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This is cool.In baseball, a curveball creates a physical effect and a perceptual puzzle. The physical effect (the curve) arises because the ball’s rotation leads to a deflection in the ball’s path. The perceptual puzzle arises because the deflection is actually gradual but is often perceived as an abrupt change in direction (the break). Our illusions suggest that the perceived “break” may be caused by the transition from the central visual system to the peripheral visual system. Like a curveball, the spinning disks in the illusions appear to abruptly change direction when an observer switches from foveal to peripheral viewing.
Click this link to see the illusion. The Break Of The Curveball
For decades, the Walt Disney Company has largely kept Mickey Mouse frozen under glass, fearful that even the tiniest tinkering might tarnish the brand and upend his $5 billion or so in annual merchandise sales. One false move and Disney could have New Coke on its hands.
Now, however, concerned that Mickey has become more of a corporate symbol than a beloved character for recent generations of young people, Disney is taking the risky step of re-imagining him for the future.
The first glimmer of this will be the introduction next year of a new video game, Epic Mickey, in which the formerly squeaky clean character can be cantankerous and cunning, as well as heroic, as he traverses a forbidding wasteland.
And at the same time, in a parallel but separate effort, Disney has quietly embarked on an even larger project to rethink the character’s personality, from the way Mickey walks and talks to the way he appears on the Disney Channel and how children interact with him on the Web — even what his house looks like at Disney World.
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Thanks To Keith at BagOfNothing
The chasm between scientists' and the general public's view of God
A survey of more than 2,500 U.S. scientists has confirmed that they hold starkly different views about God than the general public. Just 33 percent of scientists believe in God, with another 18 percent believing in a universal spirit or higher power.
About 95 percent of Americans, in general, believe in God or a higher power.
The survey also breaks out the demographics of scientists' beliefs, finding that younger scientists are more likely to believe in God than older colleagues, and that chemists are also more likely to believe in God than other disciplines. (Physicists and astronomers are the true heretics):
Click the image to read the post.
