Over at Good Math, Bad Math, Mark explains “Proof by Contradiction,” a common mathematical technique that doesn’t translate all that well to politics. Whenever proof techniques come up, I always think about one of the very few things I remember from my graduate class on Math Methods. We were talking about some sort of complex… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Dubious Proofs
Author: Chad Orzel
Book Report
It’s been a while since I did one of these, so here’s your book progress update for the last couple of weeks, with the obligatory dog picture. This is probably the halfway point for the first draft, more or less.
links for 2007-11-15
Freshman’s 3-Pointer Helps Lift Syracuse – New York Times A typical beginning of the season (tags: basketball) Relativity passes new test of time – physicsworld.com Precision spectroscopy of lithium ions in a storage ring confirm time dilation. That’s a relief. (tags: physics science experiment news relativity) Donate to the Jhereg Foundation Steven Brust needs money… Continue reading links for 2007-11-15
The Teammate Desirability Factor
Over at the World’s Fair, Dave is asking people for their scientific eponyms, that is, the formula they would like to have named after themselves. These are, of course, entirely made up. Here’s my contribution, from the scientific study of pick-up basketball: the Orzel Teammate Desirability Factor (TDF): The Factor ranges between positive and negative… Continue reading The Teammate Desirability Factor
Social Networks Do the Darnedest Things
I’m currently getting trounced in Scrabble on Facebook, though I’m playing the game under protest: How can they possibly say that “ZA,” “KA,” and “AE” are English words, but “KABOOM” is not? The stupid thing is rigged. Anyway, I’ve been playing around with this social network business for a little while now, and it’s kind… Continue reading Social Networks Do the Darnedest Things
A Jonah Goldberg Moment
What’s a mid-size breed of dog with a reputation for laziness? I need a slow-moving dog to contrast with a hyperactive husky, and I already used “basset hound” in a different context. Ideally, it should have about the same mass as a husky.
Simple Answers to Complicated Questions
Dave Bacon watched “Judgement Day” last night, and has a question: It’s not like, you know, there aren’t people who think quantum theory is wrong or that quantum theory is somehow related to the Vedic teachings of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. So why is it that quantum theory (which after all is “just a theory” wink,… Continue reading Simple Answers to Complicated Questions
Judging “Judgement Day”
So, in case you missed the splashy banner ads that have been running here for the last week, NOVA ran a show about the Dover, PA “Intelligent Design” trial last night. You can find all manner of commentary on ScienceBlogs, for example here, here, and here. I’m not as, shall we say, personally invested in… Continue reading Judging “Judgement Day”
links for 2007-11-14
Children’s early academic and attention skills best predict later school success “Behavior problems, lack of social skills not linked with later achievement.” This is described as “surprising,” and I can’t for the life of me see why. (tags: academia education news) Cocktail Party Physics: the photon has two faces Particle-wave duality, with bonus Paris Hilton… Continue reading links for 2007-11-14
Single Electron Interference and Decoherence
Jennifer Ouellette meantions it as the jumping-off point for her particle-wave duality post, but I want to spend a little time talking about this paper on single-electron interference (Science 318, 949 (2007)), because it’s a very nice piece of work. There’s also a Physics World news article about the experiment, which is pretty good, but… Continue reading Single Electron Interference and Decoherence