spiders of unusual size

my first real life encounter with a huntsman spider after i moved to australia was rather unpleasant, but not quite like this, thankfully! the final line of the video is great!



hunstmans are uncomfortably HUGE. but luckily, they arent really poisonous and in fact, they EAT roaches! i much prefer seeing the occasional massive fuzzy spider than pooping gross roaches crawling around!

orion overhead

i love the lights of city shining through the low clouds in this shot, and seeing most of orion hanging brightly overhead.

i first saw this image a while ago and might have even posted it here, but i cannot remember. while i saw it this time around here, i dont know who to give credit to for creating the image. (please cite your findings, tumblrs!)

UPDATE: thanks for the comment, chris! the photo was captured by david kaplan and reminds me of his incredible photo on APOD earlier this year showing the moon and venus over switzerland.

macro timelapse: ferrofluid and soap bubbles

a ferrofluid is essentially a liquid magnet. you can make them at home if you're keen, and i assume that's what kim pimmel did to make this interesting macro timelapse video.

"I combined everyday soap bubbles with exotic ferrofluid liquid to create an eerie tale, using macro lenses and time lapse techniques. Black ferrofluid and dye race through bubble structures, drawn through by the invisible forces of capillary action and magnetism."

Compressed 02 from Kim Pimmel on Vimeo.

maybe NASA will one day use something like a ferrofluid as the blood of a robonaut...!?!

talking about astronomy

my sister sent me this :)

(click to enlarge)

astronaut's guide to life in space

cute video from astronauts on several shuttle missions from the ~1980s and national public radio (NPR).

The Astronaut's Guide To Life In Space from NPR on Vimeo.

world's smallest, toughest crossword

the world's smallest, toughest crossword was created by russell weekes. the answer is sweet.

ukulele: the hawaiian jumping flea

i dont really need to pick up a new hobby, but whatever - i just bought a ukulele! i love it so far, but my fingers are yelling at me and i'm a bit annoyed at how quickly it falls out of tune. hopefully my skin will toughen up soon and i'll figure out how the little instrument works!

here are some inspirational tunes played on the ukulele.

first, listen to the legenadary hawaiian musician Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole sing somehwere over the rainbow.




and one from pearl jam's front man, eddie vedder, who released an album of ukulele songs earlier this year. here is his tune called can't keep.

aurora over greenland

today's astronomy picture of the day is a lovely view of the aurora over greenland during a recent shelios expedition to learn about auroras.

shuttle launch reflection

this beautiful long-exposure photo of a shuttle launch at night was linked to on twitter today. the reflection is really gorgeous.

playing with balls

sorry about the title of the post, but i really couldnt think of anything else more appropriate to describe these two completely different demonstrations of incredible ball skills:

the tim tam slam

a tim tam is a very popular and tasty australian biscuit/cookie composed of two layers of chocolate malted biscuit that surround a chocolatey cream filling, and completely covered in a thin layer of chocolate.

tim tams were first created in the 1960s and named after an american thoroughbred racehorse.

the packaging is unique in that each biscuit ("biccie" in aussie slang) has its own little compartment and there are precisely 11 biscuits per package.

i have developed a tim tam habit while observing at the australian astronomical observatory. very early in the morning, when i start to get sleepy and exhausted from working all night, i like to perform a tim tam slam (or two) to help me stay awake (and because they are so yummy)!!

to perform a tim tam slam, you need a tim tam and a mug of hot beverage such as coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

first, take small bites off opposite corners of the tim tam, or daintily bite off both ends (my preferred method).

the next few steps happen in rapid succession, so get ready...

hold the tim tam tight between your fingers and place one of the nibbled off bits in your mouth. submerge the other side in the beverage and suck, suck, suck!

as soon as you get the *hit* of liquid through the tim tam straw, pop it directly into your mouth!

if you wait too long, the whole thing turns into sludge and can easily drop out of your hand, so its best to eat it quickly.

every time i do the slam, it tastes better than i expect :)

UPDATE: in response to this post, some fine fellas in cardiff decided to demonstrate a similar technique using a twix, which they call tea-twix-tubes!

this is love

can you guess what these are?

i didnt know so i'll just tell you: serotonin and oxytocin. prints by maggie hurley.

pancake machine

spotted in the qantas lounge!

off to Canberra to feel a couple days of winter and give a talk!

what a "shooting star" looks like from space

ever wonder what a meteor might look like from space?

here's the view from the international space station during last night's persied meteor shower, as the earth passed through the space dust left over from comet swift-tuttle.

more than a doodle....

how academics see each other

here's a funny little graphic created by PhD student matus sotak. click to see full size:

zombie bowling

in order to advertise a german horror TV channel, a group designed a series of bowling balls that look like chopped off heads which they are calling 13th Street Bowlingheads. spray paint artist Oliver Paaß helped to make them look fairly convincing! they put these bowling balls (and a few other designs) in several bowling alleys around germany...

do they remind anyone else of classic garbage pail kids?

if not now

nice design and message...

via fffound