Clipmarks |

Quantum Waves: The nature of light

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 12:25:18 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: Every particle has a frequency. There is an introduction, but more details on the page, to help understand how a wave can act like a particle

Clip Source: www.physics.uiowa.edu

Particles and Waves

We are all familiar with the motion of particles from our every-day experience with solid objects. Like balls on a billiards table, when two particles run into each other, they bounce apart. In contrast, when two waves meet, they pass right through each other!

As the animation shows, when two waves overlap they add up to form a larger wave

They can also cancel out to form nothing at all (cancellation), or partially cancel to make a more complex waveform. This is called interference.

When moving particles hit a gap in a barrier they will generally trickle out in a thin stream, but waves will spread out in every direction to form a circle. This is called dispersion.

If there are two gaps in the barrier, the two waves will interfere to create an interference pattern.

For all these reasons, at the beginning of the 20th century everybody thought particles and waves were totally separate phenomena. But that view had to change.

Photons: the Particle Nature of Light

Tags: light, wave, particle, photoelectric, quantum

I want Change

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 06:30:37 GMT

clipped by: Thorne

Clip Source: bookmole.vox.com

Tags: art, activism, change

everythng will be okay....

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 10:05:36 GMT

clipped by: mugofcoffee
clipper's remarks: true!

Clip Source: snapshots.aufgesucht.de

Tags: cool.

If You Are Grateful: Share a Square

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 05:27:54 GMT

clipped by: Thorne
clipper's remarks: C'mon all you happy hookers and knasty knitters...

Clip Source: thornesworld.blogspot.com

Here is just one of the many beautiful examples of generosity that Shelly has posted at her place, this eclectic life November SAS Update

Ya'll rember the Share A Square Project, right? A bunch of happy hookers and knasty knitters with big hearts and busy hands making 6" Squares, and sending them all to Shelly, who then makes up kits of 48 squares each made by a different person, to be edged in black and joined together to create a lovely, snuggly, warm afghan for a kid at Camp Sanguinity Cancer Camp. When a child receives an afghan, they will know that 48 different people care. There's a ton of info about the project over at Shelly's, but here's a lil nutshell (copied unashamedly from her blog, just like the pic above. Also, the numbers might not be accurate. I don't know if she's had time to update the numbers since she got home. She's got a cold, too, so stop by and give her a lil blogger style chicken soup! )

Tags: gratitde, cancer kids, afghans, share a square, sas

Lost Your Password? Google Can Find It

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 15:22:51 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken

Clip Source: blogs.guardian.co.uk

Forgotten your password? Google can find it for you. Unfortunately

When a Cambridge University team wanted to break a hacker's password, they turned to Google - with startling results. But there's a lesson for you too.

a hacker, apparently Russian, broke into the blog of the Cambridge University security team

the interesting part came later, when the team was clearing up. They could see the user, but what password had he used? All they had was the entry in the MySQL database for the password

He took the hash - 20f1aeb7819d7858684c898d1e98c1bb - from the database and stuck it into Google. Lo and behold, it turned out to be "Anthony".

So: want to check the security of your favourite password(s)? First, use the MD5 hashing page here

if you want to feel safe and have OSX, go to the terminal and type md5 -s mypassword - though use your password, not mypassword.

Second, paste that code into your favourite search engine.

If it returns no results - well done!

for now.

Tags: hacker, security, passwords, browser, google

Liquid crystal phases of tiny DNA molecules point up new scenario for first life on Earth

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 19:37:12 GMT

clipped by: Djiezes

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Liquid crystal phases of tiny DNA molecules point up new scenario for first life on Earth

A team led by the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Milan has discovered some unexpected forms of liquid crystals of ultrashort DNA molecules immersed in water, providing a new scenario for a key step in the emergence of life on Earth.

short segments of DNA, life’s molecular carrier of genetic information, could assemble into several distinct liquid crystal phases that “self-orient” parallel to one another and stack into columns when placed in a water solution.

“In essence, the liquid crystal phase condensation selects the appropriate molecular components, and with the right chemistry would evolve larger molecules tuned to stabilize the liquid crystal phase. If this is correct, the linear polymer shape of DNA itself is a vestige of formation by liquid crystal order.”

Tags: life, dna, origin, soup, rna, science, biology, chemistry, helix

Amazing Weird Trees

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 13:27:20 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks: Here's another beautiful one:
http://lostworld.pair.com/trips/wdw2000_2/AK/DSCF0388.jpg

Clip Source: damncoolpics.blogspot.com

Tags: art, trees, gardening, natural sculptures, photos, weird

No More Babies, Please

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 15:40:52 GMT

clipped by: thisnamecantbetaken
clipper's remarks:

Having a child continues to be seen as the epitome of female fulfilment, whereas for men it is a side effect of an orgasm.

Follow the link and you too, can go extinct in 16 different languages! A once in a lifetime offer.

Clip Source: commentisfree.guardian.co.uk

No more babies, please

Humans are breeding with persistent determination and it's giving me a headache. Wouldn't the earth be better off without us?

Sex for the sake of procreation gives me a headache.

We copulate and procreate over and over again, secure in the knowledge that the environment is not our problem. For most this would not be a consideration. We have a need to breed, and women are meant to be mothers, right?

The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement (VHEMT - pronounced "vehement") is therefore seen as a farcical endeavour. Supporters discourage reproduction in favour of regeneration, believing the earth would benefit from the absence of humanity.

The reason many people have difficulty processing this concept is because it is unusual for an individual to take responsibility for an international problem by prohibiting their own biological functions.

There is also a reluctance to accept that we are potentially as susceptible to dying out as any other species.

Tags: wow, population control, voluntary extinction

Is That You Skwirl?

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 22:44:13 GMT

clipped by: debbyski

Clip Source: www.youtube.com

[Video]

Tags: hubby, luvs, this, commerical

Dog rescues owner that forgot keys

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 02:30:19 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: The dog Anna woke her owner up when there was a fire. They both got out, but the owner, a janitor, forgot her keys. She went back inside, and Anna followed her back, and led her out , leading her through the smoke.
I've seen a few dogs rescuing owners stories over the past month, and there seems to have been one thing in common.
The dogs had generally been stray, or adopted from the pound after being abused by previous owners. The dogs were proving they can be grateful, Perhaps seeing it as repaying in kind.

Clip Source: www.mail.com

Candace Jennings was sleeping on the couch when she was nudged awake by her dog, Anna, to find her mobile home engulfed in flames early Thanksgiving Day. The blond heeler, an abused stray dog Jennings had adopted from an animal shelter, whined and howled until they ran outside.

"I had an awful headache. The place was filled with smoke," she told the Idaho Statesman for a story published Saturday

But Jennings said she ran back into her burning home to save some items

"I'm a janitor in town," she said. "I had everyone's keys in my backpack. I had to go back and get them."

She

"She pushed on me; she nudged me out the door,"

crawled back into her burning home in Idaho City, about 40 miles northeast of Boise, with Anna close at her side.

But Jennings said she became disoriented and was nearly overcome by smoke. She tried to get back out but crawled in the wrong direction, heading toward the pantry instead of the door.

Anna showed her the way out.

The roof collapsed as Jennings

ran to some trees

Tags: dog, rescue, owner, fire, anna

Where Does The US End? Our Empire Of 700+ Foreign Bases

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 02:58:01 GMT

clipped by: BartendingBear
clipper's remarks: Just a bit of perspective to consider.

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

It's not easy to assess the size or exact value of our empire of bases. Official records on these subjects are misleading, although instructive. According to the Defense Department's annual "Base Structure Report" for fiscal year 2003, which itemizes foreign and domestic U.S. military real estate, the Pentagon currently owns or rents 702 overseas bases in about 130 countries and HAS another 6,000 bases in the United States and its territories.

. The military high command deploys to our overseas bases some 253,288 uniformed personnel, plus an equal number of dependents and Department of Defense civilian officials, and employs an additional 44,446 locally hired foreigners. The Pentagon claims that these bases contain 44,870 barracks, hangars, hospitals, and other buildings, which it owns, and that it leases 4,844 more.

These numbers,

do not begin to cover all the actual bases we occupy globally

Tags: military, pentagon