We Stopped Dreaming (by lhite)
Neil deGrasse Tyson killed it on last Friday’s Bill Maher talking about the defunding of the space program:
“First of all, let’s clarify what the NASA budget is. Do you realize that the $850 billion dollar bailout, that sum of money is greater than the entire 50-year running budget of NASA?
And so when someone says, “We don’t have enough money for this space probe,” I’m asking, no, it’s not that you don’t have enough money, it’s that the distribution of money that you’re spending is warped in some way that you are removing the only thing that gives people something to dream about tomorrow.
You remember the 60s and 70s. You didn’t have to go more than a week before there’s an article in Life magazine, “The Home of Tomorrow,” “The City of Tomorrow,” “Transportation of Tomorrow”. All of that ended in the 1970s. After we stopped going to the Moon, it all ended. We stopped dreaming.
And so I worry that the decision that Congress makes doesn’t factor in the consequences of those decisions on tomorrow. Tomorrow’s gone. They’re playing for the quarterly report, they’re playing for the next election cycle, and that is mortgaging the actual future of this nation, and the rest of the world is going to pass us by.”
To plan for the future, we not only have to envision it, but we have to at least make attempts — even if they fail — to achieve it. We don’t anymore.
That’s where you’re wrong. De-prioritizing education and the arts, encouraging and facilitating corporate greed, ensuring that the rich get richer at any cost, engaging in ill-advised and costly wars, holding the nation’s economy hostage in order to force an idealogical agenda… that IS planning for the future. It’s just not the future you or I want.
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In a related note, the word “Scientists” is now synonymous with “Dream Killers.”NOOOOOOOOO!!! Curse you, science!!!
This means that
warp speed/hyperdriveFTL travel is impossible too… =(EDIT: I stand corrected by my boss.
I’m far more upset about the loss of FTL than I am about the loss of time travel. Don’t need no stinking time travelling tourist stepping on butterflies in the past.
But obviously scientists need to try harder to make FTL travel happen. A bunch of other theories have been disproven. I don’t see why this one can’t be.
Can you have FTL travel without gaining time travel?
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xkcd:
*geek chuckle*
My first thought was to get the guy off Numb3rs to do it with a nice little background simulation of the analogy.
Numb3rs was a great show.
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Pikachurin is an extracellular matrix-like retinal protein first described in 2008 in Japan by Shigeru Sato et al., and named after Pikachu, a character of the Pokémon franchise. (via sleevia)
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(via sandystyle)
Not sure those wooden IKEA dowel rods are exactly built to withstand the day to day stresses of a LHC. Thankfully, IKEA wasn’t involved in its construction… I hope.
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The “golden ratio,” which is equal to approximately 1.618, can be found in various aspects of our life, including biology, architecture, and the arts.
But only recently was it discovered that this special ratio is also reflected in nanoscale[…]
Woo… the symmetry or mathematical magnificence of nature strikes again.
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Red Gummy Bear Meets Potassium Chlorate: Mayhem Ensues (via @feliciaday)
Chemical reactions are fun!
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![Your kitchen sink is the perfect model for the event horizon of a white hole (via io9)
When the tap water hits the surface at the bottom of the sink, it spreads out in all direction[s], forming a stationary wave around the stream that is a little higher than the rest of the water. This momentary rise in the water level is known as a hydraulic jump, and if the waves inside the disc move faster than those outside the jump, it serves as the water equivalent of an event horizon.
Specifically, it’s like the event horizon of a white hole, because water from the outside can’t enter the region bounded by the jump, while water from the inside is obviously still able to get out.
Click through to see how they simulate mach cones to determine whether the waves on either side of the jump are travelling at the same speed.
More reasons why I should have chosen physics instead of chemistry for my TEE. Not like I needed chem to get into computer science anyway… If you have to choose, always choose physics. Sure you get organic chemistry, pop tests and, if you’re lucky, teachers who show you what happens when you drop pure sodium into water, but physics is way more fun.](http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lahb6lSiKo1qz86zko1_500.jpg)
Your kitchen sink is the perfect model for the event horizon of a white hole (via io9)
When the tap water hits the surface at the bottom of the sink, it spreads out in all direction[s], forming a stationary wave around the stream that is a little higher than the rest of the water. This momentary rise in the water level is known as a hydraulic jump, and if the waves inside the disc move faster than those outside the jump, it serves as the water equivalent of an event horizon.
Specifically, it’s like the event horizon of a white hole, because water from the outside can’t enter the region bounded by the jump, while water from the inside is obviously still able to get out.
Click through to see how they simulate mach cones to determine whether the waves on either side of the jump are travelling at the same speed.
More reasons why I should have chosen physics instead of chemistry for my TEE. Not like I needed chem to get into computer science anyway… If you have to choose, always choose physics. Sure you get organic chemistry, pop tests and, if you’re lucky, teachers who show you what happens when you drop pure sodium into water, but physics is way more fun.
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Damascus Steel: Accidental nanotechnology circa 1100 A.D.! - Core77
Damascus Steel was used in the middle east between 1100-1700AD and it was “said to be able to cut through rocks and other people’s swords”. Yikes. The reason behind the superstrength of Damascus Steel apparently lies in carbon nanotubes.
Unfortunately, no-one knows how to replicate the method any more, and there is a suspicion that no-one knew how to do it consistently back in the day anyway. Seems the smiths of the time just bulk forged steel and out of the all the weapons forged, only a few of the accidents made the final cut. So to speak.
Researchers and experimenters alike are yet to figure out how to reverse engineer this cool bit of old-school weapon forging badassery.
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I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff and I’ll blow your house down with my vortex cannon! (via kottke)
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