“Wanna see something cool?” is a question I ask quite frequently at mass social engagements now. It’s usually queried unsolicited of some hapless chap who made the mistake of letting the conversation dwindle to an awkward silence. Yes. This is how I interact with people. But the question is unnecessary and redundant for two reasons; … Continue reading Toys for philosophers: the many orderly dimensions of the tesseract
Stromae, a world-famous Belgian musician, left the spotlight after the release of his second album in 2013 and has since remained dormant. But he emerged from his occupational slumber in April 2017 to release a single—”Défiler,” meaning “to parade.” The song is just under ten minutes long and comments on two primary themes: the movement … Continue reading Défiler by Stromae: A commentary on upward mobility
Despite having been named for the legendary Elvish forest in the works of J.R.R Tolkien, my interests in silvology and arboriculture are inexcusably limited. It’s high (elven) time I write about what I know. What I lack in these realms of science I make up for in amateur linguistics. For almost six years now, I … Continue reading A star shines on the hour of our Elvish lesson: An introduction to Tolkien’s languages
Among the more inflammatory historical comments made by British authorities lies the Balfour Declaration, a 67-word statement published in the heat of the first World War that many historians argue ignited an already well-kindled Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Balfour Declaration reads: His Majesty’s government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for … Continue reading The Balfour Declaration: A Past and Contemporary Public Relations Analysis
Among my more interdisciplinary endeavors at Drake consisted of an editorship of the Department of Physics and Astronomy semesterly newsletter. I’ve decided to post these on my blog, as they showcase not only some of my best physics writing, but also my best graphics and design work. Continue reading The State of Physics at Drake, Fall 2018
WEST DES MOINES—Janet Belluchi isn’t afraid of truth. Death, old-age, decay, spirituality, intimacy, AIDS, love, marriage, emotion—these are the topics she addresses unflinchingly. Methodically. As she would the weather or sports. The contents of her mind are naked. Delivered in blunt, sentence fragments. Whittled with nothing but a chuckle. The only extravagance she bore was … Continue reading “There’s men and there’s women and there’s me:” LGBTQ individual describes a life of subtle advocacy
How Drake’s foreign distance runners networked their way to Des Moines DES MOINES—The Drake cross-country team has 25 runners, only four of which are long-distance. Of course, this phrase only makes sense when you realize that ‘long-distance’ also means ‘from far away.’ Drake has four distance runners from countries outside the United States—one from Australia, … Continue reading Who you know, not how fast you run
“Do you know the Land O’Lakes butter box?” This is an odd question for Daniel Alexander. He’s a professor of mathematics at Drake University, and he’s trying to explain the complex mathematical phenomenon known as fractals. Given the context, butter cartons feel more than a bit off topic. It’s not obvious how they have anything … Continue reading Butter boxes to galaxies—the beauty of mathematics
There’s a reason why the words text and textile are so similar. They both stem from sheep’s wool. Wool shows up in many places in the English language. The Latin word for tuft of wool is burra, which incidentally often covered desks, giving us words like bureau and bureaucracy. The first printing press in England … Continue reading The temporally-integrated dolphin on etymology relating to newspapers
Imagine yourself in Flatland. You are a two-dimensional being confined to a surface of unknown concavity. Your interactions with other bodies in Flatland are limited to one-dimension; you see them as lines of varying length, growing bigger as they approach you, shrinking smaller as they move away. You’re an existential stick figure, one whose identity … Continue reading A non-euclidean parable
