Video
grrlscientist | May 26, 2010tags: Hazmat Dive into the Middle of the Gulf Oil Spill, Corexit, environment, Gulf oil spill, BP, British Petroleum, chemical dispersants, Philippe Cousteau Jr., Sam Champion, television, streaming video
What is the chemical dispersant, Corexit, doing to the oil in the Gulf? This video follows Philippe Cousteau Jr. and Sam Champion as they dive into Gulf's oily waters wearing hazmat uniforms. Their video shows that the oil is being broken up into tiny droplets that coat everything in their path ... birds, fish, whales, boats, the bottom of the sea and people in hazmat suits ... these small…
grrlscientist | May 26, 2010tags: Stevie the Professional Regurgitator, jobs, hobbies, passtimes, offbeat, strange, funny, people, The Tonight Show, streaming video
This man makes a living by swallowing strange objects, like light bulbs, and then vomiting them back up. I think at least a few of these stunts are illusions -- how did he do the sugar trick, for example? -- while other stunts (the fish trick) are really just gross.
Okay, how the heck did he do the sugar trick? And the fish trick? [and tell me, what does HSUS say about this fish trick?? or are they too busy writing legislation to outlaw people's pets to…
grrlscientist | May 25, 2010tags: This Man and His Marbles Are Rarely Parted, marble racing, hobbies, passtimes, offbeat, strange, funny, people, Belgian Television News, streaming video
This Belgian Television News video documents a man whom some of you might think is very strange. I don't think he's strange, though. Of course, I am probably telling you too much about myself, but I did this, too! Like this guy, I had a collection of hundreds of marbles that I'd race for hours at a time through intricate obstacle courses that I had constructed. I not only recognized each individual marble, but yes, I named each one, too…
grrlscientist | May 25, 2010tags: Bill Murray, Poets House, NYC, NYC Life, Construction Workers, employment, I dwell in Possibility, Gathering Paradise, poem, poetry, poetry reading, Emily Dickinson, streaming video
This is a beautiful video, showing the construction of NYC's Poets House, along with a reading of several poems, including Emily Dickinson's lovely poem, "I dwell in Possibility," by actor Bill Murray, and ending with a short segment where some of the guys introduce themselves. This poetry reading was the first to take place at the Poets House new home. It's really fitting that those who constructed the…
grrlscientist | May 24, 2010tags: Obama Gets Applause at West Point, Fox Erases It?, Fox News, right-wing propaganda, news media, politics, President Obama, West Point Academy, graduation speech, streaming video
President Obama addressed the graduates at West Point Academy on Saturday, saying, "Adversaries want to divide us, but we are united by our support for you -- soldiers who send a clear message that this country is both the land of the free and the home of the brave." His comments about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the threats of terrorism received applause from the graduates, but Fox News apparently didn…
grrlscientist | May 24, 2010tags: The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies, feminism, film, movies, entertainment industry, pop culture, cultural observation, Bechdel Test, Allison Bechdel, streaming video
The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It is astonishing the number of popular movies that can't pass this simple test. It demonstrates how little women's complex and interesting lives are underrepresented or non existent…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2010tags: Shuttle Launch Preparation Choreographed Like Ballet, Space Shuttle, space exploration, space flight, NASA, Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman, Philip Scott Andrews, photography, time-lapse video, streaming video
This video is simply stunning and the photography is masterful. In this video, we are looking at time-lapse photographs by photographers Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman and Philip Scott Andrews, who decided to demonstrate the process of launching a shuttle in a new and innovative way. Using time-lapse photography, they turned the 6 week process of prepping a shuttle into this gorgeous four…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2010tags: Scientology, SeaOrg, cults, religion, mind control, offbeat, weird, L Ron Hubbard, A Look at Scientology's Secret Base, Twin Peaks, AnonOrange, Angry Gay Pope, streaming video
The Twin Peaks base houses a vault full of Scientology's precious scripture. It's also a place to hide if WWIII breaks out. And it's a place where celebrities can come and escape. But judging by all the high fences and UltraBarrier, it's also a prison camp. Protesters AnonOrange and the Angry Gay Pope pay them a visit, seeking missing cultists Shelly Miscavige and Heber Jentz. Instead, they meet cultists Sarah…
grrlscientist | May 22, 2010tags: Scientology, SeaOrg, cults, religion, mind control, offbeat, weird, L Ron Hubbard, Scarlett Hanna, Australian Broadcasting Company, streaming video
Scarlett Hanna, the daughter of the president of the Church of Scientology in Australia, speaks out against the organization in this eye-opening interview with the Australian Broadcasting Company.
grrlscientist | May 22, 2010tags: The Chatty Duel, The Princess Bride, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Hollywood, film, offbeat, streaming video
For this week's Silly Saturday, I am sharing this video of the fight between the Man in Black (Cary Elwes) and Inigo (Mandy Patinkin) from the Princess Bride. It's actually funny to watch these two chat while sword fighting.
I thought these lines were quite amusing:
"You've done nothing but study swordplay?"
"More pursue than study lately.. you see, I can no' find him. It's been 20 years now, I'm starting to lose confidence. I just work for Vizzini to pay the bills. There's not…
grrlscientist | May 21, 2010tags: ABC Nightline Twittercast, legalization of marijuana, NORML, Allen St. Pierre, Heritage Foundation, Brian Darling, weed, pot, drugs, twittercast, streaming video
Let's kick off Silly Saturday with an interesting ABC twittercast debate about legalization of marijuana. This video is amusing because, as one person observed, it's like watching a scientist argue with a 9-year-old about the existence of Santa Claus. [Despite the moron guest on this twittercast, I find this interesting because it suggests an alternate medium for future news casts to utilize -- twitter -- and these so-called "…
grrlscientist | May 21, 2010tags: Pay Attention to Penguins, birds, penguins, environment, global warming, ethics, climate change, Dee Boersma, TEDTalks, TED Talks, streaming video
Think of penguins as ocean sentinels, says Dee Boersma -- they're on the frontlines of sea change. Sharing stories of penguin life and culture, she suggests that we start listening to what penguins are telling us.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on…
grrlscientist | May 20, 2010tags: Richard Feynman Explains Electricity, science, physics, imagination, hot, offbeat, Electricity, jiggling atoms, physical laws, Richard Feynman, streaming video
Physicist Richard Feynman visits the dentist and wonders about the amazing phenomenon of electricity.
From the BBC TV series 'Fun to Imagine' (1983).
rallain | May 20, 2010And there's parliament. Ok - sorry, I had to make a "Tom (Swans on Tea)" title for this one. Tom, forgive me.
Here are two great circular motion videos. First, this one is from Dale Basler. He made himself a fine little floater-type accelerometer. Better than just make it, he made a video of the accelerometer in his car going around a round about. Check it out.
Bobber Meets Roundabout from Dale Basler on Vimeo.
So, if he is driving at a constant 10 mph, how big is the round about (traffic circle)?
Next video - more silly kids
First, I saw this one on ZapperZ's Physics and Physicists who…
cagapakis | May 20, 2010This is a pretty old video we made about Craig Venter that I've shared before on Hydrocalypse, but I think now is a good time to share it again. When Craig isn't creating synthetic bacteria, he's sailing the world, searching the oceans for interesting DNA sequences. We were inspired by this lifestyle (and sometimes even his science too) and SNL, and from that came Venter's on a Boat, by Hydrocalypse Industries (warning: the song contains a lot of bad language):
grrlscientist | May 20, 2010tags: comedy, offbeat, funny, humor, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, streaming video
Bud Abbott & Lou Costello discuss questions for passing a police exam... with crazy results!! (much like a synopsis of internet arguments, but created in the 1940s)
grrlscientist | May 19, 2010tags: Richard Feynman Explains Magnets and 'Why?' Questions, science, physics, magnet, forces, offbeat, ice, slippery, physical laws, Richard Feynman, streaming video
Physicist Richard Feynman tries to explain to a non-scientist just how difficult it can be to answer certain questions in lay terms! A classic example of Feynman's clarity of thought, powers of explanation and intellectual honesty - his refusal to 'cheat'.
From the BBC TV series 'Fun to Imagine' (1983).
sciencepunk | May 19, 2010In 1926 German illustrator Fritz Kahn drew Der Mensch als Industriepalast, part of a series of artworks reinterpreting the body as a mechanical factory. Now fellow countryman and artist Henning Lederer has updated the the famous image, turning it into an interactive animation.
He says:
The visual crossover between industrialization and science in Fritz Kahn's artwork demonstrates surprisingly accurately how human nature became culturally encoded by placing the knowledge in an industrial modernity of machine analogues. He produced lots of illustrations that drew a direct functional analogy…
drorzel | May 19, 2010SteelyKid's day care is closed today and tomorrow for a Jewish holiday (happy (?) Shavuot to those who celebrate it), so she's home all day for the next two. Of course, Kate and I are both crazy busy, so my parents are coming up to watch SteelyKid today while we're off at work. We really had to twist their arms to get them to agree to spend a whole day with the cutest baby in the universe...
Anyway, in honor of that, here's some bonus baby video of SteelyKid playing one of her favorite games with Grandpa:
It's less elaborate than a lot of her favorite games, but really, anything where she…
grrlscientist | May 19, 2010tags: Why I'm a Weekday Vegetarian, environment, global warming, meat, vegetarianism, ethics, climate change, Graham Hill, TEDTalks, TED Talks, streaming video
We all know the arguments that being vegetarian is better for the environment and for the animals -- but in a carnivorous culture, it can be hard to make the change. Graham Hill has a powerful, pragmatic suggestion ...
The video following the TEDTalk is more interesting than the actual talk itself.
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and…