Live Streaming of Earth From Space, Quantum Computing and Eerie Historical Events
This week at Brain Buffet, let’s talk about how quantum computers will change technology, learn about drunken travel destinations, super creepy events in history, how politics affects gold prices, and watch a live feed of Earth from the International Space Station!
How quantum computers work (and will they work in the future)
The always excellent Kurzgesagt kicks off this video about quantum computers and the computing technology of the future by explaining a very real problem we face today: their computer parts and components are getting closer to the size of an atom, which means that as they get smaller, as we keep squeezing transistors and trying to squeeze even more into smaller and smaller spaces, they will stop working in the way we can reliably predict.
There is more to this question, but I will let the video explain in more detail, but the real pleasure is how we learn to work outside this functional limit using good old quantum mechanics. Quantum computers are promising and theoretically capable of storing and processing incredible amounts of information, but right now they are still working on theories and creating laboratory-controlled prototypes. Let’s see what the future holds. [via Kurzgesagt ]
10 Cool Travel Destinations in the USA
Live on the east coast and want to take a great wine tour without flying to Napa? Consider the Bucks County Wine Trail in Pennsylvania. Seattle beer drinker? Book a table at the Max, where many rooms have in-room kegerators waiting for you to raise your glass and turn on the tap.
These are just two of Oyster’s 10 Great Destinations for Traveling in the Good Old USA A. There are destinations for you if you’re in a good mood, like the New Orleans Rum Tour and Estes Park Distillery, and more. Go through the entire list, and if you’re looking for an adult getaway, pick your favorite and go. Enjoy responsibly. [ via Oyster ]
Some very creepy, very true historical events
It might be a little early for a little extravagance, but this thread on Quora is full of very true, very real, and very unfortunate events in history that will give you, well, at least a little inconvenience. Not all of them are terrible (although some of them are), but they are all at least a little unsettling. Like the skulls of Lake Okeechobee (edited for clarity 🙂
Lake Okeechobee is a large lake in southeastern Florida, covering about 730 square miles in five different counties. It is part of a large drainage system that feeds the Florida Everglades.
At the end of the 19th century, the pioneers made a rather terrible discovery: hundreds of skeletons and skulls visible at the southern end of the lake during low water. There are so many skulls that, in the words of one settler, “during the dry season, it looked like a pumpkin patch.” Fishermen regularly found skulls in their nets. One surveyor in the early 1900s discovered more than 50 human skeletons under a layer of sand just two inches deep while clearing the ground on Grassi Island. The lake’s water level reached an all-time low in 1918, revealing hundreds of skeletons wedging randomly into the silt north of the islands of Ritta and Kremer. To date, it is estimated that over 1,000 skeletons have been found, and the bones appear to have been mostly concentrated within a 30-mile range stretching from Creamer Island to Observation Island to the mainland.
There is no good explanation for the cause of the bones. Skulls and other bones were still widespread in the 1950s. The author of the Miami News on October 18, 1959, tried to attribute the skeletons (like many) to the 2,000 lives killed in the 1928 hurricane.
Many victims of the hurricane were indeed dragged out of the lake; however, the discovery of so many skeletons in the late 1800s and early 1900s predated the 1928 hurricane.
The lack of artifacts other than the bones themselves does not support the idea that the lake itself is a burial site, or the sudden catastrophic death of a village on the lake. An unfounded legend claims that 200 Seminole committed suicide in 1841 to avoid being captured by the army, but this does not explain the total number of skeletons allegedly found. The Battle of Okeechobee in 1837 during the war with the Seminole took place on the northern shore of the lake, killing only 30 people. Some groups believe that the skeletons belong to ancient Indians that predate Spanish settlements in Florida. The ultimate fate of all bones found in the lake is unknown.
This is not the only story. This response, which tells the sad story of Takako Konishi and how her death turned into a movie that actually had nothing to do with how she actually died, is also troubling. This is the very true historical story of Vasily Blokhin , the world record holder in the category of “most prolific executioner” and the man chosen by Stalin to watch the horrors of the Katyn massacre . If you want the story to scare you more than the movie ever did, then the whole chain is good reading. [ via Quora ]
How presidential politics are changing gold prices
You’ve probably already seen this scenario played out before: someone that someone doesn’t like gets elected and it’s grim for the economy, so you better buy gold because for some reason it will protect your money from economic destabilization is imminent because [the person that someone doesn’t like] is the president.
However, the truth is a little more complicated, and gold prices have many factors and factors – not just who sits in the White House. However, gold prices have fluctuated with party politics for a number of reasons, and the chart from American Bullion has some interesting numbers for gold prices, past US presidents, and several other economic factors. [ via American Bullion ]
Live broadcast of Earth from the International Space Station
The earth is beautiful, and since I always love to end my brain buffet with something that is a little inspirational and perhaps a little reassuring, to start your week off to a good start, try this live stream of our world in HD from the ISS. The stream is provided by NASA, but it’s on YouTube all the time, and you can tune in full screen on the second display when you need a little boost. There is music, but you don’t necessarily need it. Either way, watch, enjoy, breathe out and have a good week. [via Space Videos ]
Everyone this week! If you have thought-provoking stories, interesting podcasts, eye-opening videos, or anything else that you think is perfect for Brain Buffet, share it with us! Email me , leave it as a comment below, or send it in any way convenient for you.