physics

We are then introduced to the shabby state of both the grounds keeping and of stadium security at the Polo Grounds, as we see an angry rabbit (Bugs Bunny, RHP/UT) is able to heckle the visiting team from left field, where he has dug a fairly substantial hole, and is enjoying a carrot-dog and (it appears) has consumed a large bottle of wine through a straw.
…
In a tense confrontation at home, we see the Gorillas replace the umpire by force with one of their own so that they can call Bunny out at home in the next play. Bunny, to his credit, then manages to argue the fake umpire into reversing his own call.

I’m not sure if this has been blogged to death and I just haven’t noticed, but there is a superb article on the Discover site detailing The 11 Greatest Unanswered Questions of Physics.

1. What is dark matter?
2. What is dark energy?
3. How were the heavy elements from iron to uranium made?
4. Do neutrinos have mass?
5. Where do ultrahigh-energy particles come from?
6. Is a new theory of light and matter needed to explain what happens at very high energies and temperatures?
7. Are there new states of matter at ultrahigh temperatures and densities?
8. Are protons unstable?
9. What is gravity?
10. Are there additional dimensions?
11. How did the universe begin?

And it’s wonderfully cute to read at the bottom of the article that these are all © 2002 The Walt Disney Company.

A University at Buffalo researcher hopes this week to put into place the final piece of the puzzle for a never-before-quantified phenomenon in football.
After spending the past six years probing the physics of how a football travels during flight using computer simulations and the videotape of a single forward pass from a 1976 professional football game, the researcher is about to put the last piece into the puzzle.

You really should read Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by the late, great Douglas Adams. There’s a bit in there about Schrödinger’s cat that started me tumbling down a long road (many, many years ago) of trying to learn everything I could about physics, metaphysics, philosophy, blah blah blah. (Try to find a copy of William Poundstone’s Labyrinths of Reason: Paradox, Puzzles, and the Frailty of Knowledge, too. It will blow your mind.) The folks at Mad Science Laboratories have created a Schrödenger’s Cat Web Cam that is hysterical. I love the disclaimer:

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS EXPERIMENT YOURSELF AT HOME. WE ARE TRAINED SCIENTISTS! YOUR CAT MAY THEORETICALLY DIE!

Here’s a nifty little article on the physics behind football tackles.

From the Britney Spears Guide to Semiconductor Physics:

It is a little known fact, that Ms Spears is an expert in semiconductor physics. Not content with just singing, in the following pages, she will guide you in the fundamentals of the vital laser components that have made it possible to hear her super music in a digital format.