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Links for 2010-11-03

By drorzel on November 3, 2010.
  • Motorcycle tablecloth trick: could it be done? | Wired Science | Wired.com
    "After watching this episode, a colleague had a great question:

    "How fast would the MythBusters have to go to make this trick work?"

    Interesting. In their last attempt, they had the motorcycle going around 100 mph. It did't work, but some of the stuff did stay on the table. What if they went faster? Could it work?"

    (tags: science physics video blogs dot-physics education outreach culture television)
  • Confessions of a Community College Dean: Culture of Poverty
    My disregard for the Charles Murray line of argument is based on any number of things, but one of them is precisely the recognition of a culture of poverty among the people he claims to valorize. They're proud of their ignorance. Ignorance is not a principled position. [...] Petulance is not constructive. And manipulating the ignorant with appeals to their worst instincts so you can rob them blind is disgusting.

    No, I don't watch ultimate fighting, or follow NASCAR. Instead I advocate (and vote) for health care for everybody, and education good enough to help the next generation of kids like me to get the hell out of the backwater in which they're stuck. Best case, I'd hope that some of the kids who might have been confined to burnout status back in the day might find some constructive reason to actually care about something. Give them something to lose, and maybe they'll actually step up. If they don't, at least they had a shot."

    (tags: class-war society culture politics blogs dean-dad us education race social-science)
  • Overview | Causes of Color
    "It has been proposed that all the colors in the universe originate from a mere fifteen fundamental physical causes. These causes appear over and over, lending color to the world around us. Some common causes seem logical - for example, both light bulbs and candles are colored by incandescence - and others are surprising - did you know that the colors of peacock feathers and bubbles are both caused by interference? Very small additions of an impurity can transform transparent corundum into a gorgeous red ruby. The same mechanism makes emeralds green and produces the color in some glazes and enamels."
    (tags: science physics optics education outreach art internet)
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