I’ve been neglecting the photo-a-day thing for the last week-and-a-bit, but for a good reason: I had a deadline of, well, today, to finish a chapter I was asked to contribute to an academic book. And while I fully realize that actually hitting that deadline is not typical academic behavior, I have A Thing about… Continue reading 142-150/366: On-Deadline Catchup
Month: January 2016
Fluid Dynamics Is Weird: Bathroom Sink Edition
One of the things about being a physicist that makes it tough to have any sensible work-life balance is that I’m constantly seeing little things and thinking “Oooh! Physics!” then getting distracted from what I’m actually supposed to be doing. Take, for example, our bathroom sink. I have noticed, from time to time, a weird… Continue reading Fluid Dynamics Is Weird: Bathroom Sink Edition
Quantum Short Fiction, Voting Open Now
The Center for Quantum Technologies is running a “Quantum Shorts” contest, where they solicited short stories exploring some aspect of quantum physics. They cut their large number of applicants down to two short-lists of ten, one for the “Open” category, and one for the “Youth” category. They’ll be giving out a “People’s Choice Award” based… Continue reading Quantum Short Fiction, Voting Open Now
Advice to the Past
Over at Scientific American, Amanda Baker has a story about what scientists say they would tell their younger selves. I reached out to eight of my colleagues who are currently in STEM fields and asked them a series of questions about their childhood interests in science, school experiences, and roadblocks that they faced on their… Continue reading Advice to the Past
141/366: Holes
As mentioned last week, SteelyKid is doing Odyssey of the Mind this year, and her team has elected to build a balsa wood structure. The goal for these is to support the maximum possible weight, and the first step of the testing is to put a “crusher board” on top. This is a couple of… Continue reading 141/366: Holes
140/366: Dog and Volcano
When I arrived to pick SteelyKid up the other night, she and her friends were light-saber fighting with long balloons, which is fairly typical of that bunch. While I gathered her stuff up, though, she stopped and twisted her balloon into an animal shape: She got a “How to Make Balloon Animals” kit a few… Continue reading 140/366: Dog and Volcano
137-139/366: Vermont
This past weekend, Kate went to Arisia, and in order to get a change of scenery and a bit of adult backup, I took the kids up to visit friends in northern Vermont. They have two boys, the younger of whom is just a few months older than SteelyKid, and I was pretty sure the… Continue reading 137-139/366: Vermont
136/366: Gotta Fly
We have a couple of bird feeders near the house, one just outside the bay window in the front of the house, and the other on the side of the house right next to the dining room. (That one used to be farther out in the yard, where it functioned well as a means of… Continue reading 136/366: Gotta Fly
135/366: Gold Star for Robot Boy
SteelyKid is in second grade, and The Pip goes to full-day day care at the JCC, so we get a LOT of kid work sent home– various homework assignments and class worksheets for her, and assorted art for him. A lot of the art is just a few random crayon scribbles on paper, but some… Continue reading 135/366: Gold Star for Robot Boy
Physics Blogging Round-Up: Randomness, Lenses, Scooters, Time, The Expanse, Many-Worlds, Playoffs, Wireless Charging, and Bubbles
It’s been a disgracefully long time since I did a links post covering what I’ve been posting over at Forbes. In my defense, December was a complete mess of a month… Anyway, here’s a great big bunch of stuff: — Football Physics: Can We Do Better Than Tossing Coins? In which I try to ease… Continue reading Physics Blogging Round-Up: Randomness, Lenses, Scooters, Time, The Expanse, Many-Worlds, Playoffs, Wireless Charging, and Bubbles