Would You Have Spotted the Fraud?
This has me leaning toward never using an “unprotected” ATM again (i.e. not indoors or otherwise in a reasonably secure environment).
Monthly Archives: January 2010
The Maine Event
Topsfield, 54 Miles South of Pluto: the Solar System in Maine
Where the sparse, rolling landscape of northern Maine can get a bit monotonous, some relief is provided by the Maine Solar System Model (MSSM). The MSSM, constructed in 2000 by the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI), is the fourth-largest solar system model in the world (3). It is centred at UMPI’s Folsom Hall, which houses the Northern Maine Museum of Science. The scale is 1 to 93 million, which means that one Astronomical Unit (AU) equals one mile (1.6 km). All of our system’s planets are located along US Route 1, in order to present drivers with the opportunity to get a feeling of the scale of our solar system. Its original length was about 40 miles (64 km), all the way to Pluto, at the Tourist Information Centre in Houlton.
Statistics, Schmatistics
Square Peg, Round Hole
Not all bubbles are round. In fact, a new laser-based technique has been developed to make square bubbles, donut bubbles, and V-shaped bubbles. The researchers claim in the January Physical Review E that many other shapes can be made on-demand. These vapor bubbles and the liquid jets they create could have practical uses in moving and bending nanostructures, as well as for manipulating biological cells.
History Lesson
Smithsonian.com: Myths of the American Revolution
[M]uch of what we know is not entirely true. Perhaps more than any defining moment in American history, the War of Independence is swathed in beliefs not borne out by the facts. Here, in order to form a more perfect understanding, the most significant myths of the Revolutionary War are reassessed.
Categorically Deny It. That Should Convince Everybody.
Ooh, a government conspiracy that involves some of my colleagues.
The time of the winter solstice on 12/21/2012 has been changed from 11:11 to 11:12. Something sinister is obviously afoot.
Given that the Naval Observatory is probably the most precise observatory in the world I find this highly unusual. A minutes change is huge! What’s going on here?
Best guess? It’s a precision issue. The time is specified to the minute, which means you have to decide to round or not. If the calculated time was 11:11:29 and changed to 11:11:30 — a mere second longer — in a recalculation (which might happen depending on, say, how many leap seconds had been added since you did the previous calculation, or other factors), you would display it as 11:12.
I Wish that We Were Making Up Again
Break Up Doesn’t Keep Hydrogel Down
Using little more than water, clay and a new, designer compound, scientists have created a moldable gel that is both strong and can heal itself in seconds when split in two. The gel may advance efforts in tissue engineering and environmentally friendly chemistry.
h/t to the toasty one
Barkeep, Give Me a Boilermaker
Amongst Our Weaponry …
Our main weapon is surprise. Blah, blah, blah …
Uncertain Principles: Four Things Everybody Should Know About Quantum Physics
4) Quantum physics is not magic. No matter how strange its predictions may seem, quantum physics does not suspend all the laws of common sense. Quantum physics is a rigorous, precise, mathematical science, not some mish-mash of mystical mumbo-jumbo.
Quantum physics does, however, redefine what common sense is. To some extent.
Remember these. Because nobody expects the quantum inquisition.
For more detail, read Seven Essential Elements of Quantum Physics
You Must Never Tell Him about SVU
I haven’t watched the late shows for some time, but discussion of the recent melodrama with Leno, Conan and NBC keeps popping up everywhere, so I am mildly aware of what’s going on. And I’ve seen a number of Downfall parodies. This one made me laugh.
Definitely not G-rated subtitles.