Video
rallain | May 4, 2010So you have seen these color filters (or gels as they are also called). When you look through a red filter, everything looks red. What do they do to the light? I am not going to tell you the answer. However, I will show you some examples so that you can figure out the answer yourself.
In this video, I am going to use a red and a green laser pointer. The nice thing about laser pointers is that they essentially create only one color of light.
rallain | May 4, 2010It is my duty as a blogger to mention lasers in this time of international laser celebration. This May is the 50th anniversary of the first lasers. Everyone knows a laser that they love, right? We all use them. So, instead of talking about lasers, I am going to post some great links to other laser stuff (including some of my stuff).
the history of the first lasers (AIP)
The above is the American Institute of Physics's presentation of the history of the laser. Really, this does a great job of giving all the details you would want. I highly recommend it.
Uncertain Principle's Laser…
grrlscientist | May 4, 2010tags: New Fitness Craze: White Women's Workout, exercise, fitness, racism, social observation, humor, funny, satire, fucking hilarious, Godfrey, Ty Bowman, streaming video
I know that many Americans want to lose weight, and here's a novel new workout craze to help you do just that! Combining racial stereotypes with exercise techniques, exercise guru Ty Bowman has created Southern Cali's latest workout craze...The White Women's Workout. As a NYCer, I think this will work well in certain neighborhoods in the Bronx!
[Comedian, Godfrey, plays Fitness Guru, Ty Bowman.]
grrlscientist | May 3, 2010tags: Hong Kong Architect Transforms Shoebox Apartment into 24 Rooms, efficient living, home life, architecture, technology, Gary Chang, streaming video
Life is cramped in Manhattan, but if you have enough money and imagination, you can convert your shoebox into a livable space, as this Hong Kong architect did. Find out how award-winning Hong Kong architect, Gary Chang, managed to squeeze 24 rooms -- including a home cinema and ''spa'' -- into 32 square meters (344 square feet) of apartment space.
rallain | May 3, 2010This video seems like it is getting popular, but maybe that is because it is so awesome.
Maybe it is just me, but I find this video very visually satisfying. I love the way they compare the different runners.
Anyway, there is some physics here. Commenter Ben sent me the link to this video (thanks!) with some great questions. Which of the runners has a greater kinetic energy? What about the power? These aren't too difficult to answer, but the first thing is to get the data. There are several options (including just using a stop watch). But no, that is not good enough for me. Instead, I…
grrlscientist | May 2, 2010tags: Using Statistics to Create The Ultimate TEDTalk, statistics, public speaking, Sebastian Wernicke, TEDTalks, streaming video
In a brilliantly tongue-in-cheek analysis, Sebastian Wernicke turns the tools of statistical analysis on TEDTalks, to come up with a metric for creating "the optimum TEDTalk" based on user ratings. How do you rate it? "Jaw-dropping"? "Unconvincing"? Or just plain "Funny"?
After making a splash in the field of bioinformatics, Sebastian Wernicke moved on to the corporate sphere where he motivates and manages multidimensional projects. You can get your copy of…
grrlscientist | May 2, 2010tags: Wikileaks on the Culture Show, freedom of publishing, freedom of press, investigative journalism, communication, information technology, internet, television, Culture Show, Jacques Peretti, John Young, Julian Assange, streaming video
Jacques Peretti looks into Wikileaks, the anonymous whistle-blowing internet site. Features an interview with John Young of Cryptome and Julian Assange of Wikileaks. Just for good measure, John has published details of the email correspondence with the BBC.
grrlscientist | May 2, 2010tags: I'm A Teabagger For Jesus, teabaggers, America, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, socialism,humor, funny, satire, fucking hilarious, social commentary, cultural observation, Edward Current, streaming video
What would Jesus do to help America? In this video, William Current, one of my favorite social satirists, explains how he decided that he would be a Teabagger. No taxation without representation!
grrlscientist | May 1, 2010tags: Bible Contradictions Quiz Show, religion, christianity, Bible, humor, funny, satire, comedy, fucking hilarious,animation, cults, streaming video
This amusing video shows a quiz show where the two contestants are asked questions about the bible -- unfortunately, the holy word of god is filled with contradictions (more contradictions than the Harry Potter series, for that matter!)
grrlscientist | May 1, 2010tags: Funny Cide, horse racing, horses, retired racehorses, HorseracingTV, streaming video
Funny Cide gave America something to cheer about in 2003 as the first New York bred in history to win the Kentucky Derby. He went on to capture the Preakness Stakes winning easily by ten lengths. However, he lost by four lengths to Empire Maker in the Belmont on a very muddy track (Funny Cide hated mud).
As he walked back towards the grandstand, the crowd continued to cheer for Funny Cide, "America's Horse," and boo the winner Empire Maker. Funny Cide's owner Barclay Tagg, after retiring Funny Cide,…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2010tags: Bird House, humor, funny, satire, fucking hilarious, Robinson's Be Natural, advertizing, television, streaming video
This hilarious video shows up a glimpse of life from a canary's point of view. The skill of the animal trainer is apparent, and I am astonished at the attention to detail in this commercial.
grrlscientist | April 30, 2010tags: Jockey Liam Hollins The Favorite To Brutally Whip Horse to Kentucky Derby Win, horse racing, horses, whipping, humor, funny, satire, fucking hilarious, Onion News Network, ONN, streaming video
Fresh from his Blue Grass Stakes win, jockey Liam Hollins moves on to today's Kentucky Derby where he hopes to be the first to mercilessly beat the winning horse across the finish line.
grrlscientist | April 30, 2010tags: Deutsch für Doofe, German for Boneheads, German language, education, Speedyconkiwi, streaming video
German for Boneheads: lesson one. How to ask for six fish at the pet store without inadvertently ending up with 60 fish.
I still love Sulkasiipi.
grrlscientist | April 29, 2010tags: Life in the Aphotic Zone, animals, marine life, marine biology, bioluminescence, benthic zone, abyssal zone, streaming video
This fascinating video captures a glimpse of the weird and wonderful animals that live in the aphotic zone. The aphotic zone (aphotic from Greek prefix á¼- + Ïá¿¶Ï "without light") is the portion of a lake or ocean where there is little or no sunlight. It is formally defined as the depths beyond which less than 1% of sunlight penetrates. Consequently, bioluminescence is essentially the only light found in this zone. Most food comes from dead organisms sinking to…
drorzel | April 29, 2010SteelyKid has a cold, again, so she's kind of unhappy tonight. There's a picture of a slightly bleary SteelyKid with Appa below the fold, but that's kind of a downer, so here's some video from the other night, showing her new favorite game:
(She'll do this for hours. Well, ten minutes, at least, but it feels like hours when you're the one being ordered around and jumped on...)
Here's the Appa picture, for completeness:
Mommy and the Red Dog make things a little more bearable, but she hasn't been a happy camper today.
grrlscientist | April 28, 2010tags: Prometheus and Bob, Breakfast, behavior, space alien, caveman, humor, funny, comedy, animation, art, streaming video
This hilarious video shows the space alien trying eat breakfast with Bob, who is more interested in grabbing an eagle egg from a tree-top nest. Unfortunately, the birds are not cooperating.
grrlscientist | April 28, 2010tags: EU Airspace Reboot, Iceland Volcano Eruption, flightradar24, openstreetmap.org, itoworld.com, ideasintransit.org, streaming video
This video is a visualization of the northern European airspace returning to full air traffic use after being closed due to volcanic ash. Due to varying ash density across Europe, the first flights can be seen in some areas on the 18th and by the 20th everywhere is open. There are a few gaps (erm, France) and no coverage over the Atlantic, but the picture is still clear.
The flight data is courtesy of flightradar24.com and covers a large fraction of Europe.…
rallain | April 28, 2010Normally, it isn't really news when a show doesn't do anything wrong. I am making an exception for ESPN's Sport Science. Here is part 2 of Sport Science trying to reproduce Kobe Bryant's "jumping over a car" stunt.
And here is part 1 (although part 2 is the only interesting part). See. I can get along with Sport Science. Anyway, I am not sure that Kobe's jump used wires - but I assumed it was fake. Here is my analysis of Kobe's Jump (this stuff is old). And this is the plot I created from video analysis of Kobe.
The tough thing about looking at Kobe's jump is that he changes his body…
grrlscientist | April 28, 2010tags: British vs American Slang, Ellen Degeneres, Hugh Laurie, television, humor, comedy, streaming video
The fantastically talented Hugh Laurie paid a house call to Ellen, and they played an exciting game of American slang versus English slang -- and the game was bloody brilliant!
The slang that Ellen chose as "American" baffled me, too (was it actually "Ellen slang" instead of American slang?), although I did understand the British slang .. hrm.
grrlscientist | April 27, 2010tags: The Truth About HSUS, pets, animals, animal rights, wingnuts, cults, Wayne Pacelle, Humane Society of the United States, HSUS, streaming video
The real agenda of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is to remove money from your wallet and put it into their CEOs' retirement funds, to ignore animal shelters, and to forever destroy your ability to live with animals.