Goertz Thoughts

You're familiar with the trolley problem, right?   (Here's a different take from The Good Place .  Trigger warning: copious fake blood) Here's a variation that came up in astronomy class the other day. It didn't start off as a traditional trolley problem. We were discussing government spending. We're pretty sure that a dinosaur killing sized asteroid is not currently heading towards us due to projects such as ATLAS . We could be even more sure if more money was given to build telescopes. However, any funds given to telescopes is less given to other causes (say for example orphans). Both protecting the Earth from asteroids and helping children are good things. We cannot fully solve either problem no matter how much money we throw at them. So, in this case the question comes down to how much is too much?  To keep it simple, let's pretend these are the only two funding issues. If we miss seeing a massive asteroid in time, it could  kill everyone on Earth. On the ot...

I'm sure you've seen Encanto . It was really big 3(ish) years ago. I remember because the current seniors were freshmen and wouldn't stop singing We Don't Talk about Bruno  (watch this cool video about how the song works). I know this post seems a little late to the game, but I just finished watching Brooklyn 99  and how crazy is it that Stefanie Beatriz is the voice of Mirabel and Rosa ? Anyway, one of the things that feels most unfair about the movie is that Mirabel doesn't get a gift. Here's my take: Mirabel does have a gift. Extreme empathy. She can literally enter people's minds! Let's take a look at this. Really watch Mirabel in these songs: Talking with Luisa Talking with Pepa and Felix Talking with Abuela This is more than just normal song and dance fantasy numbers from musicals. She is entering into her family's thoughts and memories. She's an active participant in some of the scenes in their heads. This explains a whole lot: No one not...

 Back to posting with a relatively simple one. Students, you may or may not know this, but the board games that are in the Commons are from my collection *. My hope is that someday everyone will put down their cellphones and pick up a game instead. I really enjoy board games (although I don't play them as often as I would like). I'm not talking chess and checkers. I'm not even talking Monopoly and Scrabble. While those are technically board games, the genre has come a long way in the past few decades. Here's a few of my favorites (I'll use the term "board game" loosely, as some of these don't actually use a board). (Settlers of**) Catan If you're familiar with modern board games, you probably know this one. It first came out in 1995 and its popularity really exploded. Collect resources Build towns, cities, and roads. Each has different point values. First player to 10 points wins. It's a very good entry point due to the straightforward rules. T...