Amy Ione Online

Ann: RoboGames 2009 Registration is open!

RoboGames 2009 Registration is open!    |    June 12-14th in San Francisco.

Article: Sculpting the Impossible: Solid Renditions of Visual Illusions

Article and slide show.

Ann: CALL FOR ILLUSION SUBMISSIONS

Deadline for illusion submissions is February 16th, 2009 for THE FIFTH ANNUAL BEST VISUAL ILLUSION OF THE YEAR CONTEST

Blog Entry: Cartesian Perspectivalism

I just finished reviewing Lyle Massey's new book, Picturing Space, Displacing Bodies:
Anamorphosis in Early Modern Theories of Perspective and I will post it when it is online.  For now, I do want to mention one aspect of the book that keeps running through my mind: Cartesian Perspectivalism.

Black cats and Friday the 13th

My cat Naxi (left) and her friend Tommy (bottom) are big fans of Friday the 13th, no doubt because they are both black cats. Both cats asked me to recommend the new exhibition at the SF Exploratorium, a part of the museum's Mind series. From the Superstition Obstacle Course press release: Are you Breaking a Mirror courting disaster by walking under a ladder? And what really happens if you step squarely on that crack in the sidewalk? Challenge these and other superstitions at the Exploratorium's new Superstition Obstacle Course opening on Friday, June 13, and on view through September 1, 2008, from 11am-4pm. Although none of the beliefs represented have a scientific basis, many believe such behaviors are taboo and invite bad luck. Regardless of their truth, superstitions are a part of human culture, and offer a rich source of understanding why we believe and act as we do.

Do you see what I see? Article on visual illusions

Today's New York Times has an article on research that suggests that the brain’s adaptive ability to see into the near future creates many common optical illusions. By the way, Christopher Tyler has some wonderful illusions on his page here.