The Model S, like the rest of Musk’s electric cars, features the same curvy look but at a slightly discounted price ($70,000). The lower price is meant to attract a larger consumer base beyond C-suite executives who can afford $80,000 cars. Elon Musk’s foray into the general consumer market is welcome news for investors waiting for electric cars to move into the mainstream. However, Musk’s Teslas, known as the model electric cars, may be tailgating legacy car brands like GM, Ford, etc. Ford’s trucks and GM’s SUVs may not evoke gas-free cars, but these automakers are seeing green in the future. So Tesla better get in the marketplace fast, and Musk must make good on his promise to mass-produce Teslas for his brand to dominate the market it helped create.
Penguin and Sheep Unionize
Agoropolis is a farm with a population of 25,312 sheep. In Agoropolis, one human day is equivalent to 50,000 sheep days. This means climate change is felt much more drastically in this pastoral land. Winter winds came in summer, and the penguins from the Northern tundras migrated to Agoropolis because their icecaps were too slippery. Because time traveled so fast for animals, they had to reproduce far more quickly to replenish their numbers. For your reference:
Sheep life = 25,000 days, so a sheep lived half a day
To maintain a sheep population of 25,000 there was a lot of pressure to give birth quickly, before dinner time. Males lived longer than females to feed and clothe the newborns. But soon a disease swept through Agoropolis that cut the lifespans of males in half – in short, male sheep only had time to reproduce before dying. Soon, the wisest sheep in Agoropolis, who goes by Chiefpeehs, came up with a solution and inscribed a tablet with ‘THE LAWS OF SHEEP POST-APOCALYPSE’
It read:
FROM TODAY, 1B 5M 300K AD, all female sheep will breed with our neighbor penguins, who have a much longer lifespan than our disease-stricken husbands. We sheep and penguins share a distant ancestor before our species diverged. Not only will this solve the problem of reproduction, but also allow us to adapt to winter and summer climates.
So it came to be, that penguin sheep lived happily ever after.
Zootopia: A children’s zoo with adult jokes too
Though Zootopia’s audience mainly comprised of parents with their children, the movie featured more than cute furry animals living in a metropolis. Putting animals in human occupations gave the movie substance and sophistication. Officer Hops is the bunny who dreams big, but faces challenges of adapting to a metropolis. Hops is Disney’s voice, with her picture of inclusiveness and good ethics. But Disney doesn’t make this a cookie cutter feel good piece. The officer bunny herself realizes that she has stereotyped predators in the press conference where she reveals the source of the rabid animals. The typically marginalized population (prey) end up becoming predators themselves!
This seems applicable to real life too. The stereotypically marginalized group can become the aggressor while claiming vulnerability
So don’t believe everything you see or hear in the media
Batman v Superman Review, Spoiler Alert!
Batman v Superman fulfilled my expectations for flashy kryptonite shell explosions and the ultimate doomsday scenario. Director Zack Snyder decked out Batman with a deadly anti-alien arsenal stocked with Kryptonite. Superman appeared more mortal than the vigilante in this movie, especially his gasping moments of vulnerability from Kryptonite. The movie ends with Superman’s (apparent) death, but Bruce Wayne suggests teaming up with other superheroes across the world at the end of the movie. For me, Superman’s death came as a pleasing surprise (the victory of good over evil gets kind of boring after a while). Here are some questions I was left with after the movie >>
- Is Superman really dead?
- Why did Superman seem so mortal in his final fight against the monster?
- Why couldn’t Superman use supervision to find his mother?
- Where was security around the fallen Kryptonian ship?
- What else does Lex have up his sleeves?
Building a phone mount for bicycles
Today, I put together a phone mount that attaches to any bicycle. All you need are a few screws, nuts and a metal lid that you can bend. The hardest part about making the mount was figuring out how to make the metal holder. At first, I was planning on bending the large washers to fit over the phone, but the metal would not bend, even when it was over a candle. So, I tried a different approach: using a metal lid from a can of cashews (no worries, I replaced it with plastic wrap!) I did not have a saw, so I perforated the lid with a nail and hammer, and then used a chisel to free the metal sides.
After I had my metal holders I bent them with a hammer so the phone would rest snugly against the lid’s lips. Putting together the mount was the fun part. The washer and nut applied pressure to the metal lid holder. Putting the phone in was easy – but don’t tighten the nut too much as this could damage your screen. At last, I got a tower of spare parts. I thought the gold tint on the metal lid was a nice touch.
If you’re interested in making a mount like this please see this video here
Bending Washer with Candle Flame
I am building a bicycle holder using nuts, screws and washers. The screw will support the back of the phone, and is attached to the bicycle with a clamp. To keep the phone in place, I will need to bend the edge of the washer so that it presses against the phone and holds it in place.
Zinc Washer bending experiment #1
Materials
- Zinc Washer
- Candle
- Match
- 2 pliers
I lit the candle under the zinc washer, hoping that the heat would make the metal malleable enough to bend with pliers. However, the flame only had a superficial effect, coating the zinc black while not making it malleable. I checked online and found that the temperature of a flame was higher than zinc’s melting point, so why did the washer not bend when I applied force to it above the flame?
Hydrogen Bubble Experiment
Today I tested a byproduct of electricity using a battery, electrolyte and a match. To setup the experiment I put the 1.5 volt battery inside a pill bottle with the negative side facing toward the surface of the water. I mixed salt in water and poured it into the bottle with the battery inside. Bubbles soon coated the flat negative end of the battery, a sign that the salt-water mix was conducting electricity and releasing H2 gas. To collect the bubbles, I placed a perfume bottle cap over the negative end of the battery, making sure there was no trapped air inside. After waiting 15 minutes, I removed the cap facing down and lit a match under it which produced a pleasing pop noise. Hydrogen gas reacted with the flame:
Here’s a video showing the experiment: Hydrogen Gas Experiment
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