For me the trajectory of the eraser just doesn't look right compared to the teacher's throw, besides it being a one-in-a-million shot bouncing off douchebag's head, only to hit the camera completely covering the lens (possibly to mask a bad camera cut). I suspect the eraser was either added or at least edited in post. Not to mention, most latinas I know would have beat the shit outta that douchebag somewhere within his first 3 attempts.

>> ^theali:
How does the Wiimote work without the infrared receiver in front of it?


The Wii remote only uses the infrared receiver for screen positioning, so the Wii knows where the Wii remote is pointing precisely. Otherwise the infrared receiver is useless. Aside from that the Wii remote has accelerometers within it, which communicate through blue-tooth, and this is what registers the Wii remotes' trajectory and motion in space. This latter technology is what this demo is using. Since there is no need to use the Wii remote as a pointing device here, they don't need the infrared at all. Only it's ability to detect motion and direction.

>> ^Payback:
All I saw was a counterbalance, a level, and a honkin big arrow rack. What did you guys see? Lazurs? GPS tracking?

No, but I see cams that as far as I know a) greatly reduce the needed pulling force, b) reduce vibrations of the string and c) flatten the trajectory by increasing acceleration of the arrow. Not to mention all the other hoobajoobs on that thing. If he used a bow with a draw weight of 20kg or more without cams, I'd be much more impressed. I still remember how fucked up my shoulder was after an afternoon on the range with a longbow of 28kg draw weight.

Though just to be clear, I'm very impressed already. Just could be more.

It's a bottle of Bud Light, all right, but the girl doesn't really look like Ms.Lincicome apart from the blond hair. And really, if it was done without any digital effects I don't care if Bud Light came up with the idea. Anyway, upon repeat viewing I am actually starting to think there's something fishy with the trajectory of the ball after it rebounds.
Internet-Fake-Expert senses tingling...

I don't think that there will be any respect or trust for the United States internationally until they prosecute their war criminals. Every country on the planet will continue to distrust the US. If the US were to prosecute Bush and Cheney for their obvious and massively documented multitude of crimes that they have committed it would actually send a shockwave throughout the world with the signal that corrupt leaders will not last or benefit from their actions. Think of how powerful an influence that would be to Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Qatar, the United Emirates, etc. etc.
I'm getting the impression that people from the Scandinavian countries, Canada, all of Latin America, Mexico, the entire Caribbean, Asia, western Europe, etc. etc. are at the very least not on line with the US's ongoing selfrichous imperial trajectory. But that's the people. Not the governments, but look at the tea leaves in the air. It should be underlined that Latin American countries will never again be dictted by another US dictator again. That's a huge change.Anyway...Obama's hope and change slogans have worked so far... I just hope that people within the us will push him to work for your interests. If you sit back he'll follow just about any special interest pushing him. Citizens rather than random corporations or insurinse companies need to push him.

Me personally? It was a triangulated crossfire. You had one shooter in the upper window of the schoolbook depository, one shooter on the grassy knoll, but the killing shot came from behind, on a low flat trajectory from a second or third floor window of the schoolbook depository, or adjacent building.

The "back and to the left" is a result of the bullet entering the right side of the skull from behind, but exiting with a great amount of force (as rifle rounds do) from the right front of the head, the resulting exit blast throwing the head back and to the left. Had the shot came from the front, it would have penetrated his skull, exploding from the rear, throwing his head forward, instead of back.

But that's just my opinion.

For the record, as fun as the movie is, there was an excellent documentary on the History channel which debunked a LOT of what was said in the movie. The biggest issue is that most people get their knowledge of the event from this movie and assume that the "facts" presented are indeed fact.

Take the "magic" bullet for example. In the movie, they position the bodies one right in front of the other. In reality, the seats in the car are at considerably different height and position left to right. When you see the trajectories placed as the bodies were actually positions, the shot is one shot, straight through. I'll see if I can dig up the diagram which shows it...

Glaringly fake, completely unnatural falling trajectory and everything complete with a digital dust-cloud at "landing". Shame, too, it's such a great idea to attempt.

There is this:
http://lcv.org/scorecard/

It scores congressmen by their votes on environmental issues. It wouldn't surprise me if something existed for generic scientific issues. If you find one, let me know.

In reply to this comment by ObsidianStorm:
We're getting to the point that we really need to have congress members and candidates tested on their knowledge of and/or ability to understand science. These people shape our policy and impact the trajectory of society as a whole and to have individuals that wouldn't understand a seventh grade science quiz (let alone pass it) in these positions is as irresponsible as it is misguided.

I certainly would be in favor of some sort of science-savvy rating for congressional members (all public officials frankly) to help guide decision-making come election time.

Is there such a thing already?

>> ^ObsidianStorm:
We're getting to the point that we really need to have congress members and candidates tested on their knowledge of and/or ability to understand science. These people shape our policy and impact the trajectory of society as a whole and to have individuals that wouldn't understand a seventh grade science quiz (let alone pass it) in these positions is as irresponsible as it is misguided.
I certainly would be in favor of some sort of science-savvy rating for congressional members (all public officials frankly) to help guide decision-making come election time.
Is there such a thing already?


Not an unreasonable idea really, actually a really good one. Most if not all individuals that run for office already have to take the "are they a christian" test. Why not a little science quiz while they're at it?

We're getting to the point that we really need to have congress members and candidates tested on their knowledge of and/or ability to understand science. These people shape our policy and impact the trajectory of society as a whole and to have individuals that wouldn't understand a seventh grade science quiz (let alone pass it) in these positions is as irresponsible as it is misguided.

I certainly would be in favor of some sort of science-savvy rating for congressional members (all public officials frankly) to help guide decision-making come election time.

Is there such a thing already?

Many years ago, the wife and I were walking our dog, Hudson, when he stopped, looked around a bit, then did a low-trajectory dive version of the above video, and went shoulders-deep into a snow bank. He wiggled around for a bit, then came up with a banana peel. Weird.

If the press did their job, they'd do some work to see how much of what Naomi Wolf is saying is plausible or reasonable, and then turn the same critical eye to Beck, and then present a verdict that isn't predetermined to be "they both have about the same credibility." In other words, they should try to make an objective determination about what's really happening, even if it's closer to what one of the political parties is saying than the other.

What Wolf did was look at a sequence of events that actually happened, and plotted the trajectory towards a really uncomfortable conclusion.

Essentially, she said "hey, look at the way Republicans are using fear to achieve their goals, and it's following the playbook dictators use!"

Obama wins, and now Glenn Beck comes on TV every night and accuses Obama of using Wolf's playbook for dictators.

What's a modern day reporter to do? Both the left and the right are calling each other fascists -- this must just be a simple partisan squabble, so we'll just ignore both of them, except to condemn them for their strident partisanship (of which they're equally guilty, regardless of where the facts stand).

This is a bit like Bernie Madoff saying "hey, my clients cheated me just as bad as I cheated them!" and having the press refuse to indicate in their reporting who might be telling the truth, and who might not be, because that would be "partisan".

Wolf was wrong about martial law, but I don't think it was an unreasonable thing to say "doesn't that look like where we're headed?"

Beck, some 8 weeks into Obama's presidency, is saying it's the end of capitalism and freedom, and the rise of fascism. That's just not reasonable.

The fact that some intellectuals on the left said it in the last years of Bush's presidency, doesn't mean that when entertainers on the right make the same accusation in the opening days of Obama's presidency, both have equal weight.

I think media matters is sorta right that the press shouldn't try to evoke fear, but I think more accurately, I think they need to be judicious and just make sure that what they're reporting is valid.

Saying "beware toys made in China from these manufacturers because the FDA has found that many of them contain lead paint" is justified, even if it evokes fear. Saying "Letting the Bush tax cuts expire will crash the economy and drive us into a Communist dictatorship" isn't.

>> ^bovan:

I kinda like the definition of levitation... even though he fails on all points..
If you are to suspend yourself against gravity (all gravity).. You would no longer fall towards the earth, and as the earth moves you would simply continue on your on trajectory trough (and your corpse will fly out of) our solar system at roughly 100,000 km/h.
I'm sure if you do it inside, you might be able to stay on earth due to the surrounding walls, but you better hope there's noone around who wanna play a prank on "the floating guy who tries to pick up girls using magic tricks"... I mean.. once you establish how to have gravity not affect you, it might take some time to figure out how to reverse it..


You need to go back to physics 1 and revisit relative motion. In the universe you describe above (100Mm/h bloodstain) you also wouldn't be able to throw a tennis ball straight up while riding inside a train without the ball impaling you as soon as it leaves your hand...

anti-gravity or levitation is simply finding a way to produce and apply a constant force of 9.8 m/s^2 in the "up" direction. ("up" defined as the vector pointing away from the center of the earth).

q.e.d. this guy fails at life.

>> ^bovan:
If you are to suspend yourself against gravity (all gravity).. You would no longer fall towards the earth, and as the earth moves you would simply continue on your on trajectory trough (and your corpse will fly out of) our solar system at roughly 100,000 km/h.

I'm sure if you do it inside, you might be able to stay on earth due to the surrounding walls, but you better hope there's noone around who wanna play a prank on "the floating guy who tries to pick up girls using magic tricks".


I imagine hitting the wall, ceiling, etc. at 100,000 km/h might leave a bit of a stain.