Supernova Sonata by Alex Parker From April, 2003 until August, 2006, the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope watched four parts of the sky as often as possible. Armed with the largest digital camera in the known universe, CFHT monitored these four fields for a special type of
supernova (called Type Ia) which are created by the thermonuclear detonation of one or more
white-dwarf stars. Each supernova is assigned a note to be played:
The volume of the note is determined by the distance to the supernova, with more distant supernova being quieter and fainter.
The pitch of the note was determined by the supernova’s “stretch,” a property of how the supernova brightens and fades. Higher stretch values played higher notes. The pitches were drawn from a
Phrygian dominant scale.
The instrument the note was played on was determined by the properties of the galaxy which hosted each supernova. Supernovae hosted by massive galaxies are played with a stand-up bass, while supernovae hosted by less massive galaxies are played with a grand piano.
posted by ThenCameNow
on May 26, 2011 -
10 comments
Enough Plumbers (Flash game), a nice twist on a classic game: "It's when the plumber encounters the coins, though, that everything changes. For every coin you collect you also get a cloned plumber who copies every move of the original. Just trying to jump ten hapless clones at once onto a small platform and you can see how things have changed." (
review)
(via waxy.org)
posted by WCityMike
on Apr 24, 2010 -
25 comments
It's time to get ready for the Super Bowl... Ads! Adland has freely available archives of 37 years of commercials from the big game, over 2,800 ads - from 1969, when
Winston,
Salem,
Camel,
Tareyton,
Pall Mall, and
Silva Thins smoked up the Bowl *
cough-cough*, all the way to 2008, when the best-liked ad was
Bud's dalmation inspiration (how do we know it was best liked?
SCIENCE!). Some highlights of the collection include:
[more inside]
posted by taz
on Jan 29, 2009 -
40 comments
Budweiser is pulling their "wardrobe malfunction" ad from the Super Bowl because they think someone might be offended by it. But, you can see the ad
here: -- after going through their tough "age filter" and then clicking to the commercial. When you can't even make fun of stuff begging to made fun of anymore, that will be a sad day.
posted by narebuc
on Jan 26, 2005 -
40 comments
