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The Futurama of Physics
MasaMuneCyrus writes "I was surprised to notice an article about Futurama in my latest American Physical Society news. Titled, 'Profiles in Versatility: The Futurama of Physics with David X. Cohen,' Cohen talks a little bit about his life and his love for physics, and he goes on to describe how he regularly injects graduate-level physics jokes into the script of Futurama. He also talks a little bit about the upcoming season of Futurama: 'In the 10th episode of the upcoming season, tentatively entitled "The Prisoner of Benda," a theorem based on group theory was specifically written (and proven!) by staffer/PhD mathematician Ken Keeler to explain a plot twist.'"
>>>the genre of sci-fi entertainment often sparks the scientist in people?
That is what Isaac Asimov said. Of course he continued to be a Physics professor, but he also wrote more entertainment books than any other SF writer. (Over 300 if I recall correctly.) He said science fiction sparked young people's imaginations, as well as problem-solving abilities, and that curiosity was a key component for any successful science student.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - historian Evelyn Beatrice Hall
I thought FOX (bastards!) canceled that show over 5 years ago [...]
The bastards at Fox did cancel the show. The new episodes are going to run on Comedy Central.
This ain't rocket surgery.
that goes without saying. everyone loves hypnotoad.
ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
That is what Isaac Asimov said. Of course he continued to be a Physics professor...
Biochemistry, actually. Perhaps you're thinking of Richard Feynman.
~Loyal
I aim to misbehave.
He was a chemistry professor and he actually stopped being a full-time one when his writing career began to take off and he got too busy for it. Of course, his career included tons of educational books such as The World of Carbon and lots of quality, lesser-known annotations.
http://www.tenjou.net/
http://r33b.net/
ALL GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD!
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Some words have more than one definition.
engineer (nj-nîr) n.
1. One who is trained or professionally engaged in a branch of engineering.
2. One who operates an engine.
3. One who skillfully or shrewdly manages an enterprise.
Oh, I can't store 144, that's where my speech processor is at.". The reference (of course) is the 220h default address of the Sound Blaster (220 hexadecimal = 144 decimal).
You might want to check your math on that.
What they meant to say is that 220h = 144 in base-6.887363549594899...
Those guys who drive trains? Yeah.
There have always been "design engineers" and "line engineers". Not all engineers design - many, perhaps most, keep complicated systems working properly (often manufacturing lines), but even line engineers do ad-hoc design from time to time, especially an engineer for something that gets shot at.
Of course, you're not a "real" engineer unless you roll explosives up to the castle gate under a hail of arrows - all those guys calling themselves engineers for the past 400 years are just posers, not to be taken seriously. ;)
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
Ah, but O'Brien got promoted to engineer at DS9, and he scored a pretty hot asian!
Who knows what unit of measure the Futurama "atmosphere" is? Maybe it's based on the highest-pressure known planet!
Leela and the Professor gives us the answer when she says they're at 5,000 feet, and the Professor says that's over 150 atmospheres of pressure. Under salt water, approximately 33 feet of additional depth increases pressure by one atmosphere. (5000/33)-1=150.5 atmospheres. So it seems pretty clear they are using they same units we do.
... and then they built the supercollider.
An equation with only complex solutions, where the solutions are supposed to be physical quantities, can in some sense be said to be "unsolvable," or rather, it has no true physical meaning because its solutions are not physical.
Any time you put a capacitor or an inductor in a circuit, you have just created an equation with only complex solutions, with true physical meaning. The real portion is magnitude and the imaginary portion is a phase shift. If I remember my mechanical stuff correctly, the same thing happens when you put a spring or a dashpot in a mechanical system.
Today's Sesame Street was brought to you by the number e.