David McGhan's World Around Him, Volumes 2, 3 and 4
Volume 2: Culture
Most discussions of Swedish culture on this blog have centred on its more laughable aspects. But from time to time I am forced to acknowledge certain areas in which the Swedes show a level of enlightenment and wisdom such as I've never seen before.
For example: if you win the lottery in Sweden, you don't get money, you get a Fez:
Or perhaps you get a boggle-eyed bearded guy wearing a fez. Either way, I think you'll all agree it's much better than cash.
I bought two tickets for Katie and Jo, who are still Fezless (New readers, see here).
Volume 3: Physics
I took this pic out the window on my way to Norway. Why is there a rainbow pattern around the plane's shadow? Diffraction around its edges? (Doesn't the light source have to be coherent? I know I've got some physicist readers...). It's something I've never seen before, anyway.
Volume 4: Technology
One of the households I imposed myself upon in Norway had this super-space-age toilet:
Now for the mystery: Look at the control panel below. Why does the button for "Bidet" have a picture of a face on it???
(Also funny is the button for Vask På, which roughly translates into arse fountain. But is the spray going in or coming out? I know there's a certain blogger who should be an expert on such matters...)
Most discussions of Swedish culture on this blog have centred on its more laughable aspects. But from time to time I am forced to acknowledge certain areas in which the Swedes show a level of enlightenment and wisdom such as I've never seen before.
For example: if you win the lottery in Sweden, you don't get money, you get a Fez:
Or perhaps you get a boggle-eyed bearded guy wearing a fez. Either way, I think you'll all agree it's much better than cash.
I bought two tickets for Katie and Jo, who are still Fezless (New readers, see here).
Volume 3: Physics
I took this pic out the window on my way to Norway. Why is there a rainbow pattern around the plane's shadow? Diffraction around its edges? (Doesn't the light source have to be coherent? I know I've got some physicist readers...). It's something I've never seen before, anyway.
(No joke here, that's a real question)
Volume 4: Technology
One of the households I imposed myself upon in Norway had this super-space-age toilet:
Now for the mystery: Look at the control panel below. Why does the button for "Bidet" have a picture of a face on it???
(Also funny is the button for Vask På, which roughly translates into arse fountain. But is the spray going in or coming out? I know there's a certain blogger who should be an expert on such matters...)
posted by I-Rock at 2:23 PM
9 Comments:
I'm here...after having two blissful weeks off work. The deal with the housewarming is this: I'm doing a nerd course that runs over the weekend of the 4th, Fro has a qld work junket on the weekend of the 11th, and luke has a qld island work junket on the weekend of the 18th.
In short, where's my work junket?!?!?
(oh wait, I'm going on one on the 15th...not to qld though....)
Aren't we all such busy people? (Well, junkety people). So me, fro and duke will be in Queensland on consecutive weekends. Brilliant!
Mandy floated the possibility of 25th, which seems to be the only weekend when everyone will be free, but I haven't heard a response from Dickman yet (although she might have).
Technically I'm flying back north on the 25th, but I've got open tickets, so I can change dates without charge.
Like the song goes: "We can work it out"
p.s. did you christmas break involve a visit to the pare's cd burner?
Well, as you've probably found out - the change has happened. Yes, Fro has finally had that sex change he's always wanted....oh whoops, I mean the party is now on the 25th! So, start changing your tickets!
On the second note...no...of course not...
It will get done and I'll be able to hand it to you personally and even maybe add some more pics including 'The Official 2006 Goon & Coon Walking Tour of Sydney' that took place last week.
p.s. it'll be good to get some backseat bandit action happening again. and i've told mandy that if dean wants to come along, that he should be aware that to become a bsb he'll have to go through the intense and gruelling fatman scoop initiation ceremony
Actually - diffraction of coherent light couldn't do that particular effect, because coherent implies same freq, phase and directional velocity (hence, essentially, it would all be the same colour). However, diffraction also occurs for collimated light (all rays parallel, which is weaker than coherency). Light from the sun very closely approximates collimated light because it is very far away. Essentially, this means that any photons with significantly different directional velocities would have already buggered off, leaving side by side only the similarly vectored photons. That is, until that fateful moment when they hit your plane.
At least - that is my version of events. Nice photo!
Oh. Hang on. Just looked it up and I think that there is a little more to the story. Diffraction can only occur for coherent light, but this means that the phenomonon is not diffraction. And anyway, what we are after here is a dispersive effect that will send to the different waves off in slightly different directions, rather than a diffraction pattern. Help anyone?
'Goon and Coon' sounds good... but was Peter (G'day) Russel (G'day) Claaarke there?
ho ho ho.. where's the cheese!
Dean would also need to read up on the illustrious history of Peter Ustinovbury.
Tangles: I gave up and resorted to google. It's called a "glory", and I think our off-the-top-of-the-head theorizing may be doomed:
"The physical origin of the glory was an optical riddle until the seventies, when it was calculated correctly by scattering theory.
The small water drops of clouds and fog produce it; however, no intuitive physical explanation is available. In part the glory comes from light guided by the interface of water and air (surface waves) and in part from light that undergoes ten internal reflections"
A "glory", huh? Well I'll be..
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