I couldn’t resist posting some more Conan; this video shows him visiting Ireland and exploring his heritage. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
[thanks to Allison B. for the link]
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/player.swf
Ferrell surprised Conan O’Brien on St. Patrick’s Day (not sure how long ago). Hilarious… 🙂
(Source: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/)
Bloodhound supersonic car’s lift problem fixed
Bloodhound supersonic car’s lift problem fixed
This would definitely be fun to watch…
Engineers designing the world’s fastest car believe they now have a solution to keep the vehicle flat on the ground. Bloodhound SSC is being built to smash the world land speed record by topping 1,000mph (1,610km/h). Initial iterations of the car’s aerodynamic shape produced dangerous amounts of lift at the vehicle’s rear. But the latest modelling work indicates the team has finally found a stable configuration, allowing the project to push ahead with other design areas.
[via Slashdot]
The Black Sea – Europe’s New Flashpoint
The Black Sea – Europe’s New Flashpoint
Pipelines criss-crossing the seabed, extraction platforms dotting the coastlines, U.S. missile defense cruisers and destroyers patrolling the surface and paying visits to ports of call, while the Russian Navy anchors at its Ukrainian rent-a-port at Sevastopol: As the decade unfolds, the Black Sea is about to become a busy place.
[via New York Times Ideas]
First Look at Bigger, Nastier “Predators”
First Look at Bigger, Nastier “Predators”
Robert Rodriguez is producing another Predator sequel and screened some footage and concept art at SXSW:
The Predators in the upcoming film, due in July, are part of a new tribe we haven’t met yet, the duo said during the packed screening. As in the original film, every Predator is a trophy hunter and an expert in stalking and killing its prey, but each monster has its own specialized skill. There’s a falconer Predator who has a little UAV that serves as its eyes in the sky, a dog handler Predator (we got to see production art of its dog, sort of a dinosaur-wolf hybrid) and a “Super Predator” the production team refers to as “Mr. Black.”
The hidden math behind “Alice in Wonderland”
The hidden math behind “Alice in Wonderland”
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematician at Christ Church College, Oxford, and most mathematicians are probably aware that elements of the Alice story were inspired by mathematics. (At least, that is the entirely reasonable assumption everyone makes; Dodgson himself provided no commentary to that effect.)
Chasing the Sound Barrier, in a Leap From 23 Miles Up
Chasing the Sound Barrier, in a Leap From 23 Miles Up
Fearless Felix, as his fans call him, has something more difficult on the agenda: jumping from a helium balloon in the stratosphere at least 120,000 feet above Earth. Within about half a minute, he figures, he would be going 690 miles per hour and become the first skydiver to break the speed of sound. After a free fall lasting five and a half minutes, his parachute would open and land him about 23 miles below the balloon.
“Fearless” is right; wow…
[thanks to Tom M. for the link; more at MetaFilter]