Thursday, June 26, 2014

Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Monday, June 9, 2014

How Many Men Would You Need to Kill to Forge a Sword from the Iron in their Blood?


The average man has 4 grams of iron in his blood.

According to Wikipedia, the average British longsword was between 1.1 and 1.8 kg. We'll use 1.45, the median value.

Also according to Wikipedia, the carbon content of steel is anywhere between .002% and 2.1%. Averaged, the carbon percentage of steel is 1.051%, though I doubt the percentage was anything approaching consistent (if anyone has better numbers for that please share). So 1.45kg - (1.45kg * 1.051%) = 1.4347605kg of iron in the average longsword.

At .004kg of iron in the average man, and assuming complete iron extraction from each corpse, forging a sword from blood-iron would have taken 358.69, or 359 dead men (far fewer than I expected, frankly). 

TL;DR: at 359 humans, it's one damn expensive sword to make. Original text

Under liquid in outer space

"Titan is unique in the outer solar system in that it is the only one of the bodies outside the Earth with liquid lakes and seas on its surface. The Titanian seas, however, are not composed of water, like Earth’s seas, but are seas of liquid hydrocarbons. What lies beneath the surface of Titan’s seas? We propose to develop a conceptual design of a submersible autonomous vehicle (submarine) to explore extraterrestrial seas. 
Specifically, to send a submarine to Titan’s largest northern sea, Kraken Mare. "

Shit dont get any more awesome than this.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Spirit

I know some of you have issues with pro sports. I know I do. I know some of you also have issues with team sports. I know I do. That being said, I do think that sports can play a very positive part in our lives. This past year/season, I was lucky enough to be part of a great experiment, the Ligue Fédérale des As. I think the league found said it best by enouncing the following: "Il est certain que j'aurais pu faire ça plus simple, mais à quoi bon ?! Nous vivons dans un monde aseptisé, où l'ordinaire est la norme et où le confort et l'indifférence règnent. Je n'embarquerai pas sur mes grands chevaux, mais l'homme et la condition humaine me désappointent au plus haut point, et il me semble que si chacun d'entre nous se forçait un peu pour agir positivement sur son coin du monde, on pourrait arrêter de parler de l'utopie d'un paradis sur terre, car nous pourrions en récolter ses bienfaits de notre vivant." I felt compelled to share those words with you guys. I feel that although we can disagree on minutiae, we can agree on the essence of what was written. I must say that the dude is even more inspiring that his words are since he put them to action!
You can find me in the pic if you wish.

Monday, June 2, 2014

Sic transit gloria mundi

Fun fact: My unborn son will one day die. The clock has already started ticking!