Wednesday, May 29

Ask me no questions

Feynman recounted another good one upperclassmen would use on freshmen physics students: When you look at words in a mirror, how come they're reversed left to right but not top to bottom? What's special about the horizontal axis?
xkcd - Sky Color
A quick note, the xkcd strip on the left [src] reminds me of one of the underlying premises in the Science of Discworld books, "lies to children".

How we often make narratives more important than the actual facts, so as to make it easier to understand, remember and repeat.

And in part how even those who "get" a field have a hard time explaining it in terms that a kid can relate to.

The devils in the details - like the human body being at the same time 70% water, and 90% microbes...