The Color Thing...

Okay, well at Chrystal's behest I'm going to try to explain my little color question in print, so to speak.

Alright, so think about colors for a second.  Colors are in reality various wavelengths of visible light; and object with a specific color, say red, absorbs all the other wavelengths of visible light and reflect back only the red wavelength.  The light enters our eye and is processed by the brain, and we can tell the object reflects red wavelength light.

However, here is the Question....
How can we know that the "color" I "see" when I look at a wavelength of light is the same color that you see???? 

The name of a particular color (such as red) is something assigned by language, and in reality, names the wavelength of light; in red's case, around 625-740 nanometers (nm).  So in school we are essentially taught that wavelengths of x nm are red, and y nm are blue, and z nm are green and so on...

But the interpretation of the wavelength into a visual representation (i.e. what we "see") is something that is done inside your mind.  So how can it ever be known what "color" individual people see when they look at each wavelength?  For all I know, the "color" my brain creates for "red wavelengths", may be the same "color" that your brain creates for "blue wavelengths"??  Or we may each see "colors" that the other person has never see?

Anyway, it is fun to think about... 

(I will let everyone in on a little secret,  I don't ask this question for an answer, It's more of a psychological test, I want to see how you react to it, how you process it; a fun and quick way to pry into how someone thinks.)

Billy Mays

So the guy that shows us his O-face every time he tells us about Oxy-Clean, yes, Billy Mays, might be from the Tampa area? What do I base this wild accusation on?

None other than Mr. Mays selling local crap on the (low production value) local commercials… First he did a crappy furniture store, and I figured, hey maybe they got lucky, but now he is selling "Dubs" for a local store....

I think someone should have hired a better accountant!

Thanks Sarah!

So my buddy Sarah had an interesting question about time, which I rambled on about for a few sentences...

Q: Why do you think time seems to be traveling so much faster as you age?

And without further delay, Matt's special theory on time, and why I didn't get anything done today: (I'm sure someone else already came up with this same thing?)

A: Relativity.... Minutes, hours, days, years, become a smaller fraction of your life as time moves forward; thus each individual time period (day, week, year) composes less of a percentage of your overall life the longer you live; and therefore each time period seems to move faster as you age due to the fact that it is now a smaller percentage of your life as it once was…. at age 10, each year is 1/10 of your life, at age 25 each year is a 1/25 of your life, and at age 80 its 1/80. Thus, relative to your total life span, a year is not a fixed measurement…

Fun at the Mega-Lo-Mart

Okay, so I'm a big kid, other than the giant TVs, my favorite part of the Wal-Mart is the toy section!

Anyway, so I was cruising the toy aisle trying not to look like a perv or anything, and come across this happy fellow:



This guy was packaged with a US Army Humvee toy. Now, also in this set was your typical John Wayne looking military guy, but this fellow, I'm pretty sure he ain't part of the army....

Which got me to wonder who he is? An Ally? looks kinda disgruntled to be a friend... and whats with the get-up he is wearing? It doesn't really look like an ammo satchels?

Is it possible that this toy, in an effort to keep up with the current time, has included a Suicide Bomber, and an Arab one at that no less?
I think it just maybe so...

What is this crap?

Okay, well, I guess I am dumb, cause this is just to rich....

Turns out that .99999 Repeating (ie, to infinity) is actually equal to 1.... Really.... I'm not kidding.....No Joke!

But Matt, that's just nuts!

As I myself thought, but turns out that if you go on forever, there is no difference between the two... I cant really get my mind around it, it starts to get kinda fuzzy as I look beyond about 100 9s... but basically, if you never stop the 9s there is never a value that can be added to it to make it equal 1, and there is nothing that can be subtracted from 1 to make it equal to .999 repeating.... thus it is 1

However, and here I am talking out my ass, so take it for what it is worth,

If you have .999 repeating , then is the ying/yang balance to that
.(repeating zeros)1?

I'm pretty sure that is not something that can be done in terms of true math, but in my mind that makes sense?

Oh well, enjoy making your brain hurt thinking bout this!

Bad Science

Well, my first post, and since there isn’t anything on my page yet, check out another fun blog!

Dr. Ben Goldacre, a self proclaimed "serious fuck-off academic ninja", writes for the Guardian (British newspaper for those not in the know) and has a great blog at http://www.badscience.net where he points out how little science people really know or understand.