The Sandspur

10 Terrifying Facts about the First-Years

Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:03:43 -0400

10 Terrifying Facts about the First-Years

What Other Countries Call the "@" Symbol

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 16:13:20 -0400

What Other Countries Call the "@" Symbol:

Let’s come up with a better name! I suggest the “swirly-A” or the “AHHHHH!”

dbreunig:

Lifted from Huffington Post because bullets are better than photo slideshows:

Denmark: Elephant’s Trunk

Germany & Poland: Monkey’s Tail

Greek: Little Duck

Hebrew: Strudel

Italy: Snail

China: Mouse

Kazakhstan: Moon’s Ear

Russia: Dog Face

Finland: Sleeping Cat

Korea: Sea Snail

Hungary: Maggot

In short: Americans are unimaginative.

olympics: A table tennis table is seen as Olympic preperations...

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 16:00:43 -0400

olympics:

A table tennis table is seen as Olympic preperations continue at the ExCel Arena on July 21, 2012 in London

Get PDunc over there.

Photo

Sun, 22 Jul 2012 10:15:31 -0400

architizer: A Sidewalk Theater for the Socially Challenged

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 14:59:22 -0400

architizer:

A Sidewalk Theater for the Socially Challenged

File under “Things to Avoid”

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 15:18:23 -0400

File under “Things to Avoid”

jtotheizzoe: Time Stands Still Tonight’s “leap second” and why...

Sat, 30 Jun 2012 15:31:19 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

Time Stands Still

Tonight’s “leap second” and why the Earth sucks at keeping time

If you stand very still tonight, holding your breath in the still of midnight darkness, you’ll hear the sound of all the clocks in the world pausing for one second. Actually, you probably won’t hear anything, but you should know that today will be one second longer than a normal day. Why?

When trains began to make long-distance travel possible, with schedules dependable down to the minute, there was a worldwide demand for standardized time. So we got Greenwich Mean Time, which defined the measure of a day as the average time of a single rotation of the Earth from the perspective of one Englishman staring up at the sky in Greenwich. In 1820, this just so happened to be 86,400 seconds, or 24 hours.

The problem is that the Earth’s rotation is slowing down, and a “solar day” isn’t exactly 86,400 seconds anymore. The Earth doesn’t care about our time system one bit, apparently.

How does that work? The Moon pulls on the Earth due to its own gravity. When that’s combined with the natural gravity of the Earth, we get two “high-tide” bulges on opposite sides of our planet. But the bulges don’t line up perfectly with the equator, and the Moon actually pulls on the ocean enough to create a tiny amount of friction. That friction is slowing our rotation by about 0.002 seconds per day per century. Eventually the Earth and Moon will be “tidally locked” and each will have a constant face to the other (like the Moon does to Earth today). Phil Plait explains this all pretty well here. Moreover, earthquakes and all sorts of other stuff mean that this “slowing” business is also irregular.

Earth sucks as a timepiece.

Since the 1970’s, our “official time” has been kept by atomic clocks, accurate to one second every 250 million years. We actually changed the official definition of a second to be based on atoms instead of 1/86,400th of a day. But many traditional clocks, not to mention our bodies, are basing their day on day/night averages, and the atomic clocks are basing it on cesium atoms (far more accurately). The day/night clocks are lagging behind! So on a regular basis, the Time Lords of Earth let the atomic clock time pause for one second to bring them closer to sync. That’s a leap second.

If we didn’t do this, and just let the clocks go their separate ways, we might cause serious problems to systems like GPS software that depend on super-super-accurate time-keeping.

So tonight, the official clocks will show 23:59:60 before rolling over to tomorrow, and everything is in its right place. Don’t worry if you forget to sync your watch. You’ll just be a second early everywhere tomorrow.

More detailed factoids from Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy.

ilovecharts: A Chart About Silence That Will Leave You...

Mon, 04 Jun 2012 15:44:22 -0400

ilovecharts:

A Chart About Silence That Will Leave You Speechless

oldflorida: Miami radar image of Hurricane Betsy, 1965. June...

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:12:37 -0400

oldflorida:

Miami radar image of Hurricane Betsy, 1965.

June 1st is the start of hurricane season, so dust off your emergency plans and cross your fingers for a quiet summer.

newsweek: cessamarie: Truth Nail on the head. YES.

Thu, 03 May 2012 12:48:03 -0400

newsweek:

cessamarie:

Truth

Nail on the head.

YES.

Bush Science Center graffiti on the soon-to-be-demolished walls...

Wed, 02 May 2012 19:41:54 -0400

Bush Science Center graffiti on the soon-to-be-demolished walls as the building nears renovation.

ourpresidents: In which Bob Hope is putting into an ashtray...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 11:52:59 -0400

ourpresidents:

In which Bob Hope is putting into an ashtray held by the President in the Oval Office.

Richard Nixon and Bob Hope, White House, 4/20/1973

DOING A WALK OF SHAME ACROSS CAMPUS

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:32:05 -0400

howdoiputthisgently:

I’M JUST LIKE:

BUT IF I PASS A TOUR GROUP, I’M LIKE:

One of the tried and true favorites on campus seems to be wishing tour guides a happy birthday whenever you see them (i.e. when it’s not their birthday), but seeing this would be quite funny.

nprfreshair: WHEN YOU HAVE THREE PIECES TO WRITE AND YOU’RE...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 16:02:42 -0400

nprfreshair:

WHEN YOU HAVE THREE PIECES TO WRITE AND YOU’RE UNDER DEADLINE AND THEN YOU FIND OUT YOU HAVE A NEW PIECE TO WRITE.

Articles AND class assignments apply for us college kids. Especially at the end of the semester.

ilovecharts: Created and designed by the same guy who brought...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:43:28 -0400

ilovecharts:

Created and designed by the same guy who brought you The Periodic Table of Sweets (Stephen Wildish), here’s a Venn diagram about pancakes!

This goes out to our friends in the Pinehurst Organization… and their cat, though he isn’t actually made of flour, egg, and/or milk.

"Everybody loves sex and everybody loves food, so why not combine the two? Given the right treats and..."

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:05:00 -0400

“Everybody loves sex and everybody loves food, so why not combine the two? Given the right treats and the right techniques, you and your partner can have a terrific gastrosexual experience with each other. A little nibbling and licking becomes even more rewarding for both parties when food is involved.”

- Steven Penaranda, “Yummy Sex”

The New York Times: AT 1 o’clock every Thursday afternoon,...

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 14:29:00 -0400

The New York Times:

AT 1 o’clock every Thursday afternoon, 30 or so students gather on the green at Rollins College, in central Florida, and laugh for 15 minutes straight. At first, the mirth is clearly forced, but “it becomes very real very fast,” insists Christian Kebbel (pictured below), founder of the Rollins Laughing Club. “You walk away feeling light and happy.”

…

Mr. Kebbel’s club rules: “You just kind of have to agree to look silly.”

me during shower time: What is my mission here on earth? What would have happened if Hitler got killed before he started the war? What if is there's a bigger force controlling us right now?

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 01:00:57 -0400

me during shower time: What is my mission here on earth? What would have happened if Hitler got killed before he started the war? What if is there's a bigger force controlling us right now?
me almost falling asleep: I think I've solved the mystery of Atlantis and the cure for cancer and starving in Africa and the problems for all bad things in the universe
me during the day: how do I spell house?

When I realize it's not Friday yet

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:02:00 -0400

Or when it’s not Fox Day yet!

whatshouldwecallme:

Photo

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 23:41:10 -0400