Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Planets Screw-up Science!
Well, not really:
The disk spins, rotating around its center like a DVD (though stuff toward the center goes around faster than stuff near the outer edge). The middle of the disk is where the star forms. Farther out, local eddies and vortices can form planets. But the important thing to note is that in this scenario, everything spins in the same way. If the disk appears to be spinning clockwise, say, then the star will spin that same way, the planets will orbit that same way, and the planets will spin that same way. We’re pretty sure this is how things work because that’s pretty much what’s happening in our own solar system.
This theory has been tested by observation and by increasingly complex modeling. Sometimes there are problems with it, but in general new ideas have been added that fix those problems, and over time we’ve been pretty happy overall with the idea that stars and planets form this way.
However, a bunch of newly discovered planets have messed this nice idea up. They orbit their stars the wrong way!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Not Playing Farmville.
If any of you play it, I'm sorry, but I think you might be a sucker. I am, however, distracted by stories about people who play Farmville. Especially when it gets you kicked off your seat on the city council.
[Via: All Tech Considered]
The troubled councilor, Dimitar Kerin, has defended himself by saying he was not the only one in the City Hall watering virtual egg plants. He said he had reached only Level 40, whereas Daniela Zhelyazkova, a councilor from the rightist Democrats for Strong Bulgaria party, was already at Level 46.
[Via: All Tech Considered]
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
More Trouble With Blaintology
In the spirit of Josh's last post; getting called on your bullshit can be painful, like so:
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