Since I said "daily" exploration in the last post, I feel the pressure to keep updating at least every other day, alas~~ so I decided to change it to "weekly" discoveries ;P
The most interesting thing I saw today is a fleet of at least 8 bikes on 295 in Washington direction. They are maybe riding to some function since I noticed the couple on one motorcycle besides me when I'm merging were wearing matching T-shirts, which I thought was so cute that I gave them a thumb up, plus all bikes are spotless and look very similar in style and color. Oh, how I wish I could take a picture of them!
The next interesting thing is a podcast I started listening yesterday about how using (or disregarding) our herd mentality would affect the efficacy of public policies which I thought was the best episode of Freakonomics I heard lately. Since I'm writing during work hour, I would resume later today, until then, love and peace!
[Later today] So as you may have learned by now how mimes are better in keeping the traffic in Bogota under control than police, or how by setting up warning signs people, maybe the most righteous people mind you, are more tempted to violate those rules, or how our neighbors are the real determining factor in our energy conservation, or how far people would go to break the rule just to keep their lawns lust and green. No? Then click the link in the last paragraph and listen to the podcast! The podcast also mentioned a book called Influence which should be a good read! In the mean time I probably would try to shame my roommate to clean our apartment more often, mwahahaha...
Until next time, love and peace!
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Monday, July 9, 2012
No better day to start something new and exciting like TODAY
Although this is not the first time I keep a public blog, the thought of starting something new, especially a scientific blog, is still super exciting, maybe a bit nervous. That said, I should start documenting my daily discoveries right NOW!
It's been a while since I last checked out Science Friday, so when I refreshed my iTune video podcast today I saw two very cool clips.
One is a rap song about what Large Hadron Collider does. Even though it does a very good job in explaining some complicated terms and concepts in limited words and keeps them cool, fun, and rhymes at the same time, I still couldn't claim I understand fully or at least enough to rephrase what have been said. So I'll let you be the judge or you may simply enjoy the music and their goofy geeky dance ;P
The second one is an animation called what is flame. Since it's a longer video and a relatively simpler (but equally interesting) phenomenon, I felt I truly grasp how flame works at the end (now that I think about it, maybe I SHOULD have known all these ages ago??? Oh well... never too late to learn). The video started out by noting what we can see and feel about fire: the colors, blue-ish, red-ish, orange-ish, and yellow-ish from the core to the outer layer, and the heat. It went on to present the three components of any fire, H, C, and O, with the first two stack neatly like brick wall and the last ingredient floating in the atmosphere (Oh did I mention they use lego to illustrate all these atoms? Smart, right?). The first layer is the blue light when fuel turns into flame. The atoms rearrange and produce CO2 and H2O. The interesting and counter intuitive part is that the blue light itself is not hot but the flame is, and that is because the newly formed compounds are still very active and they can shake anything nearby, like the atoms of your fingertip which gives you the sensation of burning. The other colors in a flame are the results of burning when there's not enough O. The products are extra C. They together form a thing called soot which suck up heat and glow brighter and brighter. I know, I know, what I've just said would put you to sleep! What makes this video interesting is their use of animation, cartoon analogies, and funny sound and visual effects. You can check it out yourself:
Well, it's late, I should resume shortly when I see/learn anything new and interesting, until then, love and peace :D
It's been a while since I last checked out Science Friday, so when I refreshed my iTune video podcast today I saw two very cool clips.
One is a rap song about what Large Hadron Collider does. Even though it does a very good job in explaining some complicated terms and concepts in limited words and keeps them cool, fun, and rhymes at the same time, I still couldn't claim I understand fully or at least enough to rephrase what have been said. So I'll let you be the judge or you may simply enjoy the music and their goofy geeky dance ;P
The second one is an animation called what is flame. Since it's a longer video and a relatively simpler (but equally interesting) phenomenon, I felt I truly grasp how flame works at the end (now that I think about it, maybe I SHOULD have known all these ages ago??? Oh well... never too late to learn). The video started out by noting what we can see and feel about fire: the colors, blue-ish, red-ish, orange-ish, and yellow-ish from the core to the outer layer, and the heat. It went on to present the three components of any fire, H, C, and O, with the first two stack neatly like brick wall and the last ingredient floating in the atmosphere (Oh did I mention they use lego to illustrate all these atoms? Smart, right?). The first layer is the blue light when fuel turns into flame. The atoms rearrange and produce CO2 and H2O. The interesting and counter intuitive part is that the blue light itself is not hot but the flame is, and that is because the newly formed compounds are still very active and they can shake anything nearby, like the atoms of your fingertip which gives you the sensation of burning. The other colors in a flame are the results of burning when there's not enough O. The products are extra C. They together form a thing called soot which suck up heat and glow brighter and brighter. I know, I know, what I've just said would put you to sleep! What makes this video interesting is their use of animation, cartoon analogies, and funny sound and visual effects. You can check it out yourself:
Well, it's late, I should resume shortly when I see/learn anything new and interesting, until then, love and peace :D
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