On the way in to work, I heard yet another example of the deplorable trend of taking the vocal tracks of slow songs– in this case, “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” by Vampire Weekend– and replacing the musical backing with a 120 beats-per-minute dance beat that sounds like it was generated by a high-end… Continue reading Musical Poll: Remix This!
Category: Pop Culture
How to Teach Physics to [Your Pet’s Name Here] (DonorsChoose Challege 2010)
As you may or may not be aware, we are once again in the middle of a DonorsChoose fundraiser to support public school students and teachers. The good news is, the Uncertain Principles entry for the 2010 Challenge is in second place among ScienceBlogs blogs with $373 in donations thus far; the bad news it… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to [Your Pet’s Name Here] (DonorsChoose Challege 2010)
Short Story Club: “No Time Like the Present” by Carol Emshwiller
This week’s short story club entry is Carol Emshwiller’s “No Time Like the Present,” a sort of timeless time-travel story. It’s narrated by a teenage girl in an unnamed town somewhere in the US whose town sees a sudden influx of tall blond people who behave very oddly. While it’s pretty obvious to the reader… Continue reading Short Story Club: “No Time Like the Present” by Carol Emshwiller
How to Teach Physics With How to Teach Physics to Your Dog
Emmy and I are in Buffalo today, after a long drive last night, made longer by the NY Thruway authorities decidin to randomly sprinkle lane closures along the westbound portion of I-90. They also made the sadistic move of putting on the “tune to this radio station for information” flashers before the big back-up, and… Continue reading How to Teach Physics With How to Teach Physics to Your Dog
The Astrophysics of Bedtime Stories
SteelyKid is a big fan of the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon, which, if you haven’t spent the last sixty-odd years in a cave, you probably know features a bunny saying goodnight to a variety of objects in a great, green room. The attentive toddler will find a lot to look at in the pictures–… Continue reading The Astrophysics of Bedtime Stories
Short Story Club: “Miguel and the Viatura” by Eric Gregory
I missed last week’s installment of Short Story Club while traveling, but want to get caught up again with this week’s story, “Miguel and the Viatura.” I’m not sure this will be posted in time to get into the discussion post, but we’ll see. The title character, Miguel, lives in a future city that is… Continue reading Short Story Club: “Miguel and the Viatura” by Eric Gregory
Save Science Friday
Via Sheril, Science Friday on NPR needs money: We at SciFri are facing severe financial difficulties, i.e. raising money. NSF [National Science Foundation] has turned us down for continuing funding, saying they love what we do, we are sorely needed, but it’s not their job to fund us. At the same time, NPR has said… Continue reading Save Science Friday
Know Your Prefixes, Baseball Edition
On the way to get SteelyKid from day care last night, I flipped on ESPN radio in the vain hope of getting a baseball score, but wound up listening to former Mets manager and freelance jackass Bobby Valentine talking about how difficult batting is, which included the statement: And the whole thing is over in… Continue reading Know Your Prefixes, Baseball Edition
Who Is the Velvet Underground of Science?
I’m shamelessly stealing this question from James Nicoll, who asked it about science fiction. The question is a play on the famous comment that only of order a thousand people bought the first Velvet Underground record, but every one of them went on to start a band. So, the question is, who is the Velvet… Continue reading Who Is the Velvet Underground of Science?
How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your UK Dog
Between travel and general work craziness, I completely forgot to note that the UK version of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog has gone on sale: The title for this edition is How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, and the vanity search keeps turning up mentions to it in the Guardian Bookshop,… Continue reading How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your UK Dog