Assorted free entertainment #1

Web stuff that I thought worth the time.

Cosmic distance ladder

Here’s Terry Tao on how our meek little species came to measure astronomical distances and map the cosmos. (Or if his presentation is too slow for you, there’s also a slideshow linked in this blog post.)

Gays are to blame

And here’s a little satirical skit from Sweden. Amazing this stuff can appear on public television over there.

The Darwin Debate

Not a painful argument between a scientist and a creationist, but something that turns out to be much more fun: absurdly articulate (and smart) people disagreeing (over which parts of human behavior should be attributed to natural selection), brought to you by BBC. Well worth the time.

An airport puzzle

And finally another one from Terry Tao: this time a little puzzle.

EDIT: Just saw this on Facebook and had to add it:

Les fonctions harmoniques

Thanks to Carl Lian.