What is Quantum Non-Locality?

In order to properly review Quantum Non-Locality and Relativity: Metaphysical Intimations of Modern Physics by Tim Maudlin, I need to introduce you to a concept called nonlocality.   Nonlocality is one of the three most mind-blowing concepts I have ever contemplated. It frequently keeps me up at night, wondering what it really means. In a previous...

Risk Management, COVID-19, and Pre-Landing Checklists

People are at great risk for drawing the wrong conclusions if they go to the beach, party, get haircuts, and don't catch the virus. Because the reason that they didn't catch the virus may be that they were not exposed to the virus at all during those risky interactions.

A fun day at the ballpark: April 13, 2009

(This post was rescued in 2021 from my original blog. As I copied and pasted it here I decided to include the original comments including from my beloved father-in-law who was a Phillies fan.) Today was the Washington Nationals home opener. I had the privilege of working on the grounds crew today -- something that...

Bart’s Bagel Recipe

As a rookie cook and baker, it drives me crazy when recipes use jargon and leave out steps that they think are "obvious." So, I have written up, in a step-by-step way, how I make bagels from scratch. My method is based on a Washington Post recipe that I modified. Some of the text below...

Promoting every student to the next grade during COVID is a disaster waiting to happen. Here’s what schools should consider instead.

Education Week’s Sarah Schwartz has an interesting new article out that discusses “Why Schools Are Not Holding Students Back to Address COVID-19 Learning Loss.”In it she notes that at least 84% of school districts plan to promote all students to the next grade despite the pandemic interrupting their education to a degree that is unprecedented...

How Does A Freedom-Loving Gun Owner Feel About Wearing Masks During the Pandemic?

As a gun owner, I don't need the government to tell me to follow a few simple rules of gun safety. The first is muzzle discipline: I point guns only at things I intend to destroy. You might think this would be a universal practice, but shocking numbers of people mistakenly shoot each other (and...

Blog post from 2011: Bart from Tutor.com Lends NASA a Helping Hand

Back in 2011, I posted an entry to the Tutor.com blog that was deleted after we sold the company. Today I found a copy of that post thanks to the “Wayback Machine” that archives the internet. Here is that post in its unaltered entirety. We’ve had the pleasure of posting about some of Bart Epstein’s...

Book Club Blog Post: Flatland

Back in 2009, after the Tutor.com Book Club read Flatland I wrote a blog post that was deleted after we sold the company. Today I found a copy of that post thanks to the "Wayback Machine" that archives the internet. Here is that post in its unaltered entirety. This month’s Tutor.com Book Club pick was...

Book Club Blog Post: Simply Einstein, Relativity Demystified

Back in 2011, after the Tutor.com Book Club read a fascinating book I wrote a blog post that was deleted after we sold the company. Today I found a copy of that post thanks to the "Wayback Machine" that archives the internet. Here is that post in its unaltered entirety. We each take turns writing...

Might China Allow (or Order) Women To Have Multiple Husbands?

Photo credit Zhang Kaiyv For thirty six years from 1981 through 2015, China's Communist leadership forcefully limited couples to a single child. At the time, China's population was exploding faster than its ability to feed itself. As a result it was highly vulnerable to famines such as the one that, by 1962, had caused thirty million Chinese...