Teacher in China Feels Earthquakes Before They Happen
11 May, 2013 at 12:15 | Posted in Body & Mind, China, Funny things :-), Nature, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, China, funny things, Nature, Science
By Li Wenhui
Epoch Times
Ms. Xiao Hongyun, a teacher at Changde Normal School in Hunan Province, usually suffers dizziness, tinnitus, and palpitations the day before an earthquake occurs. She has suffered these symptoms in conjunction with earthquakes in China as well as in Taiwan and Chile.
She recently experienced dizziness and insomnia a few days before the 7-magnitude earthquake in Ya’an in Sichuan Province, China on April 20.
Voice of China interviewed Ms. Xiao about her physical prediction of the Ya’an earthquake.
According to Ms. Xiao, she suddenly fainted while giving a lesson. She was sent to the hospital and examined, but no abnormalities were found.
Xiao said, “I began to feel dizzy on the 18th and I could not fall asleep during the night, especially on the 20th, I was still awake at 4 a.m., feeling very tired as if I were in a boat swaying on the water.”
She said to her husband, “I’m afraid a quake is about to happen somewhere.” The Ya’an earthquake did then happen on the morning of April 20th. “I was sitting on the sofa and my legs could not stop shivering when the quake took place,” said Xiao.
Ms. Xiao, age 53, says her physical episodes date from an electric shock she suffered at the age of 13. “At that moment, my whole body went numb and I collapsed on the ground. Luckily I was not hurt badly,” she said. Since then, she has experienced the dizziness and other symptoms from time to time, yet medical examinations have always been normal.
Ms. Xiao recalls that when she was 16 years old, one day she heard a roar in the field while harvesting rice crops, but people next to her didn’t hear anything. Many days later, she learned that the Tangshan earthquake had happened on that same day. (On July 26, 1976 the Tangshan earthquake struck in northeast China, killing hundreds of thousands of people.)
However, Ms. Xiao did not associate her abnormal physical symptoms with earthquakes until September 1999. “When I saw on TV the strong quake in Taiwan on September 21, 1999, I began to think, maybe my strange illness is related to earthquakes.” Xiao said, because she had suffered strong physical reactions the day before.
Since then, Ms. Xiao watches the news every time she feels unusual. “After my physical reaction, most likely there will be an earthquake. Based on the degree of the ringing in my ears, I can judge how far, how strong, and in what direction approximately a quake will be,” she said
Because nobody believed her and thought something was wrong with her, Xiao started recording every premonition that had been verified by an earthquake. She asked her family and colleagues to sign the pages as confirmation. According to her diary, the closest earthquake occurred in Linli County of Chengdu and the farthest occurred in Chile.
Ms. Xiao contacted Sun Shihong, a retired professor of the Chinese Seismograph Station, the day before the Yushu earthquake of April 14, 2010. She told him she had a strong physical reaction and that this usually happened the day before an earthquake.
Sun Shihong believed Ms. Xiao’s condition really is linked to earthquakes.
Subsequently, experts from various seismic stations throughout Hunan Province made a special trip to Ms. Xiao’s home to conduct an investigation and analysis.
The experts concluded that Xiao’s reactions were indeed linked to the earthquakes because her body could sense the infrasonic sound of the earthquake in advance. The higher the magnitude is, the stronger the sensation is.
Read the original Chinese article.
Translation by Alex Wu. Written in English by Arleen Richards.
via Teacher in China Feels Earthquakes Before They Happen » The Epoch Times
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Earthquakes Turn Water to Gold
15 April, 2013 at 06:57 | Posted in Funny things :-), Nature, Science | Leave a commentTags: funny things, Nature, Society
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By Phoebe Ryles
Epoch Times
Earthquakes turn water to gold over hundreds of thousands of years according to a new study by Nature Geoscience.
Earthquakes turn water to gold according to a study released by the Journal of Nature Geoscience March 17. The study puts forward a new theory on the formation of gold deposits that may change the way we mine for gold.
When an earthquake hits, the movement travels outward along cracks in the earth, called fault lines. The shifts can cause the instant vaporization of any groundwater that was flowing through the fault lines. Groundwater often carries tiny amounts of gold and other minerals in suspension.
The Nature Geoscience study suggests that when the water vaporizes the minerals crystallize. Over hundreds of thousands of years, and a million little earthquakes later, the mineral deposits build up to substantial, minable deposits.
This study may mean that mining companies will focus their exploration in areas with frequent seismic activity.
“This new knowledge on gold-deposit formation mechanisms may assist future gold exploration efforts,” said Dion Weatherley, a geophysicist at the University of Queensland in Australia and lead author of the study, according to LiveScience.com.
There are other geological events that also cause gold formation, such as volcanic activity.
via Earthquakes Turn Water to Gold But Don’t Hold Your Breath » The Epoch Times
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10 Secrets of Grand Central Terminal Photos
9 April, 2013 at 07:55 | Posted in Culture, Funny things :-) | Leave a commentTags: Culture, funny things
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Epoch Times Staff
Grand Central Terminal, in the heart of New York City, opened 100 years ago and it holds secrets that millions of travelers and visitors have never known. Here are 10 of the most intriguing secrets of the largest train terminal in the world.
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1. The 22,000 Square Foot Mistake
An everyday commuter figured out this monumental error when passing through the terminal. The world famous October Zodiac mural on the ceiling is a mirror image and completely wrong. With 2,500 stars, 60 of which are illuminated, that’s no small error. The muralists that painted the ceiling looked down on the sketch instead of holding it up, accounting for the mirror image. When the commuter sent a letter to the Vanderbilts to tell them of the error, they replied that it was meant to be that way.
Read more: 10 Secrets of Grand Central Terminal Photos | New York City | United States | Epoch Times
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Crop Circles: A Perspective From the Ground Up
7 April, 2013 at 07:05 | Posted in Funny things :-), Science | Leave a commentTags: crop circles, funny things, Science
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COMMENTARY
Compton Bassett, ENGLAND—After years of studying sacred geometry—the mathematical geometrical structures inherent in all life forms—I realized that crop circles are predominantly based on the same principles.
Knowing from experience how hard it is to draw the most basic of the geometries by hand, even using a compass and a rule, I realized that the complexity and intricacy, the sheer size of these formations is such that only a higher intelligence could create so detailed an image that can only be truly appreciated from an aircraft.
Two days ago, I met ex-RAF pilot Tony Hughes, who took me at close-range in a microlight aircraft around the Wiltshire farmlands, which have the highest frequency of crop circles of all locations in the world.
We were able to see the newest formation that was laid down on Aug. 26, perhaps the grand finale of this season due to the wet weather and early harvesting.
The experience was breathtaking and expansive, especially as we covered eight different sites in less than 30 minutes, the most recent pattern being estimated at 50 meters across, and again containing the predominant geometries that you see in organic crystalline forms in nature and the human genome.
When asked, Tony explained his most interesting experience during his 6,000 plus air-hours was when he passed over an area with a photographer and only minutes later, on his return via the same route to the airfield, he sighted a completely new and complex crop design that had not been there minutes earlier.
Tony agreed that only a higher intelligence could be capable of creating such complex and mathematically perfect design structures. We discussed how we both know people who are experts in computer graphics and admit that even they find it difficult to replicate the designs, which would require many many hours and calculations.
Consequently I’m convinced of the genuine nature of these phenomena not being created by humans (with rope and planks of wood), unless my own theory is true, which is that I believe it is us, human consciousness, in a future state of evolution speaking to us now, saying “WAKE UP!”
One of the first formations I ever studied in person, back in 2008, had the symbolism of a Celtic cross in motion, like a giant artist’s brush had passed through it. As I stood in it, I could feel this swishing energy passing through me and at the center I just wanted to lie down and absorb the whole sensation.
I felt it acting on my subconscious, like a key turning in a lock, and an understanding which I can’t really put into words came as a playful but profound insight. Like the paintbrush of a gentle giant stroking the wheat stalks down, even though they appeared to be flattened, one could see that they were bent not broken, still alive and yet there was no sense of any violence having been committed.
For people who are still buying the hoaxer story that was broadcast by the BBC years ago to debunk this phenomenon, they are certainly missing an enormously benevolent message that reads like goodwill toward all men and the Earth.
Which reminds me of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s philosophy: “Condemnation without investigation is the height of ignorance.” If you never put something sweet in your mouth, how could you describe what sugar tastes like?
Susanna Wilkerson is a teacher, psychologist, and naturopath. She lives in Australia where she farms hemp for nutritional and building projects, and has a school for working with awareness open to all ages and possibilities for growth.
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via Crop Circles: A Perspective From the Ground Up | Beyond Science | Science | Epoch Times
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- Historian: Old English Crop Circles Prove No Hoaxing Involved
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The Enigma of the Enchanted Hills
3 April, 2013 at 07:15 | Posted in Funny things :-), Nature, Science | Leave a commentTags: funny things, Nature, Science
Imagine gently laying an empty bottle on the ground, only to watch it roll uphill; or parking on a slight incline—on an angle that seems quite unnecessary for a parking break—only to see the car inexplicably drift in a way that defies gravity. There’s no doubt you’re in the presence of a very peculiar phenomenon.
In dozens of locations around the country—such as the Haunted Church of Buck’s County in Pennsylvania, Maryland’s Ghost Hill, and Jacob’s Crossing in Texas—and many more throughout the world, one can find magic hills, enchanted roads, or sites that exhibit anti-gravitational properties. At these places, enigmatically, all objects seem to defy the laws of physics.
How do these anti-gravity hills behave? It’s enough to leave a can, a bottle, or any spherical body at the base of these most mysterious sites. One can sit back and watch it slowly and continuously ascend to the summit.
This apparently inexplicable phenomenon can be discovered even more frequently when someone parks a car in such places and later finds the vehicle mysteriously rolling away. Even the water in the ditches that surround these roads seems to flow the wrong way.
Some have suggested that the origin of certain enchanted roads is to be found in gravitational anomalies in the region, or an incredible magnetic attraction produced by masses of iron material in nearby volcanoes. Yet often times, the attracted objects in question are generally immune to magnetic forces (rubber balls, glass bottles, and so on).
Others, of course, offer a more supernatural explanation. A site in Braga, Portugal, is said to have gained its ability from a spell cast long ago. Laboring villagers, having grown tired of carrying heavy burdens uphill, reversed the incline’s gravitational direction. Their magical intention is said to have made transporting loads up that hill far easier thereafter.
Magic Hill Ghosts
Some magic hill locations offer a spookier tale for this gravity-defying behavior. Locals often take advantage of these strange places, frequently utilized to lure tourists, expecting them to easily fall victim to urban legends.
On repeated occasions, local inhabitants connect the site to some terrible car accident of several years ago, alleging that the strange movement of the vehicles that now traverse these enchanted roads are at the mercy of some restless, angry spirit. One such location in New Jersey is said to be haunted by a farmer’s ghost that aims to keep vehicles off of his land.
In spite of their seemingly bizarre behavior, these magic slopes (or at least the great majority of them) have much more earthy explanations than those of subterranean magnets or mischievous ghosts.
Many times these locations have been found to be merely optical illusions (that is, the visible horizon line and layout of the surrounding area can make the “magic slope” appear to be more of an incline than actually exists). It could lead the passerby to the illusion that the hill ascends, when in reality it drops. These “magic” places often present a slope that deceives the sense of vision but is rationally explained with a leveling tool.
In this illusion, objects that seem to roll “uphill” are simply following the known laws of physics, as the impartial bubble of a leveling tool reveals. Yet as our eyes still continue to deceive us even after this proof has been shown, some still question whether the level’s bubble could itself be at the mercy of an enchanted force.
via The Enigma of the Enchanted Hills | Beyond Science | Science | Epoch Times
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Ancient Chinese Yin-Yang Fish Bowl Remains a Mystery
27 March, 2013 at 07:23 | Posted in Chinese culture, Funny things :-), Science, Technology | Leave a commentTags: archaeology, Chinese culture, funny things, Science, technology
By Xin Guo
Epoch Times Staff
Ancient Chinese science and technology were very advanced. The Ancient Chinese knew more about science and technology than any other culture. For instance, the yin-yang fish bowl that is part of the collection of the Hangzhou Museum in China’s Zhejiang Province cannot be explained by modern science nor replicated by modern technology. It remains a mystery to the world.
Among the collections of the Hangzhou Museum, there is a bronze spouting bowl named the “Yin-Yang Fish Bowl.” The bowl, which is about the size of a washbasin, has two handles and a decoration of four fish at the bottom. There are four clear parabolas drawn between the fish, just as those described in the Yi Jing (The Book of Changes). If you fill the bowl half-full of water and rub the handles with your palms, instantly the water in the bowl will tumble and the vibration will cause water to spout four two-foot-tall fountains from the mouth of each fish on the wall of the bowl. Moreover, the bowl will make the same sound as chanting the ancient divination words in the Yi Jing.
Bowl Cannot be Replicated by Any Modern Technology
Physicists from the U.S. and Japan have used all kinds of modern scientific instruments to examine and investigate the bowl trying to find out its construction principles of heat conductivity, sensoring, self-propelling, and spraying and making sound, but have not succeeded.
In October 1986, a replica bronze spouting bowl was made in the U.S. It looked identical to the yin-yang fish bowl but was a failure, as it could not function properly: It could not spout water, and the sound it made was very dull.
Modern science can only lament its insignificance before the miracles created by ancient Chinese technology and treat it as an unsolved mystery.
What were the principles upon which ancient people made the bronze fish bowl? As developed as it is today, why can’t modern science and technology make a replica of a bronze ware bowl made by people in ancient times?
According to experts’ analysis, modern science is analytical science. Characterized by high accuracy and strict quantification, it has reached the level of micro quantum technology. The so-called “Nami Technology” may very well represent the achievements of today’s high-tech. Yet modern science has a fatal weakness: linearism. Linear science still dominates today’s modern science and continues to apply a simplified approach to natural phenomena as always.
The real world and Mother Nature do not conform to linear principles, but in most cases non-linear theory instead. Modern science and technology are nothing but man-made simplification against the truth of Mother Nature.
Fountains of water that are similar to those in the bronze spouting fish bowl are called “solitary wave” or soliton phenomena. Different from ordinary waves, solitary waves do not disperse when occurring, and therefore can last a long time. The existence of solitary waves is a non-linear phenomenon.
Thus the construction principles of the yin-yang fish bowl are far beyond the scope of modern science, and it is therefore impossible for modern technology to replicate.
via Epoch Times | Ancient Chinese Yin-Yang Fish Bowl Remains a Mystery
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$3 Bowl for $2.22 Million: 1,000-Year-Old Chinese Bowl Sold
21 March, 2013 at 07:53 | Posted in Chinese culture, Funny things :-) | Leave a commentTags: archaeology, Chinese culture, funny things
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$3 bowl for $2.22 million: A Chinese bowl bought for $3 was sold for $2.22 million at an auction. The bowl was described as “rare and important.”
A Chinese bowl that that was bought at a tag sale for $3 turned out to be 1,000 years old.
At a New York City Sotheby’s auction on Tuesday, the bowl sold for $2.22 million. Sotheby’s said that it was sold to a dealer in London, and it far exceeded the pre-sale value of between $200,000 and $300,000.
The rare bowl, around 5 inches in diameter, was made during the Northern Song Dynasty. The person who initially purchased the item bought it at a tag sale in 2007 and had it displayed in their living room for a few years before it was examined, reported The Associated Press.
Sotheby’s described the white “ding” bowl as “rare and important,” according to its website.
The Northern Song Dynasty lasted between 960 and 1127.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on its website, said that the “early Northern Song dynasty witnessed the flowering of one of the supreme artistic expressions of Chinese civilization: monumental landscape painting.”
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Historian: Old English Crop Circles Prove No Hoaxing Involved
2 March, 2013 at 11:50 | Posted in Funny things :-), Science | Leave a commentTags: crop circles, funny things, Science
By Belinda McCallum
Epoch Times Staff
Images of U.K. crop circles from 1945 and earlier are evidence that these formations are not made by hoaxers, says an Australian historian.
Greg Jefferys, a PhD student at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, found numerous old crop circles using Google Earth’s new historical imagery from 1945 to examine the English countryside.
“This discovery proves that claims by various artists to be the sole creators of crop circles are themselves a hoax,” Jefferys told The Birmingham Mail. “It just goes to show that the circles remain unexplained.”
“I hope this discovery will stimulate renewed interest in crop circles by serious scientific researchers who have been fooled by the hoax claims.”
Jefferys was inspired to begin this work after reading an article in the journal Nature from 1800 that implied crop circles have been happening since the 18th century.
He believes, like many others, that high-frequency electromagnetic radiation is responsible for the formation of these strange shapes.
“What is not clear is what generates that energy and organises it into circular patterns,” Jefferys told the paper. “This is one of the questions I hope to answer, at least partially.”
According to crop circle expert and author Freddy Silva, the patterns form when energy affects the environment.
“Crop circles are organized harmonic forms that manifest around the world, the result of an energy interacting with the physical world–in this case plants,” Silva explained in a blog post. “This energy is comprised of light, sound and magnetism.”
“To date, crop circles have been reported in 29 countries, and have appeared in mediums such as wheat, barley, canola, trees, ice, rice paddies, even linseed.”
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Naked-Eye Comet May Appear in March
19 February, 2013 at 07:02 | Posted in Funny things :-), Nature, Science | 1 CommentTags: astronomy, funny things, Nature, Science
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Our solar system is expecting a visitor called Comet Pan-STARRS, which might be visible in the evening sky during most of March.
Pan-STARRS came from the Oort Cloud, the enormous cloud of comets that surrounds our solar system. It contains ice and dust that have been frozen for billions of years, never having a chance to melt until now.
The comet has never been near the sun before, so scientists aren’t sure how it will react. Most of them estimate that it will be as bright as the stars in the Big Dipper.
“But prepare to be surprised,” said researcher Karl Battams in a NASA article. “A new comet from the Oort Cloud is always an unknown quantity equally capable of spectacular displays or dismal failures.”
As the comet is quite close to the sun, it should produce plenty of dust and therefore have a good tail.
“My guess is that the primary feature visible to the naked eye will be the gaseous coma around the head of the comet,” Matthew Knight of the Lowell Observatory said in the article.
“The comet’s tail will probably require binoculars or a small telescope.”
Comet Pan-STARRS will be closest to Earth on March 5—about 100 million miles away—and closest to the sun on March 10. However, the best time to see it might be March 12 and 13, when the comet may be seen next to the crescent moon in the twilight sky.
“Because of its small distance from the sun, Pan-STARRS should be very active, producing a lot of dust and therefore a nice dust tail,” Knight said. “However, it could still be difficult to see. From our point of view on Earth, the comet will be very close to the sun.”
“This means that it is only observable in twilight when the sky is not fully dark.”
The comet was named after the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System, the Hawaiian telescope used to discover it.
via Naked-Eye Comet May Appear in March | Space & Astronomy | Science | Epoch Times
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Dung Beetles Look to Milky Way for Guidance
6 February, 2013 at 07:12 | Posted in Funny things :-), Nature, Science | Leave a commentTags: funny things, Nature, Science
Dung beetles navigate using the gentle glow of the Milky Way over Africa—the first known case of an animal using this feature to find its way rather than with the stars.
A Swedish-South African research team discovered that the insects push their balls in straight lines on clear nights, but cannot do this when it is cloudy.
When tested inside a planetarium, the beetles moved around just as well under a starlit sky as under one with only the whitish band of the Milky Way.
“Even on clear, moonless nights, many dung beetles still manage to orientate along straight paths,” said study co-author Marie Dacke at Sweden’s Lund University in a press release.
“This led us to suspect that the beetles exploit the starry sky for orientation—a feat that had, to our knowledge, never before been demonstrated in an insect.”
The night sky contains many stars, but most are probably not bright enough to be detected by the beetles’ little compound eyes.
These results suggest other insects might also use the stars to orient themselves at night.
“Dung beetles are known to use celestial compass cues such as the sun, the moon, and the pattern of polarized light formed around these light sources to roll their balls of dung along straight paths,” Dacke said.
“Celestial compass cues dominate straight-line orientation in dung beetles so strongly that, to our knowledge, this is the only animal with a visual compass system that ignores the extra orientation precision that landmarks can offer.”
The study was published online in Current Biology on Jan. 24.
via Dung Beetles Look to Milky Way for Guidance | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times
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Englishman Speaks Fluent Welsh After Stroke
21 January, 2013 at 17:58 | Posted in Body & Mind, Funny things :-) | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, funny things
A retired Englishman woke up speaking Welsh and had to learn to speak English again after he suffered a severe stroke and was unconscious for three weeks.
Alun Morgan, 81, lives in Somerset, but spent some time in Wales 70 years ago as a child when he was evacuated there during World War II. Although he never learned to speak Welsh, he was among Welsh speakers until he was 10. One explanation is that he picked up the language without realizing, and this ability was unlocked during the stroke.
“It was an amazing experience because I discovered after two or three days, when I was becoming a bit compus mentus, that I was speaking totally Welsh, and only my wife could understand me,” Morgan said during an interview with The Telegraph.
Gradually his English came back, but Morgan said it was not easy.
“Having learned that I was only speaking Welsh, I had to find a way of learning English, so very early on I got myself a good Welsh dictionary, which I kept looking at every now and again to make sure that the words I was using were correct.”
Morgan has been diagnosed with a type of brain damage called aphasia, which affects the brain areas that coordinate language. Other people have had similar conditions and ended up with Foreign Accent Syndrome, which changes how they speak and form words.
Chris Clark, Stroke Association’s UK Director of Life After Stroke Services, told The Telegraph that aphasia can limit people’s communication abilities.
“Stroke can have a big affect on individuals and lead to personality and physical changes,” he said.
“With a stroke, blood supply to the brain is cut off and in the areas starved of oxygen, brain cells die and damage can be caused.”
via Englishman Speaks Fluent Welsh After Stroke | Beyond Science | Science | Epoch Times
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Game Website Teaches Abstract Physics Laws
29 November, 2012 at 07:39 | Posted in Funny things :-), Science | Leave a commentTags: funny things, Science
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When Albert Einstein worked through the principles of special relativity, he probably had no idea that future technology would make it easy to “learn and live” his theory.
Test Tube Games is a website that has liberated science from the narrow dimensions of the test tube using simulations.
“I started making simulations and games as a way of giving people hands-on experiences with abstract concepts,” Andy Hall, a physicist and game designer from Massachusetts, told The Epoch Times via email.
“I generally take a physics concept and try to look for the game in it. After all, science is already a game of finding patterns and relationships.”
These games are simple enough to engage children, while also using concepts that interest teens and adults.
The Velocity Raptor—a game based on Einstein’s theory of special relativity—explains the complex physics and mathematics behind it.
“I think the hands-on nature of the game can improve a player’s understanding quite a bit,” Hall explained.
When Velocity Raptor runs close to the speed of light, the player can experience changes which are impossible to sense in real life.
The scenarios in this game bring in the concept of space-time, by mixing the fundamentals of space and time to form a single entity, manifesting how things change with alterations in space-time.
“Unlike some other simulations—my games build up the concepts slowly over time, adding them bit by bit,” Hall said. “I think that’s really important to keep people from getting overwhelmed.”
“I’ve gotten great feedback from people who were confused after learning about relativity, but when they played my game, the concepts finally clicked.”
The project began just a couple of years ago as a hobby, but now this keeps Hall busy designing newer games for the computer and iPhone.
His latest iPhone game is Agent Higgs, a puzzle that builds up player’s knowledge of subatomic particles and their properties to unlock the next game level.
“I am still working on updating it and adding future levels. I’m excited to be releasing the first levels with quarks soon,” he said.
Hall is currently designing a new game on the concept of quantum mechanics and hope to “introduce people to the beauty of that subject.”
To explore the games, visit Test Tube Games.
via Game Website Teaches Abstract Physics Laws | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times
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Why Mosquitoes Can’t Fly in Fog
27 November, 2012 at 12:34 | Posted in Funny things :-), Science | Leave a commentTags: animals, funny things, Science
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Mosquitoes can fly through rainstorms without a problem, but fog is another story.
Scientists from the Georgia Institute of Technology decided to find out why mosquitoes cannot fly in foggy weather.
Researcher Andrew Dickerson explained that when you’re as small as a mosquito, you experience the weather a lot differently.
“From a mosquito’s perspective, a falling raindrop is like us being struck by a small car,” Dickerson said in a press release.
“A fog particle–weighing 20 million times less than a mosquito–is like being struck by a crumb. Thus, fog is to a mosquito as rain is to a human.”
Mosquitoes are small enough to fly between raindrops so only get hit every 20 seconds or so, and the drops don’t hurt them. Then why do the tiny fog particles prevent their flying?
The researchers used high-speed videography and found that mosquitoes’ wings can still function properly in fog, but the tiny structures called halteres cannot.
Halteres are like little knobbed wings that flap alternately with the large wings. They help the mosquito control its flight and stay upright in the air.
When these structures flap, they hit thousands of fog particles per second. The halteres are so tiny that the particles interfere with them.
“Thus the halteres cannot sense their position correctly and malfunction, similarly to how windshield wipers fail to work well when the rain is very heavy or if there is snow on the windshield,” said Dickerson.
“This study shows us that insect flight is similar to human flight in aircraft in that flight is not possible when the insects cannot sense their surroundings.”
The research was presented on Nov. 19 at a meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics.
via Why Mosquitoes Can’t Fly in Fog | Inspiring Discoveries | Science | Epoch Times
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Head Injury Leads to Sudden Musical Talent
23 November, 2012 at 07:36 | Posted in Body & Mind, Funny things :-), Music, Science | Leave a commentTags: Body & Mind, funny things, Music, Science
Four days after Derek Amato hit his head on the bottom of a swimming pool, he sat down at a piano and found that he could play it beautifully.
Amato discovered his talent in October 2006 when he was 40 years old. He dove into a pool one day and hit his head, and when he came out of the water, he couldn’t hear anything and felt as though his ears were bleeding.
Amato had a severe concussion that caused some hearing and memory loss. He recovered fairly quickly, and four days later he sat down at a piano for no reason that he could think of and started playing.
“As I shut my eyes, I found these black and white structures moving from left to right, which in fact would represent in my mind a fluid and continuous stream of musical notation,” Amato explained in an article on the Wisconsin Medical Society’s website.
From then on Amato was able to play the piano effortlessly, as though he’d been playing it his whole life. He played music from memory and composed his own music, stunning his family, his friends, and himself.
Amato’s rare talent was diagnosed as savant syndrome, and his ability to see shapes and colors when hearing music is known as synesthesia.
“We commonly refer to Derek as ‘Rainman Beethoven,’” his friend Gerry Gomez stated in the article.
“To date we have not found another medically documented case where immediate or sudden musical savant syndrome had been acquired from a brain injury,” Gomez added.
Amato wrote in the article that he told his mother, “I guess God decided to give me my birthday present a bit early this year.”
In 2007, the Association of Independent Artists made Amato the Independent Artist of the Year. He composes music, travels, and performs, supporting charity events for traumatic brain
via Head Injury Leads to Sudden Musical Talent | Beyond Science | Science | Epoch Times
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Swedish Lodge Models Accommodation After Bird Nests
12 November, 2012 at 12:36 | Posted in Funny things :-), Nature, Travels | Leave a commentTags: funny things, Nature, Travels
About two hours from sophisticated Stockholm, at the gate of Lapland, you’ll find one of Europe’s last wilderness areas.
Here, Grano Beckasin Lodge offers accommodations in “bird nests,” comfortable tree houses high above ground, in addition to cabins and camping options.
Grano Beckasin, which opened on June 10, is a unique nature destination where you can find large mountain areas, lakes, and several large national parks.
You can also find Sweden’s last untouched wild rivers, which flow undisturbed on their journey to the sea. The marshes harbor golden cloudberries. Many people travel for miles to pick the marsh’s “yellow gold.”
A Unique Setting
The location attracts people who are not afraid to venture out into the woods and fields, look for new experiences, and enjoy the stunning surroundings.
The forest consists mostly of pine and spruce, but large-scale logging has reduced the number of old forests, which are a vital part of the biodiversity there.
The spirit of Grano Beckasin is anchored in thinking about the environment. Ecological thinking permeates everything from nature guided walks in the forest, the food, and the building materials.
All the activities are carried out with great respect for the local environment. For example, you can go river-rafting, dog-sledding, go on a moose safari, or take an herbal walk.
The food that is served is organic and local. The meat and fish comes from local forests and lakes.
“We want to give the guests a whole experience with food, accommodation, and activities. The experience aims to open visitors’ minds—becoming calm to see the small in the large and the large in the small,” explains Angelica Johansson, CEO of Grano Beckasin Lodge.
At Grano Beckasin Lodge you live in the middle of nature, yet with full hotel conveniences and amenities.
Read more: Swedish Lodge Models Accommodation After Bird Nests | Travel | Life | Epoch Times
Related Articles: Sweden Grocery Delivery Success Spreads in Europe
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Welcome!
Life is important and our choices are important.
On this website I will in different ways express what I think gives meaning to life and also what might be a challenge.
It may include the need for sustainable development for our planet, or various questions about our health and mental well-being.
To be truthful, to be good, to have patience and compassion, are spiritual qualities that are a part of my cultivation of self through Falun Gong /Falun Dafa, the way of insights. To refine and improve myself to a better, more compassionate human being gives my life great meaning.
I also bring up more difficult issues , like the persecution of Falun Gong and others in China and explain more about the mentality of the Chinese regime. We can never forget about the Human Rights!
What's important is also everything that makes life beautiful; as good thoughts, beautiful music, healthy food, beautiful art and beautiful scenery. And loving relationships.
I hope you will find something that might interest you in this blog and perhaps brighten up your day or give you a new understanding.
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