Grand Illusions

While Tim does have some very old toys in his collection, some over 40 years old, he is still collecting new toys, and here is a brand new toy he has just acquired that has not hit the mass market yet. You may recall that Victorian toy called a Zeotrope, where a series of still images becomes animated when viewed through thin slits in a revolving drum? Well the Novatrope is kind of an updated version of the same principle. Basically a 3D sculpture is rotated above a series of strobing LED lights, to create an optical illusion of impossible motion. Each sculpture is based on the spirals that you find in flowers and sea shells (think Fibonacci Sequence). The LED lights illuminate the sculpture from below in various colours, and by changing the speed of the strobe action, different motions can be created, where the structure appears to endlessly cascade. There are virtually limitless combinations of colour and motion, and Tim is planning to experiment (well, play really!)

These are all some of Tim's favourite things from Gathering for Gardner, G4G, https://www.gathering4gardner.org/, an amazing get together that happens every 2 years in Atlanta, Georgia. It started as a way of paying tribute to Martin Gardner, who wrote a very popular column about recreational mathematics for Scientific American for over 30 years! He attended some of the earlier events, although he is sadly no longer alive. The mission statement says 'The Gathering 4 Gardner (G4G) Foundation stimulates curiosity and the playful exchange of ideas and critical thinking in recreational math, magic, science, literature, and puzzles to preserve the legacy of writer and polymath Martin Gardner.' Part of the event, which runs over a number of days, is the puzzle exchange; you have to take an original item with you - but there have to be 300 copies that you can hand out! Other people bring their item and hand it out, so you take out 300 identical items (your exchange) and come back with maybe 100 different physical items, and then later on when the book of the event comes out, you will be able to see the contribution of people who wrote an article as their contribution. This video shows some of Tim's favourite things that he has received over many years of attending G4G. He is very much looking forward to G4G14, which is in the Spring of 2020.

Every year, Tim picks out a range of small toys and puzzling items that go to make up his Christmas Pack. He has been doing this for 20 years now, and he makes a point of never including an item that has been in an earlier pack. Tim really enjoys putting the Christmas pack together (see the COMMUNITY tab on our YouTube home page!) and he normally makes about 200 packs which are sold via the Grand Illusions Toy Shop. By now this year's pack is almost sold out, and we post the video here more to entertain you with the curious items Tim has found over the year.