Dinosaur comics discusses entropy and the fate of the universe.
T. Rex muses on the Poincare recurrence theorem and Boltzmann’s suggested resolution of the arrow of time problem, but Dromiceiomimus seems to have a better understanding of the lessons of modern cosmology. Utahraptor, meanwhile, argues that the universe is not manifestly ergodic, and insists that the entropy problem is not yet resolved.
Okay, more than one person has sent me this, and it’s even appeared on Daily Kos, so I suppose we must give it a hearing. The BBC is reporting that physics is the key to love. Well, who didn’t know that?
Successful couples are said to have chemistry, but a study by an Oxford graduate suggests that dating may actually have more to do with physics.
Richard Ecob adapted a system for modelling atoms in radioactive decay to investigate how we look for partners.
He found that “super daters”, people who have many short relationships, have a good effect on others’ lives.
This is because they break up weak couples, forcing their victims to find better relationships.
That’s right, folks: when some suave Cassanova or Cassanovette steals your honey from you, it’s all for the greater good, as you will be forced to find a better relationship. It must be true, physics says so.
To model the phenomenon, he wrote a computer program which placed “software singles”, people seeking partners, in an imaginary social network.
Each single had a set of interests, which they also looked for in potential partners.
The research suggested that multiple daters, those who form many relationships, were less effective at finding the right partner than those who remained in one place and let others come to them.
Something tells me that a lot of this research falls in the category of a “thought experiment.”
The curve of binding energy Read More »
Lindsay at Majikthise manages a twofer: saying something interesting and insightful about humor and jazz at the same time.
As you may have heard, The Aristocrats is a documentary featuring 100 retellings of the same joke.
Here are the bare bones: Family asks agent to consider their act, agent says he doesn’t do family acts but agrees to let them demonstrate, [act of unspeakable obscenity, incest is non-negotiable, may also feature scatology, beastiality, emetophilia, etc.], agent says “That’s a hell of an act, what do you call it? Family member answers “The Aristocrats.”
Honestly, the joke isn’t funny. In fact, that’s probably why it’s a perennial favorite with professional comedians. If you can make this joke funny, you could probably get laughs by reading a tax return.
The joke is like a lot of jazz standards. Tunes like Autumn Leaves aren’t that interesting until you’ve heard at least 20 different versions. Once you know that a work is a standard, you can step back from the material itself and concentrate on the artist’s interpretation. The movie features The Aristocrats as told by a mime, a magician, a tumbling act, the editorial staff of The Onion, the animated cast of South Park, and a huge variety of standup comics.
That’s a good way of understanding the enduring popularity of a joke that isn’t inherently very good. The jazz equivalent would be John Coltrane showing off with My Favorite Things — you can hear him thinking, “Hell, I can make even this shlock sound good.” Although I am also partial to Patricia Barber’s cover of Light My Fire.
My favorite aristocrats Read More »