Monthly Archives: February 2019

“If the answer here doesn’t blow your mind, I don’t know what will.”

3Blue1Brown: The most unexpected answer to a counting puzzle and So why do colliding blocks compute pi? and How colliding blocks act like a beam of light…to compute pi. (YouTube, 5:12min and 15:15min and 14:40min)

The connection between the initial experiment and the calculation of π is surprising, and finding two different solutions in physics is even more astounding. The videos are extremely well done, and the presentation helps a lot with understanding the mathematical manipulations.

Mind. Blown.

Link via Futility Closet.

Cold War 2.0 / Kalter Krieg 2.0?

Deutsche Welle: US announces withdrawal from INF missile treaty. “The US has begun its withdrawal from the INF treaty with Russia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Berlin would continue talking with Moscow about its alleged violations until the withdrawal process was finished.”

Deutsche Welle: Pompeo verkündet Ausstieg der USA aus Abrüstungsvertrag INF. “Außenminister Mike Pompeo hat verkündet, was alle erwarten. Die USA steigen aus dem INF-Vertrag mit Russland zum Verzicht auf landgestützte atomare Mittelstreckenwaffen aus. Grund sind neue russische Marschflugkörper.”