Jesusland

Based on the November 2006 elections:

Britain's drugs laws driven by "moral panic"

Nothing new here for most of you so I'll keep this post short and only post the link, just to share some positive drug related news.

"FTL" drive possible with Heim Theory

Another Damn Interesting article. Excerpt:

In 1957, German theoretical physicist Burkhard Heim publicly outlined a new idea for spacecraft propulsion. It was based on his new theory of physics which successfully described Einstein's theory of Relativity within the framework of Quantum Mechanics, and it married the two so effectively that he became an instant celebrity. Such a goal was long sought by Einstein himself, but never realized. Heim's ideas described a "hyperdrive" which would locally modify the constants of nature in such a way that a vehicle would be allowed to travel at immense speeds, possibly faster than the speed of light. Such a propulsion system could theoretically reach Mars in under five hours, and neighboring stars within a few months. Because it is so complex and has had relatively little exposure, the Heim-Dröscher theory is still not well understood by most physicists. But its ability to calculate particle mass with uncanny accuracy has lent it a certain degree of credibility, because no theory before or since Heim's can accomplish the same thing. If the theory is accurate, the hyperdrive propulsion field it allows may make a weekend trip to Mars a reality, and put the stars within our grasp. more...

Wiki article and New Scientist articles on Heim theory. Skeptical view on the prediction of particle masses. I really hope this theory works and makes FTL travel feasible. It should be noted that most of the original work and the subsequent theories based on it have not been peer reviewed.

How To Argue Effectively

I argue very well. Ask any of my remaining friends. I can win an argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don't even invite me. You too can win arguments. Simply follow these rules.

Full Screen Interactive 360° panoramas

This site has a big collection of panoramas from a variety of other sites. Some of them are really impressive. You can look around in 360° and zoom in and out on most of them. Zooming in a bit really adds to the realism. It's almost as if you were there, if you have a big screen, that is.

Tsar Bomba in volume TNT

The Tsar Bomba is the largest, most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. Developed by the Soviet Union, a bomb of about 50 megatons.

TNT equivalent is a method of quantifying the energy released in explosions. The tonne of TNT is used as a unit of energy, approximately equivalent to the energy released in the detonation of this amount of TNT.
Megaton of TNT (Mt) = 4.1868 x 10¹⁵ J

TNT has a density of 1.654 g/cm^3. This means the Tsar Bomba is equivalent to a cube with sides of 311.5m made of pure TNT. This cube is shown in the following figure on the map of Manhattan:

The Tsar Bomba compared to other nuclear bombs detonated:

Video of 160 kg TNT explosion:

Video of Tsar Bomba explosion:

Voting

For the Dutch readers; please don't forget to vote tomorrow (Wednesday) for the Dutch Provinciale Staten.
Linked to Stemwijzer (which kinda sucks)