From Round to Square (and back)

For The Emperor's Teacher, scroll down (↓) to "Topics." It's the management book that will rock the world (and break the vase, as you will see). Click or paste the following link for a recent profile of the project: http://magazine.beloit.edu/?story_id=240813&issue_id=240610

A new post appears every day at 12:05* (CDT). There's more, though. Take a look at the right-hand side of the page for over four years of material (2,000 posts and growing) from Seinfeld and country music to every single day of the Chinese lunar calendar...translated. Look here ↓ and explore a little. It will take you all the way down the page...from round to square (and back again).
*Occasionally I will leave a long post up for thirty-six hours, and post a shorter entry at noon the next day.
Showing posts with label physics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physics. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Lederhosen Pug—Max Planck

Click here for the "Celebrity Commentary" Resource Center—(all posts available)
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Celebrity Commentary" (coming soon)
This is a "small" (小) post—click here for an explanation of Round and Square post lengths.
***  *** 
One year ago on Round and Square (30 May 2012)—The Accidental Ethnographer: The Isle of Patmos (2)
Two years ago on Round and Square (30 May 2011)—Le Tour de la France: Mère Etienne

[a] Lederpug RF
                         What is the use of running when you are on the wrong road?
                                                                             —Bavarian Proverb

No worries, though—my name is Lederhosen Pug, and I know the way (知道).

And today that way weaves its way through theoretical physics. You see, a little wunderkind was born in Holstein, and moved to Munich as a lad.

[b] Everywhere RF
And now it is hard to turn a corner anywhere in Germany without finding a Max Planck Straße (oder Platz). If you know anything about the history of physics, you know his name, and know well that he and a certain professor named Albert Einstein were colleagues and friends.

Max Planck

Max Planck lived through two world wars, and all of the problems (in all sorts of ways) they brought. He changed twentieth century physics, and he now has changed the signage from Berlin to Munich.
[c] Lightspeed RF
[Originally posted on July 30, 2014]

Monday, March 24, 2014

Wonder Wines (2)—Shoe Opener

Click here for the "Wonder Wines" Resource Center—(all posts available)
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Wonder Wines"
One year ago on Round and Square (27 March 2013)—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 03-27
One year ago on Round and Square (27 March 2013)—New Religion: Unlucky Four
Two years ago on Round and Square (27 March 2012)—La Pensée Cyclique: Sociology and Sinology
Three years ago on Round and Square (27 March 2011)—Beginning: Beginnings Said
[a] "I've got it" RF
O.k., so you have settled into your nice hotel room after a long day at the conference. You can imagine nothing better than taking off your shoes, running a hot bubble bath, and then completing the relaxing journey with a nice glass of wine. It's right there on the cabinet, and you suddenly think to yourself..."a glass of wine and a hot bath sounds splendid." You open the drawer and look for the corkscrew (it's a nice bottle, with a real cork...cork). Nothing. You look in your luggage and shaving/cosmetics kit. Nothing. And there you are, buck naked and standing in the midst of a slow realization that you are going to have to use a glass cutter, your Swiss Army knife (this one lacks a corkscrew), or some kind of bottled magic.
[b] Nope RF

Wrong.

Just go get those dress shoes you just took off. Stick the base of the wine bottle in the shoe, find yourself a sturdy (stone, cement) wall, and start pounding. 

Then the janitor will come by with his (or her) broom and wonder why you are pounding your shoe against the basement wall...in your birthday suit (wear a towel, for god's sake).

A life saver for the tired, desperate, oenophile.

It's tough to beat that.

Physics. It's a beautiful thing.
[c] Corkscrew RF