In and Out
June 27, 2011 10:54 PM Subscribe
"Zoom from the edge of the universe to the quantum foam of spacetime and learn the scale of things along the way!"
Try the wrong version, or the swirly version or the Portuguese version too.
Try the wrong version, or the swirly version or the Portuguese version too.
Heh, he seems to have a hang-up on the pronounciation of Uranus...
posted by Harald74 at 11:03 PM on June 27, 2011
posted by Harald74 at 11:03 PM on June 27, 2011
Here's the full-screen version.
The music is the Brian Eno-produced main theme from Spore -- very fitting, even if the game was a bit of a disappointment.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:05 PM on June 27, 2011
The music is the Brian Eno-produced main theme from Spore -- very fitting, even if the game was a bit of a disappointment.
posted by Rhaomi at 11:05 PM on June 27, 2011
For an app that does the the same thing from a slightly different perspective, check out Nikon's Universcale.
It's basically the same but from a side view, so instead of zooming in like a micro/telescope, the objects scroll left and right. However, the music does seem cut from the same cloth.
posted by mapinduzi at 11:21 PM on June 27, 2011
It's basically the same but from a side view, so instead of zooming in like a micro/telescope, the objects scroll left and right. However, the music does seem cut from the same cloth.
posted by mapinduzi at 11:21 PM on June 27, 2011
It's like Powers of Ten. With swirly and wrong.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:54 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by louche mustachio at 1:54 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, it takes every ounce of willpower for me to avoid creating a sock puppet called "KingOfAllCosmos" and writing "We approve in principle, but the direction is wrong."
posted by JHarris at 1:59 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 1:59 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
It is described in the lost Preamble to Genesis how God poured out a couple of universes until he got just the right thickness of Quantum Foam. Also known as The Head of Reality.
posted by Splunge at 3:55 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Splunge at 3:55 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Needs to be combined with that page that shows the relative scales of different fictional spaceships.
posted by fuq at 5:34 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by fuq at 5:34 AM on June 28, 2011
Very cool, but the weird notation (102 x 4.8 meters?) is a little jarring.
Heh, he seems to have a hang-up on the pronounciation of Uranus...
His pronunciation with stress on the first syllable is ancient and well-attested and you shouldn't feel like you're cheating by saying it that way (I also have a hang-up about it).
posted by gubo at 5:57 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Heh, he seems to have a hang-up on the pronounciation of Uranus...
His pronunciation with stress on the first syllable is ancient and well-attested and you shouldn't feel like you're cheating by saying it that way (I also have a hang-up about it).
posted by gubo at 5:57 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Oh, the big becomes the little
When you see it back a bit
The huge becomes the dinky
Which is just the opposite
Of the larger that gets smaller
It never seems to quit
That's about the size of it
That’s about the size
Where you put your eyes
That’s about the size of it
posted by Meatbomb at 6:13 AM on June 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
When you see it back a bit
The huge becomes the dinky
Which is just the opposite
Of the larger that gets smaller
It never seems to quit
That's about the size of it
That’s about the size
Where you put your eyes
That’s about the size of it
posted by Meatbomb at 6:13 AM on June 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
this is great! I love that guys little quips throughout the data too.
posted by zombieApoc at 6:16 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by zombieApoc at 6:16 AM on June 28, 2011
That’s about the size
Where you put your eyes
That’s about the size of it
That - and scrolling the thing from the OP - make me feel sad somehow, watching the people and the beach balls and the ants and the buildings get further away and disappear.
When I was little I used to love that animation from Sesame Street but at the same time be thrown into a profound melancholy by it - it has a kind of elegiac air. I used to wait for them to show it but also dread seeing it.
(and I was watching it around 1980, so it wasn't just the fact that it's old animation)
Come to think of it, that whole distance/perspective/vanishing is pretty much my pessimist view of history when I'm not managing to be a rah-rah anarchist. Sesame Street ruined me for revolution.
posted by Frowner at 6:22 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Where you put your eyes
That’s about the size of it
That - and scrolling the thing from the OP - make me feel sad somehow, watching the people and the beach balls and the ants and the buildings get further away and disappear.
When I was little I used to love that animation from Sesame Street but at the same time be thrown into a profound melancholy by it - it has a kind of elegiac air. I used to wait for them to show it but also dread seeing it.
(and I was watching it around 1980, so it wasn't just the fact that it's old animation)
Come to think of it, that whole distance/perspective/vanishing is pretty much my pessimist view of history when I'm not managing to be a rah-rah anarchist. Sesame Street ruined me for revolution.
posted by Frowner at 6:22 AM on June 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
No, I will NOT step into the Total Perspective Vortex, thanks.
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 6:57 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by 2or3whiskeysodas at 6:57 AM on June 28, 2011
Even if a double, nice to see this again. I just noticed that the scale of the Saguaro cactus is way, way off. The largest known Saguaro is Champion Saguaro in Maricopa, and it's only 13.8 meters tall. Most Saguaro I've stood next to-- I mean, they're big, but not near as big as the drawings make 'em out. Perhaps it is not drawn to scale.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 8:03 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 8:03 AM on June 28, 2011
I was wondering a bit earlier - is there any way to simulate electron orbitals or some such things? I mean, we have equations for that, right? How much processing power would it take to simulate just that part? Can you do so? I don't see any such software out there. I'd like to just run it, and peek inside every so often then look again, etc...
posted by symbioid at 9:02 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by symbioid at 9:02 AM on June 28, 2011
it should include average adult human male penis just for comparison's sake
posted by nathancaswell at 10:54 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by nathancaswell at 10:54 AM on June 28, 2011
i guess male penis is a little redundant huh
posted by nathancaswell at 10:55 AM on June 28, 2011
posted by nathancaswell at 10:55 AM on June 28, 2011
Well, not quite. Give cloning research a bit more time.
posted by Mike Smith at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2011
posted by Mike Smith at 12:58 PM on June 28, 2011
odinsdream: yes, Giant Earthworm, found in Austrailia, I believe. They can be enormous and look really, really weird.
posted by daq at 1:08 PM on June 28, 2011
posted by daq at 1:08 PM on June 28, 2011
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But seriously, neat toy. Thanks for sharing.
posted by Harald74 at 11:00 PM on June 27, 2011