What i would do if i was rich
A generation ago the most pressing question humanity could ask was what is the meaning of life? Now that we know the answer to that our culture has a new important question, what would you do if you were a millionaire. So here is my answer, open a museum. Budgeted to leave some change for the cliché charities and investments, here are the details:
An almost complete T-Rex skeleton named Samson failed to reach it’s reserve price at Auction in 2009. For 4mil I could probably seal the deal, perfect for the foyer!
At twice the size of a T-Rex, Robosaraus would make a perfect addition to my dinosaur collection. He can eat cars and planes and breathes fire and yet only sold for half a million in 2008. Going to see him at the Sydney Easter Show this week, quite exciting.
Of course I will need somewhere to store my budding Jurasic Park and I have always dreamed of owning an island. Lucky for me Plum Island off Long Island, New York is up for sale. It’s going cheap too because of the whole animal disease research they do there which means the whole place may be contaminated. On the up side it’s got a pretty lighthouse and weird creatures often wash up on the shores.
With the rest of the money I would buy all the paintings I love and maybe hire some cassowaries and to roam the grounds. Any other suggestions for what to put in my museum?
Beams collided at #cern
And we didn’t end up in Space! Surprisingly…
I was in Paris the first time beams were collided in the LHC and it was very exciting.
Today’s experiments are apparently very important for the advancement of physics. It’s a shame Sheldon Cooper is not commentating the webcast. Lots of other hot nerds there though.
Hoping to do a tour of the LHC when we are in Europe in May!
Photo of space station repairs above nz
Astronaut Robert L. Curbeam Jr. (left) and European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Christer Fuglesang participate in the mission’s first of three planned sessions of extravehicular activity (EVA) as construction continues on the International Space Station.
WTF was that thing in norway? i have my theories…
How does the media seem so calm/ quiet about this?! It’s so suspicious given the events which unfolded in the past 24 hours -
1. Obama arrives in Norway to collect his Nobel Peace Prize – Are the Russians firing up a not so cold war and trying to kill him + all the world leaders in Copenhagen while they are at it? Science is saying it’s most likely a Russian missile which has failed. If this is so, why would they risk getting into a world war they can’t win unless there was something in Oslo they wanted to hit?
2. Britain closes down UFO investigation unit – Either they found aliens and now the aliens are pissed off about not being able to email through anymore and are coming down for a visit. OR the British knew this was coming and closed the unit suddenly so that they would not be accountable for investigating it. But again, why would Mulder and Scully let Obama visit if they knew someone else was visiting too? Perhaps the terrestrial meeting was planned, and the real reason he’s getting the peace prize is for a Federation of the Galaxies like scheme he is about to announce?
3. The LHC finally collides some atoms – This is the most probable and scary possibility; CERN have created a black hole. Sure why would it be in Norway not France/ Switzerland? Perhaps it’s a horizon thing like the Aurora Borealis? Who really knows what they are plotting, or what Al Qaeda is doing with in CERN… If it is a man made black hole I am sure we can expect to be living in space some time soon.
Klein Bottle
Every now and then I will come across something in math or science which fascinates me. The Klein bottle is the most recent of these. Turns out there is a glassblower in California who makes this geometrical phenomenon into three dimensional objects >
Mr Stoll also makes Pyramid teapots (which fill from the bottom), so I purchased one for my Pa and it arrived yesterday! (Pictured with Mr. Stoll holding it on the right – hope he does not mind me using his image). Probably one of the best ever Christmas presents for the mathematically minded man. You can buy your own teapot or Klein bottle here >
Swiming with a liger of the sea
Today I met this weird creature, half bottle nose dolphin + half false killer whale aptly named a “wholphin”. I honestly didn’t know what to think when I saw it… how does something like this come into being?
Most hybrid animals are sterile but this girl gave birth to three pups, the latest of which is the only one to have survived. I got to jump in a pool and play with her, even ride on her tummy around the pool (holding onto her flippers). James wanted to do that as well but she wouldn’t pick him up until she got a kiss from me. It was pretty awesome. She chuckled heaps in a weird deeper than usual dolphin voice when James tried to give her a kiss. Apparently she’s a bit shy around boys.
400 years since Galileo’s telescope
Ben Parr seems to be looking for an excuse to blog about the 400 year anniversary of Galileo showing off his telescope. A newsworthy story for most nerd bloggers, but not so much if the blog you write for is about the internet… He went for the angle of Google changing their logo (which is not unusual). However the post was worth it for the beautiful painting sourced from Wikipedia (above).
the furtherest away from home you will ever get
In the first half of this video, Bill Stone discusses his experiences caving and how lonely it is being three kms underground, surrounded by dark rock.
The thought of it freaks me out. I am somewhere in between a claustrophobic and an agoraphobic, I get mild anxiety being too far from civilisation (perhaps bright city lights) so a cave is not my ideal hideout.
The thought of space travel has always struck me in the same way. It’s so dark out there and so isolated – in all its tremendous infinity.
Do you think you’d feel trapped in space?