The Nine Eyes of Google

Artist Jon Rafman created this compelling collection of images from Google Map's massive Street View project to photograph the world's highways and streets. Scroll through the fascinating photos or click the 9-camera image on top to read Rafman's essay about the project.

The artist explains: "Google sent out an army of hybrid electric automobiles, each one bearing nine cameras on a single pole. Armed with a GPS and three laser range scanners, this fleet of cars began an endless quest to photograph every highway and byway in the free world. Every ten to twenty meters, the nine cameras automatically capture whatever moves through their frame. Computer software stitches the photos together to create panoramic images. To prevent identification of individuals and vehicles, faces and license plates are blurred."


View Jon Rafman's Project

Inventables - the Innovator’s Hardware Store

At Inventables, designers, artists, and inventors will find aluminum foam, bendable wood, and other materials that push the boundaries of what's possible.

“We believe that it is currently too difficult for designers, artists, and inventors to source materials. To solve this problem, we are building an online store that will streamline the process of innovation and inspire everyone—regardless of profession—to explore what’s possible.”

Go get creative...

View the Innovator's Store

Amazing Brick Machine Rolls Out Roads Like Carpet

"Brick roads are beautiful and durable, but we don’t see them too often due to the effort it takes to produce them. What once was a labor-intensive, back-breaking job has now become a snap with this automatic Dutch paver laying machine, called the Tiger-Stone. The device rolls out a beautiful and sustainable hardscape, creating an instant road anywhere it travels. While the process may look magical, the secret lies in a smartly designed gravity-based system."



View the Amazing Brick Machine

Oath of Allegiance

The United States Oath of Allegiance is an oath that must be taken by all immigrants who wish to become United States citizens. The first officially recorded Oaths of Allegiance were made on May 30th, 1778 at Valley Forge, during the Revolutionary War.

The current oath is as follows:

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Try reading the oath aloud without messing up...it's hard.


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Tilt Shift Van Gogh

Serena Malyon took several of Van Gogh’s paintings and edited them using photoshop to create a tilt shift effect. If you dont know what tilt shift is, its a kind of photography that uses a short range of focus to create photographs that look minature.

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Google Books Ngram Viewer

Google Books Ngram Viewer graphs and compares the historical usage of phrases based on the datasets comprised of more than 500 billion words and their associated volumes over time in about 5.2 million books. It consists of words contained in books published between 1500 and 2008 in English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Russian. Although intended for a scholarly audience, this simple online tool allows anyone with a computer to plug in a string of up to five words and see a graph that charts the phrase's use over time. Type in "men,women" without the quotes and find the date that both are quoted equally.

Ngrams

List of common misconceptions

This list of common or popular misconceptions describes documented ideas and beliefs which are fallacious, misleading, or otherwise flawed; however, these ideas have been commonly repeated as though they are true.

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How to contact the Queen

You can write to Her Majesty at the following address:
Her Majesty The Queen
Buckingham Palace
London SW1A 1AA

If you wish to write a formal letter, you can open with 'Madam' and close the letter with the form 'I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty's humble and obedient servant'.

This traditional approach is by no means obligatory. You should feel free to write in whatever style you feel comfortable.


Send Her a Letter

Artwork: Single Sheet of Paper

Each artwork in this collection is made of a single sheet of paper.


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My Food Looks Funny

If your food ever looks funny, take a picture and send it to this website.

Funny Foods