Douglas Adams: The First and Last Tapes is the first of three parts of an “excellent series of unpublished interviews with Douglas Adams, with the first Hitchhiker’s book still to be completed and script editing on Dr Who taking up much of his time.” Don’t miss part two and part three either.
Link via MetaFilter.
Category Archives: Fun
Simulate your own solar system – and more!
Sometimes MetaFilter has links to sites right up my alley: Physics simulators. Lots of physics simulators.
“PhET – Physics Education Technology offers this astoundingly large library of online physics simulations.
Play orbital billiards. Land on a cheesy moon. Experiment with sound. Or try more advanced quantum physics simulators. Still bored? Try the “cutting edge” catagory. Here’s the complete index. (Warnings: Frames, Flash, Javascript, Java applets, graphics, sound, quantum timesuck.)“
I especially like the orbit simulator because I once had to program one in university. During my third semester (I was still aiming for a master in physics back then) I took a course on theoretical mechanics, and we had to write a program that simulated the paths of the moon relative to the earth and the sun. The masses and velocities of the objects were adjustable.
It took me weeks and weeks to finish because I had never programmed anything serious before, but it still didn’t calculate correct paths the day before the deadline, so I had to ask for some more time. Two frustrating afternoons later, I finally found the sign error in one of the formulas… Sigh.
I just realized that this must have been in February of 1996, so more than a decade has passed since then. I guess they do different programming tasks in theoretical mechanics now that you can just download applications like this from the web. Which is a good thing for me because now I can use these spiffy simulations in my lessons instead of my amateurish ones. I’m sure the students are going to appreciate it.
RoboRally!
I’ve mentioned my favourite boardgame, RoboRally, several times before. André and I usually play it with a group of friends on New Year’s Eve and are always looking forward to it because each game is different from the ones before.
RoboRally doesn’t have one single board, but several (six came with the original edition by Wizards of the Coast, and you can buy more in additional sets) that can be combined in numerous ways. Also, you set the goals wherever you want, so the course that the robots have to pass is never the same. You can do a fast game in about an hour, or play on an elaborate board plan until the wee hours of the night… and it’s always fun!
If you want to try it out, take a look at the RoboRally Demo which is part of the Robo Rally pages on the Wizard website. You don’t have to read all the instructions; all you have to know is that you have to maneuvre your bot to the green goal in five steps and can use five of the nine movement cards provided on the left. Once you get the idea, it’s easy! At least in the first two levels it is, it gets more complicated after that…
André and I own the original 1994 American edition of the game, which is similar to the edition that’s available now. The design was changed somewhat, though, and I really have to say that I like the original robots much better than the ones you get now. I spent and afternoon or two and painted the ones that came with our game; you can see three of them in the photo. From left to right: Twonky, Spinbot and Hulk X90, who thinks he’s a couple hundred feet high but suffers from vertigo. ;-)
Übrigens können wir die deutsche Version des Spiels von Amigo nicht wirklich empfehlen, weil es so vereinfacht wurde, dass es nicht mehr so viel Spaß macht wie das Original. Lesenswert ist aber der Eintrag in der deutschsprachigen Wikipedia.
My favourite comic again: Calvin and Hobbes
Rare Bill Watterson Art is part of Magic on Paper, “A Humble Tribute To the Greatest Newspaper Comic Strip Of the Modern Era”. Link via MetaFilter; the thread has some more links worth checking out.
Ernsthafte Wissenschaftler
Das Institut zur Erforschung total interessanter Tatsachen (kurz I.Z.E.T.I.T. genannt) ist genau das – wobei sich hinter dem Institut Franz, Jan und Alex verbergen. Der WWW-Adresse nach ist zumindest einer der drei Student an der Uni Essen.
Gemeinsam sind sie den Geheimnissen des Alltags auf der Spur und erforschen zum Beispiel, ob Toast immer auf die Marmeladenseite fällt, wie viele Meter Klebeband man benötigt, um einen Menschen an die Wand zu kleben und natürlich das Geheimnis der Mentos-Geysire.
Der NDR urteilt: “I.Z.E.T.I.T. – Wenn sie es nicht machen würden, würde es keiner tun!”