Poll: When physics fails in real life.

[Saltyk]

There's an obvious explanation for all of these.

We're in the Matrix and the machines are screwing with us.

Funnily enough there is an actual theory that suggests we may be part of a computer program and not even know it. It basically states that if we should ever design programs sufficiently advanced enough to make Artificial Intelligence, one of those tests would be to make an entire virtual world. And those within the world may not even be aware of their status as computer programs. In order to save on processing power there would have to be some rules on maximum speed, size, energy and other such things. And what would such things logically do? Create computers, build machines, develop their own Artificial Intelligence and build an world to test it all out. Which would then do the same, so on and so forth making the world's less and less complex in time. In this theory, the odds that we are not the ones who built the first such program, and are in fact within a program, is rather high.

Mind you I don't think we're living in a computer program, but it is an interesting mind fuck.

 

[Nimcha]

The wires getting tangled up is just entropy.

 

[Pinkamena]

If you've seen those plastic birds that can balance on their beak, it's the same principle.

I have not.

This thing:

 

[SnowyGamester]

Generally, that's what I'm using right now and, in fact, have another waiting in wings when this one eventually wears out somehow. What you have there is not a standard earbud case, so where exactly do you find one like that?

It's one of these [http://www.ebay.com/itm/360730996764] that I disassembled and reassembled with the headphone cable instead. It was a bit finicky to get back together on account of how you have to wind it back up and hold it while you put the screw back in but it was definitely worth the trouble. I don't know why something like it doesn't exist in an easy to use way for this exact purpose because it probably should. Maybe it does but I couldn't find anything which is why I used that.

 

[FalloutJack]

The wires getting tangled up is just entropy.

No, entropy for wires would be them getting frayed and broken for no reason, or my sister's cat chewing on them.

Edit:

I can't believe you just gave me the bird.

 

[Malevolentcafe]

Whenever any of my earbuds are in my pockets and then get impossibly tangled. How? Can ANYONE explain this wizardry?!

Captcha: Screw Driver

I don't see how that would solve my problem captcha, but thanks for trying.

 

[solemnwar]

I've tried it in real life, it totally works.
I don't feel like it should, but it does.

THIS MAKES ME UNREASONABLY ANGRY
I can't.
HNNNGH
*stares at it* ಠ_ಠ

 

[Cartographer]

The wires getting tangled up is just entropy.

No, entropy for wires would be them getting frayed and broken for no reason, or my sister's cat chewing on them.

Entropy is the tendency towards disorder, not damage.

 

[Nimcha]

The wires getting tangled up is just entropy.

No, entropy for wires would be them getting frayed and broken for no reason, or my sister's cat chewing on them.

I can't believe you just gave me the bird.

Well, cats are pretty much the epitome of entropy. Doing fuck all all day long and getting rewarded for it.

 

[Flutterguy]

Black holes are essentially holes in physics, reality, time, space, and everything really. I guess you could say they're the ultimate physics glitch.

What I have read on black holes says they are incredibly dense material with unmatched gravitational pull. 'black hole' is just a description of appearance.

An average molecule is something like 99% empty space, take out all of that empty space and it does not lose weight. Then space debris hits it is crushed down by the intense gravitational pull, it slowly grows over millions/billions of years. Interesting subject.

 

[FalloutJack]

The wires getting tangled up is just entropy.

No, entropy for wires would be them getting frayed and broken for no reason, or my sister's cat chewing on them.

Entropy is the tendency towards disorder, not damage.

No, that's chaos theory. Entropy is VERY ordered and towards one goal: Ultimate Destruction of all matter in the universe.

Well, cats are pretty much the epitome of entropy. Doing fuck all all day long and getting rewarded for it.

I have it on a good reference (Terry Pratchett) that cats are quantum, actually.

Seems to fit, given the report that dogs are frigging magnetic.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Bullets, when striking a hard surface, don't bounce off with much the same angle like everything else does, they ricochet almost parallel to the surface. Important to know when hiding behind a car.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Falling up stairs. I don't mean tripping and falling across the upward stairs, I mean falling up stairs in defiance of gravity. I actually rolled up a flight (about 8 or 9 steps) to the landing, unsure how I defied gravity and physics to travel upward. I just say to myself that I was distracted by something long enough to achieve flight physics by way of the Hitchikers Guide theory only to remember I wasn't supposed to go up the stairs and landed on the landing (fitting).
I also swear that cats can ignore physics whenever they please to do amazing and weird things, but won't do it if there's a camera present.

 

[Sight Unseen]

Vsauce did a video on why headphones and cables get tangled

It's around the 4 minute mark. Hopefully this is informative

 

[FalloutJack]

Falling up stairs. I don't mean tripping and falling across the upward stairs, I mean falling up stairs in defiance of gravity. I actually rolled up a flight (about 8 or 9 steps) to the landing, unsure how I defied gravity and physics to travel upward. I just say to myself that I was distracted by something long enough to achieve flight physics by way of the Hitchikers Guide theory only to remember I wasn't supposed to go up the stairs and landed on the landing (fitting).
I also swear that cats can ignore physics whenever they please to do amazing and weird things, but won't do it if there's a camera present.

That must've been some momentum ya had there. But cats? Uhhh...I've seen one skipping across the top of water from one shore to another in a video. Pretty sure that's actually an exploit of speed, reflexes, and surface tension. It is, however, damn freaky.

Vsauce did a video on why headphones and cables get tangled

It's around the 4 minute mark. Hopefully this is informative

It explains that it happens and that it's very likely to happen, but it doesn't explain how it gets so damn complicated in the manner of fishing line. If I could just pull the sucker apart, I would, but it's not an intricate series of slipknots. It's a full-fledged you-pull-this-and-it-just gets-tighter-no-matter-what knot. And that shouldn't happen without phasing through matter.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Falling up stairs. I don't mean tripping and falling across the upward stairs, I mean falling up stairs in defiance of gravity. I actually rolled up a flight (about 8 or 9 steps) to the landing, unsure how I defied gravity and physics to travel upward. I just say to myself that I was distracted by something long enough to achieve flight physics by way of the Hitchikers Guide theory only to remember I wasn't supposed to go up the stairs and landed on the landing (fitting).
I also swear that cats can ignore physics whenever they please to do amazing and weird things, but won't do it if there's a camera present.

That must've been some momentum ya had there. But cats? Uhhh...I've seen one skipping across the top of water from one shore to another in a video. Pretty sure that's actually an exploit of speed, reflexes, and surface tension. It is, however, damn freaky.

Makes sense that cats are the exploiters/glitchers of physics IRL... they'd do it just for "teh lulz". If they could I'm sure they DDOS the sun or some equivalent just to fuck with humanity... Keep in mind I don't hate cats, just think they're more devious than humans, I mean look at how they've conned us into making us treat them like Gods, from feeding them, cleaning up their shit to making them probably the second most searched thing outside of porn on the internet.

 

[Sewa_Yunga]

It explains that it happens and that it's very likely to happen, but it doesn't explain how it gets so damn complicated in the manner of fishing line. If I could just pull the sucker apart, I would, but it's not an intricate series of slipknots. It's a full-fledged you-pull-this-and-it-just gets-tighter-no-matter-what knot. And that shouldn't happen without phasing through matter.

You could always wind them up in a way that prevents them from entangling themselves... by knotting them into an easily removable knot. Fight fire with fire, you know?

Vsauce did a video on why headphones and cables get tangled
-snip-

That video just taught me the name of a smell that I love. Thanks!

 

[FalloutJack]

FIRE!

Murphy's Law states quite clearly how this is a bad idea. I once set aside $450 for a special occasion that I'd be waiting for, well away from my wallet or temptation or needing to go to the bank (because I had taken it out from there in the first place in the seldom-used act of longterm planning). So, I put it somewhere clever, somewhere where it made SENSE. When it came time to use the money, I had completely forgotten where I put it, though the answer was that it was somewhere that made total sense when you think about it. And that was when my sister pulled it out of my DVD of Ocean's Eleven. Something about 'best laid plans' comes to mind at this point.