There’s an interview with me, plus bonus comments from Emmy, over at Paw Talk: Words of advice for fellow pet owners? If you’re looking to get a dog, I’d recommend visiting your local animal shelter, as you can find lots of great dogs there. And take walks with your dog– every now and then, I… Continue reading Talk to the Paw
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2009-06-24
Video analysis of hammer explosion lifting a guy | Dot Physics Can an exploding hammer lift a guy? Inquiring minds want to know… (tags: science physics video blogs education dot-physics silly) The Last 100 Years: 1950s & The Tragedy of Fred Hoyle : Starts With A Bang "This is the only instance in all of… Continue reading links for 2009-06-24
Why the Silent Majority Is Silent
Chris Mooney has found new digs, and, revitalized by the more congenial atmosphere, has been taking up the science vs. religion fight again. Yesterday, he had a post asking what can be done to get moderate scientists more involved in the argument over whether science and religion can coexist: At the same time, though, let’s… Continue reading Why the Silent Majority Is Silent
The Limits of Elven Vision
Kate’s Tolkien re-read has reached Rohan, and her latest re-read post includes a reference to a comment I made about Legolas’s improbable visual acuity: Re: Legolas seeing the Riders: I have since been advised by the resident physicist that the size of a pupil is a limiting factor on the resolution possible–if I understood properly,… Continue reading The Limits of Elven Vision
All Physics Is Not Particle Physics
A wag of my finger at the Corporate Masters, for their new article about traffic jams, with the subhead “For particle physicists who study phase transitions, a traffic jam is simply a solid made up of idling cars.” In the body of the article, we find: While the concept of critical density has been repeatedly… Continue reading All Physics Is Not Particle Physics
links for 2009-06-23
Cynical-C Blog – » Sign for the Night "Keep being AWESOME!" (tags: silly food internet) Unscientific America "Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum, a journalist-scientist team, offer an updated "two cultures" polemic for America in the 21st century. Just as in Snow’s time, some of our gravest challengesâclimate change, the energy crisis, national economic competitivenessâand gravest… Continue reading links for 2009-06-23
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Poetry Contest
There once was a dog from Niskayuna… The previous post announced a photo caption contest for a chance to win an advance proof copy of my book, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, six(-ish) months before it’s available for purchase. I thought I should include something for the less visually inclined, though, and I… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Poetry Contest
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Caption Contest
Today is six months to the day from the official release date of my book, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. It feels like I ought to do something promotion-like to mark this date, and I have a couple of extra bound galley proofs (seen above with Emmy), sooo….. I hereby announce the first… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Caption Contest
Understanding and Enjoyment are Orthogonal
In a comment to Friday’s classical music post, Chris Evo recommended a TED talk by Benjamin Zander that has the goal of convincing his audience that they love classical music: If you’re not able or inclined to watch it, he goes through a Chopin piano piece in detail, and explains how it plays off our… Continue reading Understanding and Enjoyment are Orthogonal
links for 2009-06-22
Scientists and Kool-Aid § Unqualified Offerings "In my department weâll often produce documents that have lots of buzzwords, but nobody really takes it seriously. You can always get appreciative chuckles in a department meeting if you poke fun at your own handiwork. Higher on the food chain, they actually believe it." (tags: academia science culture… Continue reading links for 2009-06-22