Uncertain Principles Archive
Physics, Politics, Pop Culture; formerly on ScienceBlogs
You didn’t get a photo of the day yesterday because this was my day: I spent about seven hours on planes, starting before the sun was up in California, to say nothing of the time spent in airports. I had the good camera with me, so I got some cool photos out the plane window, […]
As noted yesterday, I’m visiting my sister for a few days, since I was on the West Coast anyway. Being here in Southern California, it seems appropriate to jack Kevin Drum’s style and do some cat-blogging, and luckily enough, my sister is the Cat Person in the family. So, here they are: SteelyKid was really […]
Having successfully given two talks in Sacramento, I’m spending a few days visiting my sister in Riverside, CA, because it’s not often I’m on the West Coast at all. She had to work this morning, so I went on a bit of a hike up and down Mt. Rubidoux, where the city has built a […]
Having a slow morning here in Sacramento, because yesterday started before 4am and ended after 1am, according to my internal clock. This provided the opportunity to take some nicer pictures than just the obligatory hotel-window shot, so I went for a walk on the bike path by the American River. Where I saw Fire Sheep: […]
I’m in California for a few days, to give a couple of talks in Sacramento. I’m told that it’s traditional to commemorate such travel by taking a photo of a hotel parking lot, so here you go: There are, in fact, palm trees around here, just not any that are visible from the hotel room […]
When we were in DC back in July, SteelyKid purchased a toy Newton’s cradle. And I already owned a 1000fps video camera, so it was inevitable that the one would end up in front of the other… I spent a while this afternoon making high-speed video of the toy clicking back and forth, but didn’t […]
We’ve had a serious cold snap over the last few days, with temperatures dropping from the 60F kind of range down to 40F. And with that comes, well: Happily, it’s going to warm back up over the next couple of days, but it won’t be long before I need to extend nearly every morning’s routine […]
A few years back, I did a couple of posts on the physics of a sad balloon (that is, a helium balloon that can no longer lift itself up to the ceiling), the first on simple buoyancy, the second on how long it takes for the helium to leak out. These were based on only […]
It’s been a while since I did it, but on a few occasions in the past, I’ve done posts here titled “Who Are You People?” asking readers to comment and say something about themselves. This is not remotely scientific, as a survey of blog readership, though. Happily, an actual scientist is stepping up for this: […]
Every Sunday, I take the kids down to the Schenectady Greenmarket, which from May-October is held outdoors, on the streets around City Hall. This puts it right next to our local independent bookstore, The Open Door, which is kind of popular with the kids: We have a standing agreement that they can each get one […]