Random Stuff
esiegel | December 24, 2013"Bethany: Is your house on fire, Clark?
Clark: No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights." -National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
Ahh, Christmas. It's easy to forget how much the invention of the light bulb in 1879 reduced the number of tree fires in people's homes. It was a mere three years later that people began decorating Christmas trees with strings of lights instead of candle flames, and as you can imagine, the reduction in open flames atop fresh kindling had its benefits, and caught on like wildfire. Trees now routinely sport previously unfathomable numbers of lights, limited…
esiegel | December 22, 2013"We especially need imagination in science. It is not all mathematics, nor all logic, but it is somewhat beauty and poetry." -Maria Montessori
The Universe has some wonderful sights to show you if you know how to look for them, and that's maybe most apparent when you look at some of the amazing images from the Hubble Space Telescope. Here on Earth, however, the onset of winter for many of us brings a little bit of scarcity with it, something Drive By Truckers can help you relate to with their song,
When The Well Runs Dry.
You might not think these two things are related -- the wonders of…
esiegel | December 8, 2013“Who is more humble? The scientist who looks at the universe with an open mind and accepts whatever the universe has to teach us, or somebody who says everything in this book must be considered the literal truth and never mind the fallibility of all the human beings involved?” -Carl Sagan
It's a challenging thing, to admit to ourselves how vast and mysterious this Universe is, and how small and ignorant we all truly are. It can feel daunting and isolating to think about it, and solace can be difficult to find, as Mazzy Star can maybe help you related to as you listen to their wonderful song…
esiegel | November 30, 2013"Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who take pictures, you know, carry a camera. Because if I did I'd have stacks and stacks and stacks of different acts." -Edwin Starr
You've been outside enough to know that the deepest photos of the Universe -- of the night sky -- aren't quite the same thing you see when you open your gaze on even the darkest nights; there's often a lot more visible in the photos than there are to the unaided eye. As Earth, Wind & Fire would sing you (how's that for one from the vault), it might feel like you find yourself in a land called
Fantasy.
That's…
esiegel | November 24, 2013"Education is a continual process, it's like a bicycle... If you don't pedal you don't go forward." -George Weah
I don't know how many of you out there have an office day job, sitting hunched over at a desk for the better part of 8+ hours a day, but it's pretty well known that it's not only bad for you, but it feels bad to do, physically. Staying in one motionless position or posture for too long is the culprit, and Leo Kottke's music might make you want to get up and move if you have a listen to his song,
Busted Bicycle.
And while there are options out there for those of you with autonomy…
esiegel | November 16, 2013"I like to compare the holiday season with the way a child listens to a favorite story. The pleasure is in the familiar way the story begins, the anticipation of familiar turns it takes, the familiar moments of suspense, and the familiar climax and ending." -Fred Rogers
I know it's still the middle of November, but I know that many of you are already thinking about holiday gifts for the lovers of physics, astronomy and the Universe in your life. People send me books and other educational materials throughout the year for review, and although they all have good and bad points about them, I'm…
esiegel | November 10, 2013"My idea of perfect happiness is a healthy family, peace between nations, and all the critics die." -David Mamet
As a theorist in physics, most of my research time is spent looking for errors in painstaking calculations, writing and running simulation code, and trying desperately to connect some very abstract concepts to potential observables in either experiments or the Universe.
But for experimentalists, the key difficulty is always some variation on one unifying theme: getting good data. That's why this weekend, I'm proud to bring you a fantastic takeoff of Daft Punk's Get Lucky by the…
esiegel | November 3, 2013"My strength is much greater than yours!" -Zangief, Street Fighter II
I hope everyone had as great a halloween as I did, and -- although I know it's sad -- it's time to bid a fond farewell to my Zangief avatar that once graced the top this blog. To be honest, I'll miss Zangief quite a bit.
Image credit: Capcom / IGN, retrieved from http://www.torontothumbs.com/.
But that doesn't mean that we can't reminisce about Street Fighter II every now and again, and that I didn't enjoy this tremendous nine-webisode-miniseries by CollegeHumor about what's happened to each of my favorite characters…
esiegel | October 31, 2013"I'm not ashamed to dress 'like a woman' because I don't think it's shameful to be a woman." - Iggy Pop
Well folks, it's that time of year once again: to share my favorite holiday with you and change my digital avatar for the next 365 days! Traditionally, I've dressed as superhero-figures from my childhood, but I wanted to switch it up a little bit this year. This year, my halloween costume is based on Rainbow Dash.
Image credit: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Season 1 Episode 16, via http://mlp.wikia.com/.
For those of you who've never encountered the new My Little Pony: Friendship…
esiegel | October 26, 2013"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little." -George Carlin
Whatever you may think of the chances are for intelligent life in our galaxy are today, I can guarantee you they're going to go up dramatically in a few billion years. Sure, by that time the Earth may be a little too hot for comfort, and in that sense -- as Split Lip Rayfield would say -- we'll probably
Never Make It Home.
But that doesn't mean there won't be a new-and-improved home out there, not only from among the stars and planets in our…
esiegel | October 19, 2013"I think one of the reasons that we like conspiracy theories is I think that we like to feel like there is a group of people who are so smart and powerful that they can pull the wool over an entire country or in fact even an entire world's eyes. That certainly makes us feel like somehow we're protected, even if it's not in our best interest." -Jason Ritter
Everyone knows one: the friend-or-relative who simply can't believe that things are the way they are, that someone's out to get them, trick them, or con them in some way. It's where my sympathies for Todd Snider came to a screeching halt…
esiegel | October 13, 2013"Haters are like crickets; they make a lot of noise you can hear but you never see them, then you walk right by them and they're quiet." -Unknown
The sound of crickets adds an unavoidable hum to the evenings and nights in many places throughout the world, a familiar sound -- I'm sure -- to a great many of you.
Each male cricket has a large, serrated (sawtooth) vein running along the bottom of each wing, and by rubbing the top of one wing against the bottom of the other, while simultaneously holding the wings up-and-open, the wing membranes vibrate, and create that familiar chirping sound…
esiegel | October 5, 2013“Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk.” -Jack Handy
The diversity of the world's animals is one of the most fantastic natural marvels that life on Earth has delivered. From the sea to land to the air, there's no shortage of wonders to explore. Today, though, I want to talk to you about one of the most bizarre sights of nature, as the 1989 supergroup Strength in Numbers once played…
esiegel | September 29, 2013"Let us leave this place where the smoke blows black
And the dark street winds and bends.
Past the pits where the asphalt flowers grow
We shall walk with a walk that is measured and slow,
And watch where the chalk-white arrows go
To the place where the sidewalk ends." -Shel Silverstein
No, there's not really an edge to our world, but if you've ever been to the ocean shores, you might know that feeling I'm talking about. The smell of the salt water, the wind gusting in from the sea, the sandy beaches and rocky outcrops slowly losing ground to the relentless waves; it's one of the most…
esiegel | September 22, 2013Note: This post has been updated and improved as of 2014 here, at the new Starts With A Bang blog. What follows, below, is the original version that was first published here.
"I love the sounds and the power of pounding water, whether it is the waves or a waterfall." -Mike May
The world's oceans have always been special to me, and bodies of water in general. The air smells different, the wind blows cool, and you're reminded of the power of the salty seas every time you step in. It's one of the reasons that the old sea shanties have always fascinated me. This week, have a listen to an updated…
esiegel | September 14, 2013"Why should people go out and pay money to see bad films when they can stay at home and see bad television for nothing?" -Samuel Goldwyn
There are few experiences that we can share together -- no matter the great distances in space or time -- like a good movie. Encapsulating a great variety of aspects of the human experience in just a couple of hours, a movie can take us to places we've never been and inside the minds of people we've never known, as Janove Ottesen reminds us in his song,
Black And White Movie.
This weekend, I'd like to highlight for you three of my favorite fake film…
esiegel | September 7, 2013“Some days you go bear hunting and you get eaten. Some days you come home with a nice rug to roll around on, and bear steaks. What they don't tell you as a kid is that sometimes you get the rug and steaks, but you also get some nice scars to go with them. ...once you realize what can go wrong, it's a lot scarier to go hunting 'bears'.” -Laurell K. Hamilton
Some of the most incredible stories in all of human experience come from struggles against nature. One of the greatest storytellers in all of music, Slaid Cleaves, sings an incredibly (and tragically, like all of his songs) memorable one…
esiegel | August 31, 2013"I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won't contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That's what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act." -Orson Welles
It's like that for all forms of storytelling, including the science I write about here. Some of the best conversations happen not because I know something amazing that I want to share with you, but because there's something you want to know about, and I know something that can help you get to where you want to be.…
esiegel | August 24, 2013"I'm happy to report that everybody whose face I've wanted to punch on Earth has already been punched." -Greg Kinnear
Well, it's finally happened. After the javascript music player I'd been using to share music with you was discontinued, I finally found a new one here. There's no better way to test it out than with Soïg Sibéril's masterful guitar work, as showcased here in his song,
The Jug of Punch/Master Crowley.So enjoy that beautifulness, while I walk you way down memory lane. I grew up during the golden age of nintendo, when Mario, Zelda and Metroid were some of the best ways to spend…
esiegel | August 18, 2013"[F]or those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command nor faith a dictum. I am my own god. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us." -Charles Bukowski
Making sense of our existence is one of the most daunting tasks -- should we choose to accept it -- set before any…