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Mathematical Lego Sculptures
Daedalus_ writes "Some guy has created mathematical surfaces (mobius strips, klein bottles, etc) out of Legos. He also has some other interesting creations (such as Dilbert figurines and a Hoberman Sphere)."
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Lego people can walk sideways on buildings?? We must make them our leaders!
This message was brought to you by the death of 30 brain cells.
Creating legos out of mathematical surfaces... (Use POVRay to render this :D).
// example of object unions
,
.5
#include "colors.inc"
#include "textures.inc"
#include "metals.inc"
camera {
location
look_at
}
plane { , -1
pigment {
checker color Red, color Blue
}
}
light_source { color White}
#declare lego=union {
box {
}
#declare cyl1=cylinder {
,
}
object { cyl1 }
object { cyl1 translate }
object { cyl1 translate }
object { cyl1 translate }
object { cyl1 translate }
object { cyl1 translate }
texture { Glossy
pigment { Red }
}
}
object { lego }
object { lego
translate
rotate 20*y
}
That is totally amazing. And for what it's worth, I think it's a worthwhile use of his time (not that my opinion on how someone uses their time matters, but whatever). I don't know, to me for some reason non-trivial acts of creation like this seem to touch whatever it is to be human -- our creative endowment is one of our signature traits, I think. What impulse would drive this sort of creative urge, to create beautiful mathematical shapes out of Lego, of all things? Whatever it is, it's mysterious, and it wasn't a waste of time. That figure eight knot is incredible.
Very, very cool.
Now show me a hypercube and I'll be really impressed.
"Moderate drinking can help prevent amputated limbs" -- Abigail Zuger, NYTimes, 12/31/02
I love Andrew Lipson's Math site, thought it was on slashdot for a while. If you like to see other such sites check out Eric Harshbarge's Lego page (cool stuff like wedding cakes and skyscrapers), Henry Lim's totally awsome lego sculptures, he's even got Natalie Portman (Not naked, and next to the petrified beethovan). BTW, Eric's got a very interesting page on on San Mononoke (more on those).
Actually, he mentions building something to amuse his 5 year old son,
so I imagine that he IS married...
He must have a very patient wife : )
Im not here now... Im out KILLING pepperoni
I would be impressed with a Dyson Sphere out of legos. That would be cool.
And you could have a little Scotty Lego charachter next to a crashed shuttle craft on the surface.
On his other page I particularly liked the machine for switching itself off. Mind you, he'd need to be careful, he might be breaching Microsoft's patent on Windows.
You call me a pedant? I prefer the term "correct"
I can make a near-perfect rectangular parallelepiped out of single Lego brick. Top THAT!
Mirror site up.
www.netmar.com/~will/lego
Disclaimers:
1.) Not my work, I don't claim any of it.
2.) I didn't get the
3.) I know it's not slashdotted yet, just preparing/ karma whoring.
4.) If it does get slashdotted, and everyone starts testing my load balancing, why not sign up for hosting at the same time? We're running a no setup fee promotion at the moment.
~Will
P.S. became friends with the
sig?
(* The Plural of Lego is, um, Lego.... Much like fish or sheep. *)
You mean I have to take "fishies" and "sheeps" off of my resume?
That could explain the lack of responses.
Table-ized A.I.
I would like to see this guy get together with the creater of this site:
http://drew.corrupt.net/lp/series2.html
The Kline Bottle would then never be looked at in the same light.
(Warning: not for minors)
Table-ized A.I.
http://mrl.nyu.edu/~perlin/demox/Hyper.html
Tim
Omnia vestra castrorum habetur nobis.
Where does this guy get all of these lego blocks? It looks like he has all weird sizes too.
;-)
Maybe he cheats and makes his own lego blocks...
I'm a firm believer in Legos * and am thoroughly convinced that they helped strongly in developing my inquisitive intellect. I still have my Legos from when I was 10.
... well, here's hoping that the world's first Lego Julia or Mandelbrot set will be made within our lifetimes. Lipson's surface models are just beautiful, so just imagine the beauty of a more sophisticated set.
... that's the strength and appeal of Legos. However, I admit that the addition of gears makes the entire matter more challenging, perhaps for the 14+ age group.
Look at 'em: they teach you to design, build, modify, and to have the patience for all of that. Legos are the best thing for the price that I can think of that can spur a young intellect. (Erector Sets were great for that too.) And if you get older and still play with them
BTW, I am down on all this Lego model crap I see in the stores. Give kids a bucket of basic blocks and let them create
* Legos {tm} is the registered trademark of some silly corporation or something like that.
[also misbehaves on Kuro5hin as Peahippo]
I believe Clifford Stoll (of Cuckoo's Egg fame) makes them out of glass. See www.kleinbottle.com.
This post is strictly my own opinion and not necessarily that of my employer.
You try to make a little joke, but there is always some Poindexter out there who takes you literally and points out your "mistake" in mind-numbing detail...
Sorry, but technically a klein bottle is a four-dimensional figure (impossible to A) comprehend and B) create). Still looks cool!
Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that this post obeys the laws of thermodynamics!
/^[A-Z0-9._%+-]+@[A-Z0-9.-]+\.[A-Z]{2,4}$/i
But, for those interested, here are some other cool Lego sites:
Stegosaurus
Lego Town
Lego City
Beethoven
Queen Amidala
Audrey Hepburn Wall
Big Clock
Alice in Wonderland
Click here or here.
I still have not figured out the correct plural of Elvis and Lexus (the car). Elvi and Lexi?
Table-ized A.I.
Wow. Maybe it's the beer I just drank, but this is truly TRULY the coolest thing /. has shown in some time. Okay, maybe it's not strictly _news_, but WOW.
You mean these ?
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
It cannot be embedded in R^3, but it sure can be represented in r^3. See here
:)
It's like saying you cant represent a cube in R^2, or any other 3d shape we commonly see represented on our computer monitors and tv screens, which are 2d last time I looked
And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour Isaiah 3:5
Anybody seen White Stripe's "Fell in Love With a Girl" video? Made entierly out of Lego's, using real Lego set, not CGI, as I thought first.
You can see it here, along with some info of how it was done.
I'm not the only person that realizes that a klein bottle can't be made with lego? Or with anything that we know of...
klein bottles can't really be represented in three dimensions...
Um, (claps one hand against belly or other skin-coated surface) you must have overlooked these.
http://www.kleinbottle.com/
Although I cannot figure how as it is the first hit when I GOOGLE a [ Klein Bottle ] search. There is even a Klein Coffee cup! Now stop being silly and order one for goodness sake.
"Face it, a nation that maintains a 72% approval rating on George W. Bush is a nation with a very loose grip on reality.
Let's use time as our 4th dimension. Imagine a cube that appears and then disappears in an instant. That's a 3D cube. Now stare at a cube for a few seconds.
That's a hypercube.
A 4D being would see the difference instantly. The 3D cube would seem kind of "flat" next to the other one.
Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
...you'd hate for me to start my comment in the subject line, 'eh?
Wanna come over to my place and see my 14' lego stegosaurus?
Yeah, there's a reason why my dining table is on the front lawn.
--
E_NOSIG
mmmmm yeah that's what I'm talkin bout.
No, the plural of LEGO as in the Toys is neither 'LEGO' nor 'LEGOS' - it is LEGO Bricks.
-mz