When the kids look surprised at all of the stuff Mary Poppins pulls out of her carpet bag, that was genuine shock. They couldn’t see what was being fed to the bag from under the table, so when she pulled hat stands and huge potted plants out of that regular-sized bag, the kids were completely stunned.
Monthly Archives: June 2009
And Now a Word From Leonard Pinth-Garnell
Let’s take a look at some bad physics, demolished in A cornucopia of cluelessness
Amazing. We’re going to change a unit conversion factor using technology. Apparently, such a breakthrough will also enable us to develop overunity devices, overcome the Second Law of Thermodynamics, and achieve perpetual motion. I suggested in my comment on Michael’s blog that perhaps we should also be looking into the technological possibility of getting more gallons per liter and more miles per kilometer. In fact, why stop there? I will look into employing technology to change the number of centimeters per inch and make myself taller and lengthen my…. But I digress.
(FYI, Leonard Pinth-Garnell)
Honor thy Scientists?
why you should honor thy scientists
[I]t’s not just zealots who will equate scientific methodology with theistic dogmatism. In an attempt to appear completely objective and beyond any charge of bias, some writers will give equal importance to every opinion with seemingly no regard for whether it’s right or wrong. They think that by giving a biologist who’s life was spent researching evolution and a random televangelist the same weight in their articles will make them insightful reporters who diligently consider every side of a story. But the truth is that not everything you hear is accurate and if you’re reporting an incorrect assumption without actually doing your homework and noting that it’s wrong, you’re not an objective reporter or analyst. You’re a scribe afraid of being called biased.
Yes, We Think About Things Like This
ArXiv: Minimizing the footprint of your laptop (on your bedside table)
We are considering all placements of the laptop such that it will not topple o the table;
these are exactly the placements for which the midpoint of the laptop is also a point of the
table. We are then interested in determining for which of these placements the footprint of the laptop is of minimal area; here, the footprint is the common region of the laptop and the table.
Camera Envy
Mentos and cola in UltraSlo motion @7000FPS. Seven-frikkin’-thousand!
Required Reading
Meetings Are a Matter of Precious Time
As a general rule, meetings make individuals perform below their capacity and skill levels.
The most common meeting in my experience is the status meeting, where everyone gets together and reports on what they’ve accomplished. If it’s a small group, these are usually fine because you already have familiarity with the tasks. But when you get a large group together, which has diverse tasks and goals, there is impending disaster. Bad meetings I’ve attended often involve people discussing details that nobody else at the table understands or possibly cares about — the sort of thing that should happen one-on-one or in a small group, as everyone else sits there, trying not to fall asleep.
Go Back and Change This
The best & worst movie time machines
I agree with the Back to the Future flux-capacitor-tricked-out-DeLorean being at the top of the ones shown. But The Harry Potter Timer Turner doesn’t count because it’s not a machine — it’s magic. And they are missing other, like the Terminator franchise time machine, which is so cool that they don’t even show it to us. But given where the terminators sit on the cyborg totem pole, the time machine has to be pretty cool.
The Shadow Knows
Teacher: Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
Student (raising hand enthusuastically): Meeeee!
Teacher: Quiet down, Lamont.
A shoe illusion. Hovering shoe with a shadow? Who knows?
Judy Collins Science
I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now*
Experts at the Royal Meteorological Society are now attempting to make it official by naming it ‘Asperatus’ after the Latin word for ‘rough’.
If they are successful, it would be the first variety of cloud formation to be given a new label in over half a century
Also being pushed by the Charades Society to fill the empty “sounds like asparagus” clue niche.
*(written by Joni Mitchell, covered by many.)
Anniversaries Not Involving China
Today is Frank and Helga’s 100th anniversary. Frank and Helga are my great, great grandparents. A toast to them. Skol.
Also, 20 years ago last week I got out of the navy and went west (you know, the way of Horatio Alger, Davy Crockett, the Donner Party…) to go to grad school.