http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont Physics, tech and humor. Because science and learning are cool, and life's too short not to laugh. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 09:02:36 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This is cool: a micromachined device, which has been cooled into its ground stated. Scientists supersize quantum mechanics A team of scientists has succeeded in putting an object large enough to be visible to the naked eye into a mixed quantum state of moving and not moving. This, not so much Quantum mechanics ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5086 The History of the Honey Trap The trade name for this type of spying is the "honey trap." And it turns out that both men and women are equally adept at setting one -- and equally vulnerable to tumbling in. Spies use sex, intelligence, and the thrill of a secret life ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5077 Japan: Nothing says springtime like a penis festival It may sound like a sophomoric gag. But these are folk rites going back at least 1,500 years, into Japan's agricultural past. They're held to ensure a good harvest and promote baby-making. I don't know if you'll get the same flash popup, but mine ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5079 In basketball, shooting angle has a big effect on the chances of scoring It's the elegant arched trajectory naturally formed by any projectile, from an artillery round to a tomato, moving in a gravitational field. Parabolas have been extensively studied since people started throwing stuff at each other, and they shape ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5075 Over at Cosmic Variance, JoAnne tells a story about dialing Pi on the phone: Several years ago, before pi-day was famous, a student called the phone number associated with the digits in pi that appear after the decimal point, i.e., 1-415-926-5358. Apparently this is rather common now, and in fact, appears ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5083 Odds Are, it's Wrong They seem to be looking specifically at medical (and related) research; I don't know if there is a greater prevalence of an underlying problem — not publishing null results — in those fields as compared to elsewhere. Over the years, hundreds of published papers have warned that science’s ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5081 3 Minute Brownie. Well, 4 or 5 minutes with the mixing and all. I can neither confirm nor deny the veracity of this recipe. http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5070 NFL to examine 2 possessions in playoffs OT NFL owners will vote next week whether to allow each team a possession in overtime in the playoffs if the team winning the OT coin toss kicks a field goal on the first series. This seems a little odd. I wonder if the ... http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5073 Paris in 26 Gigapixels Been there, seen almost none of it. I was jet-lagged and alone and only saw what I could see from the cab going from the airport to Gare de Lyon. http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/5066 Where they died*, hard. Just in case you need the information. *Theo didn't actually die, but who cares. http://blogs.scienceforums.net/swansont/archives/4794