Excursions at the Speed of Light

D4C5CE writes "S/F fans can finally find out what you really get to see at relativistic velocity, and tourists are one step closer to "doing Europe in a day" in these amazing Space Time Travel simulations of the Theoretical Astrophysics & Computational Physics department at the Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics Tübingen. They put you in a driver's seat that both Armstrong the Astronaut and Armstrong the Cyclist would equally enjoy, in simulators built to ride a bike at the speed of light."

Comments

Apply Theory of Relativity to the Slashdot Effect

[tyagiUK]

I wonder what a website (and associated server/network tin) looks like when it's Slashdotted at the speed of light?

What?

[Devar]

Reduce the speed of light to 30 kilometres per hour! Then you too can ride at the speed of light!! Easier if you have a motor bike.

Re:What?

[MAdMaxOr]

Ok, you try riding your bike through a Bose-Einstein condensate.

No way.

[diesel66]

Look, I've been through Tübingen at the speed of light, and it doesn't look anything like that!

Re:No way.

[mnmn]

Try harder drinks at the pub next time. You'll see it.

Re:G forces

[anthony_dipierro]

Stand still, and let the rest of the universe move.

Re:Only one problem...

[Lifewish]

And most of the alternatives are conjectures.

Scientists use words like chess masters use pawns; saying something's "just a theory" tends to have roughly the same effect on their mental state as kicking the board over.

oblig. Red Dwarf!

[Johnny Mnobflaps]

HOLLY: Look, we're travelling faster than the speed of light. That means, by the time we see something, we've already passed through it. Even with an IQ of 6000, it's still brown trousers time.

or maybe that's brown bike shorts.

eww.

Re:G forces

[Jozer99]

Thats one long block! The movie is 3 or 4 seconds long, so that is a 1,200,000 km street block.

I Have Seen This

[ArchAngel21x]

This is what I see when I sprint to an all you can eat buffet after someone else has offered to pay. I have been called many things, but late for dinner is not one of them.

Light speed?

[dj245]

I prefer Ludicrous speed!

Tubingen?

[MrAndrews]

I showed my wife the videos cause they were cool, but she got all misty-eyed about seeing Tubingen again, so I'm in for a long night of hearing about how much fun she had at university there. Sigh. Why can't more people appreciate the value of astrophysics for astrophysics' sake?

But, but..

[xchino]

"They put you in a driver's seat that both Armstrong the Astronaut and Armstrong the Cyclist would equally enjoy"

But what about Armstrong the overly stretchy action figure?

Re:G forces

[back_pages]

It's a little sad that most people still don't understand the difference between speed and acceleration. When I first read about the Scientific Revolution as a kid, the writer spent a lot of time sneering at medieval scholars who stubornly stuck to Aristotle's physics despite all the experimental evidence showing that it was wrong. But as far as most people are concerned (including the script writers on Star Trek) Aristotle has never been debunked.

Ha, that's easy for a level 7 magic user to say! Some people simply don't have the high INT scores to understand the difference between speed and acceleration. That's why they're so BAD at using a bow and arrow, or even a sling (even level 1 wizards can use a sling hahaa). Anyway, after slaying this sweet dragon last week, I found like a million +2 INT hats. Maybe I should sell them and get rich then everyone would know the difference between acceleration and speed and you wouldn't have a reason to be so sad.

Btw, that was a hilarious email forward you sent me about "10 ways warriors are dumb". You should add a new one to the list 11) Warriors can't even name five flaws in Aristotle's physics!! haha So is your mom still mad or can we play at your house again on Tuesday?

Re:G forces

[fm6]

Not bad, for a bot. Is your source code available?

Re:How long?

[StikyPad]

Those curved buildings are kinda cool, but how long would those buildings even be in your field of vision if you were blasting past them at the speed of light?

First of all, it's near lightspeed.

More importantly, they simulated light moving at 30km/h rather than 300km/s. Fortunately this had no effect on the real speed of light, so you're free to continue driving at highway speeds. Good thing too, because it would add a whole new dimension to traffic violations.

"Your honor, I literally couldn't see him until after we collided."

"$500 fine for exceeding the speed of light."

"Your honor, I didn't realize.. I thought I was just drunk!"

Re:G forces

[Anonymous Coward]

*puts on robe and wizard hat ...* :)

Re:Cosmos

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know why, but the bittersweet reunion of the two brothers, as well as the story of the late Wolf Vishniac in the "Blues for a Red Planet" episode, both make me cry.

That's an easy one -- you're a pussy. ;-)

I installed it, and it works!

[tod_miller]

I looked at the front page, and I saw an article about OSS Java, that was posted a week ago!!!

Wow!! the effects of time/spped of light being made clear!

Now I don't need to subscribe the /., I can read stories before they are even submitted!

Re:Good Further reading....

[d474]

"I'm presently ingrossed in Brian Greene's new book called "The Fabric of the Cosmos"

*Spoiler Warning*

Brian Greene defeats the evil dragon of ignorance at the end, but emphatically, does not get the lady.