noun : an accumulation of loose stones or rocky debris lying on a slope or at the base of a hill or cliff.
The reason it’s hard to get to orbit isn’t that space is high up. It’s hard to get to orbit because you have to go so fast.
…
The speed you need to stay in orbit is about 8 kilometers per second. Only a fraction of a rocket’s energy is used to lift up out of the atmosphere; the vast majority of it is used to gain orbital (sideways) speed.
~ Randall Munroe from, Orbital Speed
slip:4uxoaa4.
ɕ
Parkour is about taking the road less travelled by, and choosing the harder path every time. It’s about understanding that excellence does not arise from simply doing what is convenient or what pays well or what advances your personal career. The Olympic Games are sponsored by Coca-Cola and McDonalds. That’s not right.
Have principles. Stick to them. Because if you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for anything.
~ Dan Edwards from, The Business of Parkour: A Question of Principle (or How to Resist the Red-Bullion) – Dan Edwardes
slip:4udaau1.
ɕ
http://astronomy.stackexchange.com/
The Astronomy Stack Exchange site has just graduated into private beta! You need an invitation to participate in private beta. If anyone would like an invitation, please contact me, I’ll need your email address to send you an invite.
ɕ
“In the field of observation,” legendary disease prevention pioneer Louis Pasteur famously proclaimed in 1854, “chance favors only the prepared mind.” “Knowledge comes form noticing resemblances and recurrences in the events that happen around us,” neuroscience godfather Wilfred Trotter asserted. That keen observation is what transmutes information into knowledge is indisputable — look no further than Sherlock Holmes and his exquisite mindfulness for a proof — but how, exactly, does one cultivate that critical faculty?
~ Maria Papova from, The Art of Observation and Why Genius Lies in the Selection of What Is Worth Observing – The Marginalian
slip:4ubaie6.
ɕ
Even journalists get tripped up into thinking this is photo from the North Pole. At the real North Pole, history shows this to be a relatively common occurrence.
…
You see while they were busy lecturing the faithful, they forgot the one teensy-eeensy little detail about the source of this photo. It is from camera on top of the sea ice, and sea ice isn’t static, it moves. In fact according to the University of Washington who manages and tracks these floating cameras and weather stations, while they started out near the North Pole, they aren’t anywhere close to it now.
~ Anthony Watts from, Al Gore’s “Reality Minions” think the North Pole is melting – except that’s NOT a photo of the North Pole – Watts Up With That?
slip:4uwaao1.
Al Gore’s “Reality Minions” think the North Pole is melting – except that’s NOT a photo of the North Pole.
ɕ
They are attempting to right the Costa Concordia today. She’s TWICE as big as the titanic… no one has ever tried to right a ship this large. (…oh, and “parbuckling“.)
ɕ
There are things you can’t avoid /
~ The Flaming Lips from, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – Wikipedia
You have to face them /
when you’re not prepared to face them
ɕ
In the most basic interpretation of an entry-level kata, the aggressor is allowed to grab a wrist, sleeve or lapel, and then you go through the prearranged movements step by step. In more advanced work, if one observes a higher-ranking exponent of the style, just before the aggressor makes contact, the defender moves to a different position in reaction to the upcoming grab. By the time the grab is made, the defender is already well into his movement to take advantage of the attacker’s momentum seamlessly, and then taking charge of the distance and “flow” of the encounter.
~ Wayne Muromoto from, 67. More on Kamae – The Classic Budoka
slip:4uwomo1.
ɕ
Going on about how busy you are isn’t conversation and doesn’t lead anywhere—except making your conversation partner bored, or worse, peeved. People who act super busy send the same message, making time spent with them never feel quite whole. Interestingly, I find that most people who are legitimately occupied – with their work, or family, or art, or what-have-you—rarely play the “too busy” card, or go out of their way to make time for meaningful connection exactly because they’ve been busy.
~ Janet Choi from, How to Escape the Cult of “Busy” | Lifehacker
slip:4uliho3.
ɕ
Now, I am not saying this to downplay their hard work to get to where they are; I don’t want you saying things like, “I don’t have their genetics or resources, so why even bother?”
Instead, I want you to know that there will ALWAYS be somebody leaner, bigger, faster, or stronger than you. There will always be somebody who’s younger, better looking, and had more success than you. Until you learn to accept that, you’ll never be truly happy.
~ Steve Kamb from, The ONE Comparison You Should Make Today | Nerd Fitness
slip:4unebo18.
ɕ