40 digits of pi

By akie

You only need 40 digits of pi to calculate the number of atoms in a circle the size of the entire universe:

Why? Consider this:

• Atoms are about 10^-11 meters across
• The universe is about 90 billion light years (10²⁷ meters) wide

Dividing it out, it takes about 10³⁷ atoms to span the universe. So, around 40 digits of pi would be enough for an exact count of atoms needed to surround the universe. Were you planning on building something larger than the universe and precise to an atomic level? (If so, where would you put it?)

And that’s just 40 digits of precision; 80 digits covers us in case there’s a mini-universe inside each of our atoms, and 120 digits in case there’s another mini-universe inside of that one.

Link

Democratic party

By akie

This animation made me laugh.

Evolution

By akie

I found this Banksy-esque drawing on Flickr:

The international association of time travellers

By akie

 A fictional forum for time travellers:

“11/15/2104
At 14:52:28, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Reporting my first temporal excursion since joining IATT: have just returned from 1936 Berlin, having taken the place of one of Leni Riefenstahl’s cameramen and assassinated Adolf Hitler during the opening of the Olympic Games. Let a free world rejoice!

At 14:57:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1936 Berlin; incapacitated FreedomFighter69 before he could pull his little stunt. Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion per Bylaw 223.

At 18:06:59, BigChill wrote:
Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first trip. I did. It always gets fixed within a few minutes, what’s the harm?

At 18:33:10, SilverFox316 wrote:
Easy for you to say, BigChill, since to my recollection you’ve never volunteered to go back and fix it. You think I’ve got nothing better to do?

11/16/2104
At 10:15:44, JudgeDoom wrote:
Good news! I just left a French battlefield in October 1916, where I shot dead a young Bavarian Army messenger named Adolf Hitler! Not bad for my first time, no? Sic semper tyrannis!

At 10:22:53, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1916 France I come, having at the last possible second prevented Hitler’s early demise at the hands of JudgeDoom and, incredibly, restrained myself from shooting JudgeDoom and sparing us all years of correcting his misguided antics. READ BULLETIN 1147, PEOPLE!“

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“The world according to America”

By akie

This is what searching for “The world according to America” on Google’s image search turns up:

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Nice visualizations

By akie

Zefrank has a nice online tool to create stunning visualizations. Try it!

Hug a developer

By akie

Found on reddit programming.

Poor teddy bear

By akie

I like this somewhat unusual USB-drive.

Buy it here. Found on BoingBoing.

Mike Jacobsen’s comics

By akie

I like these geeky comics by Mike Jacobsen.

Beautiful long exposure photography

By akie

Cenci Goepel and Jens Warnecke are responsible for taking these wonderful long exposure photos.

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Time magazine’s archive: 1939-1945

By akie

I have always wondered how people in the years before, during and after WWII observed the events that were happening. Now I know, thanks to Time Magazine - who have put their complete archive online, for free. You can access it using Google News.

A small selection:

• Chamberlain’s appeasement (Monday, Mar. 07, 1938)
• Hitler mobilizing the army (Monday, Aug. 22, 1938)
• Churchill addresses the U.S. Congress (Monday, May. 31, 1943)
• Post-war discussion on what to do with Germany (Monday, May. 14, 1945)

Thank you, Time Magazine, for putting this online.

Old Europe beats the hell out of USA, China at Olympics, no one notices

By akie

In the overall medal standings at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, Old Europe has beaten the crap out of both China and the US - winning almost twice as much gold as the United States, and more than double the amount of medals of China. Despite the heated debate about exactly this subject, no one seems to notice.

Old Europe, an informal name for the European Union before its recent enlargements, managed to obtain 64 gold medals, 68 silver medals and 70 bronze medals - a total of 202 medals, solidly claiming the first place in the overall medal standings.

The 12 countries involved (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark, Greece, Portugal and Spain) have a total population of 366 million people, somewhat more than the United States, but far less than China.

So it seems Europe came out on top in this Olympics. But please, continue to ignore the elephant in the room. It’s not as if we have the largest economy in the world, or six times the fire power of China.

One Atheist’s Creed

By akie

This YouTube video is a nice summary of my personal beliefs.

Using Photographs to Enhance Videos of a Static Scene

By akie

Watch this hugely impressive video of a new video enhancement technique.

Link to paper.

Milky way over Ontario

By akie

Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn took this great picture of the Milky Way in Binbrook, Ontario.

Via Neatorama.