Pictures
drorzel | July 3, 2009After a long baby-induced delay, we are finally ready to announce the winners of the How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Caption Contest and Poetry Contest. I've obtained a few more copies of the bound galleys from the publisher, so we'll be giving two awards in each contest
category: one for each photo, one for Cuttlefish poetry, and one for non-Cuttlefish poetry.
And the winners are:
Photo 1: The award goes to Nick at #25:
Photo 2: The award goes to Eric Goebelbecer at #8:
Honorable Mention: Dave W. at #11 and Konrad at #30.
Let's ask the judges what they thought:
Chad: All three of the…
drorzel | July 2, 2009SteelyKid has recovered her usual energy level, as you can tell by the giant debris field she's created in the living room:
Looking at her there, among the scattered toys with Appa, you might be saying "Boy, what a great big baby she is!" It's all a matter of perspective, though:
She's still pretty small standing next to me...
drorzel | June 25, 2009SteelyKid is pondering a life as a costumed crime-fighter-- she's got the pseudonym for it, after all-- and here we see her trying out a catchphrase to strike fear into the hearts of naughty people:
"Spooooon!!!"
Actually, that's lifted from somebody else. Probably needs more work.
The traditional Appa-for-scale picture:
The spoon doesn't have any food on it, but it's soft plastic, and she likes to chew on it. Whatever makes her happy.
drorzel | June 25, 2009Just a quick reminder post to note that you can win an advance proof copy of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in one of two ways:
By captioning pictures of the dog with physics apparatus
By writing short poems about dogs and physics
Regarding the last one, I'm thinking of adding a second poetry prize for "Best poem by somebody who isn't the Cuttlefish." So if you've been intimidated by squidly verse, don't be...
Entries for both contests are open through this Sunday, June 28th.
sciencepunk | June 24, 20099, a new animated feature produced by Tim Burton and directed by Shane Acker, comes out in September (09/09/09, naturally). Details are sketchy, but it's safe to say in the world of 9, something has gone horribly wrong, the world has been destroyed, and the only survivors are some cute little sack people and an army of murderous machines. One can't help but think that a few squiddies from the Matrix somehow tunnelled into Little Big Planet.
Anyway, it tickles my fancy, if only because it checks the requisite boxes of "post apocalyptic dystopia" and "technopunk machinery". Which is good,…
drorzel | June 22, 2009
Today is six months to the day from the official release date of my book, How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. It feels like I ought to do something promotion-like to mark this date, and I have a couple of extra bound galley proofs (seen above with Emmy), sooo.....
I hereby announce the first of two contests giving you, the blog reader, a chance to win an uncorrected galley proof copy of the book six months (ish) before you can buy it. The idea is simple: below the fold are two pictures that just cry out for amusing captions of some sort. The person who comes up with the best caption will get…
drorzel | June 18, 2009Another arbitrary numerical signifier for Daddy! Yay!
Not the best Appa-for-scale picture, so here's one from earlier this morning:
Appa likes having his belly rubbed, I guess.
And that's it for me for tonight.
drorzel | June 15, 2009Google the title phrase, and you'll find a bunch of New Age twaddle. This is a physics blog, though, so here's a reliable scientific method for finding the location of a rainbow, such as this one seen over Chateau Steelypips after the thunderstorms that went through earlier this evening (it was much brighter half a minute before the picture was taken, but faded as the camera was fetched):
Stand so you can see your shadow in front of you.
Spread the fingers on both hands, and hold them so your thumbs just touch.
Hold your hands so one pinky finger is just on the head of your shadow.
Keeping…
drorzel | June 11, 2009You get Baby Blogging early today, because I have a ton of grading to finish today, and don't have time for bloggy things. This week, SteelyKid shows off two new-ish skills:
She can stand up, and she's strong enough to lift a bison! Look out, world...
If you're clicking through to warn us that allowing her to stand up in the Pack and Play is a sure route to Instant Death!!!!1!, please don't.
drorzel | June 6, 2009SteelyKid attempts to show off her street cred:
Of course, her attempt at looking tough is kind of undermined by the Princess Tutu type duck on her hoodie...
That's ok, though, because it's all fun:
Getting pictures taken for the blog is funny...
drorzel | June 4, 2009My mom was in Saratoga Springs for a meeting, and stopped by tonight to make a guest appearance in this week's Baby Blogging. Here, SteelyKid shows off how she can haul herself into a standing position on the big tub of outgrown baby clothes sitting in the living room:
"How do we know she did that herself?" you ask, you skeptical baby-doubter, you. "Her grandmother is holding her up!" Well, this picture should remove any doubt:
"Look, Internet people! No adult support needed!"
This, like most developmental milestones, is both exciting and terrifying. She's crawling all over now, and hauling…
drorzel | May 28, 2009This week, a special Literary Edition:
Those are the first pass typeset proofs for the book, which just arrived in the mail today. Aren't they adorable?
Oh, okay, fine. You're just here for the conventional cute baby pictures:
SteelyKid's rapidly expanding bag of tricks now includes standing up. More or less. She can haul herself up into a standing position more often than not, and can steady herself on solid objects. Kate's ready to catch her if she falls, but not really holding her in this picture.
She doesn't really crawl in the usual way, but she can scoot around surprisingly quickly…
drorzel | May 21, 2009Kate here, reporting that SteelyKid says,
"Being sick is fun! I get to take baths at 10 o'clock at night, and play on nice soft towels, and have Mommy's undivided attention all day long . . . "
(She's fine, was sick last night but is rapidly improving over the day—her appetite is almost completely back to normal and she's in a good mood, as you can see (she looks a little bleary because she just woke up). Nevertheless, we both look forward to Chad coming home . . . )
drorzel | May 14, 2009This is Week 40 of Thursday Baby Blogging, meaning that SteelyKid has nominally reached the point where she has been out in the world as long as she was gestating. Let's see what she thinks:
SteelyKid says "Huh? I thought that wasn't for another couple of weeks..."
And it's true, she was late in arriving. So, the official celebration of gestational breakeven will be a couple of weeks from now. In the meantime, let's just leave her to wrestle her bison...
drorzel | May 7, 2009It's been an uneven week for SteelyKid. She was a litle bit sick last week, and really only got better last weekend, only to turn listless and feverish at day care Monday. This led to yet another trip to the pediatrician, at which we learned that waking a sleeping baby up to press a cold stethoscope to her chest is the End of the World.
She's improved dramatically from that unpleasant visit, though, and did some painting yesterday at day care, and today felt well enough to wrestle a bison:
That's not the best Appa-for-scale picture, but how could I resist that expression? For a wider angle…
drorzel | April 30, 2009"These Baby Blogging pictures are old hat," says SteelyKid. "I could do this standing on my head!"
You can't really tell from the angle, but she's laughing. This is a game we play from time to time-- I'll tip her over backwards, gently lower her down to the floor, and say "BONK!" Then I pick her back up, and she giggles and laughs and grins hugely. I suspect she's going to share her mother's love of roller coasters.
drorzel | April 28, 2009Well, it is. What with the jumping around, and the giggling, and waving toys in the air, and the tickling and giggling, and taking a walk in the stroller...
It just tires a baby right out.
(If you've clicked through to warn us that letting SteelyKid sleep on her stomach is Incredibly! Dangerous! and May Cause Instant Death!!!, please don't. We've heard it.)
drorzel | April 24, 2009SteelyKid says "Look at me! I'm HUGE!"
Seriously, look at how small she used to be.
This is it as far as blogging today, by the way. I have to teach a class, and then I need to get through the copyedits on the book-in-production. Try to contain your disappointment.
drorzel | April 18, 2009SteelyKid is fascinated by the John Archibald Wheeler tribute issue of Physics Today:
"I find his popular writings much more digestible than the Big Book of Gravity," she says. "Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler is much too big to put in my mouth."
drorzel | April 16, 2009SteelyKid says, "Being sick is exhausting... Zzzzzzzzzz":
She's been running a fever for the last couple of days, which happened to coincide with the closing of the JCC day care center for Passover. This has wreaked a certain amount of havoc on plans for the adults in the house, but it could've been much worse.
She's much improved today. Still, running a fever is pretty tiring, so after half of her dinnertime bottle, she decided to rack out for a while. And we snuck in the Baby Blogging picture while she was dozing.