Kate has a court appearance in New York tomorrow, and we’re making a long weekend of it. I’m typing this from my parents’ house, where I’m dropping SteelyKid off for some quality time with Grandma and Grandpa, and tomorrow, I’m heading down to The City. I’ve got some meetings scheduled tomorrow afternoon, and Friday at… Continue reading Poll: New York State of Mind
Category: Polls
Dorky Poll: How Do You Say That?
As every physics-loving dog knows, the idea that electrons behave like waves was first suggested by Loius Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie (the 7th duc de Broglie) in 1923. The proper pronunciation of his surname is a mystery even to human physicists, though. So, how would you say it? Louis Victor Pierre Raymond de Broglie’s… Continue reading Dorky Poll: How Do You Say That?
Where Were You When…?
I failed to write something on the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall yesterday, partly because I think the other six million blog posts on the subject had it pretty well covered. Another factor, though, was the fact that I don’t have the sort of crystal-clear recollection of where I was and what… Continue reading Where Were You When…?
Academic Poll: All Greek to Me
I am curious as to what people at other institutions think about “Greek organizations,” the slightly confusing catch-all term for fraternities and sororities (very few of whose members are ethnically Greek, and very few of whom know more Greek than a handful of the letters of the alphabet). Thus, a totally scientific poll on the… Continue reading Academic Poll: All Greek to Me
Poll: A Question of Character
“It’s a question of character, of friendship. Hell, Leo, I ain’t afraid to say it, it’s a question of ethics.” –Giovanni Gaspari I’m back to lunchtime hoops after a two-week layoff due to teaching responsibilities. And this has reminded me of one of the great character tests that sports provide. Imagine that you’re playing basketball,… Continue reading Poll: A Question of Character
Poll: The Computers of the Future
Today’s Quantum Optics lecture is about quantum computing experiments, and how different types of systems stack up. Quantum computing, as you probably know if you’re reading this blog, is based on building a computer whose “bits” can not only take on “0” and “1” states, but arbitrary superpositions of “0” and “1”. Such a computer… Continue reading Poll: The Computers of the Future
Sports Poll: Yankees Win
I have a lab all morning, so I won’t get to more substantive blogging before this afternoon. The Yankees won their 27th World Series title last night, though, and given their status as the most polarizing team in baseball, this seems like a good excuse for a poll: What do you think about the Yankees… Continue reading Sports Poll: Yankees Win
I Know They Show Beer Commercials in Hell
It’s fall, which means that the major American sports are all ramping up (baseball is in its brief period of being interesting, the NFL is nearing the middle of its season, the NBA has just gotten underway, which means that real basketball will start soon). This also means that the major advertisers have rolled out… Continue reading I Know They Show Beer Commercials in Hell
Dorky Poll: Particle Type
Here’s an extremely dorky Dorky Poll topic. I can’t believe I haven’t used this one before: What sort of particles do you prefer?(poll) Choose only one.
Quasi Poll: Phone Call from the Future
I’m kind of in a fog today, which I’m choosing to attribute to airport lag (it can’t be jet lag, because I didn’t change time zones, but you get some of the same disorientation from spending too much time in airports and on planes), because the other option is incipient flu (half a dozen students… Continue reading Quasi Poll: Phone Call from the Future