Wednesday 8 October 2008

Disappearing Act

This Bizarro cartoon is brought to you by Painful Truth Imaging Company. "We see right through your crap."

X-rays are pretty creepy, from a non-scientist's point of view. Imagine what people must have thought shortly after they were invented. "This thing can see through me. Awesome. Maybe now they can find out the cause of those headaches."

These days, nothing seems impossible. Technology changes so fast that nothing one hears is completely unbelievable. For instance, take this simple test: Which of the following statements is false?

1. Engineers can create transparent material as strong as steel.
2. There is a battery so tiny it can fit into a single human red blood cell.
3. The average home computer can process information tens of thousands of times more quickly than the human brain.
4. The average 5th grader can process information tens of thousands of times more quickly than George W. Bush.

Actually, all are true. What an amazing world we live in.

And speaking of the world, The Economist magazine recently asked what would happen if all the countries in the world could vote in our upcoming Prez election. Based on our own electoral college system, which countries would vote red, which blue? The answer is here. Most notable to me is the way Iraq and Israel voted.