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."
Monday, January 31, 2011
BFB: Article 2
Last Friday was my first TA session. Now, campus was closed on Thursday due to snow, so the students only had one lecture from the prof. I tried my best to get them talking and I think I did a pretty good job.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Nick Gazel
Nick Gazel is in Africa right now. I think Mozambique. He'll be there for a while. If you guys are interested, here's his blog. He says it will be photo heavy and text light.
My update
Hey you all so I now I haven’t really posted in a while and I apologize. Well I guess I’ll just start from where I last left off. I had left to go work in Bolivia at the beginning of September. I was going to work for an alumn who owns a bookstore there. The job wasn’t the greatest. I essentially managed the bookstore (priced books, sold books, sold camping/hiking gear, inventory, and few marketing and product development projects). I didn’t like the job mainly because I felt like I wasn’t being paid enough to live and they also backed out on paying for my initial visa. The store had a really nice selection of books in English though, and my roommate while there who has traveled throughout South America, says the store might have the best selection of books in the continent. Needless to say I did my fare share of reading while I was there and considered making a book club on the blog. Books I read included: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, some classic Stephen King, The Exorcist, The Bourne Identity, and a few others I can’t remember and aren’t really noteworthy. This part of my job was actually pretty cool especially reading books that I really never got a chance to read before and probably would never bother reading.
Just Some Fun Vids.
My goal this term is to blog more. But I'm finding it time to sit down and spend quality time on a decent post, so I thought I'd still contribute by providing (I guess) more shallow content. So here are some internet videos that I have happened upon recently that I thought you, the reader, might enjoy.
Got 50 seconds? Remember that blizzard on the east coast this past September? Just a nifty little vid:
Some of you may know I'm an environmentalist. I also dabble in politics. So this just pisses me off. It's long, but John Stewart makes things humorous and interesting:
When I was sick a few weeks ago, I turned on Heydinger's Netflix and I saw that The Cove was a recommended flick in the documentary section. It was only like 1.5 hours, so I watched it. Pretty crazy stuff. But they had this clip in the film, which I still find really amazing:
This is creepy, but hilarious:
Lastly, I've had some fun recently checking out OK GO's music videos. They are the famous treadmill video guys. But they've also made some other cool videos. Here is one that I like - there's not much to it, but its entertaining to watch:
Have a great Sunday, everybody.
MOLSON OUT.
Got 50 seconds? Remember that blizzard on the east coast this past September? Just a nifty little vid:
December 2010 Blizzard Timelapse from Michael Black on Vimeo.
Some of you may know I'm an environmentalist. I also dabble in politics. So this just pisses me off. It's long, but John Stewart makes things humorous and interesting:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| An Energy-Independent Future | ||||
| ||||
When I was sick a few weeks ago, I turned on Heydinger's Netflix and I saw that The Cove was a recommended flick in the documentary section. It was only like 1.5 hours, so I watched it. Pretty crazy stuff. But they had this clip in the film, which I still find really amazing:
This is creepy, but hilarious:
Lastly, I've had some fun recently checking out OK GO's music videos. They are the famous treadmill video guys. But they've also made some other cool videos. Here is one that I like - there's not much to it, but its entertaining to watch:
Have a great Sunday, everybody.
MOLSON OUT.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Happy Birthday To Me. (Reflections of a Life Senior)
Seriously, it's my birthday today. I'm 26. I've been musing on this post for a few weeks when I was finally struck by inspiration in the bath tub. Very Archimedes of me.
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