On the topic of 'Power'

Update 28th May 08: Just found this and thought it was relevant to the TED talk as well. just another way of visualising the fact that changes need to be made to our view of the world, and hence changes in our workflow.
http://www.breathingearth.net


Quite a literal interpretation, but still relevant, especially considering the TED talks on the consideration of power usage/consumption and life expectancy in the last lecture. Also, it looks pretty :D


The Z-Machine
This is a stop action photo of a device at Sandia Labs releasing its capacitors' charge. It is about the size of a basketball court. It has achieved temperatures of 3.7*10^9 K (highest man-made temperature ever). During the 100 ns discharge, the power output is 2.9*10^14 W, equal to 80 times the power output of all the power plants on earth.

Think about the capabilities if this sort of power could be properly harnessed and used. Keep in mind the amount of energy is consumes in the process and whether its benefits are offset by any detrimental effects it could (indirectly or directly) cause; CO2 emissions for example.

I think I might use the image as inspiration for some of my 'movement' textures. Imagine this thing in motion. Those arcs would be going everywhere. Fun!

(As long as this is allowed I will try and keep the blog updated with something interesting and relevant about once per week)