Iceberger
February 20, 2021 4:24 AM Subscribe
Draw an iceberg and see how it will float. Inspired by a thread by Glaciologist Megan Thompson-Munson (@GlacialMeg) about how icebergs are often depicted in unstable configurations (indeed, common stock images of icebergs are impossible fakes), Joshua Tauberer (@JoshData) devised a tool that will flip & float your iceberg into a stable configuration.
Bonus: videos of flipping and rolling icebergs.
Bonus: videos of flipping and rolling icebergs.
Figure eight icebergs completely break it.
posted by vacapinta at 4:38 AM on February 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by vacapinta at 4:38 AM on February 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
Haha pretty much. Well, my figure eights did settle eventually but only after taking flight.
posted by obfuscation at 4:45 AM on February 20, 2021
posted by obfuscation at 4:45 AM on February 20, 2021
This is great but the ideal version would have presets for obvious things like a gentleman's sausage, dickbutt, the I AM DISAPPOINT guy...
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:08 AM on February 20, 2021
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 5:08 AM on February 20, 2021
Protip: draw a horizontal figure 8 from left to right, starting down!
posted by Tom-B at 5:31 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Tom-B at 5:31 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Haha pretty much. Well, my figure eights did settle eventually but only after taking flight.
My first one flew away never to be seen again. My second flopped off screen but then eventually meandered back into view with the narrowest but of the hourglass at water level; to an onlooker on the surface, it would seem to be floating on a tiny point, as though you might see a mountain on a seventies prog rock album cover.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:45 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
My first one flew away never to be seen again. My second flopped off screen but then eventually meandered back into view with the narrowest but of the hourglass at water level; to an onlooker on the surface, it would seem to be floating on a tiny point, as though you might see a mountain on a seventies prog rock album cover.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:45 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
I came her to post this and was delighted to find it has already been posted.
Fun!
posted by Faintdreams at 5:57 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Fun!
posted by Faintdreams at 5:57 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
Multiple-overlapping figure-eights can float away, I guess that the calculation for mass goes round 360° of a simple loop (or many multiples of 360° for overlapping loops) and a change in direction counts towards the total mass in the opposite direction, aka negatively.
posted by k3ninho at 5:58 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by k3ninho at 5:58 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
See, this is how you teach the public things they commonly get wrong.
posted by amtho at 6:02 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by amtho at 6:02 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
The creator seems to have fixed the crossing-polygons glitch. Now when you draw a figure 8 it pinches off all but one lobe of it, and floats that.
posted by theoriginalkdawson at 6:44 AM on February 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by theoriginalkdawson at 6:44 AM on February 20, 2021 [5 favorites]
I also came here to post it, ha! Anyway, here's the Hilbert curve iceberg, or Hilberg.
posted by cortex at 7:41 AM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by cortex at 7:41 AM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Shucks, I forgot to screengrab my Sierpinski Triberg
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:55 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Ten Cold Hot Dogs at 7:55 AM on February 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
theoriginalkdawson: "it pinches off all but one lobe of it, and floats that."
Sounds like a normal morning, right after coffee
posted by chavenet at 8:06 AM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Sounds like a normal morning, right after coffee
posted by chavenet at 8:06 AM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
That's fun. I tried to draw a pig, but it looked like a dog, and it drowned. The camel did well, though. Maybe if I'm very bored later, I will go and find an actual mouse, since I am not good at drawing with the touchpad.
posted by mumimor at 8:14 AM on February 20, 2021
posted by mumimor at 8:14 AM on February 20, 2021
This was great fun on my desktop. On my iPad, though, the screen moves around with my finger movement. At best, all I can make are raisin-sized bergs.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:24 AM on February 20, 2021
posted by Thorzdad at 8:24 AM on February 20, 2021
150 ft. Iceberg passing through Iceberg Alley near Ferryland, Newfoundland :P
posted by kliuless at 8:45 AM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by kliuless at 8:45 AM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
That’s really cool! It would be even better with splashing visual and sound effects as the ‘berg bobs into its final orientation; I started seeing how much I could make mine rotate before it came to equilibrium. It also points out the danger to ships in that the iceberg extends horizontally beyond what you see, so even if you miss the part above the surface you may still hit it below the waterline. Which is of course the worst place. I seem to remember that as icebergs weather their center of buoyancy changes and they reorient themselves; that would make for a cool video!
posted by TedW at 9:10 AM on February 20, 2021
posted by TedW at 9:10 AM on February 20, 2021
Nice.
posted by iceberg273 at 9:17 AM on February 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by iceberg273 at 9:17 AM on February 20, 2021 [4 favorites]
I've paddled and rowed in small boats in bays choked with icebergs. You have to be really careful getting too close because at any moment, due to invisible melting below the surface, they can suddenly assume a new stability and roll over on top of you. They roll over in slow motion just like in the animation. Amazing to see this enormous mountain in motion, but you don't want to be too close.
posted by JackFlash at 9:29 AM on February 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by JackFlash at 9:29 AM on February 20, 2021 [3 favorites]
The figure right glitch was good fun before it was fixed.... A right handed figure right would fly away, and a left handed figure right was weirdly trapped below the weather surface.
The fix also seems to fill in the convex hull of the drawing; drawing a pentagram results on a star.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:45 AM on February 20, 2021
The fix also seems to fill in the convex hull of the drawing; drawing a pentagram results on a star.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:45 AM on February 20, 2021
The source code, directly in the .html file for the most part, is really quite lovely.
posted by SunSnork at 11:32 AM on February 20, 2021
posted by SunSnork at 11:32 AM on February 20, 2021
I totally did not draw a penisberg.
I was absolutely trying to see if I could come up with a shape that would settle into a non-optimal orientation based on its initial position and not just trying to draw a weird dick.
Road to hell, etc.
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:28 PM on February 20, 2021
I was absolutely trying to see if I could come up with a shape that would settle into a non-optimal orientation based on its initial position and not just trying to draw a weird dick.
Road to hell, etc.
posted by pykrete jungle at 2:28 PM on February 20, 2021
This has tool has proven instrumental in the recent debate regarding Spinosaurus and just *how* aquatic it was or wasn't.
posted by deadbilly at 2:53 PM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by deadbilly at 2:53 PM on February 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Unfortunately, there isn't really a way to draw an overbalanced wheel for perpetual spinning
posted by ckape at 6:50 PM on February 20, 2021
posted by ckape at 6:50 PM on February 20, 2021
My iceberg shaped like a boat with a smoke stack/bridge/ whatever you call the upper parts of a ship sank. My one without all that, like a barge, floated as normal, though a little low to the waterline.
The capital letter E is the first letter to float without changing its orientation.
posted by The_Vegetables at 4:09 AM on February 21, 2021
The capital letter E is the first letter to float without changing its orientation.
posted by The_Vegetables at 4:09 AM on February 21, 2021
Oh....I just drew icebergs, and was pleased when they'd stay as they were, or settle just a bit.
In other words, it never occurred to me to sink a ship or drown a dog or a penis.
Just icebergs. Very satisfying.
posted by winesong at 8:23 AM on February 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
In other words, it never occurred to me to sink a ship or drown a dog or a penis.
Just icebergs. Very satisfying.
posted by winesong at 8:23 AM on February 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
I totally did not draw a penisberg.
posted by zardoz
I mean, you wouldn't, would you? The penisberg is evil. The penisberg shoots seedbergs, and makes new ice to poison the Ocean with a plague of bergs, as once it was.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:13 AM on February 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by zardoz
I mean, you wouldn't, would you? The penisberg is evil. The penisberg shoots seedbergs, and makes new ice to poison the Ocean with a plague of bergs, as once it was.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 9:13 AM on February 21, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm not sure if it's a rule of physics or a paucity of imagination but I can't get an iceberg to flip more than 120 degrees or so.
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:46 AM on February 21, 2021
posted by BrotherCaine at 10:46 AM on February 21, 2021
It's not going to end well for The Castle of the Pyrenees, is it....
posted by Westringia F. at 11:28 AM on February 21, 2021
posted by Westringia F. at 11:28 AM on February 21, 2021
It was an interesting challenge to try to end up blocking the Sun. The only way I could get that to happen was to draw a berg that was way bigger than the box. It will allow something as big as my phone's screen. That worked, even after it rotated 90 degrees.
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 8:50 AM on February 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Flight Hardware, do not touch at 8:50 AM on February 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
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Apparently heart-shaped icebergs will float upright.
posted by obfuscation at 4:37 AM on February 20, 2021