This week is Union’s spring break, and like basically everything associated with Union’s academic calendar, it’s too short. I have to turn in my Winter term grades today, and next Monday is the start of my Spring term class. I also find myself in a place right now were every little thing is pissing me… Continue reading Spring Break
Author: Chad Orzel
Equal Time for the Little Dude
Since not all that long after he was born, I’ve been referring to The Pip as “Little Dude,” which had become ingrained before I realized it was lifted from Otto the bus driver on The Simpsons. He’s not as talkative as his sister yet, which is why she gets more press on the blog, but… Continue reading Equal Time for the Little Dude
Review and Replication
So, there was this big story in cosmology the other day– Tom Levenson’s write-up is very nice— which has been hailed as one of the greatest discoveries since the last greatest discovery, blah, blah, blah. And now that a few days have passed, we’re starting to see the inevitable backlash, ranging from detailed technical analyses… Continue reading Review and Replication
Science at Bedtime
“Daddy? How do you make water?” “You mean, what is it made of?” “Yeah, what’s water made of?” “Hydrogen and oxygen.” “Oh. And what’s hydrogen and oxygen?” “They’re chemical elements.” “So, when we drink water, we’re drinking chemicals?” “Well, yeah. In a sense, everything is chemicals. Water’s a chemical, air is made of chemicals. ”… Continue reading Science at Bedtime
Uncertain Dots, Episode 9
In which Rhett and I chat about the hot new discovery of primordial gravitational waves (maybe) very briefly before segueing into talking about LIGO, and Cosmos, and why “theory” is a terrible word, and the memorization of constants, and standardized tests, and time-lapse videos. You know, as one does. Miscellaneous items: — I’m a little… Continue reading Uncertain Dots, Episode 9
Cosmos Reboot, Episode 2
This week’s Cosmos was all about the evolution of life, and was viewed by millions of people outside of Oklahoma, where they presumably got an hour-long local news promo, or analysis of the Oklahoma State’s chances in the NCAA Tournament. As such, it was a bit outside my area of expertise, but that never stopped… Continue reading Cosmos Reboot, Episode 2
Happy Birthday, Mr. Einstein
The other big nerd event of today is that it’s Einstein’s birthday, on this date back in 1879. I keep meaning to take and post a photo of the cool picture of Einstein we have in the department’s collection of stuff, and this is as good an excuse as any. If not for him, we… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Mr. Einstein
The Real Pi Day(s)
Today is March 14th, 3/14 in the normal American way of writing dates, so you’ll find a lot of silliness on the web today talking about “π Day” due to the coincidental similarity with the first three digits of π (see, for example, Rhett’s annual post). But, of course, this is an archaic and local… Continue reading The Real Pi Day(s)
The Most Important Cosmos Review You’ll Read This Week
“So, that’s the science show with space pictures. What did you think of it, honey?” “Science. Space pictures. Awesome!” Our umpteenth winter storm of the season delayed school two hours this morning, which is kind of the worst of all possible worlds from a parenting perspective– when the schools are closed, there’s (usually) a snow-day… Continue reading The Most Important Cosmos Review You’ll Read This Week
The Sound of Simulated Bombs
So, last week I idly wondered about the canonical falling-bomb whistle. The was originally intended to be a very short post just asking the question, but I got caught up in thinking about it, and it ended up being more substantial. And leaving room for further investigation in the form of, you guessed it, VPython… Continue reading The Sound of Simulated Bombs