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Pool of Spirit releases a new column wanting to introduce you in the magic of Greek poetry named "Greek poets". We will present greek poems and a brief history of the poets.

A fractal is "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity. Roots of mathematically rigorous treatment of fractals can be traced back to functions studied by Karl Weierstrass, Georg Cantor and Felix Hausdorff in studying functions that were continuous but not differentiable; however, the term fractal was coined by Benoît Mandelbrot in 1975 and was derived from the Latin fractus meaning "broken" or "fractured." A mathematical fractal is based on an equation that undergoes iteration, a form of feedback based on recursion.

A fractal often has the following features:

1. It has a fine structure at arbitrarily small scales.
2. It is too irregular to be easily described in traditional Euclidean geometric language.
3. It is self-similar (at least approximately or stochastically).
4. It has a Hausdorff dimension which is greater than its topological dimension (although this requirement is not met by space-filling curves such as the Hilbert curve).
5. It has a simple and recursive definition.

Because they appear similar at all levels of magnification, fractals are often considered to be infinitely complex (in informal terms). Natural objects that are approximated by fractals to a degree include clouds, mountain ranges, lightning bolts, coastlines, snow flakes, various vegetables (cauliflower and broccoli), and animal coloration patterns. However, not all self-similar objects are fractals—for example, the real line (a straight Euclidean line) is formally self-similar but fails to have other fractal characteristics; for instance, it is regular enough to be described in Euclidean terms. Images of fractals can be created using fractal-generating software.





Examples

A class of examples is given by the Cantor sets, Sierpinski triangle and carpet, Menger sponge, dragon curve, space-filling curve, and Koch curve. Additional examples of fractals include the Lyapunov fractal and the limit sets of Kleinian groups. Fractals can be deterministic (all the above) or stochastic (that is, non-deterministic). For example, the trajectories of the Brownian motion in the plane have a Hausdorff dimension of 2.

Chaotic dynamical systems are sometimes associated with fractals. Objects in the phase space of a dynamical system can be fractals (see attractor). Objects in the parameter space for a family of systems may be fractal as well. An interesting example is the Mandelbrot set. This set contains whole discs, so it has a Hausdorff dimension equal to its topological dimension of 2—but what is truly surprising is that the boundary of the Mandelbrot set also has a Hausdorff dimension of 2 (while the topological dimension of 1), a result proved by Mitsuhiro Shishikura in 1991. A closely related fractal is the Julia set.

Source: Wikipedia

This is a very interesting training material of engineering/physical sciences. This apparatus was developed by Prototype Machinist, John DeMoss and Dr. Kevin Cahill of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. It costs 450$ and you can buy it from here

This apparatus is an effective and safe educational tool or conceptual aide that displays the properties of laminar flow. The apparatus is designed to for easy operations and cleaning and provides great visual, real-time display of laminar flow. Students and educators will enjoy using the apparatus while gaining valuable knowledge of fluid dynamics.

What is laminar flow?
When a fluid (gas or liquid) flows in a defined manner with distinct paths it is said to be in laminar flow. Laminar flow is a fundamental physical phenomenon that occurs frequently in everyday life. However, the concept of laminar flow can sometimes be difficult to put into context when discussing fluid dynamics. Turbulent flow on the other hand may be a little easier to explain as the only requirement is that there is no order to the fluids fluctuations. When attempting to illustrate the properties associated with laminar flow this apparatus is most effective.

How it works

This apparatus allows for the visual examination of a fluid undergoing laminar flow. Initially, within the apparatus, various colored droplets are suspended in a fluid and all are in a state of equilibrium where the different fluids are distinctly separated. When the apparatus is rotated the fluids revolve in a controlled manner and the droplets seem to become completely intermixed yet still divided from the outer fluid. After several rotations the apparatus is then operated in the reverse direction. Since the Reynolds number within this apparatus is less then one, an almost complete reversal of the previous laminar flow is undertaken. The result is that after the same amount of rotations in the opposite direction, the droplets return to their initial, distinctly separated, forms.

What the video by click the image below to take more insight. The video was filmed at the University of New Mexico - Physics Department.

Source: FailBlog

Lady Gaga has set a new record for YouTube.

The Bad Romance star has racked up more than one billion overall views of her material on the video sharing website. According to internet research company famecount.com her total currently stands at 1,002,734,757. That figure doesn't represent views of a single video.

It's not the first time Lady Gaga has set a new record online. Back in August she overtook Britney Spears to become the most followed person on Twitter. She recently became the first living star to break the 20 million Facebook fans barrier and remains the most popular living star on both sites.

Read more: BBC news

Sony organized a fresh event for its new promotional campaign. The event took place in Miami and the purpose was the advertisement of a new digital camera model.


It was a really big party for the city. The biggest machine for foam production was deployed in the city's roads. It produced over 460 million litres of foam converting the city to a big bath tub!

The make off lasted 16 hours and the outcome was that below, click on the image to watch the final advert.


Source: Perierga.gr

Get ready for a long run of Paranormal Activity films. The second in the series broke box-office records with its premiere this past weekend. Opening weekend yielded $41.5 million in ticket sales, crushing box office runner-up Jackass 3D. Hit the jump for more.
Spread out over 4,500 screens, Paranormal Activity 2 beat the previous record for a supernatural horror movie. 2004's The Grudge was the previous record holder, with $39.1 million on its opening weekend.

Nearly half of Paranormal Activity's box office came from Friday screenings - perhaps due to the push for midnight screenings, a perfect time for a horror pic - making it one of the biggest Friday-loaded openings ever. Box Office Mojo is predicting that Paranormal Activity 2 will have a quick flame-out after such an enormous opening weekend, but even if that happens, the film is still firmly in the "win" column.

Interesting features:

Made for a modest $3 million, the film set records for the biggest R-rated midnight opening ever and the biggest R-rated opening night ever en route to terrorizing the weekend box office to the tune of $41.5 million and a No. 1 B.O. ranking.

An estimated $41.5 million on around 3,200 screens. It's hard to compare to the film's predecessor, which rolled into theaters gradually as it built momentum, but there may be no point: this is the highest ever 3-day opening weekend for an R-rated horror film, at least if the real number is not significantly lower than the estimate (the current record holder, 'Friday the 13th,' is less than $1 million off). It was also extremely front-loaded, making almost half of its weekend gross on Friday (including midnight showings, which took in over $6 million).

It is directed by first-time genre filmmaker Tod Williams ('The Adventures of Sebastian Cole,' 'The Door in the Floor') and literally starring a cast of unknowns: not only are the actors not famous, but Paramount has done their best to keep us from learning their names. It is a sequel to Oren Peli's sleeper indie hit 'Paranormal Activity,' which cost $15,000 and grossed $108 million domestically last fall.

Audience reactions:

See the video below



Source: IMBD

As HP had said before, it comes with Windows 7 and is aimed at corporate customers. 


Specifications:

it weighs just 1.5 pounds, has an 8.9-inch multitouch display and two cameras, and it takes input from a stylus, which they're calling the HP Slate Digital Pen.


Source: CNET.com

Although, the uncertainty around its remaining in Manchester United and his injury which will leave him out for 3 weeks, Wayne Rooney achieved to surprise everyone. Everybody expected to see him at the sold list of the club.

In a dramatic change of events, Rooney - who wanted to leave United earlier this week - ended doubts over his future by signing a new five-year contract. From now, Rooney can leave Man U for 30 million pounds if certain targets are not met on a year-by-year basis.

Manchester United’s owners have reportedly pledged to give 100 million pounds to manager Sir Alex Ferguson to buy new players. The guarantee by the Glazer family had helped Ferguson to persuade striker Rooney to stay back at the club.

Against the economic difficulties, Rooney made a big deal achieving to sign a new contract. He is now the highest-paid player at United, overtaking defender Rio Ferdinand.

The striker, who was previously on 90,000 pounds per week, is now understood to be earning a basic salary in excess of 150,000 pounds per week.

Three people went down into the Marum Volcano on Ambrym Island. They seiled approximately 500 meters within the caldera to the very edge of a huge lake of violently boiling lava. They provided a unique video.

Watch it below:

JR owns the biggest art gallery in the world. He exhibits freely in the streets of the world, catching the attention of people who are not the museum visitors. His work mixes Art and Act, talks about commitment, freedom, identity and limit.

After he found a camera in the Paris subway, he did a tour of European Street Art, tracking the people who communicate messages via the walls. Then, he started to work on the vertical limits, watching the people and the passage of life from the forbidden undergrounds and roofs of the capital.

JR creates "Pervasive Art" that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil. People who often live with the bare minimum discover something absolutely unnecessary. And they don't just see it, they make it. Some elderly women become models for a day; some kids turn artists for a week. In that Art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.

As he remains anonymous and doesn't explain his huge full frame portraits of people making faces, JR leaves the space empty for an encounter between the subject/protagonist and the passer-by/interpreter.

This is what JR is working on. Raising questions...

JR currently works on 2 new projects: Wrinkles of the City which questions the memory of a city and its inhabitants and Unframed, which reinterprets in huge formats photos from important photographers taken from the archives of museums.

Some pictures of his creation around the world:







More info: JR official website

Artist Bryan Berg is the only known person who makes a living by building playing card sculptures. Although he’s a Harvard-educated architect, Berg claims he learned all his techniques the old-fashioned way—through trial and error.

The pictures below show his sculpture created by 218,792 playing cards. The American architect broke his own Guinness World Record! It was the most demanding and time-cunsuming sculpture ever built by Bryan Berg, he used 4,051 packs of cards and it took him 44 days to complete it.

His creation is part of the Venetian Macau's exhibition and it comprises an attractive attraction for the visitors.

A little more about him:

Trained as an architect, Bryan Berg is the only known person to make a living building structures with freestanding playing cards. He uses no tape, glue, or tricks, and his method has been tested to support 660 lbs. per square foot.

Berg earned a Professional Degree in Architecture from Iowa State University in 1997, and served on the design faculty there for three years. In 2004, Berg earned his Master of Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

Berg has stacked cards for corporate special events, public relations campaigns, and science and children's museums in many U.S. cities, Canada, Europe, and Asia. Berg's clients have included Walt Disney World, a Lexus commercial, Procter & Gamble, American major league baseball and hockey, and the San Francisco Opera among others. He also participated in a music video by The Bravery, playing a lonely man who builds a fantasy world out of cards.

In 2004, Guinness created a record category for World's Largest House of Freestanding Playing Cards to recognize a project Berg built for Walt Disney World, a replica of Cinderella's Castle. In 2010, the record was renewed by himself using 4051 sets of cards, over 218,000 cards, and built in 44 days, a replica of the Venetian Macao.

Source: Perierga.gr, Wikipedia

Tube bosses were under pressure today to launch a full inquiry into why thousands of passengers were trapped in tunnels during two days of travel misery this week.


Monday's Jubilee line power failure saw 2,000 passengers forced to walk for 20 minutes along the track between St John's Wood and Baker Street after being stranded for more than two hours. Three trains were stuck between Baker Street and St John's Wood, while a fourth was stranded at Swiss Cottage. A fifth was stalled at Westminster.

Click below to watch the official trailer of the movie and read the plot.

Mark Zucherberg, founder and chief executive of Facebook criticised the film "Social Network".

He stated that it doesn't reflect the real history of Facebook's invention. He also noted that he will not have an intention to watch the movie because it "portrays him as an isolated loner who creates the social networking site to make himself popular".

Finally, he claimed that he is against the suggestion provided by the film, that he created Facebook in order "to get girls, or wanted to get into clubs”, and that he was dumped by a girlfriend shortly beforehand".

"In reality, he said, he has been with girlfriend Priscilla Chan since before he founded Facebook".

Source: London Evening Standard

This year, up to 200,000 students were rejected from UK universities. "The last time there was a similar rejection rate was in 1995!".

In addition, there was a record in the number of applicants this year, more than 680,000 students applied for a place. That figure depicts an increase of 7,5% comparing to the last year's number of applicants which was 633,000.

Only 75% of them succeeded to take an offer while the previous year the percentage of success was 75%.

In addition, the number of places available for 2011-2012 will may be reduced due to budget cuts by the educational institutes.

Source: London Evening Standard