Archive for the 'Fun' Category
Oscillators
April 16, 2021Double-Trouble Dominoes
April 6, 2021Thought this was a great video of geometric growth in action by @uoftphysics Prof. Stephen Morris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y97rBdSYbkg Starting with a ~5mm domino you get to a one ~1 m in size in 13 domino topples. Overall, this chain reaction represents a 2 billion-fold amplification!
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Dominoes are little toy rectangle tiles with dots on them. People like to stand them up on end in a long row, so when the first domino falls over, it knocks over the next domino, which knocks over the
next…pretty soon you have a rippling wave of falling dominoes. In this simple but amazing video, Stephen Morris shows that a little domino can knock over another one that’s 1 1/2 times as big in each direction. Then that one can tip over one that ‘s 1 1/2 times as big again. In this domino chain, the first one is only 1/4 inch tall, but the 13th domino weighs more than 100 pounds! If he kept going, the 29th domino would be as tall as the Empire State Building (1,454 feet). We’d all better get out of the way!
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Giant Panda Family Rolls, Slides and Tumbles Around in Snow at National Zoo – NBC4 Washington
January 31, 2021Hope the coming snow is as fun for humans here in CT as it was for Pandas in DC (@NationalZoo). Panda fur really seems to help for sliding around in the snow — even with a thick, padded jacket, I certainly can’t slide down hills on my back!
Checkerboard Chocolates
January 29, 2021https://www.foodandwine.com/lifestyle/look-some-worlds-most-modern-and-beautiful-chocolates
A Look at Some of the World’s Most Modern and Beautiful Chocolates
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When we saw the photo of these amazing chocolates, the first thing we asked was, “Would anyone want to eat them?” How can you mess up something that looks so cool? These perfectly shaped mathematical wonders were made by Japanese company Nendo for the big Maison & Objet design show in Paris (that’s French for “House and Object”). The candies were made by pouring chocolate into a “mold,” a hollow shape cut so that when the candies cool down, they pop out looking like these. Suddenly a flat chocolate bar doesn’t seem as exciting as a spiky crown or checkerboard chunk — but in any shape, it all tastes good.
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NYTimes: Steve Martin Likes Books in the ‘I Can’t Put This Down’ Genre
January 6, 2021Really enjoyed this interview of @SteveMartinToGo. Neat that he’s an audiobooks freak. (I am too!) Also, agreed with his assessment: “Bookstores could easily have only two sections, Riveting & Kinda Boring.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/29/books/review/steve-martin-by-the-book-interview.html
