Monthly Archives: April 2020

April 14, 2020

LOL: Happy! and Archer

This TV Tuesday, from the ‘Definitely a Matter of Taste’ (DaMoT?) side of life, I thought I’d mention two TV shows that consistently make me laugh out loud a lot: Archer and Happy! (The exclamation mark is part of the title!)

These shows, especially the latter, aren’t for everyone, but they win big points with me for freshness, irreverence, and sheer creativity. Archer leans heavily towards clever pastiches, and Happy! is… well just kinda plain off-the-chain nuts. The only thing they share in common is they both have me in stitches.

Admittedly, in both cases, a few beers not only adds to the funny but is entirely appropriate and in-universe.

6 Comments | tags: Archer (TV series), DaMoT, Happy! (TV series), Lana Kane, Malory Archer, Nick Sax, Sterling Archer | posted in TV, TV Tuesday

April 10, 2020

Many Worlds Insanity

By Wyrd Smythe

I was surprised to discover I’ve never posted about the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics — I would have sworn I had. I’ve mentioned it a few times, and I know I’ve discussed it in comment sections, but it seems I never tackled the subject explicitly for the record.

It’s been on my mind lately because others have talked about it. Sean Carroll’s book promoting it generated a wave of discussion. The final push for me was Jim Baggott’s Farewell to Reality, which consigns MWI to the “fairy tale physics” heap.

Since I quite agree, this seems a good follow-up to yesterday’s post.

13 Comments | tags: Copenhagen Interpretation, Many Worlds Interpretation, measurement problem, MWI, Schrödinger Equation, Schrödinger's Cat | posted in Philosophy, Physics

April 9, 2020

Fairy Tale Physics

By Wyrd Smythe

My voracious reading habit has deep roots in libraries. The love of reading comes from my parents, but libraries provided a vast smörgåsbord to browse and consume. Each week I’d check out as many books as I could carry. I discovered science fiction in a library (the Lucky Starr series, with Isaac Asimov writing as Paul French, is the first I remember).

Modern adult life, I got out of the habit of libraries (and into book stores and now online books). But now the Cloud Library has reinvigorated my love of all those free books, especially the ones I missed along the way.

For instance, Farewell to Reality: How Modern Physics Has Betrayed the Search for Scientific Truth (2014), by Jim Baggott.

13 Comments | tags: Farewell to Reality, Jim Baggott, library, Many Worlds Interpretation, MWI, theoretical physics | posted in Books, Philosophy, Physics

April 6, 2020

Joe, Jim and Bernie

By Wyrd Smythe

Yá’át’ééh! Fans of the Hillerman books will immediately recognize the three names in the title as Joe Leaphorn, Jim Chee, and Bernadette Manuelito (a relatively new addition who doesn’t yet have her own Wiki page). All three are (fictional) police officers working for the (real) Navajo Tribal Police in the American southwest.

I have to call them just “the Hillerman books” now, because after father Tony Hillerman died, daughter Anne Hillerman took up the series and has so far contributed five very worthy stories of her own. (Her vision of the series puts Bernie Manuelito front and center and thus adds fresh air to the 18 books her father wrote.)

I’m a fan of detective novels, especially murder mystery detective novels, and these are without question my second favorite mystery books of all time.

26 Comments | tags: Anne Hillerman, Bernadette Manuelito, Jim Chee, Joe Leaphorn, Navajo Nation, Tony Hillerman | posted in Books, Mystery Monday

April 4, 2020

Stephen Baxter: Manifold

By Wyrd Smythe

Yesterday, courtesy of Cloud Library, I finished Manifold: Time (1999), by Stephen Baxter. It’s my first exposure to Baxter, who has written 60 science fiction novels — none of which I’ve read. Per his Wiki bibliography, he’s written only a half-dozen short stories, also none of which I’ve read. (There are SF authors I’ve only met in short story collections. He isn’t one of them.)

Time is the first of the Manifold trilogy (which has a fourth book, Phase Space); the second and third books are Space (2000) and Origin (2001). Each of the books tells a separate story in a separate universe.

I enjoyed the first book, but I can’t say I was hugely whelmed.

24 Comments | tags: hard SF, science fiction, science fiction books, SF, SF Books, Stephen Baxter | posted in Books, Sci-Fi Saturday

April 2, 2020

Colored Chalk Wishes

By Wyrd Smythe

Yesterday I mentioned that someone had used colored chalk to leave some happy thoughts written on the asphalt pathway that winds through one of the local parks. Those simple signs, because of their content and because of the positive spirit behind them, really put a big grin on my face.

When I walk, I try to take a different path every day, only repeating when I’ve exhausted all possibilities. But yesterday I decided that today I’d retrace my steps and take pictures of those signs.

Without further ado, colored chalk wishes to help us smile:

5 Comments | tags: colored chalk, coronavirus | posted in Life

April 1, 2020

Wow to the Wow

By Wyrd Smythe

Wow. April First, but it’s no joke how much — and how quickly — life changed. March 2020 changed the world. Now we’ll see if we survive it.

Spirits seem high around here. On my morning walk, in the park I saw that someone had used colored chalk to write good thoughts on the asphalt path: “Stay Positive!” “Nature!” “Yay! Vit. D.” “Family Time” “Exercise!” (Maybe others will join in. I think I have some colored chalk…)

It’s hard to top the real-life wows, but I do have a few interesting items that might at least offer something of a distraction.

9 Comments | tags: coronavirus, geometry, Platonic solids, quantum physics, simulations, virtual reality, X17 particle | posted in Life, Wednesday Wow