the actual path(s) of the magi?
Remember when you were a kid and asked each other questions like "Who would win in a fight, Batman or Superman?" or "How much Force Power could Yoda output?" or "How much energy would it take to lift everyone on earth?"
Well, there's at least one guy that'll take you seriously, and that's the guy who writes "What If?" on xkcd.com — week after week he answers with serious scientific calculations based on best-guess approximations of those comic-book-world conditions (here are the answers to the Yoda question and the lifting-everyone question). He often goes into advanced physics, using simple illustrations to help you believe you know what he's talking about.
For the Epiphany season (which starts, you recall, on the 12th day of Christmas, and celebrates the arrival of the magi), he considers the quite reasonable question of what would happen if you actually followed the path of a star on Earth. What if you were to walk towards a star at a fixed speed? Constantly following it even when it's "below" you during the daytime? What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle?
It's an Epiphany hoe-down. Check out his answer.
Well, there's at least one guy that'll take you seriously, and that's the guy who writes "What If?" on xkcd.com — week after week he answers with serious scientific calculations based on best-guess approximations of those comic-book-world conditions (here are the answers to the Yoda question and the lifting-everyone question). He often goes into advanced physics, using simple illustrations to help you believe you know what he's talking about.
For the Epiphany season (which starts, you recall, on the 12th day of Christmas, and celebrates the arrival of the magi), he considers the quite reasonable question of what would happen if you actually followed the path of a star on Earth. What if you were to walk towards a star at a fixed speed? Constantly following it even when it's "below" you during the daytime? What path would you trace on the Earth? Does it converge to a fixed cycle?
It's an Epiphany hoe-down. Check out his answer.
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