"The LHC is super duper fly, you know what I'm sayin' Check it."
Filed under: CERN, fun, geeky Author:CERN Rap from Will Barras on Vimeo.
THIS VIDEO IS AMAZING! How is it that physicists and engineers (at CERN no less) have come up with the most knee-sleeping hilarious rap song ever? I don't think I've ever had so much fun learning - let alone learning about a particle collider. I find the awkward dancing and pretend beatboxing to be the most entertaining parts. If you're wondering, I really do wish I was cool enough to be in this video. Unfortunately (fortunately?), I am not freakishly stalker-obsessed enough with the Higgs Boson to be accepted wholeheartedly amongst the ranks of the good folks over at CERN.
Let's not be quick to dismiss this video as just a funny, yet lame, idea that was construed deep within the confines of some mad scientist's mind. Maybe they are onto something magical here. If we really want American kids to learn something, we should be teaching them in rhyme! Well, maybe that's a little sad to think about (because it would probably work). Anyway, kudos to CERN for producing the next great nerd rap (sorry Weird Al, you've been replaced).
For a couple seconds there, I forgot how soon the world's doom is. To be precise, September 10th will be the day scientists switch on the Large Hadron Collider, the 17-mile long racetrack, and micro black holes engulf the Earth. Woah, I even had myself convinced for a second - not. Seriously (and I'm talking to you Citizens Against The Large Hadron Collider) TAKE A CHILL PILL. The most credible scientists on Earth have concluded that there is no threat so sit back, make some popcorn, and watch a revolution in physics unfold before your eyes. And in the end, if the smartest people in the world are wrong, then at least we won't have to worry about Global Warming or Miley Cyrus anymore :p.
For lack of better things to do at 11:31 pm, let's point and laugh at Microsoft for being quite sad. Here is a new website of Microsoft's called "Mactopia."
Yes, Microsoft is full on embracing Macs with a whole website idolizing them. While I fully understand that the Microsoft peeps must support their products, they most definitely could have done this under the main Microsoft Office page. Instead and frankly quite humorously, Microsoft dedicated a website to the computer of their main competitor. Maybe it'll work out in their favor. Until I see proof though, let's just point and laugh :-)
Yes, Microsoft is full on embracing Macs with a whole website idolizing them. While I fully understand that the Microsoft peeps must support their products, they most definitely could have done this under the main Microsoft Office page. Instead and frankly quite humorously, Microsoft dedicated a website to the computer of their main competitor. Maybe it'll work out in their favor. Until I see proof though, let's just point and laugh :-)
Welcome...please check any normality at the door.
We have a winner for geekiest household item ever. This trumps anything my wildest imagination could conjure and makes my "geeky sense" (sort of like the spidey sense) tingle. I want these (see below) so much!
No, those are not super enlarged eyes pulled out of someone's eye sockets like in Kill Bill, one of the sweetest movies to be produced in my time. These are eyeball lamps. Imagine these babies in action lighting up your room. You'd be the talk of the geek community. You'd be hailed as the uber master of all that is nerdy. Yes, you'd become geek overlord.
So why am I making such a big deal about something that seems so mundane. Why, because so far I've neglected to tell you one important (and perhaps creepy) part to all this. These lamps are tailored to resemble your own eyes based upon pictures of them! Like I said, you would be an overnight sensation in the geek world with these bad boys. Unfortunately, these would probably costa fortune the tuition of MIT, so you won't be seeing my shiny eyeballs lighting my dorm room anytime soon. Regardless, you could at least whet your nerd appetite by going to the designer's website and drooling over pictures.
UPDATE:
Per Enas' request, I'm posting the nighttime picture because it pretty much confirms just how rocking this lights are. I'm not going to pretend though. Having these next to me while I sleep, staring at me, taunting me, would cause many twisted nightmares. Think Willy Wonka, but the complete opposite.
We have a winner for geekiest household item ever. This trumps anything my wildest imagination could conjure and makes my "geeky sense" (sort of like the spidey sense) tingle. I want these (see below) so much!
No, those are not super enlarged eyes pulled out of someone's eye sockets like in Kill Bill, one of the sweetest movies to be produced in my time. These are eyeball lamps. Imagine these babies in action lighting up your room. You'd be the talk of the geek community. You'd be hailed as the uber master of all that is nerdy. Yes, you'd become geek overlord.
So why am I making such a big deal about something that seems so mundane. Why, because so far I've neglected to tell you one important (and perhaps creepy) part to all this. These lamps are tailored to resemble your own eyes based upon pictures of them! Like I said, you would be an overnight sensation in the geek world with these bad boys. Unfortunately, these would probably cost
UPDATE:
Per Enas' request, I'm posting the nighttime picture because it pretty much confirms just how rocking this lights are. I'm not going to pretend though. Having these next to me while I sleep, staring at me, taunting me, would cause many twisted nightmares. Think Willy Wonka, but the complete opposite.
[Picture are coming soon]
Tuesday was an amazing day as we all were treated to a dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck at the aquarium and desert at the World of Coca Cola. The dinner was amongst whales and sharks in an elegant dining hall, but the best to come was to be found at the World of Coca Cola. After getting my picture taken with the polar bear, I headed for the tasting room where there was about 6 stations each with around 10-15 drinks Coca Cola makes from around the world. Needless to say, I had to try every single one. I did shots by quickly going across each soda fountain and 20 minutes later my stomach was more than full.
While that was a great end to the night, judging was tomorrow morning. It was definitely more laid back than I thought it would be. The judges were extremely interested and nice, asking fair and not mind-numbingly hard questions. Things became intense though in the third session when I had an unscheduled interview with two grand award judges for the last 20 minutes or so. They kept asking questions one after another and knew what they were talking about. In fact, one of them had worked with leeches, my model animal for study, and was meticulously analyzing my work. It became more of an academic discussion though, which proved enjoyable and their questions about my procedure provided me with many ideas on how to improve.
After judging was the student mixer. Food was served on trays and so everyone had to chases the waiters down to eat. It was hilarious because throughout the entire night you would see a big mob of people chasing after a waiter with such delicacies as scrumptious chicken wings or mini hamburgers. After a couple of hours of watching lame dancing in this brightly lit atrium, I and a few others headed to the Hard Rock where we didn't order much, inadvertently angering the waiter who obviously desired a large tip. After eating my apple cobbler, we headed to the Omni and sat around talking until we felt dreariness from the past few long nights overcome us. We concluded that the hotel wouldn't be pleased with a bunch of geeks passed out in their lounge so we called it a night and crashed in our rooms.
Right now I have to head to the exhibition hall as public viewing starts at 10 am. Today will be an interesting day.
Tuesday was an amazing day as we all were treated to a dinner catered by Wolfgang Puck at the aquarium and desert at the World of Coca Cola. The dinner was amongst whales and sharks in an elegant dining hall, but the best to come was to be found at the World of Coca Cola. After getting my picture taken with the polar bear, I headed for the tasting room where there was about 6 stations each with around 10-15 drinks Coca Cola makes from around the world. Needless to say, I had to try every single one. I did shots by quickly going across each soda fountain and 20 minutes later my stomach was more than full.
While that was a great end to the night, judging was tomorrow morning. It was definitely more laid back than I thought it would be. The judges were extremely interested and nice, asking fair and not mind-numbingly hard questions. Things became intense though in the third session when I had an unscheduled interview with two grand award judges for the last 20 minutes or so. They kept asking questions one after another and knew what they were talking about. In fact, one of them had worked with leeches, my model animal for study, and was meticulously analyzing my work. It became more of an academic discussion though, which proved enjoyable and their questions about my procedure provided me with many ideas on how to improve.
After judging was the student mixer. Food was served on trays and so everyone had to chases the waiters down to eat. It was hilarious because throughout the entire night you would see a big mob of people chasing after a waiter with such delicacies as scrumptious chicken wings or mini hamburgers. After a couple of hours of watching lame dancing in this brightly lit atrium, I and a few others headed to the Hard Rock where we didn't order much, inadvertently angering the waiter who obviously desired a large tip. After eating my apple cobbler, we headed to the Omni and sat around talking until we felt dreariness from the past few long nights overcome us. We concluded that the hotel wouldn't be pleased with a bunch of geeks passed out in their lounge so we called it a night and crashed in our rooms.
Right now I have to head to the exhibition hall as public viewing starts at 10 am. Today will be an interesting day.
We're two days into the science fair and Atlanta is packed with aspiring young talent from end to end. Everywhere I walk in Atlanta, I can expect to see the signature orange finalist ribbon dangling across someone's neck. It's as if we've taken over the city in a matter of days. I'm not complaining though. Geeks everywhere. Science in the air. What more could I ask for?
Let me take you back through the past two days so that you can vicariously see ISEF up and close. Trust me if you have even the smallest inkling of nerdiness in your blood, this will be a treat you don't want to miss :p.
As we were driving in on the ridiculous 7 lane highway, Atlanta's skyline slowly became visible, popping out from amongst the trees. In addition, to the weather being good on Sunday, the rental company gave us a covertible and so my friend, chaperone, and I drove into Atlanta with the top down and the tunes blazing (<-- who are we kidding, we were'nt listing to music...I was reading).
When we finally made our way through the streets to the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), the wind had picked up and was blowing everything. Luckily, we survived. ISEF takes up the entire GWCC to my knowledge. Regardless, it is humungous. I'm not just talking about the exhibition hall, which rocks in its own right. I'm talking about all the rooms, including the e-lounge filled with internet enabled laptops and a plasma and the presentation room filled with awesomeness (aka a huge, huge projection screen).
Sunday night was the pin exchange in which I met many old friends and many new. My name badge strap now has pins all over it from all sorts of countries. For the record, it's funny how many Stanford pre-frosh are here. I met like 10 at the exchange, but only 2 MIT '12ers.
I spent Sunday evening and Monday morning setting up my project and after about 4 hours I was finally approved. My project check was funny and unnerving at the same time because the inspector kept analyzing the leeches in my pictures attempting to ensure that their weren't any ghastly views of the dissection process. Apparently, there are thousands of young students coming out on Thursday who would be disgusted by opened animals. Plus, there's the whole issue with animal rights.
The HUB in the exhibition hall is by far the coolest feature available to exhibitors as it has endless supplies of every single tool and type of material you would ever need.
Monday night was the opening ceremony, which had the exact same setup that I've seen in the online videos. I was overjoyed to finally experience it all in person. The swinging cameras definitely add to the whole glorified atmosphere of the event. It rocked. I have many videos of the Atlanta Drumline (featured in the movie Drumline) performing, the Intel CEO giving a lecture, weatherman Nick Walker from the Weather Channel hosting, the president of Society For the Science and the Public encouraging us, and Philipe Cousteau from "Oceans" motivating the crowd. The shout outs came afterward where reps from each country sprinted up onto stage with posters inducing shouts and clapping from their respective countries. The entire night was just amazing.
The host (weatherman) is on the left and Phillipe is on the right.
After the event, I got a picture of everyone leaving the hall. Anyone care to do a Fermi estimate of this?
Of course, any trip to a great city isn't complete without the obligatory skyline photos.
Today I hope to see the CNN tower and go the Science and Technology Panel with Nobel laureates. Then tonight is the dinner in the aquarium and dessert at the Coca Cola center. Tomorrow is judging!
Let me take you back through the past two days so that you can vicariously see ISEF up and close. Trust me if you have even the smallest inkling of nerdiness in your blood, this will be a treat you don't want to miss :p.
As we were driving in on the ridiculous 7 lane highway, Atlanta's skyline slowly became visible, popping out from amongst the trees. In addition, to the weather being good on Sunday, the rental company gave us a covertible and so my friend, chaperone, and I drove into Atlanta with the top down and the tunes blazing (<-- who are we kidding, we were'nt listing to music...I was reading).
When we finally made our way through the streets to the Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC), the wind had picked up and was blowing everything. Luckily, we survived. ISEF takes up the entire GWCC to my knowledge. Regardless, it is humungous. I'm not just talking about the exhibition hall, which rocks in its own right. I'm talking about all the rooms, including the e-lounge filled with internet enabled laptops and a plasma and the presentation room filled with awesomeness (aka a huge, huge projection screen).
Sunday night was the pin exchange in which I met many old friends and many new. My name badge strap now has pins all over it from all sorts of countries. For the record, it's funny how many Stanford pre-frosh are here. I met like 10 at the exchange, but only 2 MIT '12ers.
I spent Sunday evening and Monday morning setting up my project and after about 4 hours I was finally approved. My project check was funny and unnerving at the same time because the inspector kept analyzing the leeches in my pictures attempting to ensure that their weren't any ghastly views of the dissection process. Apparently, there are thousands of young students coming out on Thursday who would be disgusted by opened animals. Plus, there's the whole issue with animal rights.
The HUB in the exhibition hall is by far the coolest feature available to exhibitors as it has endless supplies of every single tool and type of material you would ever need.
Monday night was the opening ceremony, which had the exact same setup that I've seen in the online videos. I was overjoyed to finally experience it all in person. The swinging cameras definitely add to the whole glorified atmosphere of the event. It rocked. I have many videos of the Atlanta Drumline (featured in the movie Drumline) performing, the Intel CEO giving a lecture, weatherman Nick Walker from the Weather Channel hosting, the president of Society For the Science and the Public encouraging us, and Philipe Cousteau from "Oceans" motivating the crowd. The shout outs came afterward where reps from each country sprinted up onto stage with posters inducing shouts and clapping from their respective countries. The entire night was just amazing.
The host (weatherman) is on the left and Phillipe is on the right.
After the event, I got a picture of everyone leaving the hall. Anyone care to do a Fermi estimate of this?
Of course, any trip to a great city isn't complete without the obligatory skyline photos.
Today I hope to see the CNN tower and go the Science and Technology Panel with Nobel laureates. Then tonight is the dinner in the aquarium and dessert at the Coca Cola center. Tomorrow is judging!
