Oxymorama
Rocketboom’s The Bloop, Ant Crusher meets Lizard, The morality & ethics of Auto-driving cars
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The Great Occurrence of One
Benford’s Law of Newcomb: In data sets, the number “1″ naturally occurs more frequently than any other number. Frank Benford, Simon Newcomb, Falsified Greek Erozone data
Inglewood Police Chase Video Explained
A method for living without breathing air, Tweets to the Pope via, Is the Inglewood Police Chase video real? The Rocketboom Institute for Internet Studies dispels the myth.
The Tallest Building in the World
Tell Waaramel, Tallest buildings 6 years ago from Rocketboom, Burj Khalifa in the UAE reaches 829 meters, 2716.5 feet, China’s “Sky City” claims it will reach 838 meters, 2749.3 feet (in just 90 days), The Magnolia Tension-leg oil Platform, Mount Everest , Mount Chimborazo, Launch Loop, Space Elevator
Chinese Nail House Holdouts
So named by building developers for being the one stubborn nail that just wont go down, nail house holdouts are on the rise in China. Zhejiang holdout, Yangjiaping, Chongqing holdout, Guangzhou, Guangdong holdout
The Effect of Plankton on Politics
Marine biologist Craig McClain suggests the presence of trillions of plankton influenced votes in favor of Obama for the 2008 US Presidential election. Rocketboom breaks it down and presents a follow-up showing the same theory extended to the 2012 election, too. Robert Krulwich; Craig McClain.
iPhone vs Android
Rocketboom takes to Washington Square Park in New York City to survey mobile phone preferences in the growing war between Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android. Which do you prefer? iPhone or Android?
FAQ: “Sounds like they were holding a biased poll… only asking android users why.” We asked a lot of iPhones users why too, but their answers were typically not interesting so we edited them out. But it is true, we did ask more people “why” when they said Android. We were curious. Rocketboom has throughly covered the iPhone. Android? Not so much. Asking why did not change people’s answers.
FAQ: “but…but….Android has more market share, this must be biased”. Some insightful commenters have pointed out that this survey takes place in a specific location that is not representative of all of America or the World. This is just a certain section of a big city surrounded by a prestigious University.
The Bloop
The Bloop is the loudest sound ever recorded on Earth. In the summer of 1997, The Bloop was repeatedly recorded far off to the west from the southern tip of South America near 50 Deg S; 100 Deg W. The origin of the sound and others like it remain unknown.
http://goo.gl/bR6Ar
*Note: “The Bloop” is actually four times slower (and thus lower in pitch). The sound is traditionally presented sped up in this way to provide a humanly accessible representation.
Sweden Runs Out Of Garbage, Forced To Import New Garbage
In a strange turn of events, Sweden has run out of garbage and been forced to import new garbage to fuel the country’s waste-to-energy incineration program. http://goo.gl/A3UMP
Extra Casual Friday
Well, we were going to skip this news, then we were going to save it for a Casual Friday, then we decided against saving it but it turned out to be Friday anyway. Then something else that we forgot. Colorado legalizes marijuana. Washington State relaxes marijuana laws.
Post Sandy Elections
Hurricane Sandy broke at least 9 records. NYC ‘s Mayor Mike Bloomberg and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie opted to vote for Obama based on the Presidents’ handling of the storm. Mitt Romney explained that he does not believe there is anything we can do to minimize the effects of climate change on humanity. Google’s Sergery Brin called on elected officials to do more to work together. VOTE MEGATRON
Voyager Exits Solar System
The Voyager I, launched in 1977 is the furthest human made object from the sun. In its journey towards interstellar space, more evidence suggests that the Voyager has exited the solar system. NASA’s Voyager Site. The Golden Record attached to the outside of the Voyager is a time capsule etched with a multimedia presentation of humanity’s knowledge to be seen by any extraterrestrial life that may find it.
Drones Everywhere
Drones are the new military theater (horses and bayonets, no so much). New America Foundation of drone attacks in Pakistan. Related Headlines: CIA seeks expansion of drone fleet, U.S. Deploying Surveillance Drones Near China, UK to double number of drones in Afghanistan, France to send drones to West Africa, How Russia and Georgia’s ‘little war’ started a drone arms race, Scientists working on developing robotic fish that could be used as naval drones, California sheriff asks DHS for surveillance drones, Israel intercepts drone from Hezbollah, UN Chief: Hezbollah Drone Launch ‘Reckless’, Iran’s General Mohammad Reza Naqdi tells Israel to expect many drones. Note from Rocketboom: Thanks again for bearing with us as we work to increase our release schedule, we should be back to 4-5 days a week starting today. Click here to subscribe for updates
The Sun Rise Problem Which Is Still A Problem
Keghan addresses comments on last week’s Sun Rise Problem. All comments along with original video, Comments visualized by repetition, All comments categorized
The Sun Rise Problem
Casual Friday: What is the probability that the sun will rise tomorrow? Setting aside any play on words with a sun “rising”, and taking for granted that nothing is guaranteed, what IS the probability, statistically speaking, that the sun rise will tomorrow? 20%? 50%? Best serious answer with the most upvotes gets a free Rocketboom Tshirt.
Gangnam Style Video: $15 Million in Direct Revenue [BREAKDOWN]
The now famous Gangnam Style brought in over $15 Million in direct revenue for PSY within just the last three months, including music sales, ad sales, concert tickets, tv appearances and commercials. Rocketboom breaks it down. Official Gangnam Style video, Will Gangnam Style hit #1 on Billboard? Will PSY & new partner Scooter Braun manage to break the first Korean record in the United States? , KPop: PSY’s World
The Columbus Supernova
Christopher Columbus day is also Lief Erickson day which is also Supernova Day and Thanksgiving Day (amongst other days). UNESCO notes five World Heritage sites that are undergoing damage, including devastation of the famous Aleppo Market, Space X lifts off, has friend in NASA MoHawk Guy, What is the probability that the sun will rise tomorrow?
Sailing in Space
In the early 2000s, NASA invested heavily into solar sail propulsion systems with deployable booms as a means of low cost space travel. In 2010, NASA deployed a nano-sail in low Earth orbit while Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the world’s first interplanetary solar sail, “IKAROS” (Interplanetary Kite-craft Accelerated by Radiation Of the Sun) to Venus.
Iron Man, Elon Musk, SpaceX, Tesla & The Hyperloop
Iron Man, as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man movies and The Avengers, a.k.a Tony Stark, was inspired in part by Elon Musk Links: Elon Musk Bio, Interview with Musk on his sale of Paypal, Tesla Motors, Tesla Motors on YouTube, SpaceX, SpaceX on YouTube, Hyperloop evacuated tube transport with solar power and maglev technology, Evacuated tube transport
The Grand Supercycle
The Grand Supercycle is the wave of reach over time that ideas travel. What memes (or ideas) spread but do not follow the Grand Supecycle?
Interview with the creator of the Nyan Nyan Cat image, Chris Torres
In today’s Across The Internet, Keghan interviews Chris Torres (aka PRGuitarman), creator of the Nyan Nyan Cat image, from across the internet. See also: Rocketboom’s breakdown of the Nyan Nyan Cat meme.
Ole Worm
Olaus Wormius. Destroyer of myths.
Dogs of 9/11
Hero Dogs Of 9/11 celebrates the dogs in service at the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001, and the days, weeks and months that followed. Produced by Kenn Bell at DogFiles. For the extended version, see http://thedogfiles.com