Category Archives: fun

Rubik’s cube test development

Posted on March 1, 2013 by

This week I was inspired by this intriguing post by my friend Ian Beatty. He talks about what it might be like to use a test-driven development process for teaching. Here’s the short version of what I got from that: … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, physics, physics problem db, teaching | 8 Comments

physics talent show

Posted on November 4, 2012 by

This week will mark what I think is the 10th anniversary of the Hamline University Physics Talent Show. This is held after our Malmstrom Speaker dinner where we host a big name physics researcher who gives a public talk the … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, teaching | 3 Comments

Gyroscopic precession

Posted on May 26, 2012 by

There have been some interesting things on the interwebs, lately, about rotation, gyroscopes, precession, and helicoptors (all of it brought to my attention, or literally done by, Derek Muller of Veritasium fame). It got me thinking about the modeling I’ve done … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, math, mathematica, physics, teaching | 6 Comments

unbalanced 20-sided die?

Posted on April 8, 2012 by

My son recently bought a 20-sided “spin down” die. Here’s a similar one: It’s really useful in the game “Magic The Gathering” because you use it to keep track of your life points. My other son and I, however, were … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, mathematica, parenting, physics | 1 Comment

XKCD optics error

Posted on October 16, 2011 by

Friday’s XKCD comic was about Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon album cover: I just want to pick on the optics part. Mind you, I think the humor is great! So what’s wrong? It looks like the lens would … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, physics | 7 Comments

More brute force probability

Posted on September 2, 2011 by

Last night a tweep of mine posted this: How many ways can I rearrange the letters ABCDEFGH so that no letter is in its original position? What a deceptively simple question!— R. Wright (@r_w_wright) September 01, 2011 I thought about … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, math, mathematica, twitter | 14 Comments

Brownie nuts probability

Posted on July 2, 2011 by

I don’t like nuts. I really don’t like them in brownies. What I want is a way to tell if a particular brownie has nuts in it just by looking at it. That’s what this post is all about. If … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, math, physics | 2 Comments

Bouncing balls

Posted on June 12, 2011 by

I’m embarrassed to admit how often I sit around wondering what a laser’s beam would look like if the room I was in was all reflective. Tonight I had some fun with Mathematica to see if I could see some of those … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, mathematica, physics | 10 Comments

Keeping the beat

Posted on June 11, 2011 by

I had some fun doing an experiment on myself today. Way back when I was in grad school I had the pleasure of taking part in the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. One of the guests worked with our band and … Continue reading →

Posted in fun, lab, mathematica | 2 Comments

>SocCourt is my new sport

Posted on January 7, 2009 by

>First, I just noticed that the title rhymes (plus I got to spell rhymes which is always fun). Ok, so what is SocCourt, you ask. Well, imagine Racquetball rules with a soccer ball. You use any part of your body … Continue reading →

Posted in fun | 1 Comment