In comments to yesterday’s post about my favorite Many-Worlds story, a couple of people mention “All the Myriad Ways,” a Larry Niven short story. I don’t think I’ve ever actually read the story, but it gets brought up all the time, so I’m familiar with the concept. It’s an angle on Many-Worlds that I don’t… Continue reading All the Myriad Inceptions
Author: Chad Orzel
Silly Poll: Pinch Me
I was going to write something serious about physics, but it’s my student’s last day, so we’re taking him to lunch. So here’s a silly poll to entertain you until I get back: If I suspected I might be living in a dream, but couldn’t be sure, I would:survey software You can only choose one… Continue reading Silly Poll: Pinch Me
Inception
We haven’t yet gotten to the point where we’re comfortable leaving SteelyKid with a babysitter, so seeing the movie everybody’s talking about took a while. Since she’s off at Gammy’s, though, we got a rare night to ourselves and went to the movies. My immediate reaction is that it’s great to see a movie that’s… Continue reading Inception
Links for 2010-08-06
Turn or go straight? Quick! : Dot Physics This is a classic problem. You are in a car heading straight towards a wall. Should you try to stop or should you try to turn to avoid the wall? Bonus question: what if the wall is not really wide so you don’t have to turn 90… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-06
Thursday Thbbppt Blogging
I meant to take a picture of SteelyKid yesterday, before she left for Grammy’s, so we would have a Toddler Blogging shot for the week. Alas, I am a dope, so you will have to make do with this out-take from last week’s shots, in which SteelyKid shares her opinion of her father’s dodgy memory:… Continue reading Thursday Thbbppt Blogging
Many-Worlds in Fiction: “Divided by Infinity”
Today, Tor.com has posted the complete story “Divided by Infinity” by Robert Charles Wilson. This remains probably the best science fiction story ever using the Many-Worlds interpretation of quantum physics (though it doesn’t call it that explicitly), and also the creepiest: In the year after Lorraine’s death I contemplated suicide six times. Contemplated it seriously,… Continue reading Many-Worlds in Fiction: “Divided by Infinity”
What’s a Photon, and How Do We Know they Exist?
A reader emailed me with a few questions regarding How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, one of which is too good not to turn into a blog post: What is a photon from an experimental perspective?… Could you perhaps provide me with a reference that discusses some experiments and these definitional issues? The short… Continue reading What’s a Photon, and How Do We Know they Exist?
Academic Poll: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano?
This Slate story on the number of Americans who can’t swim was kind of surprising to me: In a 1994 CDC study, 37 percent of American adults said they couldn’t swim 24 yards, the length of a typical gymnasium lap pool. A 2008 study conducted by researchers at the University of Memphis found that almost… Continue reading Academic Poll: Mens Sana in Corpore Sano?
Links for 2010-08-05
Judge Walker’s decision to overturn Prop 8 is factual, well-reasoned, and powerful. – By Dahlia Lithwick – Slate Magazine “It’s hard to read Judge Walker’s opinion without sensing that what really won out today was science, methodology, and hard work. Had the proponents of Prop 8 made even a minimal effort to put on a… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-05
Reader Request: What’s the Matter with Stat Mech?
On the reader request thread, commenter Brad had several questions; one led to yesterday’s post about superconductors, another is a critical issue in pedagogy: Finally, why did all of my stat[istical] mech[anics] courses suck? Statistical Mechanics is the branch of physics that deals with building up macroscopic thermal properties of materials from a microscopic model… Continue reading Reader Request: What’s the Matter with Stat Mech?