How to pick up girls, the Feynman way

Coanda pipes

You can do it!

You don't say

In a speech in Washington, DC, on November 18th Eric Schmidt, chief executive of Google, an internet giant, claimed that government-funded research done in university laboratories was “the core aspect of America’s competitiveness”. Without a dramatic increase in investment in such research, and in maths and science education, Americans risked becoming mere “captive consumers” at the mercy of rising Asian powers, he argued. Well, duhhh...

Nonsense, insists Amar Bhidé of Columbia Business School. For America to retain this sort of edge, then, what the country needs is better MBAs, not more PhDs. Oh, yeah? What a bunch of crock.

A refreshing story

Here's a guy who actually saved some lives, and made things run better in the process. For all the health care hot air floating around in this endless campaign season, this is a welcome counterpoint. I say, make this guy Minister of Health, or whatever the appropriate title is.

How to catch a thief

Try doing that with a PC. Powwww!!!

A stupid ODE

Could mean something big?

AlGore meets his Berezina

The previous time a cycle was delayed like this was in the Dalton Minimum, an especially cold period that lasted several decades from 1790. Northern winters became ferocious: in particular, the rout of Napoleon's Grand Army during the retreat from Moscow in 1812 was at least partly due to the lack of sunspots.

Who besides the French would attack Russia in the Winter?

The present interglacial period we have enjoyed throughout recorded human history, called the Holocene, began 11,000 years ago, so an ice age is overdue. And glaciation can occur quickly: The required decline in global temperature is about 12 C and it can happen in 20 years. The next descent into an ice age is inevitable but may not happen for another 1,000 years. The cooling in 2007 was even faster than in typical glacial transitions. If it continued for 20 years, the temperature would be 14 C cooler in 2027.

That does it. I'm moving to Texas!

How Great Physicists Solve Problems

It's a lot like how ungreat physicists don't solve problems

B_S CP violation

The twist comes from odd behavior in a particle called the B_S, which flips back and forth between its matter and antimatter forms three trillions times per second. Researchers believe that such a breakdown, known as CP violation, is required to explain why matter is so abundant. Is Feynman laughing, or crying?

Think Apple

And you'll be more creative, my son.

Boston Big Dog

Dynamics at work in the western burbs of Beantown. Brought to you by some MIT geeks and a DARPA grant.

The Oceans of Titan

A Methane sea above a Water sea. A damn fascinating world, is Titan.

Pravda ponders joys of miles-high sex

The biggest problem is how to conceive, because liquid cannot be spilt under the condition of weightlessness. [..] In space men exercise on treadmills. In addition, they can theoretically masturbate too. But they should not forget about condoms or other containers, otherwise drop of sperm will be flying chaotically in the cabin and they will have to collect it. [..] Right after the take-off a human being experiences a great load... Hmmm...

Jerry Ford catapult

Titanic gas

Asimov weeps

Coandaboom!

Surge is more than a bunch of boots on the ground--it's also more (and better) aircraft, and more flyboys. By the way, read here about the Osprey: Use of Coanda technology to redirect exhaust. Powww!! Hey, JJ, where is my Louis Roed?

6,589 mph

To make Coanda proud.