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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: … the Hell?
Internet nonsense and the St. Petersburg paradox
On various social media sites I’ve seen the following hypothetical scenario bandied about: You are given the option to get $50,000 automatically or flip a coin for a 50% chance to win $50 million. Which option would you take? Most … Continue reading
Fake Book Titles Extravaganza, Part 9!
It’s time to compile all my fake book titles from social media again! You can see compilation 1, compilation 2, compilation 3, compilation 4, compilation 5, compilation 6, compilation 7 and compilation 8 at the links. It’s been a while since I really indulged in this, largely due … Continue reading
Fake Book Titles Extravaganza, Part 8!
It’s time to compile all my fake book titles from social media again! You can see compilation 1, compilation 2, compilation 3, compilation 4, compilation 5, compilation 6 and compilation 7 at the links. This is a smaller batch, because I haven’t been as inspired lately and … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness
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A “remarkable lightning stroke,” 1879
One of the fun things about reading early science journals and magazines is finding anecdotes about unusual phenomena that are sent in by readers and published. While I was writing my previous blog post about Tyndall and Mayer, I came … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, History of science
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Do scientists debate? Not like that they don’t
This is gonna bit a bit of a rant like the old days of blogging. A few days ago we had anti-vaccine crank and poison pill presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. show up on Joe Rogan’s equally cranky podcast … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, General science
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Fake Book Titles Extravaganza, Part 7!
It’s time to compile all my fake book titles from social media again! You can see compilation 1, compilation 2, compilation 3, compilation 4, compilation 5 and compilation 6 at the links. Somehow, @bhaal_spawn and I just keep doing these… and have been for years now! … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness
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Musings on the “TikTok Mirror Mystery”
So I wasn’t going to comment on this trend that’s been going around on TikTok for a few weeks, but I am an optical physicist so I probably should say something about it — and in fact, I would like … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Optics
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My moment of glory on Twitter
The destruction of Twitter at such a fast rate that you can pretty much watch it collapse in real time is a bit melancholy for me. Though I’m happy to see Billionaire Baby demonstrate clearly his level of actual competence, … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Personal, Silliness
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Fake Book Titles Extravaganza, Part 6!
It’s been a while since I compiled my fake book title posts from Twitter, so it’s time to do so again! You can see compilation 1, compilation 2, compilation 3, compilation 4 and compilation 5 at the links. For those who don’t recall, this is … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness
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Fake Book Titles Extravaganza, Part 5!
Time for another round of Fake Book Titles that I’ve done, compiled from twitter! You can see compilation 1, compilation 2, compilation 3 and compilation 4 at the links. It’s been a while since I compiled these, so there’s a lot to catch up … Continue reading
Posted in ... the Hell?, Silliness
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Skulls in the Stars 