The Science in the 21st Century meeting is being held at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, which is in a really nice building in the middle of Waterloo. It's a building that was quite clearly designed with physicists in mind, as there are numerous little common spaces where people can sit around and argue, and there are chalkboards everywhere.
Most of the chalkboards are covered with bits of physics-- matrices, field equations, little diagrams, etc. It really enhances the sense of being in a place where people are working on the Big Problems.
And when I went for a walk outside yesterday, I noticed that the chalkboard in the middle of the courtyard (of course there's a chalkboard in the middle of the courtyard-- you don't think they confine themselves to thinking indoors?) has, in the upper corner:
Why Are Bananas Bent?
It's good to see that they're leaving no stone un-turned in the quest for knowledge.
The meeting ends today, and then I'm driving back to Toronto to catch a tiny little plane back to Albany to see Kate and SteelyKid. Don't expect anything all that coherent from me for the rest of the weekend.
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Bananas are bent to efficiently pack while growing and orient to lessen the moment arm upon their attachment. Theory is only math until observation is added. Do left and right shoes vacuum free fall identically?
Bananas are straight. It is Space-time that is curved.
hotlink to:
Spoon boy: Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead... only try to realize the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Spoon boy: There is no spoon.
Neo: There is no spoon?
Spoon boy: Then you'll see, that it is not the spoon that bends, it is only yourself.
Now, how would your dog reply?