Entropy

Every once in a while I think of cool t-shirt texts for use, but rarely come up with anything. Some time ago I did invent one which I absolutely wanted to print for myself and after couple of months postponing the realisation finally managed to craft it. I think it turned out quite nicely!

According to the second law of thermodynamics, in a closed system the entropy will increase and can never go back. Entropy means that everything will equalise. If you open the door to your hot sauna the temperature in the sauna will cool when the temperature in the wash room will rise, but neither of them will be hot or cold afterwards. The universe is a closed system, and gradually the energy will come to an equilibrium. The energy levels will be all the same and the universe will suffer so called heat death where there is no more free energy available. Before that, everywhere where energy is used (and transferred to another form) there is a small fight going on against the looming increase of entropy. It can't go backwards, but it can be postponed, just for a short moment. That's what people are doing all the time.

Say no to heat death! Fight entropy today!

Space shuttle

The first semester of my master studies is already behind. I had one big course called documentary animation, where I did a film about how I grew up with the NASA's space shuttle programme. It took me quite a while to finish this, but it's nice to have it finally ready. And it was a lot of fun to dwell into those old shuttle films again...

Space Shuttle 1981-2011 ...in my life! from West468 on Vimeo.

Colossal

Colossal is my favourite design blog, which I've been following for a couple of years. I often browse through it to get some inspiration or just stare in awe at the vivid imaginative works of artists and designers all around the world. Here is a great example from the blog about how the sun radiates also in ultraviolet light and how we look like in UV wavelengths. It comes very close to the idea I had when writing my Bachelor's Thesis about the electromagnetic spectrum. Interactivity truly is fun. :)

Trifid nebula in cotton wool

I was playing late last night with some cotton wool I bought, just to see if I could use it in animations. First I was testing to create a nightly thunder scene with a torch, but then I noticed how lovely the torch I hid under the pile of cotton wool was showing the light texture of the wool itself in the photos I took. It actually looked very much like a nebula would look like through a big telescope. I added another torch and a piece of red paper on top of it and suddenly the whole thing started to represent the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius... Absolutely awesome!

Pi Approximation Day

Today is 22/7, which means it's Pi Approximation Day, because 22/7=3,14... and so it is close the the value of pi. As a tradition I baked a Pi Pie. As usual, it didn't turn out too pretty, which is only normal for my bakings. But it doesn't matter, it's Pi Approximation Day, anyway. :)



I bought myself the books Chemistry and Biochemistry for Dummies and already started to read the former. Uhh, all the ideas I get when I read such books... The day after yesterday I was stretching my brain while trying to create a game from the quantum atomic model. Who says science is boring?

Documentary animation

The most demanding course this semester in the uni is definitely the documentary animation. It's a lot of fun, but also hard work and because I've been really busy the last couple of months I haven't had the time to immerse myself into it as much as I'd like to have. This week the lessons will finish and the lecture free time begins. For some people it might mean summer holiday, but for me it means that I can concentrate more on my animation.

My documentary animation is about the Space Shuttle programme of NASA and how my life was always intertwined with it. I'm excited to see how it will eventually turn out. Here is the teaser I did for the course meeting yesterday.

Wunderkammer

One of the courses I have taken part in this semester is Die Wunderkammer. It is about the Renaissance times cabinets of curiosities and we can create whatever we want from these specs. (The course is actually in the faculty on art and design, but in Bauhaus we can select one course each semester from any faculty we like. Art university, I love you.) I had some difficulties to decide what I'd like to do, but finally I ended up with something that goes quite near the original wunderkammers. I love their scientific ideas and presentations, so I crafted some small things that represent the old things - but with a twist.

Next week in 10.-13.7. there is the Summaery 2014 where our Wunderkammer exhibition will also be presented. If you happen to be around, please drop by. :)


Some of the objects I've made for the course.

Patterns

Everyone fond of handicrafts know how important it is to have inspiration. My mother has subscribed to a couple of really nice handicraft magazines since years and they tend to pile up in our corners. Still, nothing beats the feeling when there's a fresh magazine filled with ideas (and patterns to realise those ideas) which you take in yours hands to read. The problem is that when you want to do something later you pretty much need to browse through those piles to find the patterns you are looking for. Nevertheless, I still prefer the selection.

Today I bought some new magazine folders to sort them out, they are oozing over the edges of the old ones. I didn't exactly like the look of the folders, so I decided to do the thing I've wanted to do since ages. I saw it once in one of those magazines, but only got into it now: I wrapped the folders into old patterns. It turned out rather neat, and it's prefectly clear now what these folders contain. Lovely.

Bilzingsleben

Again the time has rolled by and my life has found new directions. A month ago after finishing my work in Lapland I moved back to Germany to continue my studies to Master's Degree in good old Bauhaus-Uni Weimar. (Those who still remember will know that I spent one semester here during my study exchange.) Thuringia is as good as always, even if it's been taking some time to get everything sorted and there's still lots to be done.

But there's also time for some excursions. Thuringia has much more than just beautiful nature and bratwurst. One of the reasons why I like it here so much is the history. Especially pre-history. And it goes much further back than the Sky Disk of Nebra. On Sunday, I went to visit the paleolithic site at Bilzingsleben, located few dozen km drive away from here. There is a small visitor center with a big story: there have been found some hominin remains of homo erectus, dating back almost 400 000 years. Naturally there is not much there to be seen, but some fossilised bones especially from the animals the hominins have eaten and used. But the feeling of standing on such place is absolutely awesome. And we don't even know if homo erectus was our cousin or forefather.

I love these kind of places and they are plenty in Thuringia. The funny part is that many locals don't have a clue how much history there is hidden in their backyards...

Homesite of Steinrinne Bilzingsleben (in German only)

Fox's fires

One of the biggest attractions of Lapland are definitely the northern lights. Even if I've seen them many times in my life and some really nice shows at that, too, I still enjoy seeing them raging in the sky glowing their eerie light down to me. They were a reason why I decided to come to work in Lapland for this season. Unfortunately the weather hasn't been very good for observing this season, but there has been some shows that have made me happy.

I've always found it funny that in Finnish language the word for the aurorae doesn't have anything with the north or polar areas to do. In Finnish it is "revontulet", which means "fox's fires". In Finnish mythology, the firefox (doesn't have anything to do with the browser!) was a mythical beast. It was a black fox, but in the tip of each piece of hair there was a sparkle. When the fox ran the sparkles flew to the sky and the tail threw some snow after them. That's how the "fox's fires" were formed. So when we see the northern lights we know that the fox is still running behind the next fell, creating the northern lights on the go.

I normally prepare for the clear nights (and torture myself after the cloudy ones) by checking the activity from Finnish Meteorological Institute's aurora service. Especially the magnetic disturbance level is great tool to see if there's any activity going on. Another one of my favourite aurora sites in the net is Solarham.net. Even if it looks rather confusing at first it definitely gives you some of the best pieces of information about what's going on and what to expect in the next few days - as soon as you learn how to find it in the stream.

The aurorae are often considered to be one of the most beautiful natural phenomena and I agree with that wholeheartedly. I'm unbelievable lucky to have been born in Finland with such great chances to witness vivid auroral shows. But I never ever grow tired in them...


Some auroral shows I've seen this season

On the border

So, for the last few months I have been living in Lapland. When I originally started this blog I was thinking of posting only the design/handicraft-oriented things. There hasn't been too many lately, though, so I guess I have to spark the blog with something else as well. That'll be in the section of "the other joys of my life" that I mention in the heading.

My time in Saariselkä, Lapland, has been snow and darkness and some reindeer. And mostly work. That's the reason I came here for. And I'm really happy I did. Even for a Finn Lapland can feel rather exotic from time to time. The Sun didn't rise here for a month in December. It was -35°C a couple of weeks ago. There's been some shows of the northern lights (not that many yet, though). But I also love to share the joy of the tourists when they experience the cold, the reindeer and the spirit of Lapland.

The spirit I also felt yesterday when the company I'm working in took an outing for a day in the wild. We drove with snowmobiles to the place where three nations - Finland, Norway and Russia - are joined. It was absolutely fabulous. The utter Wilderness, reindeer and nature. I drove back from the place, total of 130km. Not bad from someone who only drove a snowmobile the second time in her life! I can feel it today, seems like I'd been run over by a truck, but I don't regret it for a moment. One has to experience the Lapland winter at least once in their life...


On the left, Norway. On the right, Russia. Behind my back, Finland.

Olet tässä = you are here. Norja = Norway, Venäjä = Russia, Suomi = Finland. Clickety click to make it bigger for the texts.

P.S. Today is 11 years since the Columbia disaster, so spending my day off with watching documentaries and thinking of the space shuttles. <3