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Yep at the Torino Winter Olympics, Australia has actually won a gold medal!

How did we do it?  Easy, import some Canadian to wear our Jersey!

For those of you sick of hearing about the Olympics being a celebration of the best of the best, there’s the Olympic DFL blog, to celebrate those that finish  dead fucking last.

Go Estonia!!

So, on the plane and conveyor belts — I think that Wolf and SlantyME are right.  Wolf’s explanation is probably closest to correct.
Here’s the followup kottke.org thread.  The analysis I like the most is from his buddy Mouser, a Physics PhD.  It’s worth pointing out that all the answers that say the plane can’t take off also agree that the plane MUST move forward to take off.

Here’s another:

You have an S-shaped lawn sprinkler-an S-shaped pipe on a pivot-and the water squirts out at right angles to the axis and makes it spin in a certain direction. Everybody knows which way it goes around; it backs away from the outgoing water. Now the question is this: If you had a lake, or swimming pool-a big supply of water-and you put the sprinkler completely under water, and sucked water in, instead of squirting it out, which way would it turn? Would it turn the same way as it does when you squirt water out into the air, or would it turn the other way?

And if that’s too challenging for you, how about Google Maps meets Guinness?  In Ireland?  With prices?  MapEire

Have a good Tuesday.

I always like the way ‘google’ seems to change its search engine page design graphics to go with the current holiday/event theme.  Currently the theme is of a snowboarder in a half pipe… and they took away the two ‘oo’s in google, and put in a picture of a halfpipe.

Seems no one has a stake on ‘www.gugle.ca’..

A real-transformer!  And when I say that, I actually mean ‘a miniature car that actually works, transforms, and walks’.  Changes the definition of ‘off-roading’.

OK, something to mess with your head.  Found it (huge discussion there) on kottke.org.

Here’s the original problem essentially as it was posed to us: “A plane is standing on a runway that can move (some sort of band conveyer). The plane moves in one direction, while the conveyer moves in the opposite direction. This conveyer has a control system that tracks the plane speed and tunes the speed of the conveyer to be exactly the same (but in the opposite direction). Can the plane take off?”

What do you think?

the onion: Fuck Everything, We’re Doing Five Blades

real life: Gillette ups the ante, unveils 5-blade razor