Appropriate considering yesterday's link
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Fun
One of the all time great TV theme songs.
Here is more information on Russell's tea pot.
According to Rhett Allain all you need is two trillion kilograms of lego. That weighs as much as 400 million elephants. Can you imagine trying to launch 400 million elephants into space? In low Earth orbit (~300 km), the scale model Death Star would appear bigger than the moon from earth:
People would mistake it for a moon, just like Han Solo did. Well, it look just like the moon except that it would just take a couple of minutes to pass across the sky where the moon doesn’t really seem to change its position.
Check out the figure that Rhett put together comparing the scale model to the World's tallest buildings.
I love that pi gets its own day of recognition. I just feel bad for Planck's constant. Then again, quantum pi is really just:
We are up to 206 Lindy Hoppers who have taken part in Project Q! There have been a number of new cities who have submitted videos, and I know of a number of others who are either filming or working on their videos as the deadline approaches. I spent the past weekend working with the dancers, band, and other guests who will take part in the talk. It is going to be amazing. I cannot wait to show everyone the final product.
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Dublin, Ireland (Oscar themed) 1, 2
- Mexico City, Mexico
Overnight a number of groups submitted videos for Project Q. There are now 156 dancers from 10 cities around the world who have taken part in this project!
The Rio crew put together this hilarious blooper reel from their Project Q shoot. Extra credit for the awesome Chariots of Fire" homage at the end.
I am looking forward to seeing the final videos!
This past week there has been a flurry of activity with scenes around the world submitting their Project Q videos. So far 90 dancers from six cities have submitted videos! I know there are several more cities shooting their videos this weekend. I'll update the blog (and Project Q page) once the new submissions are online.
Here are some of the videos that have come in so far:
- Niagara Falls, Canada
- Philadelphia, USA (with four submissions): 1, 2,3,4
- Perth, Australia (three submissions): 1, 2, 3
- Boston, USA
- San Francisco, USA
- Norfolk, USA
While I was in Vancouver last week I also filmed the local scene there performing the routine. I haven't had a chance to post it online, but will do so later on this weekend.
A big thanks to everyone who has helped out so far. I really appreciate it.
The IQC has made a short behind the scenes video about my TEDxUW talk. The video contains a hint about some of the things I am planning in my upcoming TEDxWaterloo talk.
This coming March I am going to be explaining some the intricacies of Quantum Mechanics using Lindy Hop. To pull this off, I need your help.
The goal is to get as many scenes as possible to film themselves performing the routine. The footage will then be spliced together and be incorporated into a larger performance.
Captivating one hour lecture by Brian Cox on Quantum Mechanics. This is one of the best public science lectures I have ever seen. Using one of the largest uncut diamonds ever discovered, Brian delves into the structure of the universe and explains how diamonds bigger than our Sun can be formed.
Special celebrity volunteers, like Simon Pegg, help Brian convey the physics. I love how he offset the technical parts of the talk with humour. Brian Cox is, in many ways, the next iteration of Carl Sagan.
I wish the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) created more programs like this.
(via scienceisbeauty)
Chad Orzel's clever analysis of the children's book Goodnight Moon:
The attentive toddler will find a lot to look at in the pictures-- there's a mouse in every one that SteelyKid delights in pointing out-- but an inquiring adult might well ask "Just how long does it take this bunny to say goodnight to all this stuff, anyway?"
Well, we can answer this question with SCIENCE! You see, there are six pictures in the book showing the moon through one of the room's windows, and as the book goes along, the moon moves higher in the window. This provides a way to estimate the passage of time in the book.
That is how you engage an audience.
Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the pentatonic scale at the 2009 World Science Festival.
(Via Neven Mrgan)
I love the idea behind the Awesome Foundation. Jaime, Nancy, and Nyree took part in the Cardboard Fort Night this past April, and the Star mentions their cardboard candy house (emphasis added by me):
There were cardboard dinosaurs, a cardboard candy house, cardboard igloos and a cardboard TV that people could perform inside.
Here is a repost of the video I took of the event which was also used by Maclean's magazine:
I still remember when Angry Birds first came out. I spent a month playing the game obsessively trying to get all three stars on each level. I haven't kept up with any of the new incarnations, but it has developed into an impressive franchise. This time lapse is an awesome (and painstaking) Christmas tribute to the game.
This made me tear up. What a great Christmas proposal.
This is the most festive our cat gets.
Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal (SMBC) is right up there with XKCD and the Oatmeal as one of the best web comics. Clever and smart writing. Lots of science and philosophy jokes. What more could a nerd ask for.
Here are some other recent SMBC comics that rock:
I follow the NBA at arms length. One of the most exciting things to see is a player get a hot hand and make four or five shots in a row. This idea featured heavily in the game NBA Jam I used to play1 as a kid–make three shots in a row and your player catches on fire.
It turns out that the idea of a hot hand is a myth. According to a new paper in Nature Communications title Reinforcement learning in professional basketball players, two things happen when a player makes a three point shot:
- They player is likely to try and make another three-pointer the next time they get the ball.
- The player's chance of making the shot goes down.
I'll say that again. If you make a three-pointer your chances of making a second one go down2. Instead of heating up you are more likely to cool down. He's on ice isn't nearly as catchy though.
Humans have a hard time making sense of randomness. We often look for patterns when none are present or selectively filter out information that we do not agree with. In this case basketball players focus more on the shots they make not the ones they miss. This is why Kobe Bryant can throw up thirty shots a game, miss the majority of them, and still feel like he has a hot hand. The numbers say otherwise.