I saw this article a few days ago, I had about 100 different reactions, thought about reblogging it, but now I've decided it'll make for a good poll, even though it turns out the story is actually over a year old.
The guys that thought them up are artists (here's their site), so the idea was to make us think. And their robots don't do a whole lot, they're just a clock, a light, a coffee table (still no answers on what a coffee table is going do with all the power it generates), and two whose only function is apparently to eat flies. But the proof of concept is there.
Videos and poll after the jump.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
How'd the Moon Get There?
Bill O'Reilly has a really thought provoking (not actually, I'm being 100% sarcastic) argument on the existence of God. Here's how it was first highlighted on the Colbert Report:
It was pointed out by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and presumably many others, that the the tides are in fact well understood as the gravitational pull of the moon on large bodies of water, and are periodic because the Moon's orbit is periodic, thanks to the conservation of angular momentum. Hopefully it was also pointed out that the Sun goes up and down because the Earth spins at a constant rate, also thanks to the conservation of momentum. But O'Reilly already had an equally sophisticated rebuttal ready:
I'm sure some "pinheads" have now also explained to him that the Moon is widely understood to have "gotten there" after being broken away from the Earth during an impact with a large asteroid early on in it's lifetime, the Sun was formed over millions of years from the collapse of a cloud of gas and dust under gravity, and Mars doesn't have the Moon because, well, that's ridiculous, the moon was formed 36 million miles away as already mentioned, but it does have two moons of it's own which are believed to be asteroids which were "captured" when they approached Mars with the correct velocity and distance to be pulled into orbit by, you guessed it, gravity.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Bill O'Reilly Proves God's Existence - Neil deGrasse Tyson | ||||
| ||||
It was pointed out by Neil deGrasse Tyson, and presumably many others, that the the tides are in fact well understood as the gravitational pull of the moon on large bodies of water, and are periodic because the Moon's orbit is periodic, thanks to the conservation of angular momentum. Hopefully it was also pointed out that the Sun goes up and down because the Earth spins at a constant rate, also thanks to the conservation of momentum. But O'Reilly already had an equally sophisticated rebuttal ready:
I'm sure some "pinheads" have now also explained to him that the Moon is widely understood to have "gotten there" after being broken away from the Earth during an impact with a large asteroid early on in it's lifetime, the Sun was formed over millions of years from the collapse of a cloud of gas and dust under gravity, and Mars doesn't have the Moon because, well, that's ridiculous, the moon was formed 36 million miles away as already mentioned, but it does have two moons of it's own which are believed to be asteroids which were "captured" when they approached Mars with the correct velocity and distance to be pulled into orbit by, you guessed it, gravity.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Baby fish
About a week ago, one of my fish gave birth. So now there are about 20 baby fish (called fry) in my 10 gallon tank.
Here is a video of them at one week old eating (warning: very boring).
Also, for Ted and Toto, note that the background in the back left corner is a cover of Science. I plan on filling the rest of the background with science magazine covers that look "natural."
Here is a video of them at one week old eating (warning: very boring).
Also, for Ted and Toto, note that the background in the back left corner is a cover of Science. I plan on filling the rest of the background with science magazine covers that look "natural."
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