David at the World’s Fair celebrates Ninja Day with an Ask a Ninja video about physics. Of course, what the ninja says is a lie– Physics did the dumping, and he was all, “Please take me back, I promise to only move along geodesic paths in curved space-time from now on,” but she was having… Continue reading That’s What a Science Gets for Putting Too Many Rules on a Ninja
Author: Chad Orzel
Get Out the Vote: Results of the Year
Turnout has been disappointing in the Physics and Astronomy results of the year threads. Come on, I know there are some opinionated nerds out there reading this– nominate some stuff. Here, the AIP provides their own list, complete with links to Physics News Update stories. Are blog readers really going to let themselves be upstaged… Continue reading Get Out the Vote: Results of the Year
Big Media Me
For those who care, I’m “interviewed” over at Page 3.14. The scare quotes are because the interview was actually an email response to a list of questions, which is why parts of it sound stilted. Still, free publicity…
Call for Nominations: Pop Song of the Year
It’s more or less traditional for magazines and tv shows to do some sort of year-end wrap-up. As this blog is now hosted by a magazine, I suppose I ought to follow suit. Of course, compiling “Year’s Best” lists is a highly subjective business, requiring a lot of information gathering, so I’ll throw this open… Continue reading Call for Nominations: Pop Song of the Year
Call for Nominations: Astronomy Results of the Year
It’s more or less traditional for magazines and tv shows to do some sort of year-end wrap-up. As this blog is now hosted by a magazine, I suppose I ought to follow suit. Of course, compiling “Year’s Best” lists is a highly subjective business, requiring a lot of information gathering, so I’ll throw this open… Continue reading Call for Nominations: Astronomy Results of the Year
Call for Nominations: Physics Results of the Year
It’s more or less traditional for magazines and tv shows to do some sort of year-end wrap-up. As this blog is now hosted by a magazine, I suppose I ought to follow suit. Of course, compiling “Year’s Best” lists is a highly subjective business, requiring a lot of information gathering, so I’ll throw this open… Continue reading Call for Nominations: Physics Results of the Year
For Reference Purposes
The Female Science Professor has a post talking about types of reference letters. Much of what she says is fairly specific to letters relating to prizes or promotions, but some of her comments are perfectly applicable to the junior faculty job search letters I’ve been reading by the bucketload lately. Particularly worth noting are her… Continue reading For Reference Purposes
Relativity and Mathematica?
Next term, I’m teaching our sophomore-level “Modern Physics” class again. “Modern Physics,” in ecuation terms, really means “Early 20th Century Physics”– it’s a couple of weeks of Special Relativity, followed by several weeks of basic Quantum Mechanics, with a mad 2-3 week sprint at the end where I try to cover as much material as… Continue reading Relativity and Mathematica?
Later: Religious Practices Still Not Subject to the Scientific Method
“I’m gonna owe God fifty bucks if I don’t get enlightened soon.” I hate it when that happens.
BCS Madness
So, the participants are set for the Mythical “National Championship” of college football. It’s Florida vs. Ohio State, thanks to USC’s loss to UCLA, and we’re going to be treated to about three weeks’ worth of whining about how Michigan got jobbed. I pretty much agree with Charles Kuffner on this one, though. I dislike… Continue reading BCS Madness