Saturday, 17 August 2013
Mars or bust
Maybe you've heard of this, the story has been published in most media outlets, has made the blog circuit, and has surprised a lot of people in the process. The Mars One project was announced some time ago - the project hopes to send four people to Mars in 2022 to begin colonization of the planet. The catch? You can never return. You must say goodbye to this world and everyone in it. So how many applicants have they received? Well, the count has now surpassed 100,000.
Friday, 16 August 2013
Clearlake
I used to listen to this band Clearlake quite a lot back in the day. Then I moved, packed up my cd's, lost all the music on my hard drive - you know, history became legend, legend became myth and for two and a half
thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge until...no wait, that's something else.
So anyway, Clearlake, good band. Figured I mention 'em. Here are some songs:
So anyway, Clearlake, good band. Figured I mention 'em. Here are some songs:
The Myth of Sisyphus
“It
happens that the stage sets collapse. Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or the factory, meal,
streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep, and Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Thursday Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm – this path
is easily followed most of the time. But one day the “why” arises and everything begins in that
weariness tinged with amazement.”
Thursday, 8 August 2013
Saturday, 3 August 2013
Dolphins and such
I saw a youtube clip recently where a wild dolphin - struggling to move because of a hook and a bit of net on its pectoral fin - presented itself to some divers and made it quite clear that it wanted help getting free. It is a pretty neat video; I'm gonna embed it after the cut, along with some further musings.
Thursday, 18 July 2013
Super-Kamiokande: neutrino detector
In Japan, near the village of Higashi-Mozumi, 1.8 km into a horizontal mine-shaft underneath Mt.Ikenoyama, there is the coolest looking detector I have ever seen. It looks like something straight out of science-fiction.
The purpose of the Super-Kamiokande is to detect neutrinos . These particles are of great interest to physicists, but they are so far undetectable. Well, there are high-energy neutrinos that are 'artificially' created during nuclear reactions, and these are detectable, but the ones that are of interest are those formed 1 second after the big bang - these ancient particles do not interact normally with matter, and are even thought to comprise 0.3% of dark matter.
Anyway, for more on that try this article. I mostly just wanted to post pictures of the detector, which is a body of water surrounded by photomultiplier tubes (see after the cut):
The purpose of the Super-Kamiokande is to detect neutrinos . These particles are of great interest to physicists, but they are so far undetectable. Well, there are high-energy neutrinos that are 'artificially' created during nuclear reactions, and these are detectable, but the ones that are of interest are those formed 1 second after the big bang - these ancient particles do not interact normally with matter, and are even thought to comprise 0.3% of dark matter.
Anyway, for more on that try this article. I mostly just wanted to post pictures of the detector, which is a body of water surrounded by photomultiplier tubes (see after the cut):
Saturday, 13 July 2013
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Swedish art house campaign
It's Always Sunny is one of my favourite shows. Oh, how I laugh.
Not that any of the characters are likable, really, except for Charlie - but Charlie's likability comes from his particular brand of twisted innocence and childishness. They're all sociopaths who do terrible things to other people without a hint of regret and they never suffer any consequences for it. Sounds hilarious doesn't it?
Maybe it's a shock comedy thing, but it's also laughing at how ridiculous they are in reality, compared to how awesome they think they are in their heads. Like when Mac becomes over-weight but rationalizes it in his head as "gaining mass". Or the time Charlie believes he is an amazing lawyer (even though he can't read or write).
Anyway, season 9 starts this September, and they're been promoting it with a strange Swedish art house campaign (see after the cut):
Not that any of the characters are likable, really, except for Charlie - but Charlie's likability comes from his particular brand of twisted innocence and childishness. They're all sociopaths who do terrible things to other people without a hint of regret and they never suffer any consequences for it. Sounds hilarious doesn't it?
Maybe it's a shock comedy thing, but it's also laughing at how ridiculous they are in reality, compared to how awesome they think they are in their heads. Like when Mac becomes over-weight but rationalizes it in his head as "gaining mass". Or the time Charlie believes he is an amazing lawyer (even though he can't read or write).
Anyway, season 9 starts this September, and they're been promoting it with a strange Swedish art house campaign (see after the cut):
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