Red-bellied Woodpecker - Whatbird.com: "Red-bellied Woodpecker Breeding Male: The breeding male Red-bellied Woodpecker has black and white barred upperparts and pale gray-brown underparts with a red wash on the belly. The head has a bright red crown and nape and pale brown face. Copyright © 2002-2007 Whatbird.com"
March 03, 2007
This morning, I was sitting at the computer upstairs and looked out at the tree in the front yard and saw a woodpecker with an incredibly bright reddish-orange head.
February 24, 2007
R. wins 378-265
R. wins 378-265
Originally uploaded by achmorrison.
This was last night's SCRABBLE game at the coffee shop.
I did get a bingo with "riposte" even though I got my butt kicked.
February 03, 2007
January 22, 2007
A colleague and I were just talking the other day about the old saying that "no two snowflakes are alike." He pointed out that the same could be said for grains of sand on the beach, but that no one (save a materials physicist) would point that out. How appropriate that the following article came up in my news feed today:
LiveScience.com - Scientist: Maybe Two Snowflakes are Alike:
LiveScience.com - Scientist: Maybe Two Snowflakes are Alike:
"'How likely is it that two snowflakes are alike? Very
likely if we define alike to mean that we would have trouble
distinguishing them under a microscope and if we include the
crystals that hardly develop beyond the prism stage—that is,
the smallest snow crystals,' Nelson said."
January 20, 2007
Untitled
Two of my students who are going to be helping me in the observatory this semester braved the cold weather this week and grabbed a pretty good picture of the Orion Nebula.
technorati tags:astronomy, astrophotography
December 01, 2006
November 30, 2006
November 28, 2006
November 27, 2006
November 26, 2006
November 14, 2006
Another Tuesday blows by, and it seems like I barely had time to breathe. All three classes met today and I wasn't really prepared for the lab this morning. I arrived on campus 10 minutes before lab was supposed to begin, so I parked over by the observatory so I could let the students in while I ran over to the science building to make copies of the morning's labs.
After lab, I was working on MP and was able to knock that out before lunch. At the lunch table we talked about some surveys that students conduct on campus. 'Twas a lively conversation! I ran back to the science building in the rain and nearly forget to copy the labs for the afternoon section!
MP and FA went relatively smoothly. After my office hour (no one stopped in, surprise, surprise...) I went home for an hour, kicked back and had a bite to eat. I changed clothes and hopped into the car ready to head to the gym when I remembered the internship fair that I wanted to check out. I dropped by that and was able to meet representatives from Senator Durbin and Senator Obama's offices. They seemed interested in the possibility of the Senator attending a HFH event next term!
After lab, I was working on MP and was able to knock that out before lunch. At the lunch table we talked about some surveys that students conduct on campus. 'Twas a lively conversation! I ran back to the science building in the rain and nearly forget to copy the labs for the afternoon section!
MP and FA went relatively smoothly. After my office hour (no one stopped in, surprise, surprise...) I went home for an hour, kicked back and had a bite to eat. I changed clothes and hopped into the car ready to head to the gym when I remembered the internship fair that I wanted to check out. I dropped by that and was able to meet representatives from Senator Durbin and Senator Obama's offices. They seemed interested in the possibility of the Senator attending a HFH event next term!
November 07, 2006
I voted in Bloomington for the first time since moving in '05. I had to google the location of the polling place. Bloomington handles its elections seperate from the rest of McClean county, so I had to find the Board of Election Commissioners page first. Then, I searched by my address and found the polling station. It was on the way home from school, so that was convenient, although the parking lot closest to the entrance was rather small. But, there was a free space and the voting was quick. Maybe it's not surprising that there were a lot of local seats uncontested by Democrats in this area.
One of the Cubs blogs that I read, and often disagree with, had a list of great ideas for election reform: an election holiday, 24 hour voting, open polling, electronic check-in, and paper ballots. Definitely worth a read. Any candidate that would support this would have my vote.
One of the Cubs blogs that I read, and often disagree with, had a list of great ideas for election reform: an election holiday, 24 hour voting, open polling, electronic check-in, and paper ballots. Definitely worth a read. Any candidate that would support this would have my vote.
November 01, 2006
The physics club has been talking about having a movie night soon. I mentioned this to one of my colleagues and he suggested that they show a physics-appropriate movie. In the past, the students have just picked a random DVD off of a shelf. But, if they show something that in someway relates to physics, perhaps they could get some of the first-year students to come and be engaged with the physics club.
So, I went to Google to find movies that related to physics or science. I found a few pages of reviews of movies with bad physics in them (see the popular Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics page), but few pages reviewing good physics movies.
There were a few good articles that I found which listed movies where physics (and science, in general) were well represented in films. A list of 10 good sci-fi movies from Guardian Unlimited and and article titled "Hollywood physics" were the two of the best compilations I could find. So, I'm going to try to compile my own list of good physics movies.
So, I went to Google to find movies that related to physics or science. I found a few pages of reviews of movies with bad physics in them (see the popular Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics page), but few pages reviewing good physics movies.
There were a few good articles that I found which listed movies where physics (and science, in general) were well represented in films. A list of 10 good sci-fi movies from Guardian Unlimited and and article titled "Hollywood physics" were the two of the best compilations I could find. So, I'm going to try to compile my own list of good physics movies.
October 20, 2006
October 13, 2006
October 07, 2006
September 12, 2006
Tuesday and Thursdays are my busy days this term. Lab in the morning for 2 hours, then an hour and a half before lunch. Lunch for 45 minutes or so, then two classes in the afternoon with a half hour break in between each of them. Tiring. Yesterday, I was able to blow through the modern physics class and cover a lot of material. Today, it seemed like I was going at a good clip, but didn't quite get as much covered as I thought I would. Astronomy was a lot of talking so I could get through enough material to make up some ground.
Yesterday was the first all-faculty meeting of the year. Last year, I only went to one such meeting; and the one I attended was in the Spring. (Last Fall I taught right up to the time of the meetings, and often had students after class.) I find it interesting that the others in this department do not walk over to the meeting together. Not that it's a big deal...I mean, we're all adults that can get to meetings on our own, right? It's just telling of the general atmosphere.
While the meeting was getting started, I had a chance to fill in my calendar. I'm almost up to November with my weekly schedule. Surely by then I'll have it memorized. The interesting parts of the meeting were hearing the president and provost. I suppose part of their job description is to paint rosy pictures for the faculty. It never hurts to hear it, though.
After the meeting, I needed to clear my head. I ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill. Same deal today: 20 minutes on the treadmill. Yesterday, it cleared my head. Today, I felt less energetic after the run. I may need to start going earlier, before I am hungry for supper.
Tomorrow is a good day to get some research done.
Yesterday was the first all-faculty meeting of the year. Last year, I only went to one such meeting; and the one I attended was in the Spring. (Last Fall I taught right up to the time of the meetings, and often had students after class.) I find it interesting that the others in this department do not walk over to the meeting together. Not that it's a big deal...I mean, we're all adults that can get to meetings on our own, right? It's just telling of the general atmosphere.
While the meeting was getting started, I had a chance to fill in my calendar. I'm almost up to November with my weekly schedule. Surely by then I'll have it memorized. The interesting parts of the meeting were hearing the president and provost. I suppose part of their job description is to paint rosy pictures for the faculty. It never hurts to hear it, though.
After the meeting, I needed to clear my head. I ran for 20 minutes on the treadmill. Same deal today: 20 minutes on the treadmill. Yesterday, it cleared my head. Today, I felt less energetic after the run. I may need to start going earlier, before I am hungry for supper.
Tomorrow is a good day to get some research done.
September 10, 2006
Friday I invited CC down to give a talk/demo session for the division's weekly colloquium. It went off perfectly! The lecture hall was packed and everyone had a great time! C brought more than 20 demos, half of which he put out in the atrium. It took about 3 hours to set things up, but it was totally worth it. The best demos were the "magic wand", the optical illusions regarding the shadows, and all the persistance of vision demos. He only had enough time at the end to do a couple color mixing demos, but it was still really cool.
Afterwards, we (R, C and I) all went to the Central Station Cafe in downtown Bloomington. I had the special, which was the beef tenderloin. YUM!! So good. The service was great, too.
I had NO doubt that C would give a great talk. I'm just really glad that the students showed up. I knew they would enjoy it. I'm definitely glad everything worked out in the end.
Afterwards, we (R, C and I) all went to the Central Station Cafe in downtown Bloomington. I had the special, which was the beef tenderloin. YUM!! So good. The service was great, too.
I had NO doubt that C would give a great talk. I'm just really glad that the students showed up. I knew they would enjoy it. I'm definitely glad everything worked out in the end.
September 01, 2006
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