02 MAR 2019 by ideonexus
Triangles on Earth Exceed 180 Degrees
The idea that space and time can be curved or warped is fairly recent. For more than 2,000 years the axioms of Euclidean geometry were considered to be selfevident. As those of you who were forced to learn geometry at school may remember, one of the consequences of these axioms is that the angles ot a triangle add up to 180 degrees.
However, in the last century people began to realise that other forms of geometry were possible in which the angles of a triangle need not add up to i8o degrees...Folksonomies: perception curved space
Folksonomies: perception curved space
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notes16 MAR 2014 by ideonexus
Seeing Dyson Civilizations
In summary, the circumstellar shells of Dyson civilizations-at temperatures ~300 degrees K and radii ~1 a.u.--can be detected with existing telescopes and state-of-the-art infrared detectors in the 8-13-u window out to distances of several hundred parsecs. But discrimination of Dyson civilizations from naturally occurring low-temperature objects is very difficult, unless Dyson civilizations have some further distinguishing feature, such as monochromatic radio-frequency emission.
Folksonomies: astronomy extraterrestrials
Folksonomies: astronomy extraterrestrials
1 How difficult would it be to detect their heat signature?
12 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Origin of the National Weather Service
The public at large became more interested in weather forecasting after the Schoolhouse Blizzard of January 1888. On January 12 that year, initially a relatively warm day in the Great Plains, the temperature dropped almost 30 degrees in a matter of a few hours and a blinding snowstorm came.26 Hundreds of children, leaving school and caught unaware as the blizzard hit, died of hypothermia on their way home. As crude as early weather forecasts were, it was hoped that they might at least be able... 1 notes
notesIn 1888 when a sudden snowstorm on a warm day killed hundreds of school children on their way home.
14 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Evidence That India Was Once Under Sea
But if you have seen the soil of India with your own eyes and meditate on its nature - if you consider the rounded stones found in the earth however deeply you dig, stones that are huge near the mountains and where the rivers have a violent current; stones that are of smaller size at greater distance from the mountains, and where the streams flow more slowly; stones that appear pulverised in the shape of sand where the streams begin to stagnate near their mouths and near the sea - if you cons... 1 notes
notesAnd filled up by debris carried by streams.
03 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
How File Structure Affects Our Perception of the World
The file is a set of philosophical ideas made into eternal flesh. The ideas expressed by the file include the notion that human expression comes in severable chunks that can be organized as leaves on an abstract tree—and that the chunks have versions and need to be matched to compatible applications. 1 notes
notesFiles are compact chunks that can be categorized, have versions, and can be matched to applications. But don't we do this with taxonomy in biology? Species are defined, but they are flowing degrees of characteristics that we semi-artificially categorize.
30 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
A Great Summary of Taxonmy
Branches or types are characterized by the plan of their structure,Classes, by the manner in which that plan is executed, as far as ways and means are concerned,Orders, by the degrees of complication of that structure,Families, by their form, as far as determined by structure,Genera, by the details of the execution in special parts, andSpecies, by the relations of individuals to one another and to the world in which they live, as well as by the proportions of their parts, their ornamentation,... 1 notes
notesClasses, orders, families, genera, and species are defined for their defining classification method.
09 JUN 2011 by ideonexus
The Unique Properties of Ice
By the standard of other substances, the properties of ice are bizarre, yet ice is so perfectly suited to our purpose that if it didn't exist we should have to invent it. With few exceptions, the solid phase of matter is more dense than the liquid phase; water. alone among common substances, violates the rule. As water begins to cool, it first contracts and becomes more dense, in the typical way. But about four degrees above the freezing point, something peculiar happens. It ceases to contrac...
1 Frozen water works so perfectly for life on Earth.
11 APR 2011 by ideonexus
We Exaggerate the Magnitude of Ice Ages
The history of Earth's climate is one of the more compelling arguments in favour of Gaia's existence. We know from the record of the sedimentary rocks that for the pst three and a half aeons the climate has never been, even for a short period, wholly unfavorable for life. Because of the unbroken record of life, we also know that the oceans can never have either frozen or boiled. Indeed, subtle evidence from the ratio of the different forms of oxygen atoms laid down in the rocks over the cours... 1 notes
notesIce Ages did not encroach on over 70 percent of the Earth's surface, meaning they were not as significant of an event as we tend to imagine them.
03 JAN 2011 by ideonexus
Doubt as a Scientific Virtue
I would now like to turn to a third value that science has. It is a little more indirect, but not much. The scientist has a lot of experience with ignorance and doubt and uncertainty, and this experience is of very great importance, I think. When a scientist doesn't now the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he as a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is in some doubt. We have found it of paramount impor...Folksonomies: science scientific virtues
Folksonomies: science scientific virtues
1 notes
notesThe importance of doubt, and a lack of absolute certainty, in science, which is non-authoritarian.
