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Math & Science  (I was a physics major)
T. Buckingham Thomas physics Oberlin WOBC Richwood Tom Thomas Chyron Infinit Pittsburgh
Articles that are largely about scientific or mathematical questions are listed below.  To search for specific names or events that might be listed elsewhere, use this utility:

 

King Solomon's Pi

Does the Bible say that the value of pi is 3.00, not 3.14?

1950

Atomic Ping-Pong

Learning about nuclear fission and stereo sound with the help of a very tall bus.

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1960

The Flying Yardstick

Under the stereo-imaged catalpa tree, I invent an inefficient flying wing.

Nix to Redox

A modest suggestion for a change in chemical terminology.

Alma Mater

In letters to my mother, I tell of my studies at Oberlin College and some of the people I met there.

Catalysts Aren't Cheerleaders

A lecture from freshman chemistry.

The Relativitator Files

Correspondence, possibly flirtatious, about a whimsical "scientific instrument."

Passing Notes

A quarky tale of two physics majors.

Apollo on the Moon

My reactions to that historic year, from letters.

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1970

Determination of Audience Size

Preparing to leave Syracuse, I propose how ratings could be measured at Marion CATV.

The Ted Baxter System

WJM-TV's fictional newscaster invents a method for betting on football that actually works.

Science and Computers

Musing about scientific issues, I acquire calculators and an early "home computer."

The Arctangential Error Meter

When is an analog display like a fence?

The MENKY

The 1988 design for a one-handed computer keyboard.

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1990

Clouds in My Coffee

Another physics major was curious about these swirls until I found a relevant article.  Bad rhymes ensued.

Left on Base Doesn't Matter

Correlating baseball statistics with winning.

Powers of Ten Museum

An imagined vist to a museum of models on widely different scales, from atoms to galaxies.

Augie and the Topology of Leashes

Why the pup next door had to bark for help.

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2000

The Year 2001

Should it be prounounced twenty-oh-one?

Pickover's ESP Experiment

A link to a web page for the credulous.

Oberlin College Science Center

A photo tour of the new and remodeled labs and classrooms, October 2002.

The Diamond Brick Road

A graphical representation of one season's race in a baseball division.

Merchant of Nothing

Playing the probabilities to make the gullible think they're buying something of value.

I Need a Stat, Stat!

The statistic doesn't actually have to be relevant; it just needs to seem that way.

Socrates and Leadfoot

Two philosophers discuss why Pittsburgh drivers slow down for tunnels.

Divine Digits

Zoey's ideal dollhouse, my three simultaneous equations in two unknowns, and our idealized concept of God.

Inoculated

If we can be immunized against certain diseases, does the same principle work for homeopathy?  No.

 


Advancing knowledge outmodes old beliefs

An obtuse response

Big Bangs may be cyclical

Call-in polls depend on who's calling

Correlation doesn't mean causation

Days with more than 24 hours?  Why not?

Dodecahedron:  A Halloween costume

Electricity out?  Nothing to worry about

Epoch began January 1, 1970

Escervaire:  A curve

Game 5's winner wins 5 out of 6 series; why?

Non-standard coordinate systems for maps

Percentagewise, reducing expenses slightly might increase profits hugely

Placebos, including kisses and magic herbs

Probability is low, although not zero

Snowier winters for Cleveland?

Stealth bomber in my neighborhood?

Sundials may have defined "clockwise"

"Too hot" or "too cold" weather makes up 73% of the year

Venusian surface, death star Mimas, Sputnik

 

The public is grossly misinformed
about how the real world works,

the media feeds that ignorance,

and we urgently need to address this situation
before we are populated by a generation
of affluent but unaware citizens

who can lead our species back
into another Dark Age —
and are already forming up ranks to do just that.

No, that is not overstating the case.

A lot of people hate my skepticism, and I think I understand why. The psychics offer wonders and endless possibilities in a world that often seems difficult and mundane. They promise health, wealth, wisdom, eternal life. But if you examine the record, it's not the psychics but the hard-nosed scientists who have actually delivered the things that improve human life. And, to me, science describes a world far more interesting than any psychic fantasy. It's a good world — not perfect — but it's ours. So we'd better learn to live with it, the way it is.

James Randi