29. august 2003

Up for Mexico "Cialis, the impotence drug from Bothell-based Icos and pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly, has been approved for sale in Mexico, believed to be one of the world's top 10 impotence markets." (Seattle Times) A top 10 they are probably not very proud of. 1:34:44 PM    comment []  trackback []

None of us are safe anymore Long announced, on Monday AOL finally launched the feature it calls AOL Journals. AOL users blogging is likely to substantually increase the size of the blogsphere, if not the quality, if past AOL incursions are anything to go by. 9:03:18 AM    comment []  trackback []

Fat chance escaping The 100+ kg prisoner Roque Vivas put an effective stop to a mass escape from an Argentine prison when he got stuck in the tunnel after five prisoners had escaped before him. Behind him 24 other prisoners had to realise the escape chute was effectively plugged. They ended up having to call prison guards to help their burly fellow convict, reports Las Ultimas Noticias. A prison spokesperson said: "It was the funniest thing I've ever seen. This fat man was stuck from the waist down and shaking his legs. "Then all the other prisoners looking really p***ed off because he stopped them from escaping." The prison's security plan to serve fattening food to prisoners had succeeded. 6:40:51 AM    comment []  trackback []

Bali terrorist thanks anti-war protesters Sawad, alias Sardjiyo, who helped mix the bomb that killed 202 people in the horrible Bali bomb blast, considers the anti-war movement an ally in his fight against Americans. "I want to thank the Australian people who supported our cause when they demonstrated against the policies of George Bush. Say thank you to all of them," Sawad said. I don't think the war protesters are comfortable with his embrace. I wonder if it gives pause to any of them that they are considered useful idiots by terrorists, and that the protests serve to encourage the people behind such atrocities? 6:28:26 AM    comment []  trackback []

The weird world of movie physics It's not easy watching action movies if you're a physics geek. In revenge, a few of them have set up a web site called Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics. It initially discusses the stupidity of people being blown backwards by shotgun blasts, how people can jump through windows unharmed and of course the instantly exploding crashing cars. There is a few interesting commentaries to individual movies, too. One of the movies receiving the least amount of scientific charity is The Hulk. Here's a taster of the movie reviews from a scientific point of view, an exercise comparable to shooting fish in a barrel with an Eraser-style railgun. At one point the Hulk overturns a 65 ton Abrams battle tank. This alone would require an increase in strength from human form of about a factor of 650. However, the Hulk then grabs the barrel of an Abrams tank, spins around and throws the entire tank several hundred meters. Compare this to the Olympic hammer throw which propels a 7. 257 kg ball a distance of around 80 meters. The tank is over 8000 times more massive and is thrown at least 10 times further. This suggests that the Hulk is at least 100,000 times stronger than his human form. When I was a kid reading superhero comic books, I noticed there was a tendency for superhero strength to experience inflation over time. In the end they became so ridiculously powerful the creators had to make up even more absurdly powerful villains to (almost) match them, and so on, until even the audience gave up. 2:39:28 AM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.09.2003; 14:10:57.