Subscribe to RSS feedPhysical Theories as Men, a tit for tat response to Physical Theories as Women. Go ahead, you know you want to click on both of them.
The Quantum Pontiff
Theoretical Musings
Search
Profile
Dave Bacon is a theoretical ski bum who is also a pseudo professor. His research is on quantum computing, his scientific passions extend to everything in physics, mathematics, computer science and beyond, and his personal pleasures include making wine, playing poker, skiing, camping, and daydreaming (although not all of those at the same time.)
Nothing he says on this blog should be construed as having anything to do with his employer or his dog.
Recent Comments
- Michael Nielsen on D. Bacon Beard
- job search on Quantum Postdocs and Beyond
- The Emotion Machine on Science Fiction Prototyping
- supra shoes on Science Fiction Prototyping
- abc on Seattle Signs
- Fred Bacon on Mmmvelopes. Tasty Tasty Mmmvelopes.
- Federer on Science Fiction Prototyping
- Kevin McCarthy on Science Fiction Prototyping
- brian on Mmmvelopes. Tasty Tasty Mmmvelopes.
- Jeff Watson on Mmmvelopes. Tasty Tasty Mmmvelopes.
Recent Posts
- D. Bacon Beard
- Mmmvelopes. Tasty Tasty Mmmvelopes.
- Science Fiction Prototyping
- Igon Value Problems Over Dilettante Matrices
- Cormac Interview in the WSJ
- Guess the Dow, Win Chow!
- Geek Synth
- Glorious Dawn Record
- A Tactic Named Sue
- Seattle Signs
Other Information
The use of Occam's razor on this website is strickly prohibited.
Cows are well approximated by a sphere.
Cows are well approximated by a sphere.
« SciRate Papers: 7/18 to 7/25 | Main | The Bar Scene »
Physics Personified
Category: Funny Ha Ha • Go Ahead, Waste Your Time • Physics
Posted on: July 29, 2008 11:09 AM, by Dave Bacon
Share:
Find more posts in: 
Physical Science
Share this: Facebook Twitter Stumbleupon Reddit Email + More
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/77568
Comments
Quantum mechanics sounds about right.
Posted by: mick | July 29, 2008 11:51 AM
"Winwood Reade is good upon the subject," said Holmes. "He remarks that, while the individual man is an insoluble puzzle, in the aggregate he becomes a mathematical certainty. You can, for example, never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to. Individuals vary, but percentages remain constant. So says the statistician."
Sherlock Holmes, in "The Sign of the Four"
Isaac Asimov carried that out to many corollaries, the The Foundation. As the number of people approaches a mole, cooperative quantum effects dominate. In his last year, Asimov added a caveat about Chaos Theory. But he remains the definitive definer of Dirty Old Men for the 20th Century, remarking (for instance, that poet/courtier/gamer Sir John Suckling had the perfect name for a Dirty Old Man).
http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Sir_John_Suckling.aspx The Columbia
Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Sir John Suckling 1609-42, one of the English Cavalier poets. He was educated at Cambridge and Gray's Inn. An accomplished gallant, he was given to all the extravagances of the court of Charles I. He was a prolific lover, a sparkling wit, and an excessive gamester. The antiquary John Aubrey credits him with having invented the game of cribbage. Subjected to a humiliating defeat in Charles I's Scottish campaign of 1639, he was said to be more fit for the boudoir than the battlefield...
Posted by: Jonathan Vos Post | July 29, 2008 4:38 PM
"Statistical Physics works in the secretarial pool. While you suspect she went through "issues" in her teenage years, she is now coolly competent, the level-headed person in any room. You thought her social mores dated to the days when women's suffrage was a hot news item — much like those of her older sister, Kinetic Theory of Gases — but then you discover that every weekend, she and General Relativity get tied together in String Theory's dungeon."
Posted by: Blake Stacey | July 29, 2008 10:00 PM