Stijn Oomes

Orwell’s telescreens

Winston Smith is the main character in the famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. In his apartment there is an “oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall.” The description of this flatscreen television goes on to state that the “instrument (the telescreen, it wasContinue reading “Orwell’s telescreens”

Revolution in motion

Yesterday, Microsoft launched a new product called Kinect. It is an add-on for the very popular game console Xbox 360 and allows for the user itself to be the controller. No more fiddling with weirdly shaped controllers. Just step in front of your television and you can control games with your own gestures (and yourContinue reading “Revolution in motion”

School’s looking at you, kid

This photograph was taken about a year ago and shows 15-year-old Blake Robbins asleep in his bedroom. The picture in itself is not that interesting. What is remarkable is that it was taken with the built-in iSight camera of his Apple MacBook laptop, remotely operated by technicians at Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania inContinue reading “School’s looking at you, kid”

Pen and paper

At the start of my vacation I closed my laptop and went back to pen and paper. To get at the heart of things, nothing beats an empty sheet of paper and a clear schedule. I spent many weeks drawing objects and scenes, and deriving geometrical formulas with pen and paper. Don’t get me wrong,Continue reading “Pen and paper”

Three-quarter view

The three guys in the painting above are all depictions of King Charles I, painted from different viewpoints by Anthonis van Dyck in 1636. In the middle we see a frontal view (“en face”), on the left a side view (“en profile”), and the most intriguing is the one on the right: the three-quarter viewContinue reading “Three-quarter view”

Watching geometry on YouTube

I am not a mathematician. During my training as a physicist I developed some competence in fields like geometry, algebra, and calculus, but I do not have the ability to create mathematics. I even find it really hard to read the mathematical literature. So I am probably missing out on exciting methods that may beContinue reading “Watching geometry on YouTube”

2 teams, 1 ball, and 78 cameras

One of my friends is a true soccer fan and he has probably watched every single game of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. I only watch the occasional game, like yesterday when the Dutch team played Cameroon (2-1). And I have to admit I sometimes get distracted from the game itself and start studying theContinue reading “2 teams, 1 ball, and 78 cameras”