Best Word Ever- The Final Brackets
64 words square off to find the best. Click through for results. Personally, I think both Hornswoggle and Kerfuffle got hosed.
Monthly Archives: September 2012
The Old Man is Snoring
xkcd’s what if: What if a rainstorm dropped all of its water in a single giant drop?
If you were floating in the center of this sphere during this episode, you wouldn’t have felt anything unusual up until now. It’d be pretty dark in the middle, but if you had enough time (and lung capacity) to swim a few hundred meters out toward the edge, you’d be able to make out the dim glow of daylight.
As the raindrop approached the ground, the buildup of air resistance would lead to an increase in pressure that would make your ears pop. But seconds later, when the water contacted the surface, you’d be crushed to death—the shock would briefly create pressures exceeding those at the bottom of the Marianas Trench.
That Hairy Ball is Right in Your Face
The hairy ball theorem is a fascinating aspect of the subject of mathematics known as topology, which loosely speaking is concerned with the mathematical characterization of shapes. But hairy balls are of significance in other fields, as well: in fact, many optical scientists are unaware that a hairy ball is, in essence, right in their face every time they do experiments! It is hidden in the polarization of light, i.e. in light’s inherent transverse wave properties. In this post we will uncover this mysterious hairy ball of light.
Didja Know?
Do Not Taunt Boomhappy Fun Balls
Phase change fun.
Scientist + liquid nitrogen + 1500 ping pong balls = boomhappy funtime
BIG
Wednesday’s xkcd was “Click and Drag“, involving a very large depiction of the world Randall had created, viewable only one small screen at a time. That’s a lot of clicking and dragging. Good news, though: there is a full-screen version of xkcd’s map, which allows you to zoom out and see what you missed. (I knew there would be flying/falling stuff up in the air. Now I can see it!)
Sure As I'm Sitting Here
Finding an Optimal Seating Chart
Every year, millions of brides (not to mention their mothers, future mothers-in-law, and occasionally grooms) struggle with one of the most daunting tasks during the wedding planning process: the seating chart. The guest responses are in, banquet hall is booked, menu choices have been made. You think the hard parts are over, but you have yet to embark upon the biggest headache of them all.
However, the algorithm is not exactly a quick optimization
The model ran for 36 hours on one node of a Beowulf cluster with two 2.83 GHz Intel E5440 quad core processors and 16GB of memory. The best solution found after 36 hours gave a very good starting point for seating assignments, and only required a few rearrangements to please the mother of the bride.
But, given some anecdotes I’ve heard, maybe it’s worth it.
Uncle Mitt: I Don't Want You
(Sorry, it’s politics-induced spleenvent time)
For all his wealth, Mitt Romney can’t buy a clue. If you live in the US and not under a rock, you’ve probably heard by now, what Mitt Romney said at a fundraiser about the roughly 47% of people who pay no federal income taxes.
There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it — that that’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what. … These are people who pay no income tax. … [M]y job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.
Most full-time students don’t make enough to pay federal income tax, so they are included in that 47%. If you are a student and don’t pay federal income tax, Mitt Romney thinks that you are not taking personal responsibility and care for you life. Let that sink in for a moment — pursuing higher education, to him, means you aren’t trying to care for your life. It’s not a responsible thing to do. If you have to take out a loan and get some federal assistance with that, like a low interest rate, you’re a mooch. A loser.
On top of all this is the math-challenged implication that he thinks that this 47% is a static group of people — nobody moves in or out each year, depending on their circumstances — and that it’s the same 47% that support Obama. These victims, these entitlement freeloaders, none of whom take personal responsibility and for their lives. You students. You, who paid into social security all your life and are now retired. You, who got crushed by the economic situation Obama inherited, or devastated by not being able to get insurance, and ended up not paying income tax. You’re irresponsible, and not worth the candidate’s time or representation, should he be elected. He doesn’t want you, and doesn’t want to be your president.
Wow.
Not Measuring the Beauty, Splendor, or the Wonder. Just the Thickness.
A lot of articles compare micron-ish thicknesses to that of a human hair, which makes me wonder if NIST has a standard human hair used for calibration.
Pop! Goes the Popinator
I really want this to be real, and not just a viral ad campaign.
… but their website doesn’t say anything about being able to actually buy this. Just the video.