Random Thoughts

My activity as a chessplayer has seen a steady decline in the past three years, due to overwhelming work obligations. To play in chess tournaments at a decent level, you not only need to be…

In 1952 my uncle Antonio, then 18 years old, left his family home in Venice, Italy to never return, running away from the humiliation of a failure at school. With a friend he reached the border with…

Back from vacations, I think I need to report a few random things before I get back into physics blogging. So I'll peruse the science20 article category aptly called "Random Thoughts" for this one…

Tragic Elevator Accident in Seville A woman has died in a tragic accident shortly after giving birth by caesarean section.  It is unfortunate that, due to a new Spanish Law which requires media…

The NCP Theory of Gravity It seems that NCP (National Car Parks) has a theory that a thin concrete floor can support the weight of a van because, hey, gravity's only a theory, right?  Science,…

No, this is a theoretically based rant about TSA. My students can get credit for reading it! I recapped the Theory of the Corporation as Externality-Generating Machine in this blog. Briefly, it says…

When "Guardians of the Galaxy" was in development, I was skeptical. When I was a kid, they were simply different Avengers, in space. Seriously, they had a Major from America, an archer, a strong guy…

Wonky Rockets? Wonky Theory! The British tabloids Express, Metro, Daily Star, Sun and others seem to think that some or all of the rockets displayed in North Korea recently are bogus.  The "…

“Not only a new kind of community but a new kind of man comes into history with the development of the Jews.” (H.G. Wells:“A Short History of the World” Chapter 22 “Priests and Prophets in Judea”,…

I was not supposed to start this piece using the pronoun ‘I’. But, I did it on purpose anyway. I wanted to remove all pretense to being a captain of normalcy as fast as humanly possible. Put it…