How Time Crystals Could Rewrite The Rules Of Physics If you overheard someone talking about time crystals in a bar, you’d think they were mad, or drunk. Or both. These things, theoretically, oscillate for eternity without any energy input whatsoever — and if that sounds like a perpetual motion machine, it’s because it is. Impossible, right? But what if it was a Nobel prize-winning physicists making the suggestion? Because that’s exactly the situation we find ourselves in. When matter crystallizes, its atoms spontaneously organise themselves into the rows, columns and stacks of a three-dimensional lattice. In other words, he’s saying it must be possible to create a crystal that has regular, time-varying motion going on inside — without any energy being dumped into the system. Fortunately, he has at least one team of researchers on his side. The only problem is that progress is slow: the Berkeley researchers have admitted that the project could take “anywhere between three and infinity years” to complete. Picture: Kostov/Shutterstock
zen habits 20 Motivation and Inspiration Quotes That Will Make You Want to Take Action | The Unattainable Life I love quotes as much as the next person and I have them posted all around me. I also love sharing quotes on social media sites hoping to spread a little positiveness and motivation to someone. Quotes are great to fuel your soul but without action you’ll just be a full tank stick in park. Please enjoy these 25 quotes to either fill up your tank or recharge. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. ”A difficult time can be more readily endured if we retain the conviction that our existence holds a purpose – a cause to pursue, a person to love, a goal to achieve” – John Maxwell 20. ”Brick walls are there for a reason. 21. ”Courage, it would seem, is nothing less than the power to overcome danger, misfortune, fear, injustice, while continuing to affirm inwardly that life with all its sorrows is good; that everything is meaningful even if in a sense beyond our understanding; and that there is always tomorrow.”- Dorothy Thompson 22. 25.
Buses, planes, Bulgarians, Romanians and The Daily Mail | EU ROPE 26 comments The Daily Mail: Buses and Planes - full or not? On 31 December 2013 the UK’s Daily Mail published a story claiming that buses and planes to the UK from Bulgaria and Romania were sold-out, fully-booked, and single plane tickets were selling for up to £3,000 each. And The Mail made these bullet points to drum the message home of a huge, new influx of job-seekers to our island shores: ● One airline has even doubled number of flights to meet demand● Some one-way tickets are selling for up to £3,000 each● Buses leaving Bulgarian capital of Sofia until January 9 are fully booked The implication of the article was, of course, that the buses and flights were booked up because of more Bulgarians and Romanians coming to the UK following the lifting of ’work restrictions’ from 1 January 2014. I further discovered that the prices and level of bookings were no different this January than for the same time last year. My EU ROPE blog challenged The Mail I posted a blog article here called, 2.
10 Things Most Americans Don’t Know About America Imagine you have a brother and he’s an alcoholic. He has his moments, but you keep your distance from him. You don’t mind him for the occasional family gathering or holiday. This is how I lovingly describe my current relationship with the United States. I know that’s harsh, but I really feel my home country is not in a good place these days. I realize it’s going to be impossible to write sentences like the ones above without coming across as a raging prick, so let me try to soften the blow to my American readers with an analogy: You know when you move out of your parents’ house and live on your own, how you start hanging out with your friends’ families and you realize that actually, your family was a little screwed up? The point is we don’t really get perspective on what’s close to us until we spend time away from it. So as you read this article, know that I’m saying everything with tough love, the same tough love with which I’d sit down and lecture an alcoholic family member.
Hyperbole and a Half At around midnight last night, it started snowing. A lot. I got absurdly excited about it. I was like "Ohmigoditssnowingletsgoforawalkrightnow!!!!" And Boyfriend was like "It's 12:30 AM..." and I was like "So? My point is that after staring at me in silence for a few long moments in which I am sure he questioned some of his life decisions, Boyfriend was like "Fine." So Boyfriend got all bundled up while I checked to make sure everything was unplugged because I didn't want the house to catch on fire while we were gone and then I got dressed while Boyfriend sat on the couch in his snow-clothes looking like he was on some sort of detonation timer and if the timer went off we would no longer be allowed to go for a walk, so I put my hat and gloves on really fast and then I was like "I'm ready!" Boyfriend wanted to stop and take pictures of the snow and the pretty lights, but I was so excited that I took off running: And then I stopped because I had a really good idea and I yelled "Hey! Okay.
Find The Thing You're Most Passionate About, Then Do It On Nights And Weekends For The Rest Of Your Life I have always been a big proponent of following your heart and doing exactly what you want to do. It sounds so simple, right? But there are people who spend years—decades, even—trying to find a true sense of purpose for themselves. My advice? It could be anything—music, writing, drawing, acting, teaching—it really doesn’t matter. Is there any other way to live? I can’t stress this enough: Do what you love…in between work commitments, and family commitments, and commitments that tend to pop up and take immediate precedence over doing the thing you love. Before you get started, though, you need to find the one interest or activity that truly fulfills you in ways nothing else can. Because when you get right down to it, everyone has dreams, and you deserve the chance—hell, you owe it to yourself—to pursue those dreams when you only have enough energy to change out of your work clothes and make yourself a half-assed dinner before passing out. Say, for example, that your passion is painting.
ORGINIZE BY wait but why: Putting Time In Perspective Humans are good at a lot of things, but putting time in perspective is not one of them. It’s not our fault—the spans of time in human history, and even more so in natural history, are so vast compared to the span of our life and recent history that it’s almost impossible to get a handle on it. If the Earth formed at midnight and the present moment is the next midnight, 24 hours later, modern humans have been around since 11:59:59pm—1 second. And if human history itself spans 24 hours from one midnight to the next, 14 minutes represents the time since Christ. To try to grasp some perspective, I mapped out the history of time as a series of growing timelines—each timeline contains all the previous timelines (colors will help you see which timelines are which). A note on dates: When it comes to the far-back past, most of the dates we know are the subject of ongoing debate. For teachers and parents and people who hate cursing: here’s a clean, Rated G version.
LifeCheating: Suitcase Packing Life Cheat: ... 10 Websites To Make You Think Supposedly browsing the internet requires more brain power than watching television. Although judging from some of the websites we’ve come across that assumption is cast into doubt. Here’s some of the sites we like that might get your brain to sit up and listen. Ted A conference that started in 1984 bringing together experts in technology, entertainment and design quickly grew into so much more. The conference itself is invitation only, but the website features all the talks at the conference in high res video format. New Scientist The New Scientist website carries new articles from the magazine as well as the NS archive of over 76,000 pieces. Big Think The Big Think website is a collection of ‘global thought leaders’ who offer their thoughts and analysis on world events and other important developments. Café Scientifque ‘for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology’ Breathing Earth Arts & Letters Daily How Stuff Works
10 Inspirational TED Talks for People Having a Bad Day You know those days when your boss blames you for something that wasn’t your fault, or your co-workers are passive-aggressive, or you get some horrible news, or you weren’t picked for the job? Yeah, those days suck. And to be honest, there’s not much you can do besides ride the suckiness out. I usually curl up in bed and watch four-plus episodes of The Office , but sometimes even Jim and Pam’s adorable romance isn’t enough to get me out of a funk. Luckily, I’ve found a new cure: TED talks. An inspiring or poignant speech never fails to reaffirm my faith in humanity—and yes, get me out of bed. 1. Performance artist and storyteller Tom Rives is obsessed with 4 AM. As you watch this talk, you’ll probably be intrigued but a little confused (at least I was). 2. Amy Purdy loved to skateboard and travel. Purdy’s story of her life post-amputation is so impactful, I yelled, “That’s amazing!” My favorite line: “Because my legs haven’t disabled me. 3. 4. 5. Well, Ron Finley definitely qualifies.
Great if you take it into the context of life