Watch the IgNobel Prizes Tomorrow!

The 21st 1st (no typo) Annual IgNobel Prizes are tomorrow. What are the Igs, you ask?

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then make them think. The prizes are intended to celebrate the unusual, honor the imaginative — and spur people’s interest in science, medicine, and technology.

Awarded by Improbable Research, we will learn tomorrow whose real-life research is the weirdest, coolest, and funniest.

For example, last year’s physics prize went to

Lianne Parkin, Sheila Williams, and Patricia Priest of the University of Otago, New Zealand, for demonstrating that, on icy footpaths in wintertime, people slip and fall less often if they wear socks on the outside of their shoes.

Here’s the reference to prove it!

To hear about it live, you can watch the webcast or you can watch Scicurious (one of my fav science bloggers) live blog the event.

It is always entertaining and reminds us all why we love science!

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Ryan

Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla: ‘Poker Face’ Played On Tesla Coils!

Yesterday was Nikola Tesla’s birthday, the man who is most famously known for giving us alternating current (AC).

In celebration, enjoy ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga played with Tesla Coils!

 

Happy Canada Day!!!

Wow. Soooooo busy lately! Don’t worry, I’m still alive. New posts coming soon.

But in the meantime, here is a great Canada Day song that I guarantee you will watch more than once!

Zelda 25th Anniversary Orchestra Montage!

From E3 2011 in Los Angeles. Sweeeeeeeeeet! (via @velveteenfrog)

 

Awful(ly Awesome) Re-enactment of Aeris’ Death Scene From FFVII

Are you an uber-nerd like me? Then you’ll find this quite amusing.

The actual death scene is still perhaps the single most memorable moment from a video game I’ve ever seen.

Sooo….What’s Your Sign? *wink*

Of course, I mean on the Geek Zodiac.

Click to Enlarge (Via Geek Tyrant)

Based on the Chinese Zodiac, the Geek Zodiac goes by year of birth.

Turns out I am a Robot:

ROBOT (Optimus Prime, RoboCop, Terminator, Voltron)

+ Law abiding, dedicated, logical

– Stubborn, intractable, cold

(Why 1984? The year both the Terminator and Transformers debut)

I was hoping I would be a Wizard, but I guess you can’t argue with the stars.

Albert Einstein v. Stephen Hawking: A Rap Battle

What else needs to be said? The awesome is incalculable!

Sweeeeeet Aurora Video

I think auroras are one of the coolest things on the planet. Along with bacon and beer.

This video was featured on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website. Two words:

Awe. Some.

Nuclear Fission Explained…With Skittles and Mouse Traps

Thanks to Pharyngula for posting this. Awesome!

Chess Boxing. Yeah, Chess Boxing

Apparently, Chess-Boxing is a real thing. And frankly, it sounds awesome. (Via Wired)

It works like this: Each player is allotted 12 minutes of chess-playing time each. So the two competitors play 4 minutes of speed chess. If nobody wins in that 4 minutes, they box for 3 minutes.

If nobody gets knocked out, they rest for a minute and then play another 4 minutes of speed chess. This continues until somebody gets checkmated or their clock cleaned.

Below is a preview of an upcoming chess-boxing match between Bjorn Jónsson (whose sense of modesty is one of his defining qualities), and Daniel Thordarson (who is employing the ‘Pavlov’ method of training).

Is it wrong that the first two people I thought about chess-boxing were Screech Powers and that Russian guy from Valley?