Feynman’s Ratchet and the perpetual motion gambling scheme Can you spot a perpetual motion machine when you see one? In physics, that question is equivalent to “can you spot a scam when you see one?”.  That’s because a perpetual motion ma…

I wrote a blog post about this once, and how the martingale method is like Feynman's ratchet
gravityandlevity.wordpress.com/2010/12/07/f...

"is a worm a donut?"

My four year old just asked me "Dad, is a bowl a plate?" and I'm not sure I'm ready to have the talk about topology already

Me and my kids have really enjoyed the turtle one!

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David Tong goes to a doctor.

David: I am not feeling too good, doc. Trying to learn a new area of physics but somehow can't get into it.

Doc: The solution is simple. There is this guy who writes the best physics lecture notes..

I don't think something can be a rule if it's literally impossible to break it

Only the most dangerous characters call it "Notes from a Dead House" rather than "The House of the Dead"

For no particular reason I am thinking today about the Simpsons joke about the struggling jazz musician who is ultimately made destitute because his income can't keep pace with his $1500-a-day habit: collecting Faberge eggs

Chess Grandmasters Do Not Burn 6000 Calories Per Day A Note on the Production of Facts

I looked into the claim that chess grandmasters burn 6000 calories a day and found it was made up by popular author Robert Sapolsky

open.substack.com/pub/strandbe...

I hadn't, thanks!

All the "AI Safety" people seem to be focused on the possibility that we will build something dangerous to humanity.

Is anyone worrying about the possibility that we will build something capable of suffering and then abuse it horribly because it will be profitable not to acknowledge its personhood?

taking my vizier to the vizier park so he can scheme with the other viziers

Ask a caterpillar your question, and it will become the answer. Slime in a silky cradle, computing a reply; from god's own tongue, translated into butterfly

I think part of the problem is that the major purpose of evaluation via graded assignments is (ostensibly) to see whether your instruction is effective.
If students are cheating on their assignments, how can I tell whether I am doing a good job of teaching?

Sometimes I browse Bluesky looking for allergy advice. I call that rheumscrolling.

Funny that Krusty the Klown has so dramatically outlived the thing he was parodying.

Any other prominent examples like that?
Maybe Bugs Bunny and that Clark Gable character that he was parodying?

Ohio State launches bold AI Fluency initiative to redefine learning and innovation

I guess this is the year when I officially become a curmudgeon, because my first reaction to this was "get me out of here"

engineering.osu.edu/news/2025/06...

Funny that Krusty the Klown has so dramatically outlived the thing he was parodying.

Any other prominent examples like that?
Maybe Bugs Bunny and that Clark Gable character that he was parodying?

"tell me a story about getting a shot"

Super Kamiokande neutrino detector, Gifu Prefecture, Japan

The political science paper you linked is pretty wild, but I enjoyed very much that some political scientists wanted to make that analogy.

I also enjoyed this passive-aggressive comment that I found: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

lol I'm kind of shocked that you watched that talk. There's something extremely clever in it (due to my student, not me), but at the surface level it's quite esoteric.

the coins!
my son has a small coin collection and he likes the idea of a dragon that shares his interests

"Tell me a story about a scary dragon that has lots of coins from the Philippines"

"Tell me a story about me and the Iron Giant building a robobaby together"

El Greco, View of Toledo, ca. 1600