Today, It is Literally Colder than Mars!

It's been cold lately. I mean really, really cold - enough to make me curse at the howling and frigid winds as they assault by cheeks.

But a lot of that sounds like a bunch of whining, doesn't it? I mean, how cold could it really be, right? Well, according to Curiosity, the great Mars rover, today, it is colder in Canada and in many of the Northern states than it is at its current location on Mars!

Here's the tweet from Curiosity's Twitter page:

All of the blue regions are areas that are colder than much of the Martian surface…and that includes pretty much all of Canada (lucky British Columbia!).

So to all of the Canadians (and northern Americans), if you were out and about at all today, then just this one time, you can whine and complain however much you want!

Comments

How Big Is a Million, Billion and Trillion?

Millons, billions, trillions - we've heard it all, but do we really understand them? Most people know that a trillion is bigger than a million for example, but just how big is the difference really? How about we find out!? Time Here'a a neat exercise. Without doing any math or calculations, I want you to try to guess how long it was 1 million seconds ago….Okay, got a number in your head? The answer is: 11. 52 days Hmmm…interesting. But here's the better part. Now that you know how long it was 1 million seconds ago, I want you to guess at how long it was a billion seconds ago…Got it? What did you guess? A month or two? Well, it turns out the answer is: 32 years Wow! I don't know about you, but I really underestimated that one. If you're under 32, that means you haven't even existed for a billion seconds…and yet, a million seconds was less than two weeks ago. Okay, now that we know that, let's do the same for a trillion. Take a guess…The answ...

Uncertainty Principle & the Non-Commutative Property

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commutative_property Scroll down for relevant discussion on the uncertainty principle. Understanding the mathematics behind the physics involved is imperative to really understanding Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle. We've already discussed the logic behind it and the physical consequences, but now it's time to really get down to the fundamentals. We're going to look at something we tend to take for granted in our daily interactions with math: the commutative property of mathematics. The commutative property in math applies to addition and multiplication. It basically states that, when combining two "elements" (i.e. numbers), the order does NOT matter. This is demonstrated in the following diagram: It doesn't matter whether the blue or orange dots are counted first - same result But we've always known this stuff, right? I mean, everybody knows that 2+3 is the same as 3+2 (at least I hope)! The same rules fly ...

8 Arguments Against A Personal God

In this article, I'm going to outline a few "arguments" (they're more like things that seem to contradict a personal god or that make its existence illogical, but whatever) against the existence of a "personal god". But first, what is a personal god? Well, when people say they believe in a god, they mean very different things. Some believe in a deistic god (i.e. some sort of greater force that essentially pushed the start button for the universe, but plays no role in anything after that - he's basically not really there). I am NOT arguing against this kind (maybe in another piece…). The type of god I'm arguing against is the type that I think most "religious" people believe in. These are a list of criteria that make a personal god (in my opinion): Assumptions : 1. This god personally cares about human affairs 2. This god can experience emotions (ex. he "loves" you and "cares" about you) 2. This god created t...

Scientific World

Search This Blog