Another good vid HistNerd! Glad my vote promoted it to the front...

Thanks Benjee, I'm glad you liked the video. Bill Nye has always been one of my favorite people to watch for all things science.

Up vote for all things Bill Nye.

Loved Bill Nye when I was a kid. I remember reading an interview of him and he claimed to only drink Land O' Lakes milk because the graphic on it represented infinity. There's a more specific term for it, where a picture repeats itself inside of a picture and conceivably goes on forever like that...which reminds me of a crazy dream I had when I was twelve...anyway, does anybody know what that's called?
Here's a better example of what I mean: When you point a camera at the monitor broadcasting the signal, it creates an endless image. What is it called?

dupe. I already posted this.

joecroo,

I don't see it in your profile. Did it die in the queue?

....with the camera, thats called video feedback, the endless image created by repetition of the same is called realfreakincool.

It's called the droste effect.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droste_effect
Example here:
http://www.post-literate.com/gerpunx/archives/2005/01/prepare_to_lose_your_mind.php
(not safe for brains)

kind-of a crappy green-screen job. other than that its awesome.

*science *nature

Adding video to channels (Nature, Science) - requested by arvana.

*promote

Promoting this video back to the front page; last published Thursday, October 19th, 2006 2:47pm PDT - promote requested by thinker247.

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Um, Bill Nye? Do you think that astrologers are really unaware of the precession of the equinoxes?

What do you think that whole "Age of Aquarius" thing was about?

As any basic introduction to astrology--heck, the Wikipedia entry on astrology--will tell you, there are two different ways of calculating the signs: tropical and sidereal. Under sidereal astrology, your sign is based on the actual constellation. Most people who think of themselves as a Sagitarrius really will be a Scorpio under sidereal astrology.

Tropical astrology, the most popular form of astrology in the West, is on the other hand based not on the positions of the constellations, but based on the position of the sun at the equinoxes and solstices. The signs are named after the constellations that were present in them back in the day, but it's not as if the equinoxes occur at different points in the year than they used to.

Whether or not you think astrology is bogus or not, it's probably a good idea to at least read the Wikipedia entry on a subject before you criticize it.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'zodiac, earths wobble' to 'zodiac, earths wobble, bill nye, astrology' - edited by Grimm

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*spacy

Adding video to channels (Spacy) - requested by calvados.

Regarding precession, much of modern Western astrology does not make that correction, but Indian (Vedic) astrology certainly does. The correction is called ayanamsa in Sanskrit and is considered very important in casting Indian charts. Some Western astrologers also perform a correction, using a process that is actually closer to the way the ancient Greeks did it.

In more general astrological terms the difference is called tropical vs. siderial astrology.