We’re having a birthday party for SteelyKid tomorrow, so I have a ton of stuff to do today. I may have something more substantive later, but for the moment, here are a couple of videos to enjoy. First, from the Minute Physics set of videos at YouTube, an explanation of why you have quantum physics… Continue reading Friday Physics Videos
Author: Chad Orzel
Links for 2011-07-29
Design View / Andy Rutledge – News Redux “Digital news is broken. Actually, news itself is broken. Almost all news organizations have abandoned reporting in favor of editorial; have cultivated reader opinion in place of responsibility; and have traded ethical standards for misdirection and whatever consensus defines as forgivable. And this is before you even… Continue reading Links for 2011-07-29
Thursday Fine Art Blogging
Shhh! There’s an Artist at work: That’s SteelyKid hard at work on something. I think she was writing my name, though it might’ve been writing Emmy’s name. It’s a little tough to tell from the photographs. Of course, the real purpose of making art is to be able to discuss it: This led to my… Continue reading Thursday Fine Art Blogging
How Does the Pulse Meter on Our Exercise Bike Work?
Unlike the previous post, this is not a rhetorical question that I will ask and then answer. I genuinely do not know the answer. I could Google it, of course, but I’d like to see if somebody reading this is able to deduce the correct answer from the available evidence. So, here’s the deal: as… Continue reading How Does the Pulse Meter on Our Exercise Bike Work?
How Good Are Polarized Sunglasses?
A while back, I explained how polarized sunglasses work, the short version of which is that light reflected off the ground in front of you tends to be polarized, and by blocking that light, they reduce the effects of glare. This is why fishermen wear polarized sunglasses (they make it easier to see through the… Continue reading How Good Are Polarized Sunglasses?
Links for 2011-07-28
How to turn the GOP into a party of liberals – War Room – Salon.com “July 28, 2011: Barack Obama announces he’s had second thoughts, now fully endorses Boehner debt ceiling plan, “Cut, Cap and Balance,” and Reid plan. His new bottom line? He’ll accept anything Congress can pass, as long as it isn’t just… Continue reading Links for 2011-07-28
Throwing Something Into Orbit
There’s a lot of stuff in the news lately about asteroids, what with the Dawn mission orbiting Vesta, and the talk of a manned asteroid mission as a possible future step for NASA. Prompted by this, I’m going to dip into the territory usually occupied by Matt and Rhett, and ask a somewhat silly question:… Continue reading Throwing Something Into Orbit
Financiers Aren’t Rocket Scientists
Kevin Drum is puzzled by default panic: If we run out of money, the federal government will stop paying some of its bills. That’s bad, and it will quite likely have a negative effect on the economy. Corporations are right to be apprehensive about this. But that’s all that will happen. Treasury bonds will continue… Continue reading Financiers Aren’t Rocket Scientists
Launch Pad
For the past few years, astronomer and SF author Mike Brotherton has been running the Launch Pad Workshop, a program bringing interested SF authors to Wyoming (where he’s on the faculty) to learn about modern astronomy. The idea is to teach writers the real facts about the weird and wonderful things going on in astronomy… Continue reading Launch Pad
Links for 2011-07-27
Workers of the world unite | slacktivist “So the NFL lockout has ended in some kind of deal that I would summarize here except that the details of professional sports contract negotiations make my eyes glaze over and, since I’m no longer getting paid to edit NFL labor stories for a daily paper, I’ve reverted… Continue reading Links for 2011-07-27