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Submission Summary: 0 pending, 5 declined, 3 accepted (8 total, 37.50% accepted)

Graphics

Submission + - Fascinating 1972 film uses 3D graphics (nerdplusart.com)

AlejoHausner writes: "In 1972, Ed Catmull, then at the University of Utah, put together a film showcasing many of the 3D computer graphics techniques he and others had developed while working as students in Ivan Sutherland's lab. That film has been digitized and is available on http://nerdplusart.com/first-3d-rendered-film-from-1972-and-my-visit-to-pixar . All kinds of modern techniques like gouraud shading, deformed meshes, and z-buffering are shown in the film. There is a segment showing Catmull digitizing a plaster model of his hand. Catmull later founded Pixar, but at the time the Utah lab pioneered many of the graphics techniques we take for granted today."

Submission + - Lidar finds overgrown Maya pyramids (nytimes.com)

AlejoHausner writes: A team of archeologists scanned the jungle of Belize with lidar. Although most of the reflections came from the jungle canopy, some light reflected off the ground surface. Using this, suddenly hidden pyramids, agricultural terraces, and ancient roads are revealed, at 6-inch resolution. The NY Times has the story.
Privacy

Submission + - Visualizing false positives in broad screening (bbc.co.uk)

AlejoHausner writes: "To find one terrorist in 3000 people, using a screen that works 90% of the time, you'll end up detaining 300 people, one of whom might be your target. A BBC article asks for an effective way to communicate this clearly. The problem is important in any area where a less-than-perfect screen is used to detect a rare event in a population: as a recent NYT story widespread screening for cancers (except for maybe colon cancer) does more harm than good. How can this counter-intuitive fact be communicated effectively to people unschooled in statistics?"

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