Another update from Official Middle East Correspondant Paul Schemm, working as a journalist in Baghdad. These arrive at irregular intervals, but I figure they’re worth reposting when I get them, in case people want a view-from-the-ground perspective. One officer described it to me as the “new face of violence in Baghdad is senseless indirect fire.”… Continue reading Baghdad Update: There Is No Normal
Author: Chad Orzel
Poetic Physics
Via Making Light, Chris Clarke at Creek Running North has some sharp words in response to the alleged Deep Thoughts on his Starbucks cup: When Einstein explained his theory of relativity, he couldn’t express it in the precise, scientific writing of physics. He had to use poetry. Poetry: the connection of words, images, and the… Continue reading Poetic Physics
The Hungry Birds in My Back Yard
We got a squirrel-free bird feeder a little while back, and since putting it up have been attracting huge numbers of these little greyish-brown guys to the yard. We’ve got some more interesting birds as well– there’s a pair of cardinals, and a couple of blue jays as well, but more often than not, the… Continue reading The Hungry Birds in My Back Yard
July Search Engine Keywords
I’m very pleased to report that in the month of July, no less than 35 people found this site by searching for some variant of the phrase “Queen of Niskayuna.” The dog’s going to be insufferable when she hears this. I’m also pleased to report that Aaron Bergman no longer shows up in the top… Continue reading July Search Engine Keywords
Total Eclipse of Futurism
Over at Making Light, the Nielsen Haydens stumbled upon a video of the Hurra Torpedo version of the Bonnie Tyler/ Jim Steinman kitsch masterpiece “Total Eclipse of the Heart,” which absolutely boggles the mind. Of course, the weird thing is that their re-invention isn’t actually any weirder than the original video, which Teresa also attempts… Continue reading Total Eclipse of Futurism
Who Needs RateMyProfessors.com?
Written on the whiteboard in the student lounge (which has been serving as a convenient surface for student grafitti for the whole summer) last week: Little Known Fact: Prof. Orzel is actually an evil genius working on a gigantic laser which he plans to use to hold the world ransom for $1,000,000,000,000,000. Sadly, it was… Continue reading Who Needs RateMyProfessors.com?
The Sorry State of Genre Fiction
Yesterday saw the posting (or at least the arrival on my RSS reader) of two different discussions of the current state of genre fiction. I have issues with both discussions, but reading them together makes for an interesting effect. First, there’s Charlie Stross complaining about the state of SF, and once again lamenting the lack… Continue reading The Sorry State of Genre Fiction
Ask a ScienceBlogger: Science Movies
This week’s Ask a ScienceBlogger is right up my alley: What movie do you think does something admirable (though not necessarily accurate) regarding science? Bonus points for answering whether the chosen movie is any good generally…. A bunch of my co-bloggers have weighed in already, and it’s hard not to duplicate thier choices, so I… Continue reading Ask a ScienceBlogger: Science Movies
Cartoons!
Over the last few months, Kate and I have fallen into a Friday evening routine involving the watching of Japanese cartoons. We started out getting discs of Fullmetal Alchemist from Netflix, and then taping the later episodes off the Cartoon Network, and then Samurai Champloo from Netflix, and most recently finished Vision of Escaflowne (a… Continue reading Cartoons!
Educational Cartoons!
Friday’s a good day for lightweight blogging, so here’s something fun, via Roberto Alamino: A big collection of physics flash animations from the University of Toronto. It includes everything from three-body graviational motion to the Stern-Gerlach experiment, to how to use an oscilloscope. Our DSL has been a little slow this morning, so I haven’t… Continue reading Educational Cartoons!