Last week, I asked for nominations of the most amazing laser application, with the idea being that I will collect a list, write up the top vote-getters in a series of blog posts, and then we will have a vote to determine what is THE coolest laser application of ALL TIME! At least, you know,… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: Amazing Laser Applications
Category: Technology
The Amazon Kerfuffle
(I really loathe both the longstanding practice of marking a scandal by appending “-gate” to a name and the newer version “-fail.” I don’t have a better alternative, but I hate both of those. Somebody get to work on a better scandal signifier.) So, the hot topic of the moment is the hissy-cow being thrown… Continue reading The Amazon Kerfuffle
Laser Smackdown: The Most Amazing Use of a Laser?
Way back in the early days of ScienceBlogs, I ran a competition of sorts to determine the greatest physics experiment in history. I collected a bunch of nominations, wrote up a post about each of the top 11 entries, and then asked people to vote for their favorite. In honor of the 50th anniversary of… Continue reading Laser Smackdown: The Most Amazing Use of a Laser?
I Wasn’t Made for These Times
As I’ve mentioned before, I have a cell phone that’s just a cell phone– no data plan, no camera, no nothing. It’s also a few years old, so the battery life isn’t what it could be. I was a little concerned about that, so I made a point of plugging it into the charger last… Continue reading I Wasn’t Made for These Times
Dog Physics and Academic Blogging
I’ve made a few references to book-related things that were in the pipeline in recent Obsessive Updates. The first of those has just gone live, an opinion piece for Inside Higher Ed on how the book came about and why more academic scientists should have blogs: When I started my blog in 2002, I had… Continue reading Dog Physics and Academic Blogging
The Internet Is Making Me Hate Your Website
Every year, John Brockman asks a big selection of smart people to answer some question or another, and posts it on the Internet to provoke discussion. This year’s question is “How is the Internet changing the way you think?“ This always seems like a better idea than it ends up being in practice, because the… Continue reading The Internet Is Making Me Hate Your Website
Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 6: Superconductors
If you’re still not sure whether you should be teaching physics to your dog, here’s another good reason: Superconductors. The “super” in “superconductor” refers to the fact that these materials conduct electric current with absolutely zero resistance, better than the best ordinary metals. This has obvious applications in the green technology field (which dogs should… Continue reading Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 6: Superconductors
Quantization of Books 3: How Many Books Is That?
When I saw the data generated by the sales rank tracker Matthew Beckler was kind enough to put together, I joked that I hoped to someday need a logarithmic scale to display the sales rank history of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. Thanks to links from Boing Boing, John Scalzi, and Kevin Drum,… Continue reading Quantization of Books 3: How Many Books Is That?
Quantization of Books 2: What Does One Sale Get You?
I’ve been playing around with the spiffy sales rank tracker Matthew Beckler wrote, because I’m a great big dork, and enjoy playing with graphs. Here’s a graph of the sales rank vs. time through 2pm EST today (plotted in Excel from the data table at the bottom of the page): As I noted in my… Continue reading Quantization of Books 2: What Does One Sale Get You?
Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 4: Lasers
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is now listed as “In Stock” at Amazon, so it’s the perfect time to order a dozen or so copies for your last-minute holiday gift needs. “But, wait,” you say, “why do I want to teach my dog physics? Particularly quantum physics– why does anyone need to know… Continue reading Why Every Dog Should Love Quantum Physics 4: Lasers