As anybody who has studied Quantum Optics knows, correlation functions play a very large role in our understanding of the behavior of light. Roughly speaking, the correlation function tells you how likely you are to detect a second photon some short time after detecting one photon from some source. This shows up in the famous… Continue reading Babies Are Quantized
Category: Silliness
Physical Theories Squeak When You Chew Them
“The Internet is silly!” I turn around from the computer. “Yes it is,” I say to the dog, “But what, specifically, makes you say that?” “All these posts about physics theories. Comparing them to women and men and stupid wizards, and relationships. It’s silly.” “Yes, well, it does seem to be the diversion of the… Continue reading Physical Theories Squeak When You Chew Them
How Good a Spouse Are You?
How will you know, unless you take this Internet quiz?
Doggy Poll: Prey
A simple question: Bunnies or squirrels? Emmy eagerly awaits your answer.
Assume a Spherical FutureBaby…
Welcome to today’s exciting episode of “How Big a Dork Am I?” Today, we’ll be discussing the making of unnecessary models: In this graph, the blue points represent the average mass in grams of a fetus at a given week of gestation, while the red line is the mass predicted by a simple model treating… Continue reading Assume a Spherical FutureBaby…
We’re All Gonna Freeze!!!
When I was talking to my parents on the phone last night, my father told me about a guest op-ed in the Press and Sun-Bulletin that might be of interest to some ScienceBlogs readers and bloggers: As if there aren’t enough problems in the world, we are now on the verge of a phenomenon that… Continue reading We’re All Gonna Freeze!!!
Deep Questions from Pop Music: Commas
Today’s question come to us courtesy of Ivy League white-reggae band Vampire Weekend: So, who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma, anyway? Well, John Scalzi, obviously, but the real question is: why? Why does this simple piece of punctuation engender such strong negative feelings in people who are otherwise mostly sensible? Personally, I lean… Continue reading Deep Questions from Pop Music: Commas
Literary Divination
Over at Making Light, Abi has proposed a parlour game using books as Tarot cards. As always for Making Light, the resulting comment thread is full of dizzyingly erudite responses, and clever literary in-jokes. But it strikes me that there’s a fundamental flaw in the game– Abi’s examples all involve selected works, chosen to be… Continue reading Literary Divination
Interstellar Economics
Paul Krugman is now a famour economist, but many years ago, he was “an oppressed assistant professor, caught up in the academic rat race.” So, he did what any good academic would do in that situation: he wrote a silly paper to cheer himself up. In this case, a paper discussing the issues that arise… Continue reading Interstellar Economics
Talk Like a Physicist
Today has been dubbed “Talk Like a Physicist Day”. Why? Because we’re at least as cool as pirates, that’s why. Over at Swans on Tea, Tom offers some vocabulary tips: Use “canonical” when you mean “usual” or “standard.” As in, “the canonical example of talking like a physicist is to use the word ‘canonical.’” Use… Continue reading Talk Like a Physicist