Cloaking Spray

Man has been fascinated with invisibility since ancient times. 

In Greek mythology, Perseus used a cloak of invisibility to slay the Gorgon Medusa. Back in the era of alchemists before modern science, the quest for invisibility was almost as important as the formula to trans-mutate lead into gold.

Let's just propose for a moment that the information in the video below is true. That fictional characters are describing a real project...currently in development. The industrious (fictional) engineers at the University of Michigan have moved one step closer to achieving that goal. They developed a cloaking spray that once dry, renders any object its sprayed upon almost invisible to the naked eye. Light moves in the size of Nanometres. Once engineers began working on the Nanoparticle scale they could directly interact with light.

These engineers have created a cloaking spray composed of a liquid Nanoparticle solution that bends light. There have been several inventions that bend light to give the illusion of invisibility. Yet none have achieved the level of success as the engineers in Michigan. Their cloaking spray is unique in it's versatility. It can be sprayed, coated, or painted on any surface and make that object... disappear.

This may be science fiction, but it describes advanced nanotechnology...and it's awesome. Curved objects like spheres and bottles work better than straight edged forms, like squares or triangles. When shapes with straight edges are coated with the cloaking spray the edges are visible when it drys. Although this is a minor setback, the team have already successfully coated gloves, clothing, fruit and numerous other objects and materials with success.

The military is funding the project (of course) so they have funding to overcome any problems that may arise. Plans for invisible drones, and reconnaissance vehicles are already on the way. The engineers hope to begin human testing in the next few years. The whole idea makes me think of the movie Hollow Man...imagine that. 

For more information on the cloaking spray (prank...or project in development) and the science behind it, check out the video below. 

Leisure Activities

I just returned from vacation in Spain. If you have never been there...I highly recommend it. Most of the vacation was spent relaxing on the beaches in Salou. The rest of the time I was in Barcelona checking out the tourist attractions. There are a lot of leisure activities in both cities.

Salou is a coastal city with nice beaches and tasty cocktails. The first thing people notice about Salou, is how clean the city is. There's almost no litter on the streets and beaches, which is a stark contrast from the beaches of Barcelona. Salou is split onto two sides a north and south. The north side has clubs, bars, games and a shopping district. The south side is residential, most of the patrons are retirees and home businesses. 

One of the biggest tourist attractions in Salou is Port Aventura. Port Aventura is Spain's version of Disney World. It's a massive amusement park with at least eight roller-coaster rides and other attractions for adults. Aside from the roller-coasters (which am a huge fan of) there were live shows, games, and an Aquapark.

The mascot for Port Aventura was Woody Woodpecker. Everywhere you walk in the park there are statues of Woody. It's interesting that such an obscure character is the mascot for such a big park. Each area of the park had a theme related to a country, such as Mexico, China, Hawaii, Polynesia, Sweden, India, and many more. Workers in the individual areas dress in the attire of their country and food stands serve cuisine from the aforementioned country. Overall the food in the park was tasty but over priced...but the rides were superb.  

The easiest method of travel around Salou are street trains. They look like locomotives from the 1800's but they're much faster. There's three different train lines and the routes are separated by colors red, blue, and green. Each train goes on a different route through the coastal region and they repeat every fifteen minutes. Once you buy a ticket you can stay on that train as long as you desire. If you want to ride a different route you have to purchase another ticket. Aside from Salou they go to cities La Pineda, Terragona, and a few others. If you want to see most of the geography without walking, riding the train is the best way.
 
The nightlife was a mix of cocktail bars and discotheques that played top 40. I didn't like most of the discotheques but the cocktail bars were perfection. Depending on your drinking preference (getting a buzz, getting drunk, or absolutely wasted) they have different sizes available. The largest being a ten liter cocktail of mostly liquor and a tiny bit of fruit juice. I wasn't interested in intoxication but wanted to taste everything. There were several places that had whole menu's for six euros. Pina Colada, Mia Tai, Mojito's, Tequila Sunrise, Daiquiri's and broad spectrum of other cocktails were available for the same price. (It was yummy)  

After running around Salou for a week I took my girlfriend to Barcelona. She had never been there and I wanted to visit an old friend. Barcelona or Barca as the locals call it, feels like a college city to me. There are a lot of monuments, statues, museums, and tourist attractions...aside from the beach. Depending on where you go the food can be good and inexpensive. My woman is vegetarian so we shopped mostly at the La Rambla fruit market. The Ramblas is one of the main shopping districts in Barca. Their fruit market is enormous and has a diverse selection of edibles for every type of diet. 

Major tourist attractions in Barca are the Palace, Barceloneta beach, and the Sagrada de Familia, monument by Gaudi. Sagrada de Familia, is a massive cathedral looking building with cylindrical towers and unusual structure. The architecture reminds of buildings out of Batman's, Gotham City crossed with scenes from "A Nightmare Before Christmas." The beaches are man-made and always crowded. Unlike Salou the beaches in Barca were not clean...and that's putting it mildly. Barceloneta had a cool view, cheap food, and more cigarette butts on the beach than sand.
 
The trip was relaxing and a great way to recharge my battery. Now that I'm back in Amsterdam, its time to catch up on business, painting, and making more music. If you want to see more scenes from the trip check out the pic's below. 

New Muzik

Spring is in the air and the tunes are banging through the speakers.

I've been listening to more music for the last two months. Since I got back from snowboarding at Spindleruv Mlyn in the Czech Republic i've been playing catch-up with the business. The benefit to being busy is I get to listen to more music while I work. Most of the time its mixtapes or the Real Hip-Hop Show by my man DJ Modesty. In between that I try listening to new albums, while packing for my trip to Spain in a few days.

The videos below are from artists from across the map, who got flow and delivery. Supastition, is a North Carolina MC who has a lengthy catalog of dope music. Vado, is a Harlem MC that's been putting in work for a minute. He has a series named Slime Flu that recently released the 4th mixtape. CyHi The Prynce, is from the ATL. He has a east coast flow with a southern accent. I like the way he puts together metaphors. His content is militant, modern day, Black Panther music. Then there's veteran R-Kitech, bringing listeners back to the basics. Last is super group The Lox coming with a heavy street anthem for the whole NYC.