Quantum Packages

I recently bought some items online from a retailer I don't commonly use.  A few days later I got an e-mail from "UPS Quantum View" with a tracking number.  I had to wonder if anyone else thinks of the Heisenberg uncertainty when they think of "Quantum Package Tracking".  Can I know the state and location of my package or do I have to pick one?


If someone uses the word quantum and you aren't talking about particle physics they are likely making an appeal to sciencie sounding mumbo-jumbo and should be questioned.


Like the "HD" paint I saw at Lowe's recently or the "Digitally Ground" lenses my mother bought for her glasses this is a troubling trend.  Apparently advertising agencies have figured out that they only have to through a sciencie sounding technical word in the mix to up the credibility of the product with their target audience.  It's up to us to call them out on it, if the geeks don't ridicule (the proper reaction to something that is ridiculous) this stuff the rest of the world wont get why "UPS Quantum View" is laughable.

A New Kind of Celebrity

There has never been a cooler time to be alive.  It wasn't possible for someone from the outside to look so far in ever before. I saw the video below today on a favorite blog of mine (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/) and it nearly brought a tear to my eye.  I own a book by over half of the great scientists featured in the video and have read meaningful work by all but two.  We live in a time where the definition of celebrity will change.  None of these scientists are celebrities in the classic sense (well maybe Sagan) but they are all celebrities in my global in-group. Whenever anyone romanticizes the renaissance or any other epoch I keep thinking in an accidental quote from Rage Aginst the Machine "what better place than here, what better time than now".





Head to http://symphonyofscience.com/ for dozens of amazing videos. I have posted a few other favorites after the "Read more" break.