5 Apr 2012

The Quantum Theory of Mitt Romney

posted in: public affairs, quirky | 0

I’m not a regular New York Times reader, but this came my way and is too good not to share. In case you’re not sure if it’s accurate, let me say this: Mitt Romney was my governor. I know Mitt Romney. And if this doesn’t fit you, you’re not Mitt Romney. It’s by David Javerbaum, former head writer and executive producer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/01/opinion/sunday/a-quantum-theory-of-mitt-romney.html

I hope this isn’t behind a paywall. Just in case, here’s an excerpt:

Complementarity. In much the same way that light is both a particle and a wave, Mitt Romney is both a moderate and a conservative, depending on the situation… It is not that he is one or the other; it is not that he is one and then the other. He is both at the same time….

Uncertainty. Frustrating as it may be, the rules of quantum campaigning dictate that no human being can ever simultaneously know both what Mitt Romney’s current position is and where that position will be at some future date. This is known as the “principle uncertainty principle.”

Entanglement. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a proton, neutron or Mormon: the act of observing cannot be separated from the outcome of the observation. By asking Mitt Romney how he feels about an issue, you unavoidably affect how he feels about it. More precisely, Mitt Romney will feel every possible way about an issue until the moment he is asked about it, at which point the many feelings decohere into the single answer most likely to please the asker….

Duality. Many conservatives believe the existence of Mitt Romney allows for the possibility of the spontaneous creation of an “anti-Romney”… that leaps into existence and annihilates Mitt Romney. (However, the science behind this is somewhat suspect, as it is financed by Rick Santorum, for whom science itself is suspect.)

Read the whole thing, if you can. It’s funny, and more than a little true.

Edit: On reflection, I think maybe I was being a little mean here. To Mitt Romney the political persona, well—yeah, all that’s true. But to Mitt Romney the man…sorry, guy. I don’t really know you. For all I know, you’re a great guy. I hope you had a nice Easter weekend. 

24 Mar 2012

80 MPH and Other Questions of the Mind

posted in: quirky, the human mind | 0

Apparently this video has gone viral, depicting a man asking his wife the question, “If you’re traveling 80 miles per hour, how long would it take you to go 80 miles?” He poses the question while (apparently) driving down the highway, aiming a dashboard camera at himself and his wife, and frequently mugging his amusement for the camera as his wife flails hopelessly, trying to answer a ridiculously easy question. (Hint: It would take an hour.)

My first thought was, bullshit. He just happened to have a camera above the steering wheel, and he aimed it back and forth while posing for it and teasing his wife…while driving? Really? Jeez, I hope not. For one thing, I wouldn’t want to be on the same highway with him. For another, what kind of jerk would humiliate his wife on camera, then put it on Youtube for the world to see? (On the other hand, if I see it as faked, then I find it very funny. How weird is that?) 

But…the husband and wife appeared on Good Morning America, and said this is just what happened. She was mad, but they’ve made up.

Does the story pass the bullshitometer test now? I don’t know. But my brother tells me a colleague of his asked the same question (about MPH) of a couple of acquaintances, and neither of them could answer it, either. (Which reminded me of an unrelated video shot at a Harvard commencement, in which a bunch of newly minted Harvard grads were asked to explain what causes summer and winter—and none of them could.)

So let’s assume the story is true. I found myself wondering: Where does the understanding break down, when someone can’t answer a question that most find ridiculously obvious. I got to speculating: If the brain fails to parse the phrase “miles per hour” for its literal meaning and just hears [noise] that gets translated as [familiar-sounding sciencey jargon], does it just never think to examine the [noise] to see if there’s some hidden meaning? Or is there a linguistic deficit that gets in the way of parsing the phrase, sort of like dyslexia? And thus, left foundering, does the brain scramble to find something, anything to help answer the question?

I wonder what a psychologist would say about this? Maybe I should ask my brother.

21 Feb 2012

Animal Friendships

posted in: animal friends, quirky | 0

Who doesn’t love a story about inter-species friendships? A dog and an elephant? A cat and a crow? A hippo and a tortoise? A cat and a dolphin? A lion and its humans? Time Magazine compiled a dozen such stories in this video series. Click to the Time page to follow the sequence. (I’m starting you with #2, because I thought #1 was kind of dumb. But you can go back to it.) Be prepared to say, “Awwww…” a lot.

Now click that Time link to watch the others. Or wait! Why don’t I list them here for you?

And then watch this one, about a family of gorillas who strolled in to visit a tourist village.

14 Feb 2012

Have an Astronomically Romantic Valentine’s Day!

posted in: astronomy, quirky, romantic, space | 0

Settle in with a mug of good coffee or hot chocolate, pop the video up to full-screen, set the sound to romantically soft, and enjoy this with a friend (real or imaginary). From Randy Halverson of dakotalapse.com.


Temporal Distortion from Randy Halverson on Vimeo. (Click and scroll down to read about what you’re seeing, and how it was done. Also, note the composer of the music: Bear McCreary of BSG fame.)

20 Jan 2012

Star Wars Dogs

posted in: quirky | 0

This set Captain Jack howling! Dogs performing Darth Vader’s Imperial March. It doesn’t get much better than this. Call your dog over to listen before you press Play.

2 Dec 2011

Funny, Thought-provoking C.G.P. Grey

posted in: public affairs, quirky | 0

I actually have no idea who CGP Grey is. But I’ve just discovered his fun, funny, and provocative videos, which explain everything from why the penny costs us money to why we love our natural-pesticide beverage (coffee). Great stuff! You can see the lineup on his blog page. But here are a few to get you started:

Death to the Penny
Coffee: Greatest Addiction Ever
There’s lots more. I especially liked: 
12 Nov 2011

Happy 11/11/11!

posted in: quirky, special days | 0

Allysen and I have been trying for a while to figure out how to celebrate 11/11/11. For about the last year, I’ve had a strange knack for glancing idly at a clock and discovering that the time was 11:11. (Again? This is weird.) I wasn’t doing it intentionally at all, though after a while it became hard not to look at a clock and hope that it would be 11:11. Anyway, that gave me a special desire to celebrate November 11, 2011 (11/11/11), a truly cool date.

It turns out that where Allysen works, a lot of brainy, creative people had the same idea. She called me and said, “You have to come in and see it.” I did. These people are amazing. They had decorative pillars arranged in pairs all over. They had placards spelling out 11.11.11 in a bunch of different languages, including binary and Morse code.

 11.11.11 in Korean

 
 11.11.11 in Urdu (I think)
  
11.11.11 in ???
They renamed all the floors.

Among the special elevenses in the world:

  • There have been 11 Doctor Whos.
  • There have been 11 Star Trek movies.
  • The Apollo 11 mission landed the first men on the Moon.
  • In M-theory, there are 11 spatial dimensions.
  • The sunspot cycle is 11 years.
  • There are 11 thumb keys on a bassoon. 
  • The sports soccer, football, cricket, and field hockey all field 11 players to a team. 

We’re going to settle in for a movie and fish and chips, and plan on popping open a bottle of something fun at 11:11 p.m.

Happy 11/11/11, everybody!
28 Oct 2011

Floating Quantum Puck

posted in: quirky, science | 0

Do you have a puck-sized disk of sapphire (coated, obviously, with yttrium barium copper oxide) gathering dust in the back of your junk drawer? If so, you’re halfway to your own personal “quantum locked” maglev train. All you need is some liquid nitrogen and a magnetic track. Here’s what your project will look like when you’re done:

You can read about it at Discover Magazine, which also has links to some explanation of the physics.

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