Pyramid Research

Law enforcement officers around the world can be happy today. A computer scientist and PhD candidate from the Umeå University in Sweden has developed algorithms that give a computer the possibility of recognizing a face, even if only one picture exists in the database used to identify criminals or suspects. The software can synthesize other images of a single face using various angles, light conditions or facial expressions. This means that at a security control, a police officer should be able to compare an image taken by a surveillance camera with all the variants of the images contained in their databases. This is at the same time brilliant and frightening. But read more…

You can see above some examples of synthesized images by this software. The middle column contains original photos while the left and right sections show synthesized images from different angles.

A masterpiece to cry for

So low a cross enabled Grunewald to make Christ a giant so dominant that, set against the darkness recorded in the accounts of Mark and Luke, he all but eclipses the smaller accompanying figures of his mother, the Magdalen and the two Saints John; this is not the elegant hopeful Christ of the Florentine Renaissance, but a dead Christ at the moment when hopeless misgiving seemed to Grnewald to have been the response of the Virgin, the Magdalen and John the Evangelist; John the Baptist, however, alone on the right, points to Christ with the promise of his early prophecy, "He must increase ..."

I confess that I have to struggle even to see these supporting figures, so overwhelming is this image of Christ, this link between the dark tragedy of the great post-Byzantine contemplative images of the early Italian Renaissance and the violent realism of 20th-century German Expressionism encapsulated in the secular work of Grosz and Dix - but block out the Christ (if you can) and the three figures on the left become sculptural and dynamic in their grief, even in the way that the folds of the Virgin's white robes reflect her faint and those of the Magdalen her wild hysteria, the pathos of the Evangelist's embrace a stabilising element.

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Microsoft, GSMA promote 3G laptops

Microsoft Corp. and the GSM Association are promoting 3G (third generation) mobile telecommunications by asking companies to build laptop PCs that automatically connect to the Internet wirelessly over mobile phone networks.

Crist endorses McCain

Mike Huckabee was the only major candidate to not seek a Crist endorsement.Crist's endorsement comes a day after the high-profile decision by Florida Sen. Mel Martinez to back McCain. In a competitive race that has quartered the political establishment in Florida, the back-to-back nods by the two highest-ranking Republicans in the state gives McCain the aura of a frontrunner, though Romney is outspending him on television.''There are a lot of great people running for the Republican nomination, for president,'' Crist said, standing next to McCain. ``After thinking about it as much as I have I don't think anybody would do a better than the man who stands next to me. That's an endorsement.''Sources close to Crist and McCain say the governor endorsed McCain because the Arizona senator is doing well at the polls, has been a long-time help, mirrors Crist's moderate politics on issues like global warming, and shares top allies in Florida.Also, McCain backed Crist in 2006 over GOP governor candidate Tom Gallagher.

Chinese expert says returned sarira pagoda was stolen by foreign ...

Xi'an, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Buddhist treasure "Five-layer Sarira Pagoda", which was returned to the Chinese mainland after it was discovered in Hong Kong, was stolen from Beijing in 1900 by foreign invaders, an archaeologist recently said.

"The sarira pagoda was originally placed in Beijing, where the Eight-Power Allied Forces robbed and delivered it to Hong Kong," said Jin Weinuo, a senior archaeologist and professor of the China Central Academy of Fine Arts.

He referred to the army formed by Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, Italy and Austria, which occupied and played havoc with Beijing a century ago.

"They bombarded the Lingguang Temple, where the pagoda was placed, just to get the precious article," Jin said.

ad report card

Boasting that he gets points "tiger fast," he says, "For speed enhancement, I wear this striped pants." (Here he shows off a burgundy jumpsuit with embroidered gold accents.) The man is accompanied by an odd younger fellow named Victor, who wears bicycle gloves. As the ad ends and the Citi logo comes up, the accented man delivers his tag line: "Rewarding. Veddy, veddy, veddy rewarding." (Click here to watch the ads.)

I have a long, proud history of hating Citi ads. There was the "Live Richly" campaign, with slogans ("Holding shares shouldn't be your only form of affection"; "Hugs are on a 52-week high"; "The best blue chips to buy are the ones you dip in salsa") that seemed more appropriate for a handmade-wind-chimes shop than for a financial-services provider. Later came Citi's identity-theft-prevention campaign, in which the person pictured on camera (say, a black woman) would be overdubbed with the voice of someone else (say, a geeky white kid) who was buying lots of silly stuff with the first person's credit card.

Obama emerges as a liberal Reagan who can reunite America

Obama has an almost cult-like standing on college campuses. The youth vote is always touted every four years but never materialises on polling day.

This generation, moreover, is a huge one: the Boomer Echo. Between Bush’s pushing them and Obama pulling them, the Democrats’ advantage could define a generation’s politics. And that’s increasingly Obama’s ambition. He has kept his ego in check, but he is clearly aiming not for a small win, but for a major mandate. He isn’t a Clinton in this respect or even a Bush. He is a Reagan, a Thatcher of the left.