Backstory: In my classes, I put my email address on the syllabus and tell students that I'll write back as soon as I can (sometimes even at crazy hours, if I happen to be up). Kim is even nicer: she even gives her students her home phone number (with strict instructions not to call past bedtime ( Read more... )

I saw this comic recently ( Read more... )

I've recently read two science fiction stories that proved to be more closely related than I expected, given that they were recommended by entirely different sources in (as far as I recall) entirely different contexts. Some of that may just be a matter of who I am right now and what I've been thinking about lately (apart from physics teaching and ( Read more... )

It is cold in Alma today. When I walked in this morning, the temperature was right around 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but the wind chill was something like -8F (though the wind chill forecast had been for -17F; maybe we lucked out ( Read more... )

[Phone rings. I pick it up ( Read more... )

My "Physics of Video Games" talk at AlmaCon went beautifully. (The con as a whole seems to be going really well, too. Thank goodness!) Many thanks to those of you who suggested ideas: some of those confirmed the value of thoughts I'd already had and others filled exactly the gaps that I had been worried about finding good examples for. My turnout ( Read more... )

I went to the store today to get a new box of (generic) Sudafed. As usual, I had to jump through hoops to buy it since pseudoephedrine can be used to make meth. After I showed my driver's license, the pharmacist asked me to sign a statement about not misrepresenting my identity or using it for anything illegal. All standard stuff these days ( Read more... )

donaithnen just pointed me to this amazingly awesome kids toy. It's entirely possible that I would have fit inside one when I first became a Dr. Who fan, but more importantly, it may well still exist when our coming little one gets big enough to be interested. (Would I really spend £200 on it? It does seem like considerably more than I'd imagined paying for ( Read more... )

[Sorry this one's a bit long, but there was a lot of great stuff on that final day.]
Friday, January 7:Our final day at sea began with Peter Sagal leading a quiz show featuring the various entertainers. It was listed on the schedule as "Hey Hey... I'm Clever!", but after one of his comments about a pet peeve at Monday's Q&A session it was renamed " ( Read more... )

While I was digging through boxes of old papers I found a short story that I wrote near the end of high school. It was a weird experience: I'd just learned about a piece of science that sounded cool (Lagrangian mechanics), and I suddenly saw a sci-fi story in it and had to write it down. (Maybe some lucky professional writers have those moments ( Read more... )