Extra Credit

“Secret” Physics they don’t teach you in class —

The Fifth Law of Thermodynamics: Beer is good.

The Sixth Law of Thermodynamics: Men driving sports cars are assholes.

The Physics of a Half-Gaynor

Physics Floundering saved by Disco Parody

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And just like that when I had given up all hope,
I said nope, there’s just one way to find that slope.
And so now I, I will derive.
Find the derivative of x position with respect to time.
It’s as easy as can be, just have to take dx/dt.
I will derive, I will derive. Hey, hey!

via Talk Like a Physicist

Life Imitates Art

Well, Art is busy, so life imitates a cartoon instead.

The other night on the Colbert Report, he interviewed George Johnson, author of The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments (which I’ve mentioned before), and the idea for which was stolen from Chad. The interview was standard Colbert schtick, and Johnson doesn’t really explain what’s going on with the physics, but the last 30-45 seconds is great, and becomes the XKCD cartoon “The Difference,” about science and pain.

UPDATE: if you are getting frustrated with the Comedy Central player, there’s an embedded link here that seem worked better for me. (I can’t embed the video myself, alas)

Pop Music

Joan Jett’s “Do You Wanna Touch Me” came up on the exercise playlist this afternoon, and it reminded me of this quote about music:

“All pop music is about sex. Rock is about wanting to do it, jazz is about doing it, and country and western is about feeling guilty after you’ve done it.” – Robert Waldo Brunelle, Jr.

(which also reminds me that playing country music backwards is uplifting, because they guy gets his house back, his pickup back, his girlfriend back, his dog back, his job back and stops his excessive drinking.)