(I think that’s the right number…) I’ve got a ton of stuff to do today, and it’s the last Friday of summer, so here’s a little light entertainment. As in previous editions, each of the two-word phrases on the list below should hopefully uniquely identify one pop song. If you think you recognize the song,… Continue reading Two-Word Lyrics Quiz #6
Author: Chad Orzel
Who Is the Erdos of Physics?
Physics Buzz has a nice article about Paul Erdos and the Erdos Number Project (mine is 6), which ends with a good question: I for one, am wondering: who would be the Paul ErdÅs of the physics world? It’s a tough question, complicated further by the existence of really gigantic collaborations in experimental high-energy physics,… Continue reading Who Is the Erdos of Physics?
Fantasy Sports Are Killing America
Summer is drawing to a close, which means we’re finally starting to get some actual sports to talk about, after a long, dull stretch of nothing but baseball. So I’ve started listening to “Mike and Mike” again in the mornings in my office. Which may have been a mistake because I’ve just had to listen… Continue reading Fantasy Sports Are Killing America
Links for 2009-09-04
Pfizer Launches ‘Zoloft For Everything’ Ad Campaign | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source “”At first, Zoloft was only used to treat depression,” Pugh said. “But what is depression, really? Who died and gave doctors the authority to dictate who is and isn’t depressed? One man’s hangnail could be another man’s darkest depths of… Continue reading Links for 2009-09-04
Outdoor Baby Blogging 090309
I thought we’d go with a change of scene for this week’s baby blogging, so we took Appa out into the back yard. Trouble is, it’s a little hard to get a good Baby Blogging photo there because there are so many other things to catch SteelyKid’s attention: We haven’t been outside much this summer,… Continue reading Outdoor Baby Blogging 090309
Campus Traffic Patterns
The building where my office is is on a small hill off toward one edge of campus, and to get to the Campus Center, you used to be able to go out the main door, and go either left down a gently curving path to the other academic buildings, or right, where the sidewalk runs… Continue reading Campus Traffic Patterns
Dorky Poll: Aristocratic Elements
“…Can you name the six noble gases?” As this could be no poser for an economic geographer, I rattled them off in their proper aristocratic order. “Helium, Neon, Argon, Krypton, Xenon, and -er- Radon. They were raised to the peerage in the eleventh year of England’s George Fifth, and Neon was awarded the Order of… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Aristocratic Elements
Ah, Windows…
So, I upgraded my desktop at home recently to a machine running Vista. One of the minor annoying features of this is that it defaults to requiring a password whenever it wakes up, so if I walk away for half an hour, I come back and rather than just moving the mouse to wake it… Continue reading Ah, Windows…
Links for 2009-09-03
Physics Buzz: The Surprising Physics of Pipe Organs “In 1877, English physicist Lord Rayleigh observed that when two almost identical organ pipes are played side by side, something strange happens. Rather than each blaring their own tone, the two pipes will barely make a whisper. But put a barrier between them, and they sing loud… Continue reading Links for 2009-09-03
The Great Bloggingheads Mess
I sort of feel like I ought to have something to say about the recent controversy over creationists on bloggingheads.tv, which has caused Sean Carroll and Carl Zimmer to renounce the whole site. If you’re too lazy to click through those links, the basic problem is that bloggingheads has twice invited creationists– sorry, cdesign proponentists–… Continue reading The Great Bloggingheads Mess