Wrong Numb3r

Posted on by

This was a nit that may have bothered only me (and my ilk. My ilk is somewhat sensitive to such things). In this past week’s episode of NUMB3RS, there’s a scene where Liz and Nikki go to arrest some 350-pound badassMF™. One of them tries some FBI-fu on him, is thwarted, and the other (I forget which did which) grabs a fire hose and knocks him over with the jet of water and a cliché. Except that momentum is conserved, or is supposed to be. The impulse from the water leaving the hose should knock the person holding it back, and given that either of these characters has somewhere around a third of the mass of the target, should have not been able to easily wrangle such an instrument of havoc.

This is similar to the magic shotgun, that is recoil-free to the wielder, but is able to knock the target a meter or so backward when struck.

Look Deep into My Eyes

Posted on by

So that’s what the bottoms of limpid pools look like. Scary eh?

Eye exam the other day. (My eyeglasses problem happened after I scheduled this, but before the exam. Come to think of it, I chipped a tooth right after making my dentist appointment. Note to self: do NOT schedule a urology visit.)

Retina scan from the doc’s new toy. I’d gotten scans before, from laser-safety examinations. They don’t actually make it any safer to work around lasers, they just give you a baseline so you can assess the amount of damage of you look into the big scary laser. The previous ones required dilation, which means you can’t drive (or do much of anything, really) for several hours. This one didn’t.

retina-scan1

I just hope this doesn’t compromise the security of the Genesis Project.

Jeepers, It's Patches O'Houlihan!

Posted on by

A/V Geeks: Our Films Online

Have over 22,000 films. Will travel. For more than a decade, we’ve been rescuing old 16mm school films from dumpsters and obscurity and showing them to folks like you.

Among the must-see-tee-vee, er, film:

Alcohol Is Dynamite (1958)
Am I Trustworthy? (1950)
Destruction: Fun or Dumb? (ca. 1970s)
Duck and Cover (Archer, 1951)
Getting Along With Others (1965)
How Quiet Helps At School (1953)
Living with the Atom (1957)
More Dates For Kay (Coronet, 1952)
Respect for Property (1959)
So I Took It… (1975)
VD is for Everybody (1969)
Why Doesn’t Cathy Eat Breakfast? (1972)

Oh, gosh dangit. How to Play Dodgeball (Über-American Instructional films) isn’t there. Yet.

via

Don't Flatter Yourself, Otter. It Wasn't That Great.

Posted on by

$35,000 NitroCream Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream Maker

Sure, it’s designed for restaurants, but there’s nothing stopping you from getting one. Other than the price tag, of course.

You need to a flashplayer enabled browser to view this YouTube video

I’ve had liquid-nitrogen ice cream — we did it in grad school. It’s good. The fast freezing means you get small ice crystals, so it’s smooth, and the nitrogen just boils away. But it cost several orders of magnitude less to do it by hand.

New Ultra Toy

Posted on by

A UV LED flashlight. Just checking on what fluoresces. Among the more interesting, we have the security stripe of a $20 bill

20billfluor

A Mr. Clean bottle shows both the label and the cleaner fluorescing

mrcleanfluor

and some vitamin B complex (I think the B-12 is the main culprit here), dissolved in some vinegar, and spilled on the counter in the shape of a guitar. Worship the fluorescent guitar!

vitbfluor

(I’ve previously noticed that vitamin B gives the appearance of remaining fluorescent even after digestion. Not that I’ve checked this with the flashlight. )

Bring a Stranger to Work Day

Posted on by

U.S. Naval Observatory IYA 2009 Open House

In celebration of the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of the telescope, the International Astronomical Union and UNESCO have declared 2009 to be the International Year of Astronomy (IYA 2009). As part of a world-wide celebration of this event, the U.S. Naval Observatory (USNO) will be sponsoring a free-admission Open House on Saturday, 4 April, from 3:00 pm to 10:00 pm. During that time the Observatory’s telescopes will be open for inspection, scientists will explain the mission of USNO’s Master Clock, exhibits will display the Observatory’s history and present work, and local amateur astronomers will share views through their telescopes.

The event is planned regardless of weather, although predominantly cloudy conditions may limit observing activities. Additionally, heavy or persistent rain may result in cancellation. Be sure to watch the website for updates.

More details in the press release

I’ll be there, helping out, meetin’ and greetin’. I announced this on the local geocaching bulletin board, since USNO time supports GPS, so I hope to hang out with fellow geocachers for a while (there’s actually a geocache at the Observatory, which normally requires you to take the public tour), and then I’ll probably be helping out with the Time Service display. If you’re in the area, come on by. If you can’t make it, you can still commemorate your nonvisit with a Navel Observatory shirt

navel