Category Archives: Fun

Weihnachtsbastelei – Crafts for Christmas

How to make a Fröbel star – Wie man einen Fröbelstern faltet (YouTube, no sound, so works no matter what languages you speak :-) )

I tried this for the first time yesterday and was instantly hooked. I cut the strips (size about 1.2cm x 30cm) myself from construction paper in four different colors, but apparently you can buy the strips in many different colors and designs, at least here in Germany.

Here are the ones I made yesterday and today:

Now I think I also need some in a blue-green-purple colorway.

Astronaut meets Cartoonist

The Guardian: Chris Hadfield meets Randall Munroe: ‘Are we alone in the universe?’
“Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut and internet sensation
Randall Munroe, the US cartoonist and former Nasa physicist

“The Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield spent five months in 2012 and 2013 twirling around the Earth in command of the International Space Station. Hadfield guesses he made several thousand orbits of the planet during that time […]
The American artist Randall Munroe knows something, too, about capturing an audience in the age of the fast and fickle online share. Munroe’s webcomics, produced under the banner of xkcd and promising “romance, sarcasm, math and language“ , have for years been a part of the social media fabric.”

Great interview. I recently read An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth and enjoyed it immensely. Also, Munroe’s explanation of orbital speed with the Proclaimer’s hit I’m gonna be (500 Miles) is great!

Link via MetaFilter:“When you looked down at Earth, did you always know where you were?”

It’s all relative

Washington Post: This high school student just won $250,000 for his film explaining Einstein’s theory of relativity.

“Ohio high school senior Ryan Chester became the inaugural winner of a new college scholarship on Sunday night, winning $250,000 for his 7-minute film that uses simple props and hand-drawn graphics to explain Einstein’s special theory of relativity.

Besides winning that money for himself, Chester also won $100,000 for a new science lab at his school in the Cleveland suburbs, North Royalton High, and $50,000 for his physics teacher, Richard Nestoff. […]

The scholarship is the newest award in the family of Breakthrough Prizes, which are meant to celebrate the importance of science and recognize brilliance in the fields of math, biology and physics. Founded three years ago by Silicon Valley giants […] the Breakthrough Prize offers awards ranging from $100,000 for promising early-career achievements to $3 million for scientists who have made fundamental discoveries about the world.”

IFL Science: Teenager Wins $400,000 For His Video Explaining Einstein’s Theory of Relativity.

Here’s the video on YouTube: Breakthrough Junior Challenge: Some Cool Ways of Looking at the Special Theory of Relativity, by Ryan Chester.