Humbling at indexed.
Observation: Jessica’s plots vary as either 1/r, r or r2, but I can’t recall any that had an actual inflection point (in my semi-random sampling). There could be some subtle implications in inflection points. No asymptotic functions I can recall, either.
Map of Springfield and an interactive version (the website mentioned on the map leads to a dead-end)
via Neatorama
The Periodic Table of Comic Books
Click on an element, and find a listing of some comic books in which that element was used/mentioned, with scans of the pages.
I was previously unaware that there was a Ricky Nelson comic, nor that he claimed to be fascinated with the subject of the atomic world and nuclear fission. Too bad he didn’t know a proton from a protein.
This comic book is an obvious attempt to cash in on Ricky Nelson’s immense popularity in the late 1950’s. His All-American image was cultivated and his musical career was nurtured in the Nelson family television situation comedy, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, which ran on the ABC Television Network from 1952 until 1966.
Today’s xkcd is about quantum teleportation, but the problem isn’t that journalists write the “same disappointed story” whenever quantum teleportation is being reported. It’s that they still report that teleportation is somehow connected to moving matter around, whether they’ve been waved off about it or not; the latter would be because they didn’t vet their story. They are almost Pavlovian (does that name ring a bell?) in their need to include the reference to Star Trek.
That’s only a small deduction in judging the overall message, though. (Especially the title tag, where Randall zings the sensationalization of story titles)
News from Uncertain Principles. Futurebaby is now in the past tense, and is now Steelykid.
Belated congratulations to Chad and Kate, the proud parents. I’m expecting big things for my Silver Warriors (I’m class of 1980), from whatever sports teams she’s on in 15 years.
(Of course this loses meaning if it was a c-section, but what the heck)
If anybody needs a dose of cute, there are baby pics
Meet SteelyKid, Babies Are Bosons, FutureBaby Betting Pool Winner
(I was visiting family this past week, and all of my small cousins were pretty much terrified of me. I was crushed. No turning kids upside-down or tickling, or if things are going well, both at once. And certainly no splunks — our term for blowing a raspberry on the belly.)
Today’s Non-Sequitur
Quick thoughts: yes, it would fire. As Tommy Lee Jones reminds us, pistols (not just Glocks) can fire underwater, if you’re stupid enough to do so (like you’re performing DIY Shock wave lithotripsy) — they carry their own oxidant.
The bullet would travel faster, too. There would be less drag on the bullet, so it would not slow down as much as it does at one atmosphere. The muzzle velocity would only be epsilon faster, but the overall speed at some arbitrary distance would be higher.
I don’t understand why Danae doesn’t find that interesting.
(Blam! and Ping! not really happening, of course, in that rarefied atmosphere)
Update: the speed to orbit near the surface of the moon is about 1680 m/s. Not achievable with a pistol, but within the capabilities of some advanced weaponry. Escape speed (1.41 times higher) would require a Bull-like supergun.
The use of symbols to represent swearing actually has a name: grawlix
[I]t looks to have been coined by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker around 1964. Though it’s yet to gain admission to the Oxford English Dictionary, OED Editor-at-Large Jesse Sheidlower describes it as “undeniably useful, certainly a word, and one that I’d love to see used more.”
Calvin’s parents forget to pay the gravity bill.
OK, maybe not the latter. This is about integrity, after all. The Union of Concerned Scientists’ Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest
I got an email invitation for this, but it was too close to the deadline for me to do anything about it. First prize is a trip to Washington, DC. (Some of us call that “commuting”).
