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Rotary Tool

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It was great until my thumb slipped and I accidentally launched my telescope into the air at Mach 8.
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alt_text_bot
1 day ago
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It was great until my thumb slipped and I accidentally launched my telescope into the air at Mach 8.
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jepler
1 day ago
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dental drills are 300krpm? I had no idea. wow.
Earth, Sol system, Western spiral arm
fxer
1 day ago
Now I’m curious how it achieves that: > The speed is needed to give the bit/burr some rotational momentum to provide torque. There is no direct connection between the source of the energy- compressed air - and the burr. The compressed air is only at about 2.7 bar and spins a turbine in the head of the drill, which the burr is attached to. You can hold the burr with your fingers stationary from start-up - no torque like a concrete bit

Stromatolites

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If only my ancestors had been fortunate enough to marry into the branch of the bacteria family that could photosynthesize, like all my little green cousins here.
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alt_text_bot
3 days ago
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If only my ancestors had been fortunate enough to marry into the branch of the bacteria family that could photosynthesize, like all my little green cousins here.
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jlvanderzwan
2 days ago
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This reminds me of an old TED talk by Jeff Hawkins where he talks about why he believes both neuroscience and ML are talking past each other. From what I understand his predictions about ML haven't quite worked out, but his insight about science being about uncovering the *counter-intuitive* truths, and that that's part of what makes it so hard, has always stuck with me:

"We taught our kids the Bible says God created all these species, cats are cats; dogs are dogs; people are people; plants are plants; they don't change. Noah put them on the ark in that order, blah, blah. The fact is, if you believe in evolution, we all have a common ancestor. We all have a common ancestor with the plant in the lobby! This is what evolution tells us! And it's true! But it's kind of unbelievable!"

https://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_hawkins_how_brain_science_will_change_computing/transcript

AlphaMove

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It struggles a little with complex positions, like when there are an even number of moves and it has to round down, but when run against itself it's capable of finding some novelties. At one point I saw six knights on the board at once; Stockfish rarely exceeds four.
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alt_text_bot
6 days ago
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It struggles a little with complex positions, like when there are an even number of moves and it has to round down, but when run against itself it's capable of finding some novelties. At one point I saw six knights on the board at once; Stockfish rarely exceeds four.
aakashm
5 days ago
I am 100% ready to believe that Randall actually tried this out and got the stated result
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smarkwell
5 days ago
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https://youtu.be/DpXy041BIlA Suckerpinch did a video on a bunch of weird chess algorithms and ran them against each other
jlvanderzwan
3 days ago
Making bad chess engines became a recurring joke in later videos too

Humidifier Review

2 Comments and 5 Shares
They should add a little sticker that certifies that the humidifier supports water conservation, but in the sense of energy conservation or momentum conservation.
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alt_text_bot
8 days ago
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They should add a little sticker that certifies that the humidifier supports water conservation, but in the sense of energy conservation or momentum conservation.
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GaryBIshop
8 days ago
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I've seen these!

Muons

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Update: I've been banned from the physics department for the way I pronounce "Doppler effect."
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alt_text_bot
10 days ago
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Update: I've been banned from the physics department for the way I pronounce "Doppler effect."
silberbaer
8 days ago
Which brings to mind Dr. Sheldon Cooper's Halloween costume...
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T. Rex Evolution

5 Comments and 8 Shares
Unfortunately, body size and bite force continue to increase.
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alt_text_bot
13 days ago
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Unfortunately, body size and bite force continue to increase.
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DougK
13 days ago
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Randall needs to make up his mind. https://xkcd.com/1211/
Work in D.C., live in NoVA
astw56
13 days ago
So the future of the T. Rex is... a giant feathered snake?
matthiasgoergens
11 days ago
T-Rex went extinct as did most other dinosaurs. But some (like the birds) survived. Seems perfectly consistent with today's comic.
rickhensley
13 days ago
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Now put that on a plane.
Ohio
gordol
13 days ago
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Snakes.
Earth
llucax
13 days ago
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Science!
Berlin
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