. It aired in the United States on Fox on December 11, 2016. In this episode, Krusty converts to Christianity to be closer to his daughter Sophie while Maggie is scared by a gnome doll. Natasha Lyonne and Jackie Mason guest starred. Former hockey player Wayne Gretzky and artist Theo Jansen appeared as themselves. The episode received mixed reviews. Plot When few people are present for Reverend Lovejoy's service on the fourth Sunday of Advent, Helen calls him for an intervention by Ned, Agnes, Sideshow Mel, the Parson, and the Patriarch, who demands he bring more people to the church. Meanwhile, the Simpsons attend a pagan festival. Theo Jansen shows his wind-powered sculpture, the Strandbeest, which tramples Krusty, who is i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dutch Sculptors
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, it reflects the Kingdom of the Netherlands ** Dutch Caribbean ** Netherlands Antilles Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People Ethnic groups * Pennsylvania Dutch, a group of early German immigrants to Pennsylvania Specific people * Dutch (nickname), a list of people * Johnny Dutch (born 1989), American hurdler and field athlete * Dutch Schultz (1902–1935), American mobster born Arthur Simon Flegenheimer * Dutch Mantel, ring name of American retired professional wrestler Wayne Maurice Keown (born 1949) * Dutch Savage, ring name of professional wrestler and promoter Frank Stewart (1935–2013) Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Living People
Purpose: Because living persons may suffer personal harm from inappropriate information, we should watch their articles carefully. By adding an article to this category, it marks them with a notice about sources whenever someone tries to edit them, to remind them of WP:BLP (biographies of living persons) policy that these articles must maintain a neutral point of view, maintain factual accuracy, and be properly sourced. Recent changes to these articles are listed on Special:RecentChangesLinked/Living people. Organization: This category should not be sub-categorized. Entries are generally sorted by family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give .... Maintenance: Individuals of advanced age (over 90), for whom there has been no new documentation in the last ten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1948 Births
Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) go into effect. ** The railways of Britain are nationalized, to form British Railways. * January 4 – British rule in Burma, Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic, named the 'Post-independence Burma (1948–1962), Union of Burma', with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu its first Prime Minister. * January 5 – In the United States: ** Warner Brothers shows the first color newsreel (''Tournament of Roses Parade'' and the ''Rose Bowl Game''). ** The first Kinsey Reports, Kinsey Report, ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'', is published. * January 7 – Mantell UFO incident: Kentucky Air National Guard pilot Thomas Mantell crashes while in pursuit of an unidentified fl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio One
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, hip hop and indie, while its sister station 1Xtra plays Black contemporary music, including hip hop and R&B. Radio 1 also runs two online streams, Radio 1 Dance, dedicated to dance music, and Radio 1 Anthems, dedicated to throwback music; both are available to listen only on BBC Sounds. Radio 1 broadcasts throughout the UK on FM between and , digital radio, digital TV and BBC Sounds. It was launched in 1967 to meet the demand for music generated by pirate radio stations, when the average age of the UK population was 27. The BBC claims that it targets the 15–29 age group, and the average age of its UK audience since 2009 is 30. BBC Radio 1 started 24-hour broadcasting on 1 May 1991. According to RAJAR, the station broadcasts to a we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genetic Algorithm
In computer science and operations research, a genetic algorithm (GA) is a metaheuristic inspired by the process of natural selection that belongs to the larger class of evolutionary algorithms (EA). Genetic algorithms are commonly used to generate high-quality solutions to optimization and search problems via biologically inspired operators such as selection, crossover, and mutation. Some examples of GA applications include optimizing decision trees for better performance, solving sudoku puzzles, hyperparameter optimization, and causal inference. Methodology Optimization problems In a genetic algorithm, a population of candidate solutions (called individuals, creatures, organisms, or phenotypes) to an optimization problem is evolved toward better solutions. Each candidate solution has a set of properties (its chromosomes or genotype) which can be mutated and altered; traditionally, solutions are represented in binary as strings of 0s and 1s, but other encod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soda Constructor
Soda Constructor is a Java based physics engine, which was central to Soda's collaborative learning environment Sodaplay.com. It was created by Ed Burton, Soda's Research and development Director, in April 2000. It won an Interactive Arts BAFTA Award in 2001. Overview Sodaplay.com users use constructor to create and share "models". These models are made of "masses" and "springs" and follow strict physical laws. By turning springs into "muscles", models can be animated and made very lifelike. History Around 1990, Ed Burton created the precursor to sodaconstructor - a BASIC program entitled "Constructor" which contained some of sodaconstructor's modern functionality, with both springs and masses, but not muscles, available for construction. This program was never released and was never intended for general use. In May 1998, Ed Burton joined Soda, and it was around this time that he wrote the first Java version of the Constructor, mostly as a fun way to teach himself Java. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jansen's Linkage
Jansen's linkage is a planar leg mechanism designed by the kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen to generate a smooth walking motion. Jansen has used his mechanism in a variety of kinetic sculptures which are known as ( Dutch for "beach beasts"). Jansen's linkage bears artistic as well as mechanical merit for its simulation of organic walking motion using a simple rotary input. These leg mechanisms have applications in mobile robotics and in gait analysis. The central ' crank' link moves in circles as it is actuated by a rotary actuator such as an electric motor. All other links and pin joints are unactuated and move because of the motion imparted by the crank. Their positions and orientations are uniquely defined by specifying the crank angle and hence the mechanism has only one degree of freedom In many scientific fields, the degrees of freedom of a system is the number of parameters of the system that may vary independently. For example, a point in the plane has two degrees of fre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adhesive Tape
Adhesive tape is one of many varieties of backing materials coated with an adhesive. Several types of adhesives can be used. Types Pressure-sensitive tape Pressure-sensitive tape, PSA tape, self-stick tape or sticky tape consists of a pressure sensitive adhesive coated onto a backing material such as paper, plastic film, cloth, or metal foil. It is sticky (tacky) without any heat or solvent for activation and adheres to surfaces with light pressure. Typical adhesives are polymers such as acrylates, natural rubber, natural, and synthetic rubber. These tapes usually require a release agent on their backing or a release liner to cover the adhesive. Sometimes, the term "adhesive tape" is used for these tapes. Water-activated tape Water-activated tape, gummed paper tape or gummed tape is starch- or sometimes animal glue-based adhesive on a paper backing which becomes sticky when moistened. A specific type of gummed tape is called reinforced gummed tape (RGT). The backing o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cable Tie
A cable tie (also known as a hose tie, panduit, tie wrap, wire tie, zap-straps, or zip tie) is a type of fastener for holding items together, primarily electrical cables and wires. Because of their low cost, ease of use, and binding strength, cable ties are ubiquitous, finding use in a wide range of other applications. Cable ties were first manufactured by Thomas & Betts under the brand name . The common cable tie, normally made of nylon, has a flexible tape section with teeth that engage with a pawl in the head to form a ratchet so that as the free end of the tape section is pulled the cable tie tightens and does not come undone. When the mouthpiece is inserted through the grooves and pulled tight, it creates a secure, adjustable loop, which locks in place like a knot. Some ties include a tab that can be depressed to release the ratchet so that the tie can be loosened or removed, and possibly reused. Stainless steel versions, some coated with a rugged plastic, have been develo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
