336-343/366: Panoramas and Sillyheads

Panorama from the "porch" outside the Olin Science Center at Union College.

I’ve got a big backlog of photo-a-day pictures, but finding time to edit and post them is a major challenge. I’ve got nearly all the editing done, now, so I’ll start putting blocks of stuff up when I have time (generally very early in the morning, as I’m awake before everyone else in Chateau Steelypips).… Continue reading 336-343/366: Panoramas and Sillyheads

314-335/366: Massive Backlog

Tiger lilies in front of our house.

It’s been over a month since I did a photo-a-day post, largely because I haven’t been taking many pictures for a variety of reasons. I do still mean to get a year’s worth of good photos done, but the “daily” part has completely disintegrated at this point. As a way of getting somewhat back on… Continue reading 314-335/366: Massive Backlog

Physics Blogging Round-Up: Camera Tricks, College Advice, Hot Fans, and Lots of Quantum

Several weeks of silence here, for a bunch of reasons that mostly boil down to “being crazy busy.” I’ve got a bunch of physics posts over at Forbes during that interval, though: — The Camera Trick That Justifies The Giant Death Star: I busted out camera lenses and the kids’ toys to show how you… Continue reading Physics Blogging Round-Up: Camera Tricks, College Advice, Hot Fans, and Lots of Quantum

Physics Blogging Round-Up: Roman Engineering, Water, and Baseball

It’s been a month since the last links dump of posts from Forbes, though, really, I took a couple of weeks off there, so it’s been less than that in terms of active blogging time. But I’ve put up a bunch of stuff in July, so here are some links: — The Physics Of Ancient… Continue reading Physics Blogging Round-Up: Roman Engineering, Water, and Baseball

Why Physicists Disparage Philosophers, In Three Paragraphs

Periodically, some scientific celebrity from the physical sciences– Neil deGrasse Tyson or Stephen Hawking, say– will say something dismissive about philosophy, and kick off a big rush of articles about how dumb their remarks are, how important philosophy is, and so on. Given that this happens on a regular basis, you might wonder why it… Continue reading Why Physicists Disparage Philosophers, In Three Paragraphs

300-305/366: Peregrination

SteelyKid and The Pip looking over Scoharie County from arop Vroman's Nose.

A while back, I went down to Vroman’s Nose in Middleburgh to go for a hike, and found a sign saying that peregrine falcons are known to nest on the cliffs. Since the peregrine falcon is SteelyKid’s absolute favorite bird, and the subject of her school research project, this seemed like a good location for… Continue reading 300-305/366: Peregrination

Instagram Culture and the Democratization of Pretension

Tourists taking photos of each other in the Forum.

When I was going through the huge collection of photos I have from the Forum in Rome, I kept running across pictures containing two young Asian women (neither of them Kate). This isn’t because I was stalking them, but because they were everywhere, stopping for long periods in front of virtually every significant ruin and… Continue reading Instagram Culture and the Democratization of Pretension