Random Articles (Page 93)
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๐ Hyperloop
A Hyperloop is a proposed mode of passenger and freight transportation, first used to describe an open-source vactrain design released by a joint team from Tesla and SpaceX. Hyperloop is a sealed tube or system of tubes through which a pod may travel free of air resistance or friction conveying people or objects at high speed while being very efficient, thereby drastically reducing travel times over medium-range distances.
Elon Musk's version of the concept, first publicly mentioned in 2012, incorporates reduced-pressure tubes in which pressurized capsules ride on air bearings driven by linear induction motors and axial compressors.
The Hyperloop Alpha concept was first published in August 2013, proposing and examining a route running from the Los Angeles region to the San Francisco Bay Area, roughly following the Interstate 5 corridor. The Hyperloop Genesis paper conceived of a hyperloop system that would propel passengers along the 350-mile (560ย km) route at a speed of 760ย mph (1,200ย km/h), allowing for a travel time of 35 minutes, which is considerably faster than current rail or air travel times. Preliminary cost estimates for this LAโSF suggested route were included in the white paperโUS$6 billion for a passenger-only version, and US$7.5 billion for a somewhat larger-diameter version transporting passengers and vehiclesโalthough transportation analysts had doubts that the system could be constructed on that budget; some analysts claimed that the Hyperloop would be several billion dollars overbudget, taking into consideration construction, development, and operation costs.
The Hyperloop concept has been explicitly "open-sourced" by Musk and SpaceX, and others have been encouraged to take the ideas and further develop them. To that end, a few companies have been formed, and several interdisciplinary student-led teams are working to advance the technology. SpaceX built an approximately 1-mile-long (1.6ย km) subscale track for its pod design competition at its headquarters in Hawthorne, California.
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- "Hyperloop" | 2013-06-01 | 10 Upvotes 9 Comments
๐ Olbers' paradox
In astrophysics and physical cosmology, Olbers' paradox, named after the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers (1758โ1840), also known as the "dark night sky paradox", is the argument that the darkness of the night sky conflicts with the assumption of an infinite and eternal static universe. In the hypothetical case that the universe is static, homogeneous at a large scale, and populated by an infinite number of stars, then any line of sight from Earth must end at the (very bright) surface of a star and hence the night sky should be completely illuminated and very bright. This contradicts the observed darkness and non-uniformity of the night.
The darkness of the night sky is one of the pieces of evidence for a dynamic universe, such as the Big Bang model. That model explains the observed non-uniformity of brightness by invoking spacetime's expansion, which lengthens the light originating from the Big Bang to microwave levels via a process known as redshift; this microwave radiation background has wavelengths much longer than those of visible light, so appears dark to the naked eye. Other explanations for the paradox have been offered, but none have wide acceptance in cosmology.
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- "Olbers' Paradox" | 2022-03-27 | 75 Upvotes 50 Comments
- "Olbers' paradox" | 2015-08-02 | 40 Upvotes 20 Comments
๐ Glass Knife
A glass knife is a knife with a blade made of glass, with a fracture line forming an extremely sharp cutting edge.
Glass knives were used in antiquity due to their natural sharpness and the ease with which they could be manufactured. In modern electron microscopy glass knives are used to make the ultrathin sections needed for imaging.
๐ List of really, really stupid article ideas that you should not create
An article about or described by any of the following can be safely assumed to fit into the set of unnecessary articles:
- You, your family, or the organization you work for.
- Your band, which has only sold 47 copies of its one album. Even if you think it will sell 48. Or maybe 49! Or, if you get really lucky, you can pay off the record store owner so that he may buy one and your sales will have gone up to fifty!!! Keep dreamin', brotha.
- Your imaginary friend or your imaginary friends that don't even exist.
- The religion, language or even country that you made up with your friends in school one day.
- The street you live on, unless it is on a Monopoly board. But since it is highly unlikely that you live on a Monopoly game board, we suggest that you not even try.
- Any one of the 16 distinct regions in the Pokรฉmon video game series or lieking mudkipz, or hering dat someon lieks mudkipz. Remember, not everyone is a Pokรฉmon fanatic.
- A stunt or trick only you have ever attempted, probably unsuccessfully.
- Any movie you made yourself which has never been seen by more people at one time than can fit in your basement. Even if you have a really big basement.
- Individual songs that have never been released as a single nor seen radio play, unless they're twenty minutes long or have led to a phone number becoming unusable or even have questioned the essence of music itself.
- "(Anything) in popular culture." Anything at all.
- Likewise "Hysterical Realism in the Works of (insert neither hysterical nor realistic author here)".
- Your dormitory, university residence, or any suite therein.
- Stuff nobody but that guy who changes his Spock ears more often than his underpants cares about, or the equivalent thereto. For example, a song about a custom map of a video game, unless you are famous and the song managed to release as a single.
- Anything about which you cannot be buggered to write one complete sent
- Subjects that cannot be studied, or the knowledge of which amounts only to the fact that it pertains to another topic. A favourite line from a movie or catchy lyric, a potent phrase used in argument, juicy facts of interest to fans, a punch-line or zinger; these are all very interesting, but usually all that can be informatively written about topic "X" is: "X is a _______ found in _______."
- Just about everything listed on Wikipedia:Millionth topic pool.
- For that matter, Wikipedia:Millionth topic pool.
- Anything about your cat or dog and how cute it is (or your hamster, degu, or chinchilla).
- Exploding Whales, or indeed Exploding Wales, or even Exploding Wales. Or blowing up any other animals, for example, exploding mice, or even exploding Velociraptor, for that matter. Most things that implode are pretty much off the list too, with a few exceptions.
- Anything written under the influence of recreational substances or while tired and emotional.
- An article about another article, written after the use of aforementioned substances.
- A fork of an existing article for the sole purpose of adding some humor.
- The weather in London. Not even a redirect. (Wowee).
- Your guild in World of Warcraft or similar time wasters. Just because you have
no lifea personally fascinating hobby doesn't mean you get to tell the world about it. And don't write about this guy in your guild who wiped your raid, either. - Something you just saw on YouTube and, possibly, laughed at.
- Something you just put on YouTube.
- An article that haz badly grammar and/or speelling. Including, bad punctuation!!
- Any meme, no matter how popular or important.
- Anything you don't know the title of.
- Your wiki or blog. It's probably not internationally famous. If it is, well go ahead, but let's face it; your blog of cute cats is not internationally famous (three readers is not fame).
- Your new invention or research paper that will change the world. It will undoubtedly fail.
- Anything about your cat named Bubba or your dog named Max. No one cares. Trust us.
- Your nomination for the Noble (or even Nobel) Peace Prize.
- Anything about how you were abducted by aliens.
- An article on the dream you had last night. No matter how long you describe it, it will never be interesting: Even if dreaming that you were the inventor of the chalk board who had to overcome obstacles from the evil book binding lobbyists deeply moved you to tears upon waking up.
- An article on the person that knocked on your door while you was writing the article about your dream last night, causing you to forget about the dream (but Iโll be honest, I feel for you).
- An article about Wikpiedia, Wikipaedia, Wiokipedia, Wikipeedia, Wikipeadia, or any other Wikis that appear to be Wikipedia but aren't.
- An article about the media response to the Wikipedia article about the barely notable thing that shouldn't even have an article (recursivity has its limits, even here).
- The difference between Hoagy Carmichael and Stokely Carmichael.
- An entry promoting your hilarious web series about Wikipedia.
- Recreating this dumb list.
- Anything about hashtags. #IHateHashtags
- Anything about how fat you are or how much weight you're losing (trust us; no one cares).
- Headlight flashing โ I know, it's preposterous, even for Wikipedia. But when you're done laughing and/or crying, follow the link. It really exists.
- Assumptions about the conclusions of scientific publications that you have seen the titles of, but not read.
- Your self-published book.
- McGannahan Skjellyfetti.
- An article about your friend's latest selfie. Or, for that matter, selfie stick. They are banned in most places anyway.
- Lists of times at which commercial breaks occurred during a sporting event.
- Your personal opinions about your boyfriend or girlfriend.
- An article on discussing the differences between you and your close friends. It does not matter to most people in the world.
- An article about how Tyson Foods is run by a bunch of chicken fuckers because the main article is protected from vandalism by the legions of Internet trolls.
- Yet another list of Google doodles.
- A new sex position that you and your boys theory-crafted one night.
- Times Scooby-Doo has defied the laws of reality.
- A list of celebrity couples names for couples that you wish would get together but as of now haven't.
- Your stupid esoteric programming language you made up to 'test the boundaries of computer programming language design'.
- Any article related to odorous gas clouds, but particularly smelly farts.
- Your youtube channel, unless you have millions of fangirls.
- Your opinion and/or fascination about outer space, even if there are lots of unusual exoplanets out there. Yes, we know. They're weird. No need to tell us that.
- Your opinion on time traveling to have dinner with the members of Bone Symphony or Bone Thugs-n-Harmony or Boney M. or The Right Honourable Bonar Law
- The time you laughed about someone eating a red 5-pound gummy skull while wearing a jetpack while driving a limousine at 5 a.m. on a Tuesday in August 2018.
- An article that uses templates to perform math for no apparent reason besides your entertainment
- Your anus and how it had very good funny time with girl.
- The time you laughed at someone living in Fortnite (Chapter 1), even though I get that they were eaten by a Black hole. Oh well, they came back!
- Posting a video of yourself saying the n-word.
- Posting an image of yourself falling off the Burj Khalifa.
- Singing any Cardi B song.
- Posting 69 (nice) useless messages made by bored editors of Wikipedia.
- Your low-effort school play of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!"
- A list of times you pinged @everyone on your Discord server.
Discussed on
- "List of really, really stupid article ideas that you should not create" | 2014-07-24 | 20 Upvotes 6 Comments
๐ Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster
Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster is an electric sports car that served as the dummy payload for the February 2018 Falcon Heavy test flight and became an artificial satellite of the Sun. "Starman", a mannequin dressed in a spacesuit, occupies the driver's seat. The car and rocket are products of Tesla and SpaceX, respectively, both companies founded by Elon Musk. The 2008-model Roadster was previously used by Musk for commuting to work and is the only production car in space.
The car, mounted on the rocket's second stage, acquired enough velocity to escape Earth's gravity and enter an elliptical heliocentric orbit crossing the orbit of Mars. The orbit reaches a maximum distance from the Sun at aphelion of 1.66 astronomical units (au). During the early portion of the voyage outside the Earth's atmosphere, live video was transmitted back to the mission control center and live-streamed for slightly over four hours.
Advertising analysts noted Musk's sense of brand management and use of new media for his decision to launch a Tesla into space. While some commenters voiced concern that the car contributed to space debris, others saw it as a work of art. Musk explained he wanted to inspire the public about the "possibility of something new happening in space" as part of his larger vision for spreading humanity to other planets.
Discussed on
- "Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster" | 2018-02-11 | 22 Upvotes 2 Comments
๐ Stan Lippman has died (2022)
Stanley Irving Lippmann is a disbarred lawyer, anti-vaccination activist and a perennial candidate from the U.S. state of Washington.
Discussed on
- "Stan Lippman has died (2022)" | 2023-08-13 | 101 Upvotes 17 Comments
๐ Wabi-sabi
In traditional Japanese aesthetics, wabi-sabi (ไพๅฏ) is a world view centered on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete". It is a concept derived from the Buddhist teaching of the three marks of existence (ไธๆณๅฐ, sanbลin), specifically impermanence (็กๅธธ, mujล), suffering (่ฆ, ku) and emptiness or absence of self-nature (็ฉบ, kลซ).
Characteristics of the wabi-sabi aesthetic include asymmetry, roughness, simplicity, economy, austerity, modesty, intimacy, and appreciation of the ingenuous integrity of natural objects and processes.
Discussed on
- "Wabi-Sabi" | 2023-07-23 | 26 Upvotes 8 Comments
- "Wabi-Sabi" | 2021-10-11 | 19 Upvotes 3 Comments
- "Wabi-sabi" | 2013-10-16 | 63 Upvotes 33 Comments
๐ Stu Ungar
Stuart Errol Ungar (September 8, 1953 โ November 22, 1998) was an American professional poker, blackjack, and gin rummy player, widely regarded to have been the greatest Texas hold 'em and gin player of all time.
He is one of two people in poker history to have won the World Series of Poker Main Event three times. He is the only person to win Amarillo Slim's Super Bowl of Poker three times, the world's second most prestigious poker title during its time. He is one of four players in poker history to win consecutive titles in the WSOP Main Event, along with Johnny Moss, Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan.
Discussed on
- "Stu Ungar" | 2019-09-30 | 76 Upvotes 44 Comments
๐ Nicomachean Ethics
The Nicomachean Ethics (; Ancient Greek: แผจฮธฮนฮบแฝฐ ฮฮนฮบฮฟฮผฮฌฯฮตฮนฮฑ, ฤthika Nikomacheia) is the name normally given to Aristotle's best-known work on ethics. The work, which plays a pre-eminent role in defining Aristotelian ethics, consists of ten books, originally separate scrolls, and is understood to be based on notes from his lectures at the Lyceum. The title is often assumed to refer to his son Nicomachus, to whom the work was dedicated or who may have edited it (although his young age makes this less likely). Alternatively, the work may have been dedicated to his father, who was also called Nicomachus.
The theme of the work is a Socratic question previously explored in the works of Plato, Aristotle's friend and teacher, of how men should best live. In his Metaphysics, Aristotle described how Socrates, the friend and teacher of Plato, had turned philosophy to human questions, whereas pre-Socratic philosophy had only been theoretical. Ethics, as now separated out for discussion by Aristotle, is practical rather than theoretical, in the original Aristotelian senses of these terms. In other words, it is not only a contemplation about good living, because it also aims to create good living. It is therefore connected to Aristotle's other practical work, the Politics, which similarly aims at people becoming good. Ethics is about how individuals should best live, while the study of politics is from the perspective of a law-giver, looking at the good of a whole community.
The Nicomachean Ethics is widely considered one of the most important historical philosophical works, and had an important impact upon the European Middle Ages, becoming one of the core works of medieval philosophy. It therefore indirectly became critical in the development of all modern philosophy as well as European law and theology. Many parts of the Nicomachean Ethics are well known in their own right, within different fields. In the Middle Ages, a synthesis between Aristotelian ethics and Christian theology became widespread, in Europe as introduced by Albertus Magnus. While various philosophers had influenced Christendom since its earliest times, in Western Europe Aristotle became "the Philosopher". The most important version of this synthesis was that of Thomas Aquinas. Other more "Averroist" Aristotelians such as Marsilius of Padua were controversial but also influential. (Marsilius is for example sometimes said to have influenced the controversial English political reformer Thomas Cromwell.)
A critical period in the history of this work's influence is at the end of the Middle Ages, and beginning of modernity, when several authors such as Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes, argued forcefully and largely successfully that the medieval Aristotelian tradition in practical thinking had become a great impediment to philosophy in their time. However, in more recent generations, Aristotle's original works (if not those of his medieval followers) have once again become an important source. More recent authors influenced by this work include Alasdair MacIntyre, G. E. M. Anscombe, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Martha Nussbaum and Avital Ronell.
Discussed on
- "Nicomachean Ethics" | 2020-04-24 | 282 Upvotes 158 Comments
๐ 100 years ago today, the battle of Blair Mountain
The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest labor uprising in United States history and the largest armed uprising since the American Civil War. The conflict occurred in Logan County, West Virginia, as part of the Coal Wars, a series of early-20th-century labor disputes in Appalachia. Up to 100 people were killed, and many more arrested. The United Mine Workers saw major declines in membership, but the long-term publicity led to some improvements in working conditions.
For five days from late August to early September 1921, some 10,000 armed coal miners confronted 3,000 lawmen and strikebreakers (called the Logan Defenders) who were backed by coal mine operators during the miners' attempt to unionize the southwestern West Virginia coalfields when tensions rose between workers and mine management. The battle ended after approximately one million rounds were fired and the United States Army, represented by the West Virginia Army National Guard led by McDowell County native William Eubanks, intervened by presidential order.
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- "100 years ago today, the battle of Blair Mountain" | 2021-08-25 | 11 Upvotes 1 Comments