Scanning the listings on the arxiv just now, I found what has to be the best paper title I’ve seen for a while:
“Would Bohr be born if Bohm were born before Born?”
It is a paper by H. Nikolic, in the history of physics classification, and I have not read it, but I love the title. It’s brilliant!
This reminds me of the process that happens to me sometimes when I’m working on a research project. I suddenly think of a really great title, and then get excited about finishing the project so that I can write the paper with that title! (You’ll have noticed that I do that with some of my blog posts too.) It’s often just a nice turn of phrase, like Continue reading ‘Those Fun Paper Titles’
I’ve been meaning to post this for a couple of weeks and forgot. From the New Yorker two weeks ago (I can’t decipher the artist’s name [Update: Lee Lorenz, I think.]):
I’m pleased to see this for lots of reasons. It reminds me that it was in the New Yorker Continue reading ‘In A Cafe Near You?’
The show on television called “24” has an interesting format. It is sort of meant to be in real time, and so each episode - roughly an hour long, including advertisements - charts what took place in an hour of a particular day. A whole season is one day. A very harrowing day for the characters in the show, particularly agent Jack Bauer. They are part of an counter-terrorist unit (CTU) trying to save the America from various highly complicated terrorist plots. The terrorists are obsessed with Los Angeles, it seems, which is convenient given that the unit is based in Los Angeles. Having watched two or three seasons of the show now, I’ve also come to appreciate the fact that the terrorist plots hand over to more and more complex and dastardly ones as the show goes along through the day. And the “controlling mind” bad guy earlier in the day is hardly ever the worst and most dastardly person our heroes will meet. There’ll be a really really bad guy along later on with an even worse plan than the one before lunchtime, and so forth. Another reason that it’s lucky that they’re obsessed with Los Angeles, since there’s an excellent supply of theatre and television actors here to be cast in various partsa.
What I’ve really been hoping to see is an episode of the show when Jack Bauer is not saving America/LA. Instead, he’s just… chillin’. Imagine it now:
Continue reading ‘Missed Chance’
“..It’s pretty serious.”
“Yeah…” (chuckle) “…right!”
“No, it is serious… Your smoothies are going to be more expensive.”
(Silence, as the enormity of this economic revelation sinks in…)
* * *
Part of a conversation I overheard between two students while I waited for a class to start. One student was apparently a bit dismissive of the other’s concern about the effects of the recent sustained cold temperatures on the local farmers. He did not see why she was concerned about the farmers. She could have Continue reading ‘Citrus’
No, really, I want to know what the reason is. Most times you hear these Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) stories (or Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon stories, as we’re supposed to say these days, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Jon Hilkevtich), it’s a flying saucer that’s been apparently seen. Why this shape? Where did it come from? Did it predate ficition writings, or come as a result of them? It is an idea that they ought to be symmetrical somehow? Then why not a flying sphere (which would be awfully cool)? Or a flying cylinder? Given that aerodynamics are not really at issue (it seems) with the astonishing technology these things are usually reported to have, why on earth not a flying teacup, for that matter?
Does anyone know or have a good theory about the origins of the flying saucer in our collective imagination? Do people report other shapes more commonly in other cultures?
Yes, there’s always the explanation that you hear about flying saucers more than other shapes because that’s the preferred choice of vehicle of the Visitors, but I’d like to Continue reading ‘What is it with Saucers?’
Read about the long lost history of Thermodynamics over at Lounge of the Lab Lemming. There you’ll find out about the 19th Century Boy Band Heat Engine, whose original membership was:
- Rudolf Clausius: bass
- Emile Clapeyron: percussion
- Sadi Carnot: vocals
- Hermann Helmholtz: calorimeter
… and much much more.
In this history, the laws of thermodynamics were motivated by the same old thing that motivates so many things, it seems: Attracting the opposite sex. Why am I not surprised?
-cvj
(Note: It is a (mostly) funny riff starting as a dig (or at least I interpret it as such) at the implication made by a ScienceBlogs blogger during an earlier blogfight that his Continue reading ‘Heat Engine - The Original Hot Boy Band’
Just caught a Futurama episode on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. All I can say is: Go and find the episode called “Time Keeps on Slipping”. It is hilarious. It is a brilliant mixture of physics and basketball jokes. Time is slipping uncontrollably due to an interplanetary basketball game…. Earth has been challenged by the planet Globetrotter, for … “No reason - absolutely no stakes beyond the shame of defeat”. (Found a random site here with some information that may or may not be helpful.)
Two random very funny (in context) lines I sort of remember (not accurate):
Continue reading ‘Timely Futurama’
Well, in the fine and tedious tradition of various huge Hollywood movies (perhaps most recently Batman Begins), in showing the following picture I probably should have used the blog post title “I gotta get me one of those”, or some slight variant:
… but I’ll spare you the cliché. This car is part of a fantasy that I (and some others) Continue reading ‘Coiled’
(Continuing from previous…)
…Then there’s the Disco drill team, which was really excellent.
Their drill? Some serious synchronized Disco dancing, of course. They did the “Hustle”, along with various standard Saturday Night fever moves, and the crowd were very appreciative. Inevitably they did “YMCA”… and just as inevitably the crowd spontaneously joined in with the arm movements. (I think that this is hard-wired into a whole generation - rather like the reaction you get from all the women at a party if anyone puts on “I will Survive”.)
You know that they did not have to make those costumes… they probably sit in wardrobes (closets) every year since being retired in the late 70s, waiting for their Continue reading ‘Some Things I Like About The Doo Dah Parade, II’
Every other time I go to the movies, there is a trailer for yet another sports movie which has exactly the same plot as all the others. Every time I sit there stunned and open-mouthed after the trailer and have a little internal rant (sparing my companion(s)), wonder to myself about what it is about the national psyche that needs this same simplistic story quite so often, and wonder why nobody else seems to notice the phenomenon. It is also noticable that it is one of the rites of passage of a famous male Hollywood star (even really good ones) to play the grizzled coach of the no-hope team….. blah blah blah…. why is that?
Well, to my delight, this morning the programme Morning Edition on NPR played Continue reading ‘The Sports Movie Script’
Ah! The Doo Dah Parade! I do love it so. Why?
First of all, they began with a fly-over by three planes with pleasant coloured smoke streaming out the back.
Big deal, you say. Fair enough, but compare this to how the Rose Parade (which runs along a similar route six weeks later) starts… with a fly-by of a Stealth Bomber flanked by two Stealth Fighters. People cheered. I first saw this in 2004 when the USA had already reached out with this power to invade Iraq, and we were all depressed about the recent re-election of the leaders who committed that crime. [Later correction: Of course, I got my date wrong... The election was to come later that year... the depressed feeling was just from the ongoing Iraq situation.] My reaction as the Stealths flew overhead? Wanting to clasp my hands over my ears and run screaming - just like the orcs and trolls of Sauron’s army do whenever the chief symbols of his air power (the winged Nazgul led by the Witch-King of Angmar) fly over the battlefield. You wield your terrible weapons and scare the crap out of your enemy and your friends - what does that say about you? So this is why I like that the Doo Dah parade starts with those less in-your-face planes.
I digress, losing half my audience (all seven of you) by making a Lord of the Rings reference. Should have chosen Homer. Oh well. So, remembering that the Doo Dah is the antidote to the cookie-cutter perfection of your typical Rose-type parade or Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, have a look at some things that caught my eye.
Continue reading ‘Some Things I Like About The Doo Dah Parade, I’
I love making pies. I perfected my current pie-making technique when I was a graduate student in Southampton. I was in a rented house with four other students, and the house had a splendid apple tree in the back garden. I could not bear to see them all go to waste when it was in full crop. So I made apple pies. Lots of them.
A crucial part of the process of making a good pie is the making of the pastry that will constitute the crust. Very important indeed, unless you are cheating and buying a ready-made crust, in which case you are not making a pie any more - the actual work has been done for you. (Ok, sure, go ahead - shout at me…)
Well, I don’t need to do one of my long cooking posts about this just yet, since the Lab Lemming is concerned about these issues too, I noticed, and has gone to the trouble of preparing what looks like a careful study of the process (including the pitfalls) just in time for the beginning of the primary pie-making season (Thanksgiving, etc…). Here’s a phase diagram from that discussion, which made me laugh quite a bit:
Here’s a bit of the discussions below it, to whet your appetite…
Continue reading ‘A Tasty Phase Diagram?’
“According to So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish, God’s Final Message To His Creation is written in fire in letters thirty feet high on the far side of the Quentulus Quazgar Mountains in the land of Sevorbeupstry on the planet of Preliumtarn, which orbits the star Zarss, which is located in the Grey Binding Fiefdoms of Saxaquine. The long path to the message is lined with souvenir stands at spaced-out intervals.
When Marvin reads the message, it says, “We apologise for the inconvenience.” However, Fenchurch’s reaction suggests that the message she saw was the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything (and that presumably, therefore, the Message is personalized to each viewer).”
–Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
Or perhaps this* is God’s Final Message:
Continue reading ‘God’s Final Message?’
In these hard times for basic science research, scientists look elsewhere for supplementary financial support. It seems that the monolithic entity simply known as “String Theory” is trying to diversify its funding sources even more creatively than before! Some recently spotted* evidence in the Nashua Telegraph in New Hampshire:
“String Theory plays at barn dance”
WINDHAM – The Windham Recreation Committee will host a Family Barn Dance at the Town Hall from 8-11 p.m. on Friday.
Live fiddle music will be provided by String Theory. Frank Woodward will be the caller. All dances are taught. Beginners, singles, families and children are welcome.
Donations will be accepted at the door.
-cvj
(*Thanks Michelle!)
Hopeful sign of the future*?
There could be other store names of this sort breaking out depending upon what is found at the LHC and the ILC. You could have the “Superpartners” dating agency, for one, and perhaps “Dark Matter” chocolate bars (made by same company that brought you “Milky Way”, of course), as another… the possibilities are endless.
-cvj
(*For the uninitiated, the Higgs particle is one of the things physicists will search for at Continue reading ‘A Promising Sign?’
I’m still excited about the news that Branson has joined the fight to put money aside to lead the way in fighting global warming issues.
I blogged about it here a month ago, you’ll recall.
Well, of course the Onion has a take on this. It’s mean, but it is funny:
Analysts are predicting that the $3 billion Sir Richard Branson has pledged for developing energy sources to combat global warming could come close to matching the amount the entrepreneur, adventurer, and Virgin CEO has already spent on elaborate balloon-based excursions.
That’s the main joke, but to me, even funnier is the ending line of the artice:
Branson also reportedly plans to invest billions more on a time machine that would enable him to prevent the creation of Virgin Airways, reducing greenhouse-gas emissions by some four percent worldwide.
-cvj
Well, here’s an amusing response to Weird Al Yankovic’s video* (see my earlier post on the issues I had with it). He makes his point with charming clumsiness, but… he makes the point.
Still here:
…and YouTube links here, and here. (Watch them in order for maximum hilarity.)
-cvj
(*Thanks CS Guy!)
So I actually had no idea that Weird Al Yankovic was still doing his, er, particular brand of music. (Singular, one might say.) I actually thought it stopped a long while ago, not long after the Thriller parodies. Well, not long ago he did a video/song called “White and Nerdy”. I looked at it*, and so can you, on Myspace video (wow, I had no idea they had a video service). Here is the link.
Among the things featured in the video’s visuals are Schrodinger’s equation, Stephen Hawking’s BHOT, M C Escher (It’s a rap video, so…) Here are some stills (click for larger):
I laughed, I’ll admit. I find his fresh-faced and cheerful style quite funny at times. But then I got thinking. I can’t decide whether I should be depressed at the potency of the stereotypes he is playing with, or just carry on giggling. For example, why did the guys who were representing the complete opposite of being nerdy (and into science, reading, and the like) have to be cast as black? Worse than that (or at least equally as Continue reading ‘The Yankovic Singularity’
Yep, another one for Caolionn:
(Just so the sign’s viewer is not in any doubt.)
I can’t remember whether I blogged this from last time I was in the UK. But yes, it’s always refreshing to be reminded so bluntly that I’m back home. This was from back in the Spring, but I just remembered it.
-cvj
Spotted on Hollywood Boulevard:
Moonlighting Physicist?
(Click here for detail.)
On a serious note… It is still scary to think that this might still be the most common sort of image of a scientist in many people’s minds… We’ve a lot of work to do.
-cvj
Actually, it’s even better than I thought! There’s a whole collection called “The String Doll Gang”. Here are some of them (click for larger):
Cute aren’t they? Yes, each apparently made of onecontinuouspieceofstring. More about them, and closeups (and prices) at this site.
Now, being a responsible citizen and all, I can’t discourage you enough from trying to match various members of the real live string community to these dolls. That would be a bad thing to do. Bad!
-cvj
So, string theorists, the next time anyone asks you again whether scientists will ever be able to directly demonstrate that everything and everyone is made of string, show ‘em this !
Yes, this (a surprise gift last week*) is a “Little Prince” doll, made of onecontinuouspieceofstring!
-cvj
(*Thanks Michelle!)
…And from serious protests of the previous post to humourous (fictional!) ones.
Go check out the Worth1000 photoshop competition on the subject, linked here.
Some of them are great! Here’s one I liked:
Creator’s caption: “Don’t argue with him, the man’s a genius.”
-cvj
“Yeah, this string theory stuff is nice and all, but what does it have to do with the price of eggs?”, is not one of the questions I’ve had to field at the end of a public lecture, but it could have been.
If it had come up, I could have pointed the questioner to this post by Robert. Please, please check out this fine example of how we use scaling laws in physics and in everyday life, with remarkable effects.
-cvj
P.S. After reading it, I bet you’ll consider contacting your local government representative to get them to urge for more tax dollars to be put into theoretical physics. It’s really the best way to be sure that more of us are kept off the streets… 
Can’t resist, in view of our earlier discussion:
This was taken from Nick Anderson’s (Houston Chronicle’s Editorial Cartoonist) blog.
Thanks, anon!
-cvj
New Scientist has an article by Stephen Battersby on their top ten weirdest cosmology theories. My first thought, beore reading the article was that they were going to have a lot of fun with this, but they seem to be rather conservative about their definition of “weird”. This means that they’ve focused on “weirdest” in the context (mostly) of existing scientific observational input, and published science academic circles, which you might think puts a damper on things… but read more below.
So here are the titles, under which the author writes a short paragraph describing the idea:
1. Clashing branes
2. Evolving universes
3. Superfluid space-time
4. Goldilocks universe
5. Gravity reaches out
6. Cosmic ghost
7. It’s a small universe
8. Fast light
9. Sterile neutrinos
10. In the Matrix
This means that the kind of whacky cosmology that you and I could think of in a flash for fun on a Friday (or other) afternoon are not allowed. Nor are the ones I constantly get in the mail from well-meaning citizens. All of which can be way, way weirder.
Oh well. I’m opening up this particular thread (note: no, not all discussion threads on this blog!!) to any fun/whacky/weird cosmology ideas you might like to share of your own. Serious or non-serious. I’m not going to rank them. Just feel free to share.
Here is a fun constraint (which has a serious point): Try as much as you can to make Continue reading ‘Top Ten Weirdest Cosmology Theories’
You know, I’ve been calculating all day (and oooohhhh, what a calculation. I shall try to tell you about it sometime) and so when I did the previous post about that comic strip, and pointed to the site, I did not actually look through the site for more examples.
Luckily, JoAnne of Cosmic Variance noticed the post, and after reading more of the site (and, from what it sounds like, being overcome with mirth) she posted a few more of them, which came to my notice just now via a pingback. One caught my eye in particular, since we can all relate to it so much!!! Here it is:
Haven’t we all been there?!
-cvj
It’s late here at the Physics Center, and there is a hugely violent thunder and lightning storm outside. Good time to work.
While wandering the corridors in thought….. spotted this and photographed it for your viewing pleasure:
I did not pose this or anything. It was just standing there just like that, next to a public blackboard. Notice the chalk in his hand, and everything! Excellent. (The baggy jumper/sweater and chalk are nice details.) I imagine he was posed there by some other person (but consider ….what if not ?!)
Is it just me, or does this put you in mind of the excellent “Team America” as well? Does anyone know where this doll is from? Are there other scientists in this series? Maybe someone could do a whole series of short movies with them… moments of dialogue between famous scientists acted out by dolls…
Ok. Another crazy/stupid idea released into the wild. Back to work.
-cvj
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