Interactive art-object and Musical instrument

Tenori-On by Toshio Iwai and Yamaha. An intuitive performance instrument and art object hybrid.

"The Trouble with Tribbles", as done by Edward Gorey

Or at least, one person's speculation.

Laser-cut cross sections of a house, bound as a book

Artist Olafur Eliasson created this piece, a laser-cut negative space rendering of his house in 85:1 scale:

Your House

It's made of 454 slices, bound together in a book. Apparently it was quite a difficult process to put together, due to the complex constraints that were put upon the paper. From what I understand it was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.

The folks that produced the book are a laser-cutting house that specializes in paper-cutting, called Visionen in Papier ( Visions in Paper).

http://www.origamitessellations.com/2007/05/08/laser-cut-art-book-by-olafur-eliasson/

Forthcoming series: Harry Potter and the Virus of Doom?

The Register has its fun musing over Harry Potter's future prospects, now that he's 17 and in need of proper employment.

On the requirements for your Doctoral Thesis

Amusing information from the Graduate Student Handbook of Fordham University's Theology department.  Start reading at page 23.

The set of all-things-not-doctoral-dissertations, as a logician might say, has a vast and varied membership. Ocean liners, the square root of minus one, and pickled herring spring to mind. There is in general little chance of mistaking most of these things for a doctoral thesis, even in dim light. There are, indeed, a few things that bear a superficial resemblance to dissertations—telephone books, for example—but the clever observer will soon learn to distinguish them. (In the case of the telephone book, for instance, one will quickly note a strict logical progression in its contents that sets it apart from all but a few dissertations.)

Branded with Science

Via Bad Science by way of the Apothecary's Drawer: Branded with Science , a compilation of examples of scientists who have tattoos related to their subjects.

(Clicking on the logo on the upper right corner of the page will take you to the main ScienceBlogs page, which will surely lead you to many other interesting places....)

Creation and Destruction of Sand Mandala

I'm in a meditative mood today....

Sand Mandalas are the sacred ancient tradition of highly detailed art, practiced by Buddhist monks in Tibet. With a rare dedication and utmost care they spend days constructing an intricate masterpiece out of many-colored grains of sand - then they sanctify it and (quite philosophically) demolish in a similarly prayerful & dedicated fashion.