Mass wood blog #2

Alejandro Jimenez
Mr. Gray
Period A/ Blogger
24 October 2017

http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/New-wood-te<img src="https://resource.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/3eddc65d-12aa-4db5-8d93-bf7ef678a47f?size=2" alt="2_int_CLTStack-800x800.jpg"/>chnology-materials-and-science-enhance-safety-and-structural-performance-1005448363

Due to overpopulation, engineers, designers, and builders of the world came up with solutions to resolve the constrained environmental resources, One such resource is wood, one of the worlds oldest building material known to mankind. Next generation of wood products, also known as mass timber offer exceptional stability and strength, and have made wood a better choice to other resources, like steel or concrete. Products such as, nail laminated timber, cross laminated timber and glue laminated timber all increased stability, strength and design within buildings.

Mass timber also has fire resistance. Unlike steal, steal conducts heat and loses strength even in lower temperature fires.

Video of what Mass Timber is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h99kIHrULrg

cross laminated timber

360 camera blog #1

Alejandro Jimenez

Mr. Gray

Period A/ Blog #1

4 October 2017   

Website:https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603496/10-breakthrough-technologies-2017-the-360-degree-selfie/

The technology of using 360 degree cameras for photos and videos is something totally new. Until recently there was no other options for shooting photos and video that captured that context: use a rig to position multiple cameras at different angles with overlapping fields of view or pay for a $10,000 camera that does it all for you. Production process also took much time and when downloaded on a computer the usages of a pricey software was needed to fuse the photos/videos together to create a seamless picture.  

Today anyone can buy a decent 360 degree camera for less than $500; record and upload a photo/video within minutes on social platforms like Facebook and Youtube. Big companies like nikon or samsung are selling them to the public, they even created a virtual reality headset that can rotate the photo by moving your head. This creates a better experience for the user because it gives the illusion they are actually present to whatever they are looking at.  

360 degree cameras are the future in how we express ideas and story telling through pictures. Even though this is new technology this has already been affecting my life in how I watch video. Many youtubers are creating and posting videos of them recording on 360 degree cameras and I have enjoyed watching because it creates a new sense in  video and makes the pictures more realistic.  

Link to a video recorded on 360 camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=x9T5K1D6nkc

New species of rat "Vika"

Link:

https://www.popsci.com/large-rodent-discovery-solomon-islands

Blog #2

A new species of rat has been discovered, titled, “Vika” researchers say that it is a foot and a half long and nearly triple the weight of a common black rat. However despite just being discovered they are already endangered. The oversized, tree-dwelling rat lives in the Solomon Islands and scientists have said “Finding them, the scientists who discovered them say, has proved incredibly difficult.” The picture above shows the nuts that the rats eat and what is left behind.Humans are always chopping down trees in the Solomon Islands and with trees being the main habitat of vika, scientists say that the newly-discovered species is also “critically endangered” with an already very small population and a shrinking habitat. That's also amplified by natural predators from birds of prey and cats.Researchers from around the island are encouraging additional scientific surveys of the island by scientific or conservation groups, to see what other animals might be hiding in the branches before the branches themselves disappear.

Ruins of the Future

Virtual reality users can now see ancient Athens as it used to be 2000 years ago. An Australian startup called Lithodomos VR made it possible to see ancient Athens in its glory days as if you were there in person.

This photorealistic and archaeologically accurate virtual tour includes famous landmarks that look brand new like the Acropolis and Agora. The first landmark that was recreated was the Odean of Agrippa which was a once towering concert hall with a massive single spanned ceiling. The tour also includes sound effects and narration, so it's not as boring as it seems. The tour is meant to accompany travelers on their visit to the Athens and will also be used for education in classrooms. "There is plenty of audio and visual material within the app, to keep students busy exploring for several classes. It fits perfectly with any class that deals with Greek civilization.” - one of the creators

Athens isn't the only VR tour of ancient historical landmarks because Lithodomos VR also has tours of ancient Jerusalem and Paris Arnes de Lutce.

Prism Glasses

As weird as these glasses look they actually have a valuable purpose and they almost always work for the variety of vision problems they're supposed to correct. These glasses help correct :
Double vision
Blurred vision
Missing rows while reading
And headaches related to vision issues

People are tested to decide what prescription they need for the lenses of these glasses just like regular glasses. But unlike ordinary eyeglasses, prism glasses help people who lack depth perception which causes double vision and other uncommon distortions of vision.


The prism glasses help correct this problem because the prism shape allows light to pass between the positive prism lense and the negative prism lens. Basically, light enters the first prism as white light and exits as a rainbow, then the light enters the second prism as a rainbow and leaves as a white light. This process helps the eyes focus on objects better and cancels out the distorted vision caused by the weaker eye.