Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Email her at dr.freeride@gmail.com.
Other kids may be convinced that Santa Claus uses some kind of Christmas magic to get the job done. Not the Free-Ride offspring.
They have told me that obviously, Santa is putting his trust in science. (And also technology. But the holidays are no time for ugly spats about disciplinary boundaries.)
From the younger Free-Ride offspring:
Santa needed to do research, of course, to work out the details of flying reindeer. Apparently, much of this was online research. (Also, it looks like Santa uses a MacBook.)
From the elder Free-Ride offspring, two items science relies on:
The elastic in that bag must be especially stretchy.
I'm a little leery of those helium pills. If they contain solid (or even liquid) helium, then they would expand quite a lot in the reindeer's stomach. I doubt that would be comfortable.
Apparently, Santa's other gadgets are proprietary.
Myself, I'm still of the view that most of Santa's Christmas doings are due to quantum mechanics.
Tonight, I'm anticipating a discussion about whether there are any interesting parallels between the Channukah miracle and Peak Oil. Stay tuned.
Education
Physical Science
Comments
I wonder if Apple is coming over to the Sprogs' school and offering some sort of bribe for product placement? Seen any thin guys in a turtleneck wandering around the school?
Posted by: KeithB | December 11, 2009 11:27 AM
NPR just had an interview with an author of a book about this topic. Apparently wormholes are involved.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121247367
Posted by: bumblebbrain | December 11, 2009 1:31 PM
Hi Janet. Love love love this. Do you think you and your kids would let me use this at the SCQ?
Posted by: David Ng | December 11, 2009 4:39 PM
Dave @3:
Do you think you and your kids would let me use this at the SCQ?
Yes, I think that can be arranged. (If you can throw in celebrity as part of the package, the younger Free-Ride offspring would be even happier about it, but such are the priorities of a pwe-tween.)
Posted by: Janet D. Stemwedel | December 11, 2009 4:46 PM
I think authorship from the three of you would be good for a bit of celebrity. I'm willing to bet that with your last name, high rankings on google would pretty much be a given. Does that count? (It's no Lorenzo von Matterhorn I admit, but still...)
Otherwise, I can arrange for a limo or something.
Posted by: David Ng | December 11, 2009 5:04 PM
I don't understand this post. Are you saying that Santa is consistent with science? On top of that, is your only source of authority tiny children?
I can see why the public is skeptical of the scientific community. First secret emails, now this.
Cheers,
NS
Posted by: notedscholar | December 12, 2009 7:02 PM