In light of recent advances in super cooling visible objects I decided to post some information on the opposite of absolute zero. 

Dear Cecil:
What is the opposite of absolute zero? I can accept the idea that there’s a coldest possible temperature, but I like my limits in pairs. Is there a limit to how hot things can get? If so, what is it and why is it? –Mark Stewart, Chicago

Dear Mark:
There is a limit, sort of, but it’s so inconceivably large that nobody but high energy physicists talks about it (although as I think about it absolute zero doesn’t exactly qualify as breakfast table chatter either). The highest possible temperature, called the Planck temperature, is equal to 10^32 degrees Kelvin. For comparison, the center of the sun bubbles along at 15 million degrees K (15 x 10^6); silicon can be created by fusion at 1 billion K (10^9). In short, the Planck temperature is very toasty indeed.

Some scientists believe that we, or at least our universe, have already experienced the Planck temperature, although it went by so quickly you may have missed it. It occurred at 10^-43 of a second after the Big Bang, the great cataclysm in which the universe was born. (10^-43 of a second, in case you’re not hip to the notation, is an incredibly tiny fraction of time. Time enough to create the universe, but not, as a University of Chicago physicist was once at pains to explain, time enough to get off a disputed last-tenth-of-a-second shot against the Chicago Bulls.)

Absolute zero is easier to understand than the Planck temperature. What we perceive as heat is a function of motion. The colder something gets, the less internal motion or vibration its molecules exhibit. At absolute zero–that is, zero degrees Kelvin or -460 degrees Fahrenheit–molecular motion virtually stops. At that point whatever the molecules are a part of is as cold as it’s going to get.

There’s a lot more latitude in the opposite direction. The faster molecules move, the hotter they get. At 10^10 K electrons approach the speed of light, but they also become more massive, so their temperature can continue to rise. At 10^32 K such staggering densities obtain that greater temperature would cause each particle of matter to become its own black hole, and the usual understanding of space and time would collapse. Ergo, the Planck temperature is as hot as things can get. Or at least it’s the highest temp conceivable in present theory. There’s a chance when a quantum theory of gravity is worked out we may find even higher temperatures are possible. The prospect, frankly, leaves me cold.

–CECIL ADAMS

Link to The Straight Dope: What is the opposite of absolute zero?

It finally happened.  I caved to the evils of facebook.  Or as Tara so elegantly put it:

Way to fold to the facebook temptation like a cheap lawn chair occupied by obese conjoined twins.

Damnit, I feel…dirty…the kind of used-up-condom-on-the-sidewalk dirty.

Well, now you can all have the privilege of having me officially as your friend!  Sometimes I’m so generous hahahahaha

The Onion has expanded their site from not just including satirical articles, but now also including satirical TV broadcasts!  They don’t update nearly as often as the articles, but when they do, they’re usually pretty damned controversial, dark, and hilarious all in one!  Here’s the latest about the National Zoo’s giant panda Yun Mei demanding an abortion.  You can check out some of the other ones here that I was too much of a wuss to post here lol…

Happy easter everyone! This is the time of years where us greeks go out, slaughter some poor little lamb, skin it, hang it to dry, shove a giant pole into its rear end all the way through until it comes out its mouth, and then finally put it over a giant half barrel filled with fire to slowly cook it into yummy goodness =)

I swear we’re a civilized race!

Here’s a clip in the spirit of easter! Perhaps you will become enlightened to the true evils of the Easter Bunny!

My Europe buddy Sonia sent this to me tonight.  It was a welcome reprive from the 25hours a day i’ve been spending doing school lately….

Thanks Sonia!!! And to everyone else, enjoy!!

Don’t worry, I’m not promoting some terrorist site.  However, I am supporting the idea of getting a more un-biased report on world events, or rather, another perspective different from the one we normally get here in North America.  Al Jazeera.net is a source of news (like CNN) except it’s the first english one based in the Middle east.

In their own words:

Al Jazeera English is the world’s first global English language news channel to be headquartered in the Middle East. From this unique position, Al Jazeera English is destined to be the English-language channel of reference for Middle Eastern events, balancing the current typical information flow by reporting from the developing world back to the West and from the southern to the northern hemisphere. The channel gives voice to untold stories, promotes debate, and challenges established perceptions.

They report on all the current events happening in the middle east, so I find that reading the site keeps me informed about, in the words of John Stewart, Mess O’Potamia.

Enjoy reading!

I’ve been told before that I am a man of many faces.  Generally when I look at pictures from past parties, it is true, I do have a plethora of ridiculous looking pictures. 

So where do all these faces come from you might ask?  Well, some are obviously just from natural emotions such as how girls make me smile, leprechauns stealing my pot of gold make me angry, and Sam breaking my sister’s nice glass coffee table because the Leafs lost their 4-1 advantage in the hockey game last night makes me disappointed.  However, others, well…years and years of practice my friends. 

Ever since I was a young boy, I’ve been making “funny faces”.  To verify this claim all you have to do is load up the ol’ camcorder videos my parents took while I was growing up, and you’ll see from an early age that before my mom was allowed to stop recording me I’d get all excited and ask in my little kid voice “Umm mu…uhh…muu muummy? Can I, umm can I make a…a…funny face??? Pleeaase??”  To which my mother would always chuckle softly and in her endearing voice reply, “Of course dear!” 

It was at this point I would begin contorting my face every which way possible while using my fingers to pull on the side of my cheeks or push my nose up like a pig’s.  Each face becoming more ridiculous than the last.

Now, I’m 22 years old, but still that little 6 year old boy in me comes out from time to time.  Ok, I’ll be honest, pretty much whenever I’m on camera or have access to a camera phone / webcam (as many of you can probably attest to the pictures I’ve taken of myself on your cell phones =).  I suppose I could try to suppress this child in me, but where’s the fun in that?  Then I’d just become same old “Smiling Mike” in all the photos rather than “I’m going to eat your brain’s Mike” as seen in the photo here to the right.  It may be quirky/nerdy/weird, but I feel it definitely adds some variety to the standard stock photos of our events! 

So I just got a webcam off my sister for a few weeks so I could document some stuff for my thesis (I swear that’s the real reason!) and then I started playing around with it.  Then a genius (or childish) idea came to me!  Why not see how many different faces I actually have?  So while I was working on some other projects I would write down ideas for a face whenever one popped into my head.  Needless to say, the list grew pretty quickly.  I then started snapping pictures of my impressions of these ideas and low and behold I compiled it into a blog entry (my newest fad!). 

Below are some of the results of my little project.  Try to guess what I’m trying to show with my face and then once you’ve guessed, place your mouse over the image and the actual description will pop up!  It’s like some sort of strange game =)

If you have any ideas of faces you’d like to see, feel free to leave a comment and I might just do it for you!