sixty symbols: asteroids

there has been quite an excited buzz around the internet about the recent video showing asteroid discovery from 1980 to 2010. what you gain from watching is that there are LOTS of asteroids out there, which is "cool and mildly terrifying" as a friend so succinctly described it.

it just so happens that sixty symbols released a video describing asteroids today which describes, ironically, why individual asteroids are no longer given unique symbols.

castles in north wales

here are some photos from a trip to wales i took in the spring. the focus of this trip was to see old castles, but we stoppen in Llangollen...


and saw this interesting aqueduct.


we visited conwy castle in nothern wales....


we didnt enter this one, but we walked around the wall that still surrounds the city.




we found the smallest house in great britain! the last occupant was 6 ft 3 and named robert jones. the tiny flat was condemned in the early 1900s, but when the tall man got kicked out, he traveled around great britain to visit all the small houses to verify that his was indeed the smallest.


a mere 20 miles south of conwy, is the massive caernarfon castle, which translates to carnarvon ("car-NAR-von") in english, if that makes the pronunciation any easier!








a small bit of the welsh language.

silent star wars

i'm almost more impressed by the piano composition than the silent movie bit, but its still worth a quick watch...

bad universe on TV!

phil plait, aka the bad astronomer, has a tv show on the discovery channel!! so if youre in the US, tune in this sunday night at 10pm.

here's a description of the episode: "65 million years ago, an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into the Earth wiping out the dinosaurs. Are we in for the same fate? Phil Plait investigates the possibility and tests some explosive measures that may just save our planet."

and here's a preview:



i'm excited for this opportunity for phil and i'm thrilled that he gets to share his enthusiasm and knowledge on TV for the masses! let me know what you think!

Sixty Symbols: you ask the questions!

the 100th video for the sixty symbols project will be filmed soon! the filmmaker, brady, is asking for you all to submit questions that he can ask us - without us knowing the questions beforehand! i like his advice: don't ask something that you could look up in a textbook or on the internet... see if you can be creative and ask questions we've never been asked before!

i admit, i'm moderately terrified by this idea, but certainly excited to see what you come up with! eek!

you can submit questions directly to brady at sixtysymbols [at] hotmail.co.uk or you can ask me a question in the comments if you want!

laser cooling

did you know you could cool a gas with lasers? this sixty symbols video explains the process...

(i didnt know there was such an intricate laser system here at the university of nottingham!)

(also, the last line of this video is great ;)

this is how you lock a gate

all across england and wales, there are public footpaths that are available for walking. i felt strange at first walking across someone's meadow where sheep are eating grass just meters away, but people have even built steps to help you over fences and walls that you might come across during your walk. these footpaths only apply to walkers (and "bridleways" that also allow cyclists and people on horseback), but i was still surprised to see this heavily-locked gate as we walked through the lake district in northwest england!

what the flux?

click image to embiggen...


via buzzfeed

UK exploration continues

it seems i'm working my way from the southwest to the north of the UK. this weekend i'm off to see how the rain feels in the lake district!