#practical applications

[ilikeit-art]

Putting out fire using Bernoulli's principle.

Bernoulli's Theorem: Explanation, Formula, and Applications

Bernoulli's Theorem has been a cornerstone of fluid dynamics for centuries. Learn about its origins and how it's still relevant today.

[pratchettquotes]

"Can you believe it? They 'ad it in their hands. They could've built a working steam engine, and steamboats that didn't explode. That's academics for you. All that knowing and they went back to discussing t'beauty and truth of numbers and missed the fact that they'd discovered something important. Me? If I want beauty and truth I look at Iron Girder."

Terry Pratchett, Raising Steam

[yvesdot]

A short story in three parts; now completely posted! 

At Clairmouth, you are either a Tanner student or an Ocean student-- and you're very insistent about your choice, because the two of them can't seem to agree on anything. Timothy, who missed the memo, is in both classes. Chaos ensues.

Choose a side and read along; you’ll sit through a literature class, an art class, and lunch in between-- as well as a special ending episode. Up now on both AO3 and Wattpad.

[lovecraftsgarden]

Fucus vesiculosus

Bladderwrack, Rockweed, Sea Oak

DIJUNO? Bladderwrack was the original source of iodine, a chemical commonly used for medical applications. And after a dog took a chomp out of my hand a couple of years ago, it was used to sanitize the wounds. I screamed a lot. 

Good stuff.

(via)

[procedural-generation]

Algorithmic Design, System Thinking

I’m always looking for more practical uses for the techniques I talk about here. Not that there’s anything wrong with using them for games, but I want to broaden my horizons beyond that (and maybe bring you along for the ride).

So when I came across these articles by Jer Thorp, a software artist, they immediately caught my attention: here’s a practical, sobering use of generative design. Jer used an iterative, algorithmic process to design the layout for the names on the 9/11 memorial in NYC.

If you’ve ever been involved in designing a memorial or a tomb you might have some insight into the weight of the responsibility. This is how we record our memories of those we’ve lost. Getting it right means a lot to the people who are still here.

There were numerous constraints on the design process: from requests from the families to the shape of the type used on the memorial. Solving them by hand would have been impossible, so a set of tools was developed that modeled the problem as a complete system and let the designers adjust the parameters until they found a design that satisfied all of the constraints--including the artistic constraints that the humans were better at designing than the machine.

In addition to the practical design use, I want to highlight the role that the constraints played: Jer contends that by considering more of the constraints and thinking of the entire system they were able to achieve a better result.

You Say Data, I Say System: https://hackernoon.com/you-say-data-i-say-system-54e84aa7a421 All the Names: Algorithmic Design and the 9/11 Memorial: http://blog.blprnt.com/blog/blprnt/all-the-names

[yvesdot]

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS is now complete! You may recall it was a serial piece, and now I have just uploaded the final chapter, so one can now read all three parts together! The story in its entirety is very short (around 2,000 words); available now on both AO3 & Wattpad.

[yvesdot]

PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS UPDATES TODAY! The new chapter is already up on AO3 and Wattpad. Next week will mark the end of the story, and we’ll see what I’ve learned from posting things serially rather than all-at-once. Opinions, comments, etc etc always welcome!

(Confused? Intro post here.)