Random Stuff
esiegel | November 20, 2011"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain
Although I spend the majority of my time here writing about the Universe, from the subatomic to the largest scales, I try not to forget that our home -- Earth -- is full of some of the most remarkable places, experiences, and sights that existence has to offer. For the next few minutes, I'd like to, as Thievery Corporation might say,
Focus On Sight,or…
esiegel | November 13, 2011"It's Doctor Evil. I didn't spend six years in Evil Medical School to be called 'mister,' thank you very much." -Dr. Evil
This weekend, I'd like to start by introducing you to the sounds of Galactic Funk, a group whose cosmically epic name is surpassed by their novel, entrancing sound, as highlighted by this week's song,
Doomed.But you yourself would never you'd be doomed simply because you failed to address someone with the proper honorific title. There are very few things that I find as pretentious as people with degrees of any sort who demand that they be addressed with a special title,…
esiegel | November 5, 2011"Events often move faster than our ability to comprehend them." -Lee H. Hamilton
But sometimes, going ever faster is where all the fun is at. Have a listen to the Stray Cats, from their debut album, as they plow through their title track,
Built For Speed.Well, believe it or not, I think my car just became a neutrino! Why's that? See for yourself!
(For those of you who need a little help, remember that the USA does distances in miles.)
Of course, I had to push it just a little bit more to become an OPERA neutrino...
so if you see that Cohen-Glashow radiation out there on the highway, don't…
esiegel | October 31, 2011"I'm the best there is at what I do, but what I do best isn't very nice." -Wolverine
For those of you who thought long and hard about the song I gave you yesterday, perhaps you anticipated that there might have been a connection to this years costume. It's a little tenuous, but this year? The choice was obvious for me.
Image credit: The Complete Hugh Jackman Workout.
That's right, Hugh Jackman's portrayal of Wolverine. As is always the case on Halloween, I've been spending the day terrorizing my local city.
And after trying out a number of styles, I think I got my facial hair just right…
esiegel | October 30, 2011"If human beings had genuine courage, they'd wear their costumes every day of the year, not just on Halloween." -Doug Coupland
Halloween is just around the corner, and there's no better song to listen to for the holiday spirit than Warren Zevon's classic,
Werewolves Of London.Those of you who've been hanging around for the last year or two (or maybe just took a glance over at my profile photo) might have gotten an inkling that it is, in fact, my favorite holiday. (Those of you with modest google-fu skills will find all kinds of evidence supporting that fact.)
I always take pride in putting…
esiegel | October 25, 2011"In science, even when you're convinced that you know the right answer, you keep testing your understanding in new ways. You keep looking for phenomena that might do something different than what your best ideas and theories predict. As long as there's a Universe out there to investigate, science doesn't end." -Ethan Siegel
We've talked many times here about how the term theory gets abused by non-scientists, what scientific theories do and do not do, and of course, just yesterday, how important science and scientists actually are for progress in our quest to understand the Universe.
Image…
esiegel | October 16, 2011"Appearances are often deceiving." -Aesop
While the Louvin Brothers might tell you that something else is more deceiving than appearances, as they sing
Satan Lied To Me,there's an internet site out there I've just discovered that celebrates creativity in deceptive appearances.
For your enjoyment, I present Things That Look Like Other Things! Some of my favorites are:
floor pillows that look like pancakes, complete with pats of butter,
a light fixture that looks like an ice-cream cone, perfect for your fluorescent bulbs,
kitchen utensils that look like household and garden tools,
a…
esiegel | October 8, 2011"Oh, you gonna love this, boy. Tyrone calls you up, you know -- in the game -- and he says 'I can dig more clams than you, stupid!' And you gotta say 'Nuh-uh, boy!' And y'all gotta race down to the beach with your buckets and your shovels, and the object of the game...is to find parking." -Meatwad
The winners of this year's Nobel Prizes were announced this past week, and in honor of that, I present to you M. Ward's song,
Eyes On The Prize.
This year, I was ecstatic to report that the Nobel Prize in Physics went to three cosmologists, for their discovery -- through observations of distant…
esiegel | September 24, 2011"It is the function of art to renew our perception. What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new meaning in it." -Anais Nin
We're all used to trusting our senses for information about this world. And while there are certainly plenty of illusions that lead us astray, they almost always come up as tricks that our eyes play on us. Take a listen to the Jazz classic by Wes Montgomery,
The Trick Bag,as you prepare yourself for a whole new illusion that involves your ears!
Image credit: Elizabeth Johnston.
You all know how to…
esiegel | September 17, 2011"When you roll around in the mud with a pig, you both get dirty, and the pig enjoys it." -Old Folk Wisdom
One of the things I've learned over the time I've been blogging is that, no matter what position you take on any issue, whether it's science, politics, religion, morality, or anything else, is that there will be no shortage of people willing to argue against it. Perhaps it's for the best that Jeff Tweedy didn't think of that when he wrote his most excellent song,
How to Fight Loneliness.Because while many issues really are mere differences of opinion, it stirs up intense feelings of…
esiegel | September 10, 2011"O, how glorious would it be to set my heel upon the Pole and turn myself 360 degrees in a second!" -Joseph Banks
This weekend, perhaps more than most, I think we're all going to need something fun, inspiring, and different to enjoy. So I present to you an extremely talented but not well-known Canadian singer/songwriter, Melissa McClelland, and her very memorable song,
Passenger 24.But I've also got one of the most entertaining and impressive things I've ever seen to share with you. Say hello to the incredibly innovative Canadian acrobat, Dominic Lacasse.
You might, at first glance, wonder…
esiegel | September 5, 2011"But I'm also talking about American businessmen doing what they were born to do. Make things. We've stopped making and become a country of consumers. Well, I, for one, am done consuming. And I'm ready to make." -Jack Donaghy, 30 Rock
I don't normally write about what's going on in my personal life, but this is an important development, and it affects what I do here at Starts With A Bang, so here goes.
Most of you know how a career as a physicist is supposed to go, much like any academic/science career. You're supposed to get your degree, go to graduate school and get your Ph.D., work at a…
esiegel | August 28, 2011"Some of them act badly because they've had a hard life, or have been mistreated...but, like people, some of them are just jerks. Stop that, Mr. Simpson." -The Simpsons
Sometimes, it's good to just take a step back and enjoy something that's easy. There's a lot in this world to think about, worry about, learn about, and fight about. So while you enjoy this weekend's song,
Fight Like The Night,by Malcolm Middleton, I present to you the latest in time-wasting, entertaining, funny animal websites: Animals Being Dicks.
Short, animated gifs of... well, exactly what you might expect. And, as you…
esiegel | August 21, 2011"The heart, Ramone. Don't forget the heart. Aim for the heart, or you'll never stop me." -Clint Eastwood, in A Fistful of Dollars
Sometimes, the greatest things that art, music, or even astronomy has to offer are the traditional standards that have been around for a very long time. Only, a new interpretation sheds a different light on the meaning, feeling or depth that comes along with it. Take the traditional song Columbus Stockade Blues, where the late Jeff Hickey performs my favorite version, recorded as:
Columbus Stockade.So it goes with the skies as well. Take a look at the Eagle Nebula…
esiegel | August 7, 2011"Dang it, I am sick and tired of everyone's asinine ideas about me. I'm not a redneck, and I'm not some Hollywood jerk. I'm something else entirely. I'm... I'm complicated!" -Hank Hill
One of the most common questions I get from writing all I do about the Universe is whether or not I believe in a higher power, in any religion, whether I'm an atheist, etc. And up until this point, I've always declined to answer, on the grounds that it really shouldn't matter for what I do. But I've also declined to answer because, well, my own personal views don't really align very well with the views I've…
esiegel | July 30, 2011"And all your future lies beneath your hat." -John Oldham
Yes, with all the space, astronomy and astrophysics I do here, I can still recognize that there are things of great beauty and importance happening here on the lower 50% of our gaze. For this weekend, I've got a sweet song by Railroad Earth:
Neath The Stars.(Railroad Earth is great live, by the way. Don't miss your chance to see them if you get one!)
Well, beneath the ground, in many places across the world, lie a series of underground caves. The most spectacular one I've ever been to is Kartchner Caverns in Arizona, spectacular…
esiegel | July 24, 2011"Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you." -Oscar Wilde
For those of you who don't typically listen to soul singers, you may want to have a listen to this. There's always something about live performances that bring out their best, and so this weekend I present to you,
I Heard Love Is Blind.To those of you who don't recognize the voice or the song, I hope you at least recognize the talent and the quality of what you're listening to.
Because that's Amy Winehouse. That's live, off of her debut album, Frank,…
esiegel | July 17, 2011"A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long." -e. e. cummings
While the rest of the United States gets swept over by a heat wave, the weekend here in Portland, OR gives us an all-too-familiar sight.
But I have found the diversion (for myself, at least) for the rainy weekend. I'm listening to The Detroit Cobras' version (they're a cover band) of the soul classic,
It's Raining.And what is it I've found for entertainment? My favorite old nintendo games, available (at last!) to play online in…
esiegel | July 10, 2011"In the United States today, there is a pervasive tendency to treat children as adults, and adults as children. The options of children are thus steadily expanded, while those of adults are progressively constricted. The result is unruly children and childish adults." -Thomas Szasz
Some of the email I get, periodically, asks me if there are any science books or TV shows that I recommend. (When a particularly good one comes across my radar, I let you know.) But a more unusual request I recently received was if there were any books or TV shows that I recommended for kids.
For me -- personally…
esiegel | June 26, 2011"Everything that's realistic has some sort of ugliness in it. Even a flower is ugly when it wilts, a bird when it seeks its prey, the ocean when it becomes violent." -Sharon Tate
For those of you who miss the folksy songs of summer I so often post (but not lately), I have you covered this week. If you've never heard of the band Girlyman, consider this an easy introduction to them, as I'm happy to present you, this weekend, with their song,
Bird On The Wire.But if you're anything like I am, you may have been distracted, recently, by a far more entertaining set of birds. Yes, I refer you to the…