Algebra as geometry

I love this simple, obvious geometric proof that (x + y)^2 = x^2 + 2xy + y^2. I wish someone has shown this to me when they first taught me algebra; it would have made things a lot clearer to me.

[Image from: http://www.mathaware.org/mam/00/master/essays/B3D/2/binomial.html]

Pi is wrong [!]

This site argues that that 2 * pi (= tau) would be a more rational (ha ha!) constant to use than pi. Radical proposition, dude.

Microscopic working engine

I love microscopic machines. "German physicists say they've built a heat engine measuring only a few micrometers across which works as well as a normal-sized version - although it sputters, they admit."
Via: www.tgdaily.com

First Planet Confirmed Within "Habitable Zone" According to NASA

Of the thousands of planets that could possibly hold life, only one (so far) has been confirmed to be within the "perfect" location for liquefaction of water (as opposed to being on the edge). Read the full article on Kepler-22b here.

M of the M: December

Mario of the month for December. Found here.

Have they discovered the God particle?

The long-sought Higgs boson particle may be been discovered. This is "the elementary particle hypothesized to be the origin of the mass of all matter", sometimes called 'the God particle'.

Text from: www.scientificamerican.com\
Image from the Wikipedia article on the Higgs boson.

The next 10 years will be very unlike the last 10 years

Lego Mindstorms Clock

See here for more details.

Super Mario Perler Beads | Vidéo Buzz

Super Mario Perler Beads | Vidéo Buzz

Glitch has glitches...

Two months after launching, the on-line game Glitch is unlaunching to re-tool.

Minecraft Super Mario!

This is a testament to the human spirit...what a huge undertaking!

GapMinder: World Stats

GapMinder is an online time-waster (that might sometimes be considered a useful tool) that helps visualize many different statistics from different countries into a single neat graph. In this photo, I'm comparing the Sulfur emissions per person (y axis) to the % of self-employment (x axis) to CO2 emissions (size of bubble) in different countries. It's cool to mess around with, especially the effect of time on the numbers (you can scroll through the years to compare).

M of the M: November

Mario of the Month for November.

Minecraft: Top Structures

A person has actually taken the time to build an entire computer (16-bit) within Minecraft, maybe if he makes one powerful enough to run Minecraft itself the universe will blink out of existence (see full article here). Also, a guy with loads of time built a 1:1 scale replica of the Entreprise from Star Trek- nerdism at its best (article here). (the video "starts" at 1:30)

Running On Water: Myth or Reality?

Running on water, is it possible? No, it's not but it's still a neat video.

Call of Duty coral

Someone named a coral after names from Call of Duty. 

How to talk climate change to your grandmother

How to talk to a climate change skeptic.

Images from the National Snow and Ice Data Center

Augmented reality beamed directly into your eye

I want this augmented reality contact lens.

Interactive Periodic Table

Probably the best periodic table on the nets, ptable has it all, advanced colour-coding, links to wikipedia pages on the elements, isotopes, specific proprieties, and (oh!) it's also a periodic table. Check it out!

NASA Sounds

Maybe it's just me but I found these released NASA sounds quite enjoyable to listen to. One of my favourites is Atlas V: Launch.

Here's to the crazy ones...

Octopi

From Scienceblogs.com

Weird number observation

Via: Futility Closet

World Map Info

This website "Charts Bin" dedicates itself to interesting and/or weird information of countries around the globe in an interactive way- it's pretty cool! One of the cooler ones is the coffee per capita of almost every country, neat! Image found: here.

M of M: October

Mario of the Month for October. Link: here.

20 countries with the most debt

This review of the 20 countries with the most debt did surprise me. [Image from the linked Edmonton Journal story.]

Faster than light particles!

Yikes! There is a claim that CERN scientists have measured particles going faster than the speed of light! If so, this would invalidate Einsteinian physics. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.

I like this response, reported in the story about this at the journal Science's website:

"Chang Kee Jung, a neutrino physicist at Stony Brook University in New York, says he'd wager that the result is the product of a systematic error. 'I wouldn't bet my wife and kids because they'd get mad,' he says. 'But I'd bet my house.'"

Robotic Pong

Cool, but unfortunately these are still being controlled by humans for now.

The Impossible Hamster

Glass of the future

Super Mario mushroom from a radish

Luck of the draw

[Click for full size]

Gamers make scientific breakthrough!

The protein-folding game FoldIt has made a major scientific break-through: gamers figured out the structure of a protein involved in AIDS.

Smallest Electrical Motor Ever Created (to date)

We are one step closer to making nanobots with the recent advance to a motor the size of a single molecule. Via Boing Boing.

M of the M: September

Mario of the Month for September. Found: here.

vsauce DONG sum-up

Here are a bunch of interesting links you can do online, found via vsauce.

Whathappenedinmybirthyear.com sums up the wikipedia events of the year in a neat fashion.

Dude moving cars is a dude that moves his hands over a video (video above too).

Finally, there's an interesting game that makes you do decisions for a poor american family: SPENT.

M of the M

Mario of the Month for August, found here.

Apple market capitalisation exceeds Exxon’s

For a few moments today, Apple was the most valuable company in the world. I link through BoingBoing so you can read the comments on whether this is a sign of changing times.

The Pentagon Spends More Money Fixing Rusty Old Shit than Canada Spends on Its Entire Military

Posted this mainly because I loved the headline on Gizmodo.

A classic puzzle

This is an old puzzle, but interesting if you haven't heard it before.

A hunter walked one kilometer south from his camp. Then he walked one kilometer west. There he shot a bear. Then he walked one kilometer north, and found that he was back at his camp. What color was the bear?

The answer can be found here. A lot more puzzles collected by the same guy can be found here.

M of the M

Mario of the Month for July. Reference: here.

Zidane World Cup Headbutt Animation Festival

Videos Throughout Time (YTTM)

YTTM gives a good glipse of the video throughout time from the earliest sound recorded to the modern days.

M of the M

Mario of the Month for July. Source: here.

M of the M

Mario of the month for May (a post of Mario found in Sweden). Reference: here.

Evolution and motorboat sounds.

It's hard not to like this video that combines beauty pageant girls a.) trying to talk coherently about evolution and b.) making weird sounds.

Winning

M of the M

Mario of the Month for April. Reference: Flickr: Mario & Luigi.

Gmail Motion

Yet another new feature added to Gmail!

Grandma Pong

Image from: http://www.totalprosports.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/grandmapong.gif

Visual proof of the Pythagorean theorem

From: http://themetapicture.com/media/why-couldnt-i-have-been-shown-this-in-maths-class.gif

Super Mario as a first person shooter game

Bia: BoingBoing.net

Surrounded by screens

Via: Gizmodo.com

M of the M

Mario of the month for March. Found: here.

Ray William Johnson =3

Reviews of both viral and interesting videos.

Epic MealTime

A bunch of University Students making videos with ridiculous food! Main channel can be found at: EpicMealTime

M of the M

Mario of the Month for February- found: here.

Touch trigonometry

 Image by dullhunk via Flickr












I like this interactive visualization of trigonometry.

The old Gallium melting spoon trick...

Via: BoingBoing.net

Hilariously over-the-top Indian movie scene.

From the Tamil movie Endhiran, the most expensive movie in Indian cinema history. Via: BoingBoing

Courtroom quotations

I enjoy this collection of (alleged) courtroom quotations, which has the feel of FailBlog.org. Some of my favorites:

• Lawyer: "How far apart were the vehicles at the time of the collision?"

------------

 

• Lawyer: "Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?"
• Witness: "All my autopsies have been performed on dead people."

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• Lawyer: "I show you Exhibit 3 and ask you if you recognize that picture."
• Witness: "That's me."
• Lawyer: "Were you present when that picture was taken?

Fun party game of passing the secret electronic forms conversion.

Translation party is an amusing electronic form of 'Pass The Secret' game, or (after running it on the previous phrase) "Fun party game of passing the secret electronic forms conversion."

M of the M

Mario of the Month for January.

I Whip My Hair Back and Forth

The original song can be found: here.