Category: Physics / Chem
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Dream: Airbender gone wrong
This was one of those being chased dreams. Everyone has superpowers. Mine? If I move too fast in a single direction a glowing, writhing ball of explosives developed in front of me. My superpower was pulling the hydrocarbons out of the air to make an aerosol TNT. But only in front of me. If I timed…
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R.I.P. Stephen Hawking
When I was twelve, my father recommended I read a book. It is the only book one I can think of that he has ever made to me. But, I have to say, it was probably the best recommendation anyone has ever made to me. See, when I was a kid, I loved space technology…
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Total Eclipse
A friend invited others to her parent’s house inside the totality. It was fantastic placement very near the center of totality, so we got to see it for a couple minutes rather than a few seconds just inside totality. [Photo album] I experienced the annular eclipses in 1984 and 1994. I was a kid…
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TED Talk: Randall Munroe
I have followed XKCD for years. His What If? blog (and book) is really good as well. He walks step-by step through the inputs and effects of the questions. The What If for the video below is Relativistic Baseball. If the video does not load, then try Randall Munroe: Comics That Ask What If?
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Review: The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by Carl Sagan My rating: 3 of 5 stars This book was originally Glasgow University Gifford Lectures for the theme The Search for Who We Are in 1985. Sagan does a great job explaining difficult concepts clearly and with compelling evidence. Unfortunately,…
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Healing Is Anti-Entropy
The Science of Healing Places was on the radio this morning. A statement near the end to the effect that healing is life or a part of life reminded me of something. Entropy, aka the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is the force behind why when you break a glass it cannot be reversed and come back…
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God Lives 9 Light Years Away
This passage comes from the book Big Bang. [George] Gamow was infamous for his limericks and his sometimes offbeat application of physics. On one occasion, he argued God lived 9.5 light years from the Earth. This estimate  relied on the fact that in 1904, at the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, churches across Russia had…
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TEDxCaltech Michelle Feynman and Christopher Sykes
Christopher Sykes is known for his Richard Feynman documentaries such as The Pleasure of Finding Things Out. Youtube has a wealth of Richard Feynman videos. Well, there goes my free time for the next week.
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Tearing the Fabric of the Cosmos
Scientists plan an ultrapowerful laser to tear apart the fabric of spacetime to see what is inside. Everyone knows when you cause a rip in the spacetime continuum, bad things happen from Star Trek. Know science wants to destroy the universe. Freakin’ laser beams! Actually one of the most awesome lasers coming from of science…