Bad Boys | Film | A.V. Club "From this rich central dynamic, all manner of hilarity springs. Smith is fastidious about the upkeep of his expensive sports car. Lawrence is a slob who gets his messy hamburger all over its glistening interior! How will they ever be able to work together? My curiosity was piqued!… Continue reading links for 2009-07-16
Author: Chad Orzel
Rationality Stops on Sunday
I am a fan of the New York Giants. I believe that they can win every game they play. I hope that they will win every game that they play. I get emotionally involved in their games to such a degree that my heart pounds and I get short of breath when they face a… Continue reading Rationality Stops on Sunday
The Loud Bigotry of Blog Conversations
I’ve sometimes seen it said that in order to have a productive discussion, people on both sides need to be willing to change their minds. I think that’s probably slightly overdetermined– you can find examples of cases in which neither side was going to change, but they managed to sustain a mutually beneficial dialogue all… Continue reading The Loud Bigotry of Blog Conversations
Pop Quiz Answer
Yesterday’s Michelson Interferometer quiz was surprisingly popular– as of 8:30 pm Tuesday (when I’m writing this), just under 1500 people have voted in the poll, three and a half times as many as in the next most popular poll I’ve done. Who says there’s no audience for physics? So, what’s the right answer, you ask?
Dreadful Graphics and Health Care Costs
There was a bunch of discussion yesterday about a graph comparing the amount of money spent on veterinary expenses over the last twenty-odd years to the amount spent on human health care over that same span: There were a lot of dumb things said about this, but really, the worst part of the whole thing… Continue reading Dreadful Graphics and Health Care Costs
links for 2009-07-15
funny-pictures-cat-upsets-your-gravity.jpg (JPEG Image, 500×398 pixels) Finally, the problem with quantum gravity is revealed. (tags: pictures silly animals internet physics gravity quantum) Robert Wright: Why the "New Atheists" are Right-Wing on Foreign Policy "It must strike progressive atheists as a stroke of bad luck that Christopher Hitchens, leading atheist spokesperson, happens to have hawkish views on… Continue reading links for 2009-07-15
Book Update: Blurb and Photos
It’s been a while since I posted an update on the status of the book-in-production. Things are moving along– the second (and hopefully final) pass proofs are in the mail now, and assuming those are ok, that’s about it for the text. Then it’s just a matter of waiting. I asked a friend at work… Continue reading Book Update: Blurb and Photos
Happy Bastille Day
One of my favorite movie scenes:
Stolen Question: Who’s Coming to Dinner?
I’m running way behind this morning for a variety of reasons, so I’m going to swipe another easy question and throw it back to the audience. this one’s from Eric Lund, who asked: If you could attend a dinner with any major political figure in the world, who would it be, and why? The answer… Continue reading Stolen Question: Who’s Coming to Dinner?
Pop Quiz: Michelson Interferometer
Inspired by one of yesterday’s easy questions, a pop quiz for you. The figure below shows a Michelson Interferometer: A laser falls on a beamsplitter, which allows half of the light to pass straight through, and reflects the other half downward. Each of those beams then hits a mirror that reflects it directly back where… Continue reading Pop Quiz: Michelson Interferometer