SteelyKid is not yet at the stage where I can usefully read to her– she likes sitting on my lap while I read just fine, but she’s more interested in trying to eat the pages than listening to the story. I was reminded this morning, though, that when she gets to bedtime-story age, I’m going… Continue reading The Faulty Thermodynamics of Children’s Stories
Month: May 2009
Less Is Also Difficult
I’m an experimentalists through and through, and have always known better than to attempt real theory. On two occasions, though, I’ve been forced to do a little bit of computer simulation work in order to interpret my results. One of these was for the time-resolved collisions experiment, and worked out well. The other was when… Continue reading Less Is Also Difficult
links for 2009-05-04
International Act Like A T-Rex Day "Our trademark application for "Act Like A T-Rex Day" has been OPPOSED by a very large company. In other words, we got served⦠The company opposing the trademark is a restaurant called "T-Rex Cafe, Inc.". They have trademarked the word "T-REX". Any merchandise with the word "T-REX" anywhere on… Continue reading links for 2009-05-04
How Hot Is My Tablet?
I had a weird and disturbing shutdown incident on my tablet PC (a Lenovo X61) a week or two ago, which got me many screens of ominous looking text before it finally booted up properly again. Poking at it afterwards, it seemed to be running a bit hot, and it doesn’t seem like there’s a… Continue reading How Hot Is My Tablet?
Seasonal Food Mystery
Why is it that you can buy apple cider all year round, but apple cider donuts are treated as a seasonal item, and only in stores for a week and a half in October? Happily, these people make them year round, and they’re available at the Schenectady Greenmarket. And they’re awesome. Mmmmm…. cider donuts. If… Continue reading Seasonal Food Mystery
links for 2009-05-03
The Washington Monthly "It’s simple, really. If a private school wants to discriminate, fine. I don’t like it, but it’s a private religious entity. Don’t, however, discriminate and then ask the government to use tax dollars to subsidize the institution." (tags: education politics US religion) Destroying the planet⦠with science! « Skulls in the Stars… Continue reading links for 2009-05-03
links for 2009-05-02
slacktivist: TF: Bruce’s Big Plan "Bruce, like Tim LaHaye, has a way of running off the rails when he gets into the details of his prophecy scheme. One can, in fact, open the book of Revelation and find mentioned there seven "seals" of divine judgment. By mentioning that fact first, Bruce casts a kind of… Continue reading links for 2009-05-02
Now Surviving Elsewhere
Like Sauron creeping into Dol Guldur, Quantum Diaries has returned to darken the blogosphere once more, driving Tommaso Dorigo before it— Oh, wait. More good science blogs is a good thing, not a creeping menace. Even if they are particle physicists. Anyway, in a move that is unrelated to the return of Quantum Diaries, and,… Continue reading Now Surviving Elsewhere
Pop-Science Past: The Collapsing Universe, by Isaac Asimov
Some time back, I was a little surprised to hear James Nicoll use Asimov as a touchstone for science popularizers. I only really knew his fiction, and can’t recall hearing his pop-science books cited by anybody who wasn’t also an SF fan. So, when I ran across one of his science books while we were… Continue reading Pop-Science Past: The Collapsing Universe, by Isaac Asimov
Old and Lame, but Funny
I’m walking a little gingerly today, thanks to an injury to my left foot. Sadly, this was not the result of anything cool, like rescuing orphans from a burning building, or dunking a basketball in order to win a league championship. Instead, I bruised the bottom of my foot by landing on one of Emmy’s… Continue reading Old and Lame, but Funny