Year 1752 (MDCCLII) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar. In the British Empire, it was the only year with 355 days, as September 3 through September 13 were skipped.
Showing posts with label interesting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label interesting. Show all posts
September 15, 2014
September 9, 2014
Pendulum Waves
From the description under the video:
Fifteen uncoupled simple pendulums of monotonically increasing lengths dance together to produce visual traveling waves, standing waves, beating, and (seemingly) random motion.
Now watch it done with bowling balls!
Now watch it done with bowling balls!
August 25, 2014
Amazing Audio Illusion
From the "About" section under the video:
Just like there are optical illusions, there is also “audio illusion” or "acoustical illusion". This one is called Shepard tone. When a number of octave notes are played at the same time, the average human ear will simply hear the one note, closest to the last pitched sound it heard, as opposed to differentiating and splitting that sound into its singular octave parts. The volume of the higher pitched tone slightly decreases and the lower pitched one increases over the scale, which is what makes the effect seem so seamless.
Listen to this video until the end, and when it stops, play it again to hear the difference, tune continue to "creep - up"... It will blow your mind!
Just like there are optical illusions, there is also “audio illusion” or "acoustical illusion". This one is called Shepard tone. When a number of octave notes are played at the same time, the average human ear will simply hear the one note, closest to the last pitched sound it heard, as opposed to differentiating and splitting that sound into its singular octave parts. The volume of the higher pitched tone slightly decreases and the lower pitched one increases over the scale, which is what makes the effect seem so seamless.
Listen to this video until the end, and when it stops, play it again to hear the difference, tune continue to "creep - up"... It will blow your mind!
August 15, 2014
July 15, 2014
Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates
Interesting and informative, the Visualizing World Birth and Death Rates page shows a simulation of births and deaths all over the globe. You can limit the view to any continent or show even more detail.
June 26, 2014
The Wilhelm Scream
The Wilhelm scream is a film and television stock sound effect that has been used in more than 200 movies, beginning in 1951 for the film Distant Drums. The scream is often used when someone is shot, falls from a great height, or is thrown from an explosion.
Most likely voiced by actor and singer Sheb Wooley (his biggest music hit was Purple People Eater), the sound is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 western in which the character gets shot with an arrow. This was its first use from the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although The Charge at Feather River is believed to have been the third movie to use the effect.
The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after it was used in Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Indiana Jones series, Disney cartoons and many other blockbuster films as well as many television programs and video games.
(source: Wikipedia )
Most likely voiced by actor and singer Sheb Wooley (his biggest music hit was Purple People Eater), the sound is named after Private Wilhelm, a character in The Charge at Feather River, a 1953 western in which the character gets shot with an arrow. This was its first use from the Warner Bros. stock sound library, although The Charge at Feather River is believed to have been the third movie to use the effect.
The effect gained new popularity (its use often becoming an in-joke) after it was used in Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Indiana Jones series, Disney cartoons and many other blockbuster films as well as many television programs and video games.
(source: Wikipedia )
June 6, 2014
June 4, 2014
Honey Bee Cam
One out of three bites of food, or one-third of our diet, is linked to the direct work of the honey bee, which makes it imperative that we find out what has been causing a collapse in honeybee colonies. Research now points to a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids being responsible.
April 26, 2014
Hey Mami - Josh Turner
Featuring Sam Helferich
Not my favorite video from young Mr. Turner, but one of the most interesting, using a phone app for overdubbing.
Not my favorite video from young Mr. Turner, but one of the most interesting, using a phone app for overdubbing.
April 20, 2014
10 Curious Facts About Marijuana
Now, I ordinarily wouldn't "sully" Easter with such a video, but it IS 4/20, after all. I found this interesting and informative and learned quite a few things. The most surprising thing was that it's not illegal in N. Korea and is smoked openly. My first thought was that maybe it's encouraged to keep the populace under control, then I remembered the Ron Paul supporters who supported him mainly for his stance on drug decriminalization...they certainly were out of control. (and, IMHO, one of the biggest reasons he never got any traction with voters)
February 22, 2014
The Truth About Coca-Cola
You probably already knew some of these things, but it's still interesting.
February 11, 2014
Barcode Yourself
From the site:
Barcode Yourself is a complete, interactive experience in the series of barcode art, created using the personalized data of participants. Enter an individual's gender, weight, height, age and location, and the barcode is formed using real-world data.
The individualized barcode can then be printed, mapped, scanned, even depicted on a t-shirt or coffee mug. Uber-geeks can even test out their barcodes on their next grocery run.
It is in scanning a barcode that the project reveals its humor, like a banner that reads: Disclaimer! Human beings are not merely worth somewhere between one cent and 10 dollars.
Read more about Barcode Yourself (along with some interesting social commentary) @
Barcode Yourself is a complete, interactive experience in the series of barcode art, created using the personalized data of participants. Enter an individual's gender, weight, height, age and location, and the barcode is formed using real-world data.
The individualized barcode can then be printed, mapped, scanned, even depicted on a t-shirt or coffee mug. Uber-geeks can even test out their barcodes on their next grocery run.
It is in scanning a barcode that the project reveals its humor, like a banner that reads: Disclaimer! Human beings are not merely worth somewhere between one cent and 10 dollars.
Read more about Barcode Yourself (along with some interesting social commentary) @
February 4, 2014
HenCam
A recent discovery, I really enjoy getting updates from the site in my reader and I try to visit every day I can to view the various webcams. The owner of the site is a lady who lives in a small town outside of Boston.
There's an outside cam (pictured above), where you can find the hens on most days. It's fun to watch them peck and scratch the ground and I find it as entertaining as watching an aquarium full of fish. There's also inside cameras, one in a separate barn for chickens and another for the same chickens pictured in the above screen shot. There's also a GoatCam (actually two, one for inside and another outside that will switch between them on a motion sensor) that shows the activities of the two Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats, Pip and Caper.
The hens also all have names, but I'm not familiar enough yet to recognize each of them. There's a page with photos of each with their names. If you watch long enough, you'll also see Phoebe the rabbit hopping in or out of the view.
Today's article was very interesting, about re-introducing a hen - Beulah - back into the flock. (there really IS such a thing as a "pecking order"). Check it out; if you like animals and especially chickens (and goats and rabbits!) you're sure to enjoy it as I do.
December 14, 2013
December 9, 2013
December 4, 2013
Smugopedia
From the website:Smugopedia is a collection of slightly controversial opinions about a variety of subjects.
We offer you the chance to buy a fleeting sense of self-satisfaction at the small cost of alienating your friends and loved ones.
December 3, 2013
Number Gossip
Enter a number and it will tell you everything you wanted to know about the number but were afraid to ask.
I first used my old h.s. football number:
* The 61st Fibonacci number (2504730781961) is the smallest Fibonacci number which contains all the digits from 0 to 9
* 61 is the smallest multidigit prime p such that the sum of digits of pp is a square
* 61 is the smallest prime whose reversal is a square
I like the number 23:
# 23 is the smallest group of people where there is more than a 50% chance that 2 people will share the same birthday (day and month, not year)
# 23 is the smallest isolated prime, i.e., not an element of a set of twin primes
# 23 is the smallest prime whose reversal is a power: 32 = 25
# 23 is the only prime p such that p! is p digits long
# 23 is the least pandigital factorial, that is it contains all the digits 0 through 9 at least once
# 23 is the smallest prime p such that the ring of integers in the cyclotomic field of pth roots of unity does not have unique factorization
Believe it or not, but I knew that first bit of information (about the birthdays), having read it in an old "bar tricks" book I used to have. The rest of it, though....
I first used my old h.s. football number:
* The 61st Fibonacci number (2504730781961) is the smallest Fibonacci number which contains all the digits from 0 to 9
* 61 is the smallest multidigit prime p such that the sum of digits of pp is a square
* 61 is the smallest prime whose reversal is a square
I like the number 23:
# 23 is the smallest group of people where there is more than a 50% chance that 2 people will share the same birthday (day and month, not year)
# 23 is the smallest isolated prime, i.e., not an element of a set of twin primes
# 23 is the smallest prime whose reversal is a power: 32 = 25
# 23 is the only prime p such that p! is p digits long
# 23 is the least pandigital factorial, that is it contains all the digits 0 through 9 at least once
# 23 is the smallest prime p such that the ring of integers in the cyclotomic field of pth roots of unity does not have unique factorization
Believe it or not, but I knew that first bit of information (about the birthdays), having read it in an old "bar tricks" book I used to have. The rest of it, though....
November 12, 2013
Meet Your Meat
Eye opening...to say the least. If you watch, please do so all the way through. The ending is not only symbolic, but a dire warning.
The name of this video was "SAMSARA food sequence" and I wasn't familiar with the term; here's the Wiki entry for Samsāra, which means "continuous flow" and is the repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth (reincarnation) within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Taoism, Yârsân. In Sikhism this concept is slightly different and looks at one's actions in the present and consequences in the present.
The name of this video was "SAMSARA food sequence" and I wasn't familiar with the term; here's the Wiki entry for Samsāra, which means "continuous flow" and is the repeating cycle of birth, life, death and rebirth (reincarnation) within Hinduism, Buddhism, Bön, Jainism, Taoism, Yârsân. In Sikhism this concept is slightly different and looks at one's actions in the present and consequences in the present.
November 7, 2013
November 1, 2013
Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike was the codename given to the first test of a thermonuclear device, in which part of the explosive yield comes from nuclear fusion. It was detonated on November 1, 1952 by the United States on Enewetak, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean, as part of Operation Ivy. The device was the first full test of the Teller-Ulam design, a staged fusion bomb, and was the first successful test of a hydrogen bomb.
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