Links for 2009-10-08

"Here's what I find as far as standard commercial outfits [for Halloween costumes]. If you're female and a kid and you want to be a superhero, you're basically out of luck unless Wonder Woman is your favorite. "

A compact explanation of the physics behind the Prize.

"I recently read an article in Symmetry magazine that described the "weird" architecture at Fermilab. It mentioned the 15 foot bubble chamber, a detector of yore that has now been turned into the "world's strangest lawn ornament". I did my thesis work on an experiment that used this detector; I am probably one of the last students to have worked on a large bubble chamber experiment. "

"The problem, of course, is that cooking is hard work, an act of manual labor after a long day of labor. We toil to make a meal and then, in a matter of minutes, the meal is over, leaving behind a mess of crumbs, dishes and grease spackled counters. Perhaps we'll conclude that the microwave would have been easier, or that next time we'll curl up on the couch with takeout. There were many nights when I'd look at my dirty kitchen and be filled with regret. Why make pasta when I could just eat pizza?"

"Many textbooks are pumped up about Newton's 3 laws of motion. For me, not so much. First, (as many other's point out) these are really Newton's ideas about force. Second, the first law is pretty much a special case of the second law."

"Last week, we declared that the Laurel Hill Hoboes had the best high school nickname/mascot/logo combination. (A close second: the Chinook Sugar Beeters.) We invited readers to try to top these memorable logos, and try to top them you did. Here are 27 pretty great ones, followed by our two favorite submissions."

"Anyway, then I'm all "Okay, one of us is mispronouncing 'Wesley-Ann' and one of us is lost and I think they both might be me" but that's when I came up with what might be the greatest invention in the history of the world."