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I've been remiss in posting my Undistinguished Lecture Series presentations here.
2008-02-29: Navigation Techniques That Don't Rely on General Relativity -- How We Got Around Before GPS.
Our ancestors managed, more or less, to get around for thousands of years without the amazing convenience of GPS. How did they do it? We'll look at a range of Polynesian and Viking techniques as well as the basics of full celestial navigation.
[This one I did in innovative Crayolavision. They're all handdrawn in crayon on construction paper, with very little text. I never got around to annotating them, so I'm not sure how useful they will be by themselves. Enjoy!]
2008-05-30: Fermi's Paradox
There are more stars in the universe than our puny meatbrains can possibly comprehend. Likewise, the universe is ridiculously old. So why wasn't the galaxy filled with advanced civilizations millions of years before we came down out of the trees? SETI hasn't turned up the slightest scrap of evidence for anyone else zipping around out there after almost 50 years of looking. What might this ominous silence mean for us here on Earth? (Hint: Nothing good.)
[This was thrown together at the last minute when the originally scheduled speaker backed out. It could have used some more polishing. Again, they're a bit low on text. My preferred style just doesn't lend itself to slides that stand alone.]
2008-02-29: Navigation Techniques That Don't Rely on General Relativity -- How We Got Around Before GPS.
Our ancestors managed, more or less, to get around for thousands of years without the amazing convenience of GPS. How did they do it? We'll look at a range of Polynesian and Viking techniques as well as the basics of full celestial navigation.
[This one I did in innovative Crayolavision. They're all handdrawn in crayon on construction paper, with very little text. I never got around to annotating them, so I'm not sure how useful they will be by themselves. Enjoy!]
2008-05-30: Fermi's Paradox
There are more stars in the universe than our puny meatbrains can possibly comprehend. Likewise, the universe is ridiculously old. So why wasn't the galaxy filled with advanced civilizations millions of years before we came down out of the trees? SETI hasn't turned up the slightest scrap of evidence for anyone else zipping around out there after almost 50 years of looking. What might this ominous silence mean for us here on Earth? (Hint: Nothing good.)
[This was thrown together at the last minute when the originally scheduled speaker backed out. It could have used some more polishing. Again, they're a bit low on text. My preferred style just doesn't lend itself to slides that stand alone.]