Some Memes You May Enjoy

Many a truth is said in jest.

- He's not wrong.

- Well you said it

- This will learn them

- Heh Heh

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Is the war in Gaza finally over? Let's hope its a lasting peace.

- Nobel physics prize awarded to US based trio for discoveries in quantum mechanics.

- Long but interesting: An existential guide to making friends. "Friendship is logistics performed tenderly." Could have done without the moss analogy though.

- Am I an awful person for knowing who this is or for laughing at the joke?

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Michael Shellenberger on the Epstein client list story. He's right this is nothing short of renewed censorship.

- Is Xi on his way out in China? Interesting. (HT Borepatch)

- States with school choice test better that states without the competition.

- If you look at just the results - Donald Trump does deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.

mRNA Scientists Win Nobel Prize

The most deserving Nobel Award since Franz Haber was awarded the Nobel in 1919 and his invention was later used to exterminate millions in the Holocaust. The Nobel Prize is a sick joke,

Chocolate = Brain Power?

Interesting graph correlating a country's consumption of chocolate and production of Nobel laureates. America needs to eat more chocolate! Posting this today as a justification for you to raid the leftover Halloween candy in the pantry or to sneak a couple candy bars from your kid's haul last night. (Graph Via) 

Nobel Prize in Physics 2022 Explained

 

Brian Greene does a nice job explaining quantum entanglement and the significance of this year's Nobel Prize in Physics.

More Linky Links

More stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Covid-19 Disrupts Years of Health Progress in US. The deaths per 100,000 people in the US were bad last year - made worse by Democratic Governors killing the elderly in nursing homes with their policies.

- Heh Heh - 'Back in the NY Groove': New ad campaign launched. So that's why I'm suddenly hearing that song after decades. (Thanks Stephen!)

- Glenn Greenwald: Biden, Reversing Trump, Permits a Key Putin Goal. As has been pointed out many places the Biden Administration is now on record as being against a pipeline wanted by Canada that would have created thousands of jobs in the US but is in favor of a pipeline that will help Russia and hurt the US geopolitically.

- Bill Gates hoped Jeffrey Epstein could help him win a Nobel Prize according to report. Bill Gates really doesn't seem to have really good personal judgement. BTW Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself.   

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- How Blue Apron became a massive $2 billion disaster

- Matt Taibbi on Mike Bloomberg

- Heh Heh

- Tesla's Powerpack (and Powerwall) products should not be overlooked

- The largest 3-D printed building in the world. Two stories and 6,900 square feet.

- Wow - what a hero! And another reason to dislike Al Gore.

- Young people and Socialism

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The Earth's magnetic field is reversing. Science has no idea what effect this will have on our climate.

- The trade war hits China where it hurts. "The tariffs are working. Big tech companies are taking their manufacturing out of China; retailers are pulling out as well." I imagine if China takes a violent hard line dealing with Hong Kong that many more companies will look to do business elsewhere. You may also start hearing those "Free Tibet" protests once again.

- And speaking of manufacturers exiting China.

- Interesting look at the man who is tasked with trying to save Barnes & Nobles. Hat tip to A Layman's Blog (one of my daily reads)

- Interesting reflections on a pilgrimage to Ian Fleming's grave.

- Great point on the Nobel Prize for Literature

- Io's volcanic tides. As an aside Volcanic Tides would be a good name for a band.

Paul Dirac

Born on this day 117-years ago one of the greatest, most underappreciated minds of the 20th century - Paul Dirac.

Here's his bio from the Nobel Prize folks.

He was a man of few words but his math and equations were poetry.

His biography The Strangest Man was a fascinating read if you're a fan of physics.

Here's a link to his 1963 article in Scientific American The Evolution of the Physicist's Picture of Nature.  The article is a (very) long read but conversely it gives you both a succinct history of modern physics and a good taste of the genius of Paul Dirac.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- The DMZ in Korea is being dismantled. If unification or something close comes to North and South Korea how does President Trump not get awarded a Nobel Prize?

- We've all had days like this

- Quitter!

- This is sad - the annual Rolling Thunder ride is coming to an end. 2019 will be the last ride.

- Very cool

- An update on Craig James (who I still think is a dick)

- World GDP by Country - it is fascinating to watch

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Periodic reminder to Steelers fans - your team lost playoffs games to both Blake Bortles and Tim Tebow... Talk about being consistent... Every time I'm tempted to give a Nobel Prize winner too much credit I remind myself that former Enron adviser Paul Krugman won one for economics and that Yasser Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize...  Heh heh - Run, Tommy Run... Still on the fence about President Trump but if he were to name Alice Cooper US Poet Laureate that might put me over the top...  Remember - until you pin me Festivus is not over!

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Was the new USMCA deal a result of Jared Kushner's good cop to President Trump's bad cop? Sure seems that way. Good job!

- Where do we find such men?

- Heh Heh

- You have to be frigging kidding me. This is what you get when everyone gets "participation trophies".

- New role model indeed!

- Phil Steele's College Top 25 Bettor Power Rankings

- Interesting - is social media addiction in the NBA out of control? Long read but worth it. The next generation of kids - never mind NBA players - will have a serious problem with this.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Reminder to those who think President Trump is guaranteed a Nobel Prize for potentially bringing peace to Korea - George W. Bush did more to stem the catastrophic spread of HIV in Africa than anyone but he was never even nominated for a Nobel Prize... Still one of the best time-wasters on the Internet... Sure Houston looks good at home going up 1-0 but just wait till the team gets to Utah and is taunted by Mitt Romney. Different story then I tell ya... Reminder that the Planck Scale is mind-bendingly small... If you think on it - Sam and Frodo basically hiked the entire distance of the Appalachian Trail to get the ring from the Shire to Mount Doom... Also just a reminder... Vengeful Farts would be a good name for a punk band or a fantasy football team...

Albert Einstein

Today is Albert Einstein's birthday. Just a reminder that even though E=MC2 is perhaps the most famous scientific equation in history - Einstein never received the Nobel Prize for coming up with it. The reasons for this slight were mostly because Einstein was Jewish. The committee eventually gave Einstein the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his 1905 explanation of the photoelectric effect but that was really too little too late.

As smart as Einstein was it makes me chuckle to remember that when Einstein graduated from our equivalent of high school - he finished second in his class. The name of the person who was valedictorian is lost to history but I couldn't help but think of someone back then saying something like, "Yeah Einstein was pretty smart in high school but you should have seen this other guy!"

Also when Albert Einstein first visited the US in 1921 - the US Senate saw fit to debate the validity of the Theory of Relativity - seriously. The Theory of Relativity just turned 101 years old. In this video uber biographer Walter Isaacson explains the Theory of Relativity in under 3 minutes.

Random Albert Einstein trivia; when Einstein lived in Princeton he had a small 17-foot sailboat he named Tinef which is Yiddish for "piece of junk". I find that endearing.

Finally - 10 Myths about Albert Einstein debunked

The Nobel Prize in Physics

The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to the LIGO team for proving gravitational waves exist. Brian Greene explains both what gravitational waves are and also why this is so important.



Meanwhile Eddie Yong explains why the award didn't really go to the LIGO "team" but only to Rainer Weiss, Kip Thorne, and Barry Barish. All well deserving but the question remains - what about the rest of the team? I agree that's its time to make changes to how the Nobel Prize is awarded in science.

Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman

Richard Feynman was a very interesting character and I enjoyed his "autobiography". I use the words in quotations because it was really more a collection of stories. Feynman, along with two others, won the Nobel Prize in 1965 for his work on quantum electrodynamics. But that's barely a blip in the book. In fact I don't think it is even mentioned until there were about 50-pages left in the book.

Feynman was a one-of-a-kind character. A man who was always curious and always learning. As a kid he was interested in how radios worked and soon became the go-to person for adults to see to get their radios fixed (back in the days before TV). While working on the Manhattan Project he became interested in becoming a safe cracker and soon became expert on that too. Drumming, Samba music, Portuguese, Japanese and painting became other interests of his. Can you see why Feynman was considered so unique?

Recently Feynman has come under some criticism because the Don Draper misogyny of the 60's isn't tolerated by today's PC culture. But Feynman was a man of his time and a man who enjoyed the company of beautiful women. I wouldn't hold that against him.

Someday I am interested in trying to make it through the Feynman Lectures on Physics which Cal Tech has been kind enough to post online.

I enjoyed Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman and would recommend the book.

Albert Einstein

Today is Albert Einstein's birthday. Just a reminder that even though E=MC2 is perhaps the most famous scientific equation in history - Einstein never received the Nobel Prize for coming up with it. The reasons for this slight were mostly because Einstein was Jewish. The committee eventually gave Einstein the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his 1905 explanation of the photoelectric effect but that was really too little too late.

As smart as Einstein was it makes me chuckle to remember that when Einstein graduated from our equivalent of high school - he finished second in his class. The name of the person who was valedictorian is lost to history but I couldn't help but think of someone back then saying something like, "Yeah Einstein was pretty smart in high school but you should have seen this other guy!"

Also when Albert Einstein first visited the US in 1921 - the US Senate saw fit to debate the validity of the Theory of Relativity - seriously. The Theory of Relativity just turned 101 years old. In this video uber biographer Walter Isaacson explains the Theory of Relativity in under 3 minutes.

Random Albert Einstein trivia; when Einstein lived in Princeton he had a small 17-foot sailboat he named Tinef which is Yiddish for "piece of junk". I find that endearing.

Finally - 10 Myths about Albert Einstein debunked

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein died 60-years ago today. Here's an interesting look at why Einstein never received the Nobel Prize for his theory of relativity.

E=MC2 may be the most famous scientific equation in history but it was never quite good enough for the Nobel committee. The committee eventually gave Einstein the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his 1905 explanation of the photoelectric effect but that was really too little too late.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting or amusing and thought I'd share.

- Praise be unto He

- What it's like to carry your Nobel Prize through airport security

- Heh heh - Damaged goods should be called "Bads"

- Awesome drum battle - US Marines vs Republic of Korea

- There were plenty of chemical weapons in Iraq

- Bill Gates has a really good idea for tax reform