What happens to syrup when you pour it on an ever-decreasing moving belt? Fluid dynamics, FTW! I dare you not to think about this next time you have pancakes.
If you liked that, you'll really love this tumblr (only the title is NSFW).
You may know why mosquitoes buzz in people's ears, but do you know how they fly in the rain?
What happens when you take a mathematician to dinner at an Italian restaurant? Bonus: match the equation to the pasta.
Still have your appendix? Prof. Bill Parker has a theory that it could save your life.
Astronomers predict what a sunset might look like on planet HD209458b. Spoiler alert: it's green!
The Solar System may have a mini-me.
Stop sharing pictures of your lunch on your smartphone and start sharing pictures of Mars instead!
Do your part to help scientist study long-term memory by taking this quiz. C'mon it's Friday afternoon, what else are you going to do?
Researchers study the feet of rhinos to figure out how they support so much weight.
Former NBA player Yao Ming likes to hang out with pandas. You're welcome.
The best "Make-A-Wish" wish ever.
Isaac Newton's list of sins committed before Whitsunday. Who knew he was such a rapscallion?
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"Jerry from Quality Control, please report to the glue line immediately."
OMG How erotic!! ;-)
I took the quiz and as to what else am I going to do since it is Friday, well, I am going to watch closely the NASCAR testing session from Daytona. I am quite curious as to the effect of the decreased spoiler size in the context of pack drafting and whether that and the 1/32nd inch increase in the restrictor plate (combined effect estimated at about 100HP) will put a dent in tandem runs.
Left wing brain. Right wing sport. Real science.
And I will drink some beer because it is NASCAR and that is what one does.
See, now you know why Rick Perry gets so excited about syrup!
"Five Galaxies Discovered in Deep Wells of Dark Matter 13.1 Billion Light-Years Distant"
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/01/five-galaxies-discovered-in-deep-wells-of-dark-matter-131-billion-light-years-distant-.html
the quiz would not work. the buttons were unresponsive once i got to the quiz. i have a mac, is that the issue? that'd be weird. everything else seemed normal. not going to think about it anymore, i guess.
Loved the appendix story... the syrup is interesting when instead of alternate direction loops, starts looping all in one direction. also, now I'm thinking about pancakes... thanks.
I had to Google for the correct URL above, as your software seems a bit overenthusiastic with the swearfiltering. Neat site once I found it, though. :-)
This is the best part of the week!
Yes it is.
Ohter stuff is good, but I love Summer's Geek stuff
@Holmarkid: Erotic? Good grief man where's your head at? sheesh
That Make a Wish was awesome but this Make a Wish was good too!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LazmfUkP3I
In the movie, Margin Call, you know what their financial computer model Rocket Scientist understands? His prior work was on the modeling of turbulence under different conditions. He tells the CEO of the Wall Street company, that it is not that the music (conveyor belt) has stopped, just that it has slowed down a little. The video illustrates the unpleasant shifts the slowing down can cause.
His thesis was on how "friction ratios effect steering outcomes in aeronautical use under reduced gravity loads". This gets geeky very very fast about statistics and math models so I will go on the metaphorical level.
Greenspan titled his book "the age of turbulence". Quantitative analysts who worked on the risk models used by wall street describe the sudden shifts in pattern when only slightly different conditions (eg. speed of the conveyor belt) occur. They are unpredictable given all prior data (eg. as if the conveyor belt created straight lines or a sin wave), but though they will express themselves, the model does not assume such a shifts, which can be much more dramatic than the regular shifts in the video. For example, the "Black swan" events of a Taleb distribution.
The nefarious part of this is only suggested in a closing scene of Margin Call. You might think that the nice thing would be to have a gentle business cycle of modest booms and busts like in the gentle sin wave pattern, with regulators working towards flattening it completely like when the conveyor is moving swiftly. The CEO understands that this would be extremely unprofitable for financiers like Goldman Sachs.
Wall Street makes their money from turbulence. As Naomi Klein points out in Shock Doctine, turbulence is beneficial not just for Wall Street businesses.
The Fluid Dynamics link is a little busted by the censor program...
try this, but spell it out -- http://f*ckyeahfluiddynamics.tumblr.com/
Or directly with this link. (Summer- copy to your head note- and maybe mention in staff meeting to use tinyurl or other link proxy to avoid newsvine filters of naughty looking links.)
Good idea -- tinyurl.
I haven't had this much fun with fluids since sophomore year.
...I trained as a chemical engineer; get your mind out of the gutter. ;)
MechTrek
...get your mind out of the gutter
Workin' on it. Workin' hard. (cf: GWB) :)
So THAT'S how they get the squiggles on top of Hostess Cupcakes. Brilliant!
I was wondering why anyone would do research on raindrops and mosquitoes, and was regretting wasting my time watching the video, until I read "Mosquitoes are so lightweight, raindrops 'loose' very little momentum (1-17%) upon impact." which made me very happy, that even smarty math peoples make spelling mistakes...(lose).
Drives me nuts. Even my sons can't get it right. Choose when they mean chose. Loose when they mean lose. I have a hard time trying to figure out what is so hard about the correct spelling.
Thank you, Dr. Ash. I've never wanted to lick the computer screen before.
I would stick around and add my two cents but no real thought has crystalized as yet and I would not want to come off as a sap.
Oh, Paul, that is toooooooo baaaaaad!
LOL
I wanted to take the memory quiz but I forgot.