Menu

Technology

Tweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on VkontakteShare on Vkontakte

How the speed of light was first measured

It wasn’t until Danish Astronomer, Ole Römer entered the fray that measurements of the speed of light got serious. In an experiment that made Galileo flashing lanterns on a hill look like a primary school science fair project, Römer determined that, lacking lasers and explosions, an experiment should always involve outer space. Thus, he based his observations on the movement of planets themselves, announcing his groundbreaking results on August 22, 1676.

@ todayifoundout.com
first posted:
last updated:
Tweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on VkontakteShare on Vkontakte

How the internet changed the way we read

The truth is that most of us read continuously in a perpetual stream of incestuous words, but instead of reading novels, book reviews, or newspapers like we used to in the ancien régime, we now read text messages, social media, and bite-sized entries about our protean cultural history on Wikipedia.

In the great epistemic galaxy of words, we have become both reading junkies and also professional text skimmers. Reading has become a clumsy science, which is why we keep fudging the lab results. But in diagnosing our own textual attention deficit disorder (ADD), who can blame us for skimming? We’re inundated by so much opinion posing as information, much of it the same material with permutating and exponential commentary. Skimming is practically a defense mechanism against the avalanche of info-opinion that has collectively hijacked narrative, reportage, and good analysis.

@ dailydot.com

via https://news.ycombinator.com/
first posted:
last updated:
Tweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on VkontakteShare on Vkontakte

Ending a text with a period makes you a monster.

According to research leader, Celia Klin, the perception comes from us desperately trying to find context in the thin clues of a sparse text message. “Texting is lacking many of the social cues used in actual face-to-face conversations,” Klin said. “When speaking, people easily convey social and emotional information with eye gaze, facial expressions, tone of voice, pauses and so on. People obviously can’t use these mechanisms when they are texting. Thus, it makes sense that texters rely on what they have available to them – emoticons, deliberate misspellings that mimic speech sounds and, according to our data, punctuation.”

@ theguardian.com
first posted:
last updated:
Tweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on VkontakteShare on Vkontakte

What really happens when you get shot

Most of what we learn about gunshot wounds, we learn from watching television. A small sliver of this programming is actually educational, like the ballistics tests performed on Mythbusters. (Some lessons: Bullets fired into liquids will stop or disintegrate rather than slice through seawater a la Saving Private Ryan, and a weapon that would blow a victim backwards would also blow the shooter back.) But these examples are outliers. Depictions of gun violence in fictional shows and movies are routine, and often wildly imaginative. Those depictions are distorting understanding of what bullets can—or can’t—do to bodies.

@ wired.com
first posted:
last updated:
Tweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on VkontakteShare on Vkontakte

American satellite started transmitting 46 years after being abandoned in 1967

An Amateur Radio Astronomer in North Cornwall accidentally picked up the signal in 2013 and after cross checking with various lists, has identified it as LES1 built by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and launched in 1965. The satellite failed to reach its intended orbit owing to a wiring error and has been drifting out of control ever since.

@ thevintagenews.com
first posted:
last updated:
Tweet about this on TwitterPin on PinterestShare on LinkedInShare on Google+Email this to someoneShare on FacebookShare on VkontakteShare on Vkontakte

US Launches futuristic ship USS Zumwalt, captained by James Kirk

“We are absolutely fired up to see Zumwalt get underway. For the crew and all those involved in designing, building, and readying this fantastic ship, this is a huge milestone,” the ship’s skipper, Navy Capt. James Kirk, said before the ship departed.

The ship has electric propulsion, new radar and sonar, powerful missiles and guns, and a stealthy design to reduce its radar signature. Advanced automation will allow the warship to operate with a much smaller crew size than current destroyers.

@ businessinsider.com
first posted:
last updated:
« Previous Page — Next Page »