True Mysteries and Oddities

mindphuk

Well-Known Member
This only works if you use precise amounts. Some of the volume of the hot cubes will evaporate. It freezes slightly faster because there is less.
That's not the only conditions the Mpemba effect occurs and there is no single explanation for why this sometimes happens.
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
That's not the only conditions the Mpemba effect occurs and there is no single explanation for why this sometimes happens.
Quite an interesting story behind this one. I had always thought of this as boiling water vs room temp, but as you point out it gets more complicated than that. Interesting history about the debate as well, almost an illustration of the scientific method wrestling with itself. Thanks for turning me on to some engaging reading.


Stonerman, in the case of boiling water vs room temp it seems that, in addition to evaporation, convection can also play a role. If the ice cube trays have a frost on them, it acts as an insulator. The colder water might not melt this frost, whereas the hot water will. This allows heat to escape out of the sides faster, and so the hot water tends to freeze from the bottom up. The colder water freezes on top first, and the crust acts as a further insulator.
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
It is awesome how the ocean continues to show us creatures we know little or nothing about. Check this out.

[video=youtube;-E-8_wDgN7c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E-8_wDgN7c&[/video]


When I first saw this I thought it was too perfect and therefore fake. It looked like the CGI they used to make terminator look like liquid metal. This is actually a rare jellyfish.

Deepstaria enigmatica, is a jellyfish of the family Ulmaridae first described in 1967 by F.S. Russel. The bell of this jellyfish is very thin and wide (up to approx. 60 cm), and resembles a translucent, folding sheet or “lava lamp” as the animal moves.
 

tyler.durden

Well-Known Member
It is awesome how the ocean continues to show us creatures we know little or nothing about. Check this out.


When I first saw this I thought it was too perfect and therefore fake. It looked like the CGI they used to make terminator look like liquid metal. This is actually a rare jellyfish.
Very cool, Heis. What had me mesmerized about this creature (beside waking up semi-high from last night), is the intricate hexagonal (perhaps hexahedronal) pattern undulating through it's translucent skin. These shapes are so perfectly symmetrical they look drawn...
 

Total Head

Well-Known Member
creepy energy vorticies...fact or fiction? no measurable scientific proof of anything unusual, but people really do claim to feel things that they can't put their finger on. the touristy places are routinely outed as hoaxes, magnets being planted, architecture being altered, etc. but is there actually something going on that is being exploited, or is it 100% bullshit?
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
creepy energy vorticies...fact or fiction? no measurable scientific proof of anything unusual, but people really do claim to feel things that they can't put their finger on. the touristy places are routinely outed as hoaxes, magnets being planted, architecture being altered, etc. but is there actually something going on that is being exploited, or is it 100% bullshit?
I remember visiting one of these 'mystery spots' as a kid. It was pretty kewl at the time.

[video=youtube;AT0uQLspcXo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT0uQLspcXo&[/video]
 

tyler.durden

Well-Known Member
So, what do you think is going on in the car video, Heis? Is it an optical illusion where it seems they're going up a hill but it's really a on a down grade? Or did they really have the car on in first gear or something? Why didn't the bring a level and simply put it on the ground to check?
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
So, what do you think is going on in the car video, Heis? Is it an optical illusion where it seems they're going up a hill but it's really a on a down grade? Or did they really have the car on in first gear or something? Why didn't the bring a level and simply put it on the ground to check?
Sorry, I forgot to anchor my link. Here it is.

Mystery spots examined

And if you want to really go in depth, try this.

Short version, you are correct about the grade seeming to be uphill but really in terms of gravity it's down hill.
 

Stonerman Enoch

Well-Known Member
Watch all the way till the end, it's not really a mystery just interesting but that last transformation is something to behold......[video=youtube;t-LTWFnGmeg]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-LTWFnGmeg&feature=related[/video]
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
Here's a different type of oddity, a trick of the mind.

The Flashed face distroition effect can cause us to see beauty as ugly when we are not focused directly on it. As you look at different faces they become exagerated.

[video=youtube;VT9i99D_9gI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VT9i99D_9gI[/video]


Flashed Face Distortion
 

mindphuk

Well-Known Member
Here's a different type of oddity, a trick of the mind.

The Flashed face distroition effect can cause us to see beauty as ugly when we are not focused directly on it. As you look at different faces they become exagerated.

[video=youtube;VT9i99D_9gI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=VT9i99D_9gI[/video]


Flashed Face Distortion
That's fucked up!
 

Heisenberg

Well-Known Member
What would you do if you walked outside and noticed what looked like millions of tiny bugs jumping around, but on closer inspection you saw that they were actually little spheres with no eyes or extremities, apparently lifeless, and covered the ground for as far as you could see?

[video=youtube_share;ufGUj5Prow8]http://youtu.be/ufGUj5Prow8[/video]

2308.jpeg

Would you think we were being invaded by alien bugs? A neighborhood in Davis California recently suffered an unusual amount of these things, alarming a few residents. Some even wondered if they were in danger of 'pod people'. The old timers quickly set them at ease, explaining that they were wasp larvae, similar to jumping beans.

In Davis, our Valley Oaks are commonly afflicted with jumping oak gall caused by a small cynipid wasp species (Neuroteras saltatorius). These are the tiny “jumping beans” you will notice falling on your picnic table under the big oak tree. These round pinhead-sized yellow or brown seed-like galls typically appear first on the leaves, falling off when the lone inhabitant is mature; the wasp’s activity makes the gall “jump” several inches off the ground. It is believed that the larvae hop around to locate a soil crack in which to hide and pupate before maturing to adulthood and chewing its way out of the gall. The wasps themselves are dark and so tiny that you’ll probably never see them — they are harmless to people.
 

tyler.durden

Well-Known Member
^^ Very cool! I watched that one and found another that goes into more detail:

[video=youtube;bmvlIdNXxjM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmvlIdNXxjM&feature=related[/video]
 
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