-
"Richard Feynman started taking art lessons at the age of 44, and continued drawing for the rest of his life. These include portraits of his close friends, wife and daughter and professional models that posed for him at his friend's studio. Feynman was also an avid supporter of topless bars, which he used to frequent a lot while he was at Caltech, which also explains why he loved drawing nude models."
-
"In the last decade in high energy physics one could notice a trend towards more phenomenology. While I welcome this for obvious reasons, here as in any aspect of life one can desire too much of a good thing. I've read quite a few of papers where the word "phenomenology" was used merely as decoration, and in other cases "phenomenological" is essentially an excuse for inconsistency. Such fashion trends in the community and their side-effects however aren't really surprising. What is surprising though is that the demand for "predictions" has been picked up by the public and has been used sometimes inappropriately as a measure for scientific quality. Thus I thought it would be worth clarifying what a scientific prediction is and isn't."
-
"Recently, Time named the 00s the worst decade ever. This is clearly ridiculous when you consider their comparison set includes decades featuring things like "The Atmosphere is Made of Pure Sulfur" and "Romans Fed My Hippie Flesh to a Fucking Lion." But what if we narrow the criteria to the last 100 years, instead: 1910-2009. How would the 00s stack up? Would the 20s kick its goofy ass? Could it travel back in time like Marty McFly and give the 50s a massive wedgie? We'll see, as we count down the top 10 decades of the century, in ascending order:"
-
"Only when the MLA is in town will you find listings such as "Hot English dork here, looking to play with another hot English dork." And we guess that most of the time, Craigslist hook-up personals (seeking kink no less) aren't illustrated by the cover of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers."
Uncertain Principles
Thoughts on physics, politics, and pop culture, by a physics professor at a small liberal arts college, plus occasional conversations with his dog.
Search
Profile
You've read the blog, now try the books! How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is published by Scribner, and available wherever books are sold. How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog is published by Basic Books and will be available 2/28/2012, as foretold by the Maya.
"Uncertain Principles" features the miscellaneous ramblings of a physicist at a small liberal arts college. Physics, politics, pop culture, and occasional conversations with his dog.
"Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics." (anonymous student evaluation comment)
Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.
Recent Posts
- Syncretic Pre-Schooler Blogging
- Links for 2012-02-11
- Language and Statistics Poll: Define "Vast"
- Links for 2012-02-10
- Random Note That Wouldn't Bother Normal People
- Links for 2011-02-09
- Course Report: A Brief History of Timekeeping 04
- How to Teach Physics to Your Polish Dog
- Reminder: How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog Photoshop Contest
- Links for 2012-02-07
Recent Comments
- Rebecca on How to Read a Scientific Paper
- Kaleberg on Language and Statistics Poll: Define "Vast"
- Dennis Johnson on Syncretic Pre-Schooler Blogging
- Carrie on What's Eating Our House?
- JM on Syncretic Pre-Schooler Blogging
- Sili on Syncretic Pre-Schooler Blogging
- T. Hunt on Language and Statistics Poll: Define "Vast"
- Vic Smith Eph68 on Links for 2012-02-04
- hibob on Language and Statistics Poll: Define "Vast"
- thomasb on Language and Statistics Poll: Define "Vast"
Greatest Hits
- What's With the Name?
- A Week in the Lab
- Domestic Security: A Dialogue
- "Perfect Albums"
- Poetry for Physicists
- Top Eleven: The Greatest Physics Experiment Ever
- How to Tell a True Lab Story
- Bunnies Made of Cheese
- Many Worlds, Many Treats
- What Everyone should Know About Science
- The Innumeracy of Intellectuals
- We Are Science
- Science Is What Makes Us Human
- This Is My Job
Chateau Steelypips
- How to Teach Physics to Your Dog
- Older Uncertain Principles
- The Library of Babel
- Japan Stories
- Outside of a Dog
- Kate Nepveu's LiveJournal
- Steelypips Main Page
- Chad's photosets on Flickr
- Chad's bookmarks on del.icio.us
- Chad on Twitter
- Emmy on Twitter
Blogroll
Scientists
- Mixed States
- Angry Physics
- Arcane Gazebo
- Backreaction
- bento-box
- BioCurious
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Cosmic Variance
- Entropy Bound
- Female Science Professor
- Horganism
- In the Pipeline
- Life as a Physicist
- Musings
- Nanoscale Views
- Michael Nielsen
- nOnoscience
- Not Even Wrong
- Not Exactly Rocket Science
- A Quantum Diaries Survivor
- Quantum Pontiff
- The Scientific Curmudgeon
- SciTech Daily
- Shtetl-Optimized
- Tales from the Learning Curve
- View From the Corner
- What's New
Academics
- Acephalous
- Chronicles of Dr. Crazy
- Confessions of a Community College Dean
- Crooked Timber
- Brad DeLong
- Easily Distracted
- Knowing and Doing
- Learning Curves
- The Little Professor
- Musical Perceptions
- Notional Slurry
- Pub Sociology
- Word Munger
- What Now?
- Yes, YelloCello
Interesting People
- Boing Boing
- Diary de la Vex
- Fafblog!
- Izzle Pfaff
- Making Light
- Open Reading Frame
- Paw Talk
- Republic of T.
- See You at Enceladus
- Snarkout
- Unmistakable Marks
- Whatever
Books
- Book Slut
- Tobias Buckell
- The Humblest Blog
- The Library of Babel
- Outside of a Dog
- Weasel Words
- Westerblog
Punditry
- Balkinization
- Grim Amusements
- Newsrack
- Off the Kuff
- Political Animal
- The Poor Man
- The Reality-Based Community
- Slacktivist
- Talking Points Memo
- Through the Looking Glass
- Unqualified Offerings
- Matthew Yglesias
Categories
- Academia
- Add category
- Basic Concepts
- Biking
- Blogs
- Book Writing
- Booklog
- Charity
- Conferences
- Culture
- Data Presentation
- Dog
- Education
- Food
- Guest Bloggers
- Humanities
- Jobs
- Journalism
- Links Dump
- Maintenance
- Math
- News
- Personal
- Physics
- Advent
- Atoms and Molecules
- Condensed Matter
- Course Reports
- Everyday
- Experiment
- Funding
- How-to-Teach
- Lab Stories
- Laser Smackdown
- Lasers
- MXP
- Meetings
- My Lab
- Optics
- Physics Books
- Physics with Emmy
- Precision Measurement
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Optics
- Relativity
- String Theory
- Theory
- Thermo/StatMech
- Time
- Pictures
- Politics
- Polls
- Pop Culture
- ResearchBlogging
- SF
- Science
- Science Writing
- Silliness
- Social-Science
- Society
- Sports
- Technology
- Travel
- Video
- War On Science
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
« Is Frank Wilczek Making Us Look Bad? | Main | Musical Poll: Ten Years, Ten Songs »
Links for 2009-12-31
Category: Links Dump
Posted on: December 31, 2009 8:43 AM, by Chad Orzel
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/128207
