Brain Cortex Experiences First Earthquake Part 11

Amidst the forest of backup batteries and "almost Edison owned" antique Leiden jars in the background, "I'm ok!" yelped out the newly born Cortex Brain in its machine-like thick accented voice, after the earthquake subsided. At least that's what we thought we heard... Checking its wishful internal vibration seismometer, future built from a single accelerometer, it showed the worst of the quake had passed and it was time to pick up the pieces, look for damage, run diagnostics, tighten some nuts and bolts, and hope for the best! In this view, buddy friend Apple SIRI is world wide web connected and on standby for corroboration and moral support. Now the goal is to further earthquake-proof the cortex in a jar.

BRAIN CORTEX EXPERIENCES FIRST BIG EARTHQUAKE! Part 11

— a very strong 6.3 earthquake frightened people on Halloween night as the quake continued to increase in strength within its duration —

REPORTED FRIDAY NOVEMBER 1ST 2013
As some may have expected, a big spooky magnitude 6.3 earthquake shook and rattled the Taipei lab on Halloween October 31st at 8:02 pm. Some people were reported trapped in elevators though firemen successfully extracted their bodies. The quake continued to increase in strength during its powerful shaking duration and this caused many people to panic.

At the Lab, pre-warnings were evident throughout the day prior to the big earthquake as smaller almost undetectable quake motions were felt causing motion sickness.

Suspended spherical lighting ball pendulums made of pure glass, used as scientific detection instruments and sensors, to detect skyscraper motion in the Lab, were swinging about indicating lots of motion and displacements.

The up/down and left/right motion of the quake put several objects in motion in the lab, including some shelves that moved across the ledge and books that vibrated from one place to another. Suspended lights were heard jostling and swinging about wildly as the quake-shaking lasted about a minute.

At one point, its seemed as if the building would topple over as it was swaying many feet from side to side. The top of these skyscrapers can sway 6-feet or more from side to side, depending on the height of the skyscraper and the power of the quake.

The Brain Cortex along with its jar and parts were residing on top of the lab bench. There are three lab benches with two mounted one on top of the other. Things did slide around, however the lucky brain remained on the lab bench without mishap.

The brain cortex is somewhat anticipatory earthquake proofed with its flexible and durable poly see-through transparent jar. It could potential fall and survive though we expect the batteries would become jarred from their mounts and the plastic could literally rip open the jar. As some batteries are in series and some in parallel, potentially the cortex may electrically survive such a big jolt.

Parts for interior mounting are now considered for shock absorption remounting, possibly with cushioning phenolic plates lining the spacer mount contact points. These plates are on the purchase list for the next trip to the electronic parts store plaza.

Another anti-quake idea is to strap each battery to its respective mount using a plastic tie to prevent its popping out due to a sudden inertial jolt. Safety retainer clips to provide additional module structural support are now designed and will be installed.

The earthquake shows how much more work the brain cortex in a jar project requires to make it more survivable during a catastrophic event.

It was the third inland earthquake of magnitude 6 or higher this year. The previous ones occurred in Nantou County — a magnitude 6.2 quake on March 27 and a magnitude 6.5 quake on June 2.

Brain Cortex Index Part 16

Transportation Survey

Surveying Taipei City for
Safety Car Transport Analysis

CLEAR SIDEWALKS
This is the conventional relatively unobstructed sidewalk in good clean brick paved condition. Many sidewalks are more narrow than this one. Farther back, this sidewalk had serious and dangerous drop-offs and was completely obstructed.

Note there is a potted plant to the right of the walkway about midway to the intersection and a sign that overhangs into the walking space. Also visible is a large sewer cover. This one is cast iron and strong. Beware of many weak covers made from thin aluminum that may not support the weight of a heavy person or vehicle.

OBSTRUCTED SIDEWALKS
Although this walkway is unusually large, it's common to see a car blocking the narrow sidewalk path and to remain parked unattended directly on the sidewalk for considerable time.

Almost always, there is insufficient space (less than 24-inches) to pass around with a small 2-foot wide vehicle. This demands a diversion into the street or alternate route, perhaps backtracking to find a congestion free path.

PETROL SCOOTER PARKING
Scooter parking is not always an option as specifically designated parking areas are often maxed out with no remaining parking places as far as the eye can see.

Bikes with no place to park will often take up at least one scooter parking stall during busy times. These stalls usually do not have 24-inches width available, because of the extra large footprint of the two adjacent parked scooters.

In the photo, two people on a scooter are patrolling the area looking for a place to park.

SPECIAL PATHWAYS
A little known secret is the dark poorly illuminated special pathways that exist between some skyscrapers as left over space after the construction was completed. Amazingly, these are time saving short cuts to new places within the city.

These are not entirely untapped as some people have attached connecting "roofs" between the skyscrapers and made places to live, places to hang clothes, places to store junk, a place to store and discard garbage, and others have created a parking place for scooters (as seen in the photo). Bikers frequent these areas as traffic free shortcuts.

Generally, special pathways have a 24-inch wide clearance for a safety vehicle. A project is now underway to map all the downtown special pathways. Special pathways have some advantages for testing vehicle prototypes as they are not generally patrolled and are more private than more public streets and sidewalks. However, keep in mind that official patrolling motorcycles can fit into and traverse these small areas too.

BIKE & MOTOR LANE
Both manual bikes and gasoline powered scooters are given this lane to travel upon alongside the main traffic. However, we noted the main traffic was also using this designated area and it was not very safe. It takes a very brave person to ride a slow bike in this lane and be buzzed by reckless fast other vehicles.

DANGEROUS SIDEWALK
DROP OFFS
Sidewalks randomly have very steep drop offs, which are very dangerous. At night, they are invisible due to either poor or no illumination. In the daytime, one can see the steps are not even and have different sizes. Hitting one of these with a small vehicle to damage the vehicle. The only solution is to map all the sidewalks before traversing those areas and avoid all the drop off sidewalks. Drop offs are more or less frequent depending on the area of the city.

COMPLETELY BLOCKED SIDEWALKS
This sidewalk and drip path are completely blocked. A mobile restaurant has moved onto the sidewalk and a food grill and and a large electrical transformer are blocking the drip path.





NARROW PASSAGEWAYS
This sidewalk merges large square tiles with the drip path where garbage is dumped and a scooter blocks the way. The clear area in the passage way is about 11 inches wide, with only enough clearance for a pedestrian walking sideways through the opening.

CRAZY TRAFFIC LINES
Don't try to follow these ultimately crazy dashed white traffic lines or an accident is sure to result.










 

Moon Sandwich

Moon in between two skyscrapers

CATCHING THE MOON SANDWICH
IN BETWEEN TWO SKYSCRAPERS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2013
It's not very often one can catch the Moon sandwiched like this, in between two of the largest skyscrapers, 101 at left, and the bank building at right, in downtown Taipei.

Favorable conditions, no visible air pollution, a blue sky, no clouds, room temperatures, and lack of significant water vapor/haze/mist made viewing exceptional. Note the tiny Moon with its visible half phase. iPhone 5 photo in HD. Click on the photo to see an enlarged version.

New Year 2013 Spectacular

Creative pinwheel by Taiwan Masters is spectacular!

NEW YEAR 2013 SPECTACULAR CELEBRATION!!!

You've never seen Taipei 101 like this before!!! - Welcome to Taiwan!!!

This year, Taiwan officials in charge of managing New Years fireworks at Taipei 101, one of the tallest sky scraper buildings in the world, came back with a spectacular display of fireworks, one so great - it defied the imagination!

The display solved the challenges from an earlier year when the great fireworks and amazing choreography ended up producing smoke which rose from the ground level upwards, and blocked out some of the fantastic fireworks shot and launched from the side of the 101 building.

Today, the new millions of dollars display, seen by crowds of millions of people at ground level, was ever more spectacular. Obvious visuals included perfect timing and position, as fireworks launched outwards in patterns with synchronization where the smoke quickly dissipated. The breeze was also cooperative and the weather was perfect, the brilliant Moon high in the sky to prove the excellent conditions.

For the multi-days holiday, it appeared that pollution completely vanished when the island's manufacturing plants, and possibly those located in Mainland China, shut down.

PHOTO 1 Take a look at our most spectacular introduction photo. Look carefully and closely about two thirds of the way up, in the center, where you'll see the dimly glowing two Chinese characters proclaiming New Year good luck. How this was master-minded so perfectly is beyond belief!

 photo 2

CLICK ON THE SMALLER PHOTOS TO SEE THEIR FULL SIZE
Nothing burned down, not like what happened in Mainland China the other year when a new skyscraper completely burned out, a fire caused by the abundance of amateur lit fireworks during Chinese New Year!

Taiwan is very regulated during the Gregorian Calendar's New Year and has a climate that's always damp and humid which helps create an evironment rather perfect for launching fireworks.

 photo 4

 photo 3

Note the creative pinwheel, Christmas Tree, spirals, colors and other remarkable shapes and displays, with impeccable calculated timing, spread, position, color, duration, intensity, contrast, and backed by a literal textbook of mathematics in motion producing great fireworks stature so precise that no one could have expected such spectacular results this year!

 photo 5

 photo 6

These are definitely good luck photos as my clock was 20 minutes early due to a run down battery. When I turned on the TV, fortunately I saw there was a countdown with only 24 seconds left to the New Years beginning.

 photo 7

 photo 8

I had to run and hurry to start up the camera. Unfortunately I had yet to take a movie with the new camera and could not find the setting. However, the still images still turned out great, imo, even though I had to brave the cold, standing outside on the deck in only PJs.

 Photo 9: A burst of green color

 photo 10

This deck has served as a platform for taking a few astronomical photos of star fields and selected objects (see previous blogs), and the brick building side was a good steady base when I remembered to use it.

Photo 2 shows the shape of a big Christmas Tree.

Photo 3 is one of the most spectacular with intermixed colors and shapes, which are glowing and scintillating beyond belief.

Photo 4  is a mind meld of real time spinning motion from bottom to top of 101, with a special rotating messages display (seen towards the top). This may also periodically show advertising sponsor messages and graphics. It took special processing to bring out the delicate contrast of these characters that were located behind the blazing fire and brimstone!

Photo 5 demonstrates the pinpoint accuracy of the charge placement.

Photo 6 shows a simultaneous multi-color display of spectacular proportions with parallel launching arches.

Photo 7 To see this spinning around, like a dazzling toy top in real time, is magnificent.

Photo 8 is the proprietor of many discretely placed fireworks charges all along 101 from bottom to top.

Photo 9 is an example of erupting color - a green mix predominance unlike anything seen before at Taipei 101.

Photo 10 is a final shot showing the 101 building as it appears to glow hot beneath the rising smoke after the fireworks had ended.

 Photo 10: Taipei 101 looks hot & molten after fireworks!

Venus Jupiter Conjunction Ends

VENUS JUPITER CONJUNCTION COMES TO A CLOSE

 The Jupiter Venus Aldebaran conjunction comes to a close because its southern path puts it behind the skyscraper's south wall at Observatory Lab 50 and the project must be concluded. Lab 50 is used for celestial events rising in the East, northerly objects and star fields, and testing various Big Brain eyes.

In the small photo, at top is Jupiter, to the right of Jupiter is Aldebaran in Taurus, with Jupiter below.

At least three other stars are visible, some of which can be corroborated with the black and white photo.

The color photo was taken July 29th, 2012 at 04:01:46 am at f/2 with a CCD imager and a one second exposure (IE at 1.7). The ISO was pushed to 1,600.

The photo converted to black and white was taken at 04:04:31 am with the same imaging settings. The image is processed to see more stars through the heavy light pollution of downtown Taipei. Shown to the left of 101 is Auriga and Capella with the Pleiades at top right.

One might wonder why not continue to take shots like the small color photo...this was dangerously obtained by hanging out over the safety guard railing at a height of hundreds of feet in the air. Another reason the photo is small is because the CCD is hand held for this view and motion occurred during the exposure. To minimize the appearance of trailing, the image was reduced.

Lab Tools - Weather

LAB TOOLS

Equip your lab with the necessary tools!

Every good laboratory has numerous tools for research and experiments conducted, including tools necessary for the creation and maintenance of various inventions. LAB TOOLS blog may become a continuing post as new additions are noted.

The Astronomical Division

The Big Brain program conducts various astronomical research projects which depend on the local and widespread weather conditions in Taiwan and Taipei. The following resources are added to the Labs online capabilities:

The Central Weather Bureau of Taiwan

http://www.cwb.gov.tw/eng/

Updated Satellite Map

36 hour forecast

Temperature

UV Index

Rainfall

Wind

Earthquake Report

Sunshine Indicators

Weather City

http://www.weathercity.com/tw/taipei/

Local Weather Report for Taipei

Temperature

Barometer

Humidity

Dew Point

Wind

Visibility

Forecast

Current Conditions

Main Moon Phases

Sunrise/Sunset

Additional City Reports

Includes information for hundreds of countries.

Venus Meets 101

SPECTACULAR VIEWS OF VENUS AT TAIPEI 101

THE CONTINUING  SAGA OF THE VENUS JUPITER ALDEBARAN CONJUNCTION AT 101

Photo 1 - Panorama

Photo 2 - Wide View

Friday July 27th 2012 

Photo 3 - Zoom

Photo 1 The panoramic view in photo 1 was shot in the early morning of July 27th, 2012 at 3:22:06 am, with a Canon Powershot S95 at 1 second exposure (2 EV) with a 28mm f/2 lens and ISO 1,600 shows a rich field of celestial sky objects - from top: the Pleiades star cluster, the planet Jupiter, the Hyades star cluster, Aldebaran in the constellation Taurus the Bull, Capella in the constellation Auriga. Note the position of very bright Venus to the immediate right of Taipei 101. Click on the photo to see the full panorama. 

Photo 2 The next photo shows a wide view shot in portrait format obtained earlier at 3:20:12 am. These first two images were at 1080 x 1920 1.2MB and screen shot for reduction.


Photo 3 The zoom is highly detailed at f/4... and perhaps the most dramatic with Jupiter, Aldebaran, and Venus poised immediately next to Taipei 101 (at the right side aboub 3/4th of the way towards the top).

Jupiter Venus Conjunction Widens

JUPITER VENUS CONJUNCTION WIDENS

Along with more stars and the return of another UFO!

All observations made at Humanoido Lab Number 50.

Wednesday July 25th 2012 3:53:18 am

Clear skies returned this morning to reveal the stunning Jupiter Venus Aldebaran conjunction above the Taipei 101 skyscraper.

The event was double spectacular as another UFO buzzed the surrounding sky for a short time. This time, the UFO made a wide sweeping pass and did not appear to land behind the Skyscraper 101 as some UFOs did in the past. It's believed some type of landing strip is located there, although it was confirmed that the conventional airport is located in another direction.
 

The earlier time at 3:53:18 revealed a darker sky and more stars, thus showing constellations Taurus the Bull and Auriga with the bright star Capella (to the left) more clearly. The small cluster of stars located about three fourths of the way toward the top is the Pleiades, also known as the Seven Sisters. In the photo with trailed star images, clearly the elongation of the UFO follows the path of a different angle.

The favorite imaging settings for this type of view are Program, ISO 1,600, 2 EV, f/2, no zoom, 1-second exposure, 1064 x 1600 727K image format with AWB in JPEG setting. A 28mm lens was used for this hand held shot. The first photo does not show the UFO.

The second image shows the UFO located directly above the 101 Tower. It appears elongated or saucer shaped on its North-bound trek. Numerous images were obtained showing the object moving across the sky.


 

Photos have no guiding from the hand-held camera. To capture these images, the author must hang out of the skyscraper several hundred feet above the open ground to avoid the building obstruction to the south. The entire process is a bit risky but result in very good images. Pieces of the this obstruction are visible in some photos at the right side.

The third photograph shows the unidentified object changing position again, moving from right to left. This shows the elongation of the object most clearly as the stars are not trailed. Photos were pre-processed with Apple iPhoto using enhancements: Exposure, Definition, Sharpness, and De-noise. The fourth photo shows another UFO change in position towards the North.

The final photo shows an enlargement of the UFO with saucer shape and a plume appearance directly to the top. The visual view of the craft exhibited some noted red color lights at times, not seen here in this photo.

Sky Haze Experiment with Venus Jupiter Conjunction

SKY HAZE EXPERIMENT WITH VENUS JUPITER CONJUNCTION

SATURDAY JULY 21ST 2012

4:39:40 am

This test exposure is maximum processed to show clouds and haze (at top of photo) that was not visible to the naked eye. It's obvious that on nights of this typical haze, which apparently is often, the limiting magnitude takes a reduction hit. Planets shown are Jupiter and Venus next to Aldebaran in the Hyades star cluster in the constellation Taurus the Bull. This is a screen capture from the original 1016 x 1529 (752K) image. Exposed at 1/10th second, the ISO 1,600 image was at f/2 with a 28mm lens without zoom, using a Canon PowerShot S95.

The next color photo shows a normalized enhanced conjunction view with two planets and three brighter stars including Aldebaran in Taurus (at right of Jupiter and Venus) and Capella (far left) in the constellation Auriga, visible in this early morning dawn view. The conjunction view shows less stars around 4:30 am due to the encroaching sky glow. However, earlier clouds prevented completely clear sky imaging. Refer to the previous conjunction images for the identification of stars.




 
In the next view, a kind of "Where's Waldo" of stars, shown at larger image scale, a maximum number of eight stars are visible. Two above 101, four at left, and three at top.

07.20.2012 Venus Conjunction Sky Map Experiment

Above right: Taipei 101, Jupiter, Venus, Capella in Taurus

July 20, 2012 Venus Jupiter Conjunction Sky Map Experiment

Constellation Auriga with bright star Capella

Friday morning was clear enough to capture Venus Jupiter conjunction and the most stars ever photographed in the early morning dawn sky. This experiment shows that a simple hand held camera shooting a very clear sky at high ISO ratings can create a "downtown" star map from a heavily light polluted high density populated city. This 1 second exposed (2 EV) image was taken at 4:20:06 am with settings of f/2, a 28mm lens, and ISO 1,600. No UFOs were seen during the sequence of observations. Enough stars are seen to clearly define the constellations. This view is screen captured from the original 1064 x 1600 pixel image. The star map is rotated to match the actual view of the constellation Auriga and the brightest star Capella, in the photo to the left of the Taipei 101 skyscraper. The photo shows the Pleiades star cluster, Venus, Jupiter, Aldebaran in the Hyades star cluster, and the constellation Auriga with the bright star Capella. A PowerShot Canon S95 CCD camera was used to obtain the sequential images in this study. The camera eye is recording numerous stars not seen to the naked eye view. To conduct a program of creating the aforementioned sky maps, a simple tripod is recommended. It may also be possible to go deeper on the exposure and this deserves continued experimentation. The Lab 50 is obstructed by a brick structure on the South, so for an all sky mapping project another lab is recommended, like Area 51 atop the skyscraper.

Taipei Taiwan Tiny Lunar Crescent Project

TAIPEI TAIWAN TINY LUNAR CRESCENT OF JULY 15TH

Sunday July 15th 2012 at 4:24:45 am local Taipei time

The second tiny lunar crescent is captured in this early morning Venus - Moon conjunction view, over Taipei 101.

The photo is a one second exposure (2 EV) at f/2 and ISO 1,600. The Moon is filtered by clouds, clearly showing the crescent phase in this 1X view.

Check out the only previous tiny lunar crescent shot earlier.
http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.tw/2012/07/tiny-lunar-crescent.html

Flying Saucer UFO

BIG BRAIN SEES FLYING SAUCER UFO

Big Brain's Eye captures a bright FLYING SAUCER!
Wednesday July 11th, 2012 4:04:21 am & 4:04:37 AM

Center Right: FLYING Saucer shaped object is moving behind Taipei 101

Some astronomers say if you observe the night sky long enough, you're bound to see a UFO. Now we're not claiming woman from Venus or even men from Mars, but we do admit to capturing at least one unidentified flying object in the night sky, leaving the image of a saucer on the pixels, this morning around 4am. It appears to be a cute little flying saucer.

16 seconds later the UFO was moving behind 101

Venus is the brightest object in the night sky as seen in this photo, captured from the Big Brain's Observatory Lab 50. But look closer - a cute little flying saucer is seen below Venus.

Take a closer look under Venus. It looks like a new star, but it's unknown what this object is.

Here's What Happened in the Early Morning Hours...

Observing the Moon in the early morning hours of Wednesday July 11th, 2012, while preparing to view the Venus-Jupiter-Aldebaran sky Conjunction, the Big Brain's new camera eye began taking astro images. Over an hour later, the Last Quarter Moon had risen high in the sky, away from Taipei 101, one of the tallest skyscrapers in the world. At that time, 4:04:21 am, a bright object appeared under and to the left of planet Venus, visible next to Taipei 101. In the sequence of photos, the next image taken at 4:04:37 am, only 16 seconds later, the UFO was disappearing behind 101, never to reappear!

Landing Conjecture
In the three photo sequence, the saucer is first seen under Venus, then visible about to be occulted by Taipei 101 skyscraper, and then disappears in the next sequential image. The most logical idea is the craft landed somewhere behind 101 at one of the many landing strips.

Busy Observational Night
It was a busy night, observing the Moon near the Last Quarter phase, studying the Venus-Jupiter-Aldebaran Conjunction in the Hyades, and seeing a UFO Flying Saucer.

Difficulty of Remaining Stealth
Flying saucers of any type and variety have a difficult time remaining stealth under the bright skies of Taipei.  Combined city lights illumination has the advantage of lighting up any flying object for identification and photo imaging. This is especially advantageous for astronomers who wish to photograph Flying Saucers traversing over the big city.

Flying Saucer

FLYING SAUCER DETAILS
JULY 11TH 2012 4:04:37 AM
The well illuminated Flying Saucer's shape and outline is seen in this enlarged digital image just before it disappeared behind Taipei 101 skyscraper.

Image Details

Flying Saucer series

This image was captured July 11th 2012 4:04:37 am. The camera was set at f2.5 with ISO 1,600 and a one second exposure. To steady the camera, it was solidly braced on a concrete and brick structure.

Craft Structure
Note the central saucer hub protruding from the primary structure, at the top, and the underside dish-like saucer section, typically depicted in science fiction movies of the 1950s. No individual lights are seen on the craft. There are no predominant colors on the Hull. The object was located behind Taipei 101 some distance as it was occulted by the skyscraper only seconds later. However, the flying saucer never reappeared on the other side of 101.

Flying Saucer - the Series
Refer to the series of digital images at right. This is the Flying Saucer only seconds before it disappeared behind Taipei 101, never to reappear again. The image below, and all the images following it, do not show the flying craft. Full color images show a lack of color on the flying object. Due to the object's albedo, it could have a neutral reflective silvered, white color, or a more subtle color variation.

No saucer visible at 4:04:51 am and thereafter

Craft Runways for Take Off and Landing
Miles behind Taipei 101 in the East are located several runway air strips for craft to take off and land. It's unknown exactly which craft are taking advantage of this location. The real question remains, are these craft flown by local pilots or reconnaissance Aliens. We will continue our monitoring of these very interesting and busy night skies and report back. Stay tuned for more.

Lab 50 Observatory 1st Astro Image

Early Morning: Rare double planet

& star conjunction seen next to

Taipei 101 in the Hyades Cluster

BIG BRAIN LAB 50 TAIWAN OBSERVATORY 1ST ASTRO IMAGE

This is the first astro image photo taken at Big Brain's Taiwan Lab Static Observatory (TSO) early this morning 

JULY 3RD 2012 AT 4:27:38 AM - Taipei 101 and planets Venus (brightest) and Jupiter with the star Aldebaran in the Hyades Cluster. This is a rare twilight conjunction captured at 4:30 am this morning. The telephoto was shot at ISO 6,400 with an exposure of 1/20th second at F4 using a hand held Canon PowerShot S95. This example shows great sensitivity to capture planets and bright stars with a hand held telephoto lens and a rather fast exposure of 1/20th second. This demonstrates the real potential for fast shooting entire digital star maps at F2 with a hand held camera and a dark sky. Closer inspection of this photo (at full size) reveals another star. This image is taken downtown in the heart of Taipei. The Taipei metropolitan area consisting of Taipei, New Taipei and Keelung, has a population of 6,900,273. Taipei is the political, economic, and cultural center of Taiwan.

Twilight The diffused light from the sky during the early evening or early morning when the sun is below the horizon and its light is refracted by the earth's atmosphere.