This year's episode of "Matt Parker uses the occasion of Pi Day to find increasingly silly ways of calculating pi" features a cameo by 3blue1brown. I've never seen this guy before!
The idea of using collisions between objects of differing masses to calculate pi never occurred to me, but I find it exceedingly silly. There's no such thing as a material that will create a perfectly elastic collision, nor is there a way to ensure the objects stay on the same linear path without physical constraints that will cause excessive energy loss via secondary collisions and friction.
I'm reminded of the time the Mythbusters tried to create a Newton's Cradle with wrecking balls.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate.
Zeke: It comes nateurally to him.
mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea.
Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity.
Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.
Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further.
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