Physicists do say these things about quantum mechanics — a highly-mathematical description of fundamental reality at the bottom of which is the uncertainty principle in which the act of measuring one piece of reality screws up other measurements. The upshot is, the whole of reality isn’t measureable all at once. The more you think about […]
July 15 – 19 I got all irate on Twitter, as did a number of other folks, and nothing good came of it — the argument looked like it was made of fireflies. Why did mankind take so long to come up with this? the Erik Vance Restaurant Guide to Saving the Oceans. Guest Robin […]
Why are the clouds moving so fast? Is the wind that’s pushing the clouds faster than the wind that’s blowing the trees? I remember, back when I lived in tornado country, hearing that when the winds aloft and the winds on the ground were moving in different directions, a tornado could form. Was that true? […]
1) The Lucasian throne is the Lucasian Chair, a funded and highly honored academic position at Cambridge University that is famous, partly because it’s currently held by Stephen Hawking and partly because its first holder was Isaac Newton. 2) Who, as you know, invented/discovered the law of gravity. Translating that equation up there, the force […]
A consolation for Cameron, for Mary Caperton Morton, and for so many of us: at least the bugger can’t fly. __________ http://abstrusegoose.com/161
May 27 – 31, 2013 Heather’s last post is a case-in-point for why we’re going to miss her so much. It’s something you’ve never heard of before, told expertly and with great empathy: India’s great population explosion is being calmed by — who knew? — soap operas. Come back soon, Heather, and tell us another […]
About ten years ago, doing research for a book, I asked Freeman Dyson about a study he’d helped do about whether we would have lost the war in Vietnam a little less if we’d used tactical nuclear weapons. Dyson and two colleagues, all members of a scientific advisory group called Jason, were doing this study […]
Outside the window, the neighborhood kids are running again. They’re about 12 years old, a boy and a girl and the girl’s little sister, about 8, and they’re racing around the court, up the street, along the alley, through a yard, and back onto the court, altogether maybe a full block, around and around. They’re […]
