3d illusion arts: Oddity Central

Oddity Central

Pokertox – Using Botox and Facial Fillers for That Perfect Poker Face
Amateur Artist Turns Apartment Building into Urban Art Gallery
World’s Longest Word Has 189,819 Letters, Takes 3.5 Hours to Pronounce

Pokertox – Using Botox and Facial Fillers for That Perfect Poker Face

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 05:10 AM PST

A doctor of aesthetic medicine in New York has recently introduced a program of Botox and facial fillers designed to help poker players hide any sign of facial emotion that might tip off other card players.

Dr. Jack Berdy thinks poker might be the next big client base for Botox, so he’s designed a program called “Pokertox” to help him get an early foothold in the market. It’s a way to combine his job with a passion for gambling, but Dr. Berdy really wants to turn this idea into a profitable business. Pokertox starts off with the good doctor meeting the players and consulting with them about what they think their poker tells are. ”Some people might get a card they like or don’t like and raise their eyebrows,” Berdy told The Huffington Post. “If that’s the common reaction, we can put Botox in certain areas to minimize them.” Berdy says there are a variety of unconscious signals his program can help with, but it can also help poker players bluff better by “putting Botox in areas to make it look like the player has a ‘tell’ they really don’t have.” The Pokertox program has only been available for a week, and so far no one has siged up for it, but Jack Berdy is confident his idea will be a winner in the long run.

The East Side aesthetics doctor, who was once a gambler himself, told the Observer the idea for Pokertox came to him in the last week or so. "It was just a natural match for the business I'm in and an application that hasn't been done before," he said, adding that if he were still properly involved with the game of poker, he would certainly use Botox on himself, to get that coveted frozen forehead. "Very few people can maintain a real poker face,'' Berdy said. "They have some 'tells,' some expression that gives away that they have a good hand or a bad hand,” but by using Pokertox, “what someone sees across the table is no movement.''

But not everyone is as excited about Pokertox as its inventor. Professional poker player Josh Hale says the idea has come 10 to 15 years to late: ”The game has moved on from bluffs, and is more analytical these days. Players might look at physical tells, but they are relying more on betting patterns and bet sizing.” Also, Pokertox procedures cost between $600 and $800, and have to be repeated every three to four months, which probably makes them a bit too expensive for the average poker player. Cosmetic doctors like San Diego-based Barry Handler have been quck to call Pokertox a gimmick, but Dr. Berdy is confident most of his peers will think it’s a wonderful idea.

Pokertox – Using Botox and Facial Fillers for That Perfect Poker Face was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

Amateur Artist Turns Apartment Building into Urban Art Gallery

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 03:27 AM PST

Dmitry Bochkarev, an amateur artist, from Moscow, Russia, has turned an ugly communist-era apartment building into a colorful art gallery, by covering the walls, staircases and doors with various painted artworks.

While most graffiti artists sneak around to find places where they can exercise their artistic talents, amateur artist Dmitry Bochkarev asked people’s permission before he began painting on their walls and doors. It all began 17 years ago, after Dmitry experienced clinical death. He had a vivid dream that helped him discover his talent for painting, and from then on he started painting the inside of his apartment building, in Moscow’s Biryulyovo district. Until then, the place was just a grey reminder of the Soviet era, and a victim of littering and ugly graffiti. But once colorful cartoon scenes and nature-inspired landscapes started appearing on the walls, it all stopped. Not even vandals have had the heart to ruin Bochkarev’s artworks, and neighbors say it’s the best thing that ever happened to their community. Residents started smiling to each other again, and they became so proud of their art-covered building that they even organize viewing tours for friends and family.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

Dmitry Bochkarev has spent the last few years painting away on the inside of the 12-storey building, using mostly newspapers, books and magazines for inspiration. His collection of urban works of art includes popular cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, medieval castle walls painted around apartment doors, nature sceneries, and even spaceships. There are still a few gray walls left to cover up, and Dmitry is currently brainstorming with the residents of the building, for ideas on his next masterpieces.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

The idea of turning a grim old communist building into an urban art gallery is pretty cool, and it’s apparently turning into a trend in former Soviet Union countries. Just a few months back, I wrote a post about Ukrainian artist Valery Haroun, who did the same thing in an apartment building in Odessa.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

(video is in Russian)

via Vesti-Moscow

Amateur Artist Turns Apartment Building into Urban Art Gallery was originally posted at OddityCentral.com

World’s Longest Word Has 189,819 Letters, Takes 3.5 Hours to Pronounce

Posted: 21 Nov 2012 02:04 AM PST

The full chemical name of the world’s largest known protein has 189,819 letters and is considered the longest word in any language. If you’re one of those people who loves to watch paint dry, you can even watch a 3.5-hour video of a guy pronouncing the whole name.

Titin, also known as connectin, is a giant protein composed of 244 individually folded protein domains connected by unstructured peptide sequences. Also, the gene for titin contains the largest number of exons (363) discovered in any single gene. Titin is important in the contraction of striated muscle tissues, but it’s mostly known for its technical name, which is sometimes referred to as the longest known word in any language. The name “titin” is derived from the Greek “titan” (a giant deity, anything of great size), but it’s the full chemical name that really does it justice. I could just paste it in this post, but it would take you forever just to scroll through it, so I’m just going to say it starts with methionyl… and ends …isoleucine. You can fill in the middle part yourself. But if you’re really curious to hear someone pronounce the world’s longest word, there’s a ~~boring~~ cool video of some Russian-sounding guy who takes around 3.5 hours to go through all the letters, and even grows a beard in the process. After a while, it all starts to sound like mumbling, but you have to admire the poor guy for his effort.

For obvious reasons, the full chemical name of titin is not listed in dictionaries, as many lexicographers regard generic names of chemical compounds as verbal formulae, not English words. Well, call it what you will, a word, a formulae, a short story, this thing, whatever it is, is pretty darn long. Geekologie even has a text file with the name available for download, but just looking at it just makes my eyes hurt.