Nic

dislexic physicists?

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 08:26:18 GMT

All right! Insert Giggitys here.

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:28:09 GMT

I just ordered a slide rule. I'm convinced that the visceral feel for numerical relationships has been lost with the advent of the modern calculator. I suppose we'll see if I'm full of crap or not after I have a chance to use the slide rule for a while.

In other news, I was volunteered to take a Project Management course at work. So far it hasn't been the most fun I've ever had, but it's definitely more interesting than I was expecting. And I really should be reading the 80 pages I need to read by tomorrow, but of course I'm not. At one point just after graduating high school I was reading at about 1000 words per minute. (Our school's 'survey of American lit' class was actually a speed-read-American-lit class). After years of reading physics texts, I'm lucky to get one page per minute in a standard paperback novel, which can't be more than a few hundred words.

I suppose I should stop procrastinating...

Astley...

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 06:16:53 GMT

Is there a term for when you think you're following a link to Rick Astley's video but you end up somewhere else?

Inverse Rickrolling? ...Rickblocked?

two things:

Sat, 10 May 2008 04:40:11 GMT

50 cent ice cream sundaes at work can considerably brighten one's day.

i love scotch! scotchy scotch scotch.

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 16:45:31 GMT

The Aquateen Hunger Force movie had both Mastodon and Neil Pert in it. I really need to find the Linoleum Knife song. That should be the new movie preamble in every theater, everywhere.

Harry Plopper?

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 16:18:26 GMT

Diagon Ally. diagonally. I can't believe I didn't catch that before. I feel so dumb.

Random updates

Thu, 28 Jun 2007 21:30:54 GMT

I passed my ikkyu test for kendo. Only got sankyu in iaido, but that's better than what I had before. Now if I could only find a Limalama school that isn't in BFE. I found out too late that the organization's office was based in Conroe. 'Was' being the operative word. They've moved to Seattle.

We've got Tivo now. I don't like the way the service payment is set up, but the system is actually pretty nice. We've just got standard cable and it adds in the info bar and will let you search for what you want over the next two weeks. I suppose it was worth it. As long as the rebate goes through that is.

Chocolate that contains chili peppers is very good. Not an everyday type of chocolate, but it is a nice pick up in the late afternoon at work.

The NIN track from the 300 trailer has been in my head for two days now. I like it, but I need something else I think. Previous to that, it was Tenacious D's 'Dude (I Totally Miss You)', which was stuck in my head on and off for about a month.

An interesting take on the new wave of incandecent bulb replacements

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 17:36:37 GMT

Link to article in the National Post

Embrace the Nerditude

Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:40:43 GMT

There is a Book whose authors, while presenting a mathematical work, still retain their humanity and, further, their humor. A Book whose introduction contains the phrase, "so that only seldom is it necessary to use the phrase, 'it may be shown,' so frustrating to the reader" as well as the phrase, "sufficient ocular decoupling". A Book that can still provide the sweet, sweet ache of knowledge.

I speak of the Book by Morse and Feshbach.

C'mon! Everybody is doing it! You know you want to write one.

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 01:18:05 GMT

The Goat puts pressure
on us to write poetry
and Stiffie succumbs

Update?

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 15:38:29 GMT

I've probably missed a few people in my tell-everyone-about-the-baby rush so if I've missed you or someone else let me know so I can send you the link for pictures of Nathaniel... if you're the type of person who enjoys such things that is.

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 22:13:03 GMT

The Pompatus' post the other day made me wonder what credibility the SciGuy (at chron.com) has that would give him the wherewithal to write about science. I've read a few of his posts that irritated me, though I don't remember if it was lack of factual backup or just plain disagreement that rubbed me the wrong way.

Unfortunately I couldn't find any reference on his blog page other than a brief mention of graduate school, though I didn't do anything close to an exhaustive search by any means. Does anyone know what his credentials are?

(Also, on a completely different topic, i find it amusing that Livejoural's spell checker doesn't recognize 'blog')

Fri, 12 Jan 2007 18:21:46 GMT

Finally!!

The illustrated pirate joke!

Next!

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 17:14:09 GMT

How many mice does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

Two, but don't ask me how they got in there.

Best Joke of the Day

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 18:53:02 GMT

Waiting for the hotplate to cooldown, I ran across this one:

Q: Why did the scarecrow win the Nobel prize?

A: Because he was outstanding in his field.

Tue, 12 Dec 2006 18:05:18 GMT

What ever happened to the idea that you're responsible for the safety of yourself and the ones around you?

The current trend for lawmakers to try to impose these all encompassing laws to "protect" the citizens is insane. When I walk out of the house I realize that I may not return. A lot can happen in a single day and the world, while amazing, is dangerous. It always has been and it always will be. I don't think for a minute that I'm not responsible for taking care of myself, and by extension, those around me.

Am I expecting too much from the general population of this country? Yes we need people willing to go out of the way to protect us from certain things and certain people with which we as individuals are not equipped to deal. But people, if you're not willing to look after yourself or your own children, either in the real world or in the virtual world, then there are much more serious problems than those being addressed.

Holloween Pics, finally!

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 00:01:15 GMT

Link to the Flickr set... more to be added later

Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:56:23 GMT

The phrase of the day is "padded pole compartment", and I can't stop laughing about it.

Wha?!!!

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 18:26:44 GMT

How is it that the department can offer that many classes, none of which can be applied to my course of study? Unless I want to take Quantum II before passing Quantum I... which I really don't want to do! And the only other 7000 level class available requires QII!!

Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:33:00 GMT

Why is it that a muppet is always the hardest to make into a costume?

What happens when physicists procrastinate?

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 01:14:35 GMT

The overlap of the Holloween season and procrastination of pre-exam time is a horrible occurance for the general safety and well being of those around physicists (and engineers too, though they tend to be a little safer about it) who find themselves in such situations.

I had a few projects for holloween that I wanted to work on, the first being a persistence of vision project that I cant get to work though the MCU is programmed correctly and the wiring seems correct. I may just have misjudged the supply voltage, but really I have no clue... more likely is that the code is flawed and I have been too lazy to try to find the error.

Second is a project for making glowing eyes that will blink occationally that can be hidden in the bushes and such around the apartment. Again the wiring is pretty simple, but the MCU the project details is a Pic controller and I'm trying to use an MSP430. So i basically have to rewrite the code that was provided for the Pic into something that will work for the msp... more than likely it's easier to just start fresh and write it in C since the Pic code is in assembly and I havent played with assembly in over 10 years.

So instead I managed to track down a high voltage power supply (6kV, though I'm going to return it and get the 10kV to acheive that special kungfu grip spark action). With said supply, I went to work and produced this:

A picture of the apparatus.

And heres a short phone-made video of the spark in action:

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:39:45 GMT

Finally a Packers game that will actually be broadcast in Texas! Hopefully I can finish up this SEM work before it starts. Anyone up for watching the game with me... well you should know how to find me.

Fri, 22 Sep 2006 15:48:35 GMT

There's an interesting game I found this morning. Have a look at it, then take a look at the reasoning behind it.

Link to Flow

Since it be a day fer pirates...

Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:35:13 GMT

You are The Cap'n!

Some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some slit the throats of any man that stands between them and the mantle of power. You never met a man you couldn't eviscerate. Not that mindless violence is the only avenue open to you - but why take an avenue when you have complete freeway access? You are the definitive Man of Action. You are James Bond in a blousy shirt and drawstring-fly pants. Your swash was buckled long ago and you have never been so sure of anything in your life as in your ability to bend everyone to your will. You will call anyone out and cut off their head if they show any sign of taking you on or backing down. You cannot be saddled with tedious underlings, but if one of your lieutenants shows an overly developed sense of ambition he may find more suitable accommodations in Davy Jones' locker. That is, of course, IF you notice him. You tend to be self absorbed - a weakness that may keep you from seeing enemies where they are and imagining them where they are not.

What's Yer Inner Pirate?
brought to you by The Official Talk Like A Pirate Web Site. Arrrrr!

Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:32:51 GMT

Yesterday was the first day of class and so far I think it will go well. I like the way the course has been structured. And the prof's accent reminds me of home so that's rather nice.

I was gonna write more but as of now it can all be summed up as follows:

meh.