Author Archives: mmgteacher
North America to scale on various planets
The vast majority of objects out there in the universe are pretty big…moons, planets, stars, galaxies, so it can be difficult sometimes to get your head round their actual size.
With the huge continent of North America dwarfed by Jupiter’s storms, the universe seems an even larger place. In the other direction, Mars looks so much more human-scaled.
This is how North America looks like in relation to Jupiter, one of the giant planets:
But this is what it lookslike on Mars:
Read more about it here:
http://astronomycentral.co.uk/astronomy-the-size-of-stuff/
5 ways to stop biting your nails
They must be blind!
Stupid shoes
Things you don’t learn in High School
A very simple, very clever invention – that saves lives
Lindsey Pollak makes a clarinet with a carrot
25 awesome animals you won’t believe exist
Dod space
How painting can transform communities
Click on this link to listen to this great talk about helping poor people change their environment through Art:
Haas&Hahn: How painting can transform communities | Talk Video | TED.com.
Anaïs’ s presentation about England
Ayoub’s presentation about Canada
Khadija’s presentation on Ireland
Philea robot lands on comet
Congratulations, European Space Agency, you’ve made history! After departing from the Rosetta orbiter this morning, touchdown of the robot named Philae onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was confirmed at 16:05 GMT. This is a momentous occasion for space exploration as it marks the first time that a spacecraft has ever landed on the surface of a comet.
The Rosetta mission was dreamt up in the ‘80s, but it was not until 1993 that the $1.6 billion (€1.3 billion) project was approved and construction of the crafts could be initiated. That means the probes were fabricated using some systems that were undoubtedly invented in the 1980s, making the mission’s accomplishments even more remarkable.
Rosetta’s rocky voyage began in 2004 after two ditched launch attempts. It took a decade to reach the comet in August this year, a journey that covered six billion kilometers (3.75 billion miles) of our inner solar system.
More on IFL Science.
Street Art transforms slums in Brazil
Banksy filmed live
▶ Banksy filmed live by The Sunday Times – YouTube.
Here are some extracts from his interview:
“I still paint graffiti because I genuinely think the side of a canal is a more interesting place to have art than a museum. And the fact of the matter is, if you exhibit in a gallery you have to compete against Rembrandt, but if you paint down an alley you only have to compete against a dustbin. I guess it’s the art equivalent of hanging around with fat people to make yourself look thin.”
“I did art at school but I never pursued it any further. I have a large collection of famous art at home, but they’re all fakes. I make them myself. If I like a picture I grab a photo, project it up and paint it. Sometimes I change the colours to fit with the curtains. I do it partly because I’m tight and partly because if the Basquiats and Picassos in the sitting room were real I’d be too scared to ever leave the house.
“I recommend graffiti to anyone, for no other reason than a trip across town is never boring — you’re always on the lookout for new spots and what you can do on them. Likewise, if you ever get bored going round a museum, the interest level ramps up substantially when you smuggle in your own piece under a coat and glue it up somewhere.”
“I don’t make as much money as people think. The commercial galleries that have held exhibitions of my paintings are nothing to do with me. And I certainly don’t see money from the T-shirts, mugs and greeting cards. My lawyer calls me ‘the most infringed artist alive’ and wants me to do something about it. But if you’ve built a reputation on having a casual attitude towards property ownership, it seems a bit bad-mannered to kick off about copyright law.”
MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU
You little rebel you…
Guiness world record: fastest typing with the nose
Poppies at the Tower of London for Remembrance Day 2014
Urban fairies and their little doors around town…
In the little American town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, exists a secret world that very few people are aware of. If you look carefully around town, you’ll notice itty bitty doors placed on the side of buildings. They are urban fairy houses…
Jonathan B. Wright, children’s books author, started creating little fairy doors in his home in 1993 for his own children (two daughters). Then in 2005, the first little door appeared in a public place in his city, and many others followed.
They can be on the side of a real-size door, in a side street, inside a shop, on any place really (a restaurant, a school, a public library…). Sometimes they are outside, right in the middle of a wall, and sometimes you stumble upon them as you are looking up a fairytale book in the town library!
If you walk around this town you may pass them by without noticing them.
Some people have installed a fairy house door in their own home or garden. We don’t know if any fairies have set up houses there…
You can use this link to find out more about Jonathan Wright and the fairy doors of Ann Arbor: