i eat babies. – RNC distilled to one minute..
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I mentioned the infographic before. Here’s the anecdotal version.
Day: September 9, 2008
Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?
Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?.
This site is awesome.
I’ll have a longer story about what this is about in a bit, but this is hilarious.
As noted, make sure to read the source code as well.
That’s some powerful javascript.
UPDATE: Holy crap. I don’t now how I missed this.
Below is my absolutely favorite theoretical physics-based rap song ever!! And they even kick in some MC Hawking.
[hmmm, looks like embedding is disabled, here’s the link]
If you want to know what the LHC at CERN is hoping to find, watch the rap. It actually does a pretty damn good job of explaining the basic problem with the “standard model” in physics. That being our “theory of gravity” doesn’t quite work mathematically with our theory of “every other force in the galaxy.”
Read on for my prediction of the experiement’s results… Continue reading
Water Bears May Be Fruit of All Life
Vacuum (imposing extreme dehydration) and solar/galactic cosmic radiation prevent survival of most organisms in space [1]. Only anhydrobiotic organisms, which have evolved adaptations to survive more or less complete desiccation, have a potential to survive space vacuum, and few organisms can stand the unfiltered solar radiation in space. Tardigrades, commonly known as water-bears, are among the most desiccation and radiation-tolerant animals and have been shown to survive extreme levels of ionizing radiation [2, 3, 4]. Here, we show that tardigrades are also able to survive space vacuum without loss in survival, and that some specimens even recovered after combined exposure to space vacuum and solar radiation. These results add the first animal to the exclusive and short list of organisms that have survived such exposure.
Current Biology — Jönsson et al..
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This is via Metafilter.
Water-bears can be seen here.
Tardigrade
Fossil range: Early Cambrian to Recent[1]
The tardigrade Hypsibius
I covered a bit of the concept of “Panspermia” in my Spore review. This looks like a possible culprit, as the dang things can surive /scary voice/ the vacuum of spaaace1! /scary voice/.
Game Review : PC : Spore
Yes, Spore is finally here. This is a game that I’ve been waiting for for over two years. A game who’s scope and scale and expandability were, allegedly, above and beyond anything that has come before.
Did it get there? I’m not sure yet, but this review is a synopsis of what I’ve found out so far.
Let me be clear from the get-go. If you are a PC gamer, you will enjoy this game a lot. Get it. Now. For the rest of you, let me tell you a quick story about gaming, Spore, and why I love ’em both.
Previously to the full game coming out, they released the “Spore Creature Creator” (SCC). This is a simple, yet fairly powerful, 3d-creature editor/animator/movie maker.
Here’s a couple of my early attempts. And yes, there is an “upload to Youtube” button in the program. As a quick sidenote, this game is VERY well integrated with the international dumptrucks known as “Internet”. More on that in a couple paragraphs. After the movies and the moment.
This was one of my early creations. I was trying to make something scary and terrifying.
This is my first creation to take through the full game.
My “gaming moment” occurred during the second or third stage of the game, after my creation has evolved into an air-breathing, earth-bound being. I was wandering around the countryside looking for food (i.e. other wonderful creations to consume). As I was about to launch an attack with my pack, I heard a vicious roar. Panning the camera quickly around, I saw a 30-foot tall incarnation of my “early creation” stomping across the country-side. My own nightmare was picking up my pack-mates and consuming them whole.
That, my friends, is a gaming moment. Here was a creature I had created, imported into the game during the install, integrated and kicking my own ass.
Outstanding.
Read more for the rest, and some other great creations.
Robot Pirate Ninja 