Chad Orzel
@orzelc.bsky.social
Physicist, professor, author of books about science for non-scientists. Longer-form stuff at https://chadorzel.substack.com/
Christmas abroad is very weird, because even in places with thousands of years of culture and history they play the same Baby Boomer Christmas music you hear in any mall in the US.
December 1, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Christmas abroad is very weird, because even in places with thousands of years of culture and history they play the same Baby Boomer Christmas music you hear in any mall in the US.
Keflavik does the thing I hated at Heathrow, where they don't reveal what gate a flight leaves from until just before boarding. Is this a European pathology, or just a small island nation thing?
December 1, 2025 at 6:35 AM
Keflavik does the thing I hated at Heathrow, where they don't reveal what gate a flight leaves from until just before boarding. Is this a European pathology, or just a small island nation thing?
The real answer is probably one of the "That Guy!" character actors. Joe Pantoliano, Steve Buscemi, somebody like that. Gets you the widest possible range of stuff.
This is a Bill Simmons game, but you’re stranded on a desert island. You can only have one actor’s filmography. You get it all, including cameos. But just the one performer.
I’m taking Cate Blanchett: Talented Mr. Ripley, LOTR, Life Aquatic, Black Bag, Tár, Ponyo, Hot Fuzz, Eyes Wide Shut, Thor
I’m taking Cate Blanchett: Talented Mr. Ripley, LOTR, Life Aquatic, Black Bag, Tár, Ponyo, Hot Fuzz, Eyes Wide Shut, Thor
December 1, 2025 at 6:18 AM
The real answer is probably one of the "That Guy!" character actors. Joe Pantoliano, Steve Buscemi, somebody like that. Gets you the widest possible range of stuff.
Greetings from Keflavik Airport. Iceland is dark, and also expensive.
December 1, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Greetings from Keflavik Airport. Iceland is dark, and also expensive.
Made it onto my flight to Norway, despite the best efforts of the Mass Pike. Next stop... well, Reikjavic, but ultimately Oslo.
December 1, 2025 at 12:49 AM
Made it onto my flight to Norway, despite the best efforts of the Mass Pike. Next stop... well, Reikjavic, but ultimately Oslo.
I am about to walk out the door to drive to Boston then fly to Oslo, so of course somebody just hit my primary credit card with a fraudulent charge. #FML
November 30, 2025 at 6:32 PM
I am about to walk out the door to drive to Boston then fly to Oslo, so of course somebody just hit my primary credit card with a fraudulent charge. #FML
Reposted by Chad Orzel
I’m very unhappy about the aggressive AI upscaling in the Beatles Anthology on Disney Plus. It’s added a whole extra Beatle! Who the fuck is “George”?
November 30, 2025 at 1:29 PM
I’m very unhappy about the aggressive AI upscaling in the Beatles Anthology on Disney Plus. It’s added a whole extra Beatle! Who the fuck is “George”?
Reposted by Chad Orzel
Sorry,Gumby, but the lives of the people in the trolley outweigh yours, and you take worse damage in every episode anyway
November 30, 2025 at 1:24 PM
Sorry,Gumby, but the lives of the people in the trolley outweigh yours, and you take worse damage in every episode anyway
The Netflix app on my Chromebook let me download one episode of Stranger Things to watch offline, which is nice, but I'm going to be on airplanes for nine hours...
November 30, 2025 at 12:27 PM
The Netflix app on my Chromebook let me download one episode of Stranger Things to watch offline, which is nice, but I'm going to be on airplanes for nine hours...
Reposted by Chad Orzel
‘Life goes on. A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms. What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?’
November 29, 2025 at 11:20 AM
‘Life goes on. A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms. Enthusiasms, enthusiasms. What are mine? What draws my admiration? What is that which gives me joy?’
Reposted by Chad Orzel
I hope you spent thanksgiving bow hunting apes with explosive tipped arrows, just as Christ desired
November 28, 2025 at 1:44 AM
I hope you spent thanksgiving bow hunting apes with explosive tipped arrows, just as Christ desired
This week in "Phrases You Could Print on a T-Shirt That Would Raise Questions Addressed by the Shirt":
"Brown was living in a tent outside Cecil H. Green Library — a choice unrelated to his Tree audition — when he was chosen at the end of Tree Week 2018."
www.sfgate.com/collegesport...
"Brown was living in a tent outside Cecil H. Green Library — a choice unrelated to his Tree audition — when he was chosen at the end of Tree Week 2018."
www.sfgate.com/collegesport...
Neon spandex, expired Yoo-hoo and IKEA: The greatest college mascot love story
As the Stanford Tree turns 50, the mascot has never had a love story like this.
www.sfgate.com
November 27, 2025 at 12:15 PM
This week in "Phrases You Could Print on a T-Shirt That Would Raise Questions Addressed by the Shirt":
"Brown was living in a tent outside Cecil H. Green Library — a choice unrelated to his Tree audition — when he was chosen at the end of Tree Week 2018."
www.sfgate.com/collegesport...
"Brown was living in a tent outside Cecil H. Green Library — a choice unrelated to his Tree audition — when he was chosen at the end of Tree Week 2018."
www.sfgate.com/collegesport...
Reposted by Chad Orzel
You know this was added after someone complained that the dead animal smell "kept coming back" and after a lot of back and forth they finally acknowledged that they didn't get rid of the dead animal first.
This is possibly my favorite product answer yet:
Q: Will this deodorizing spray get rid of dead animal smell?
A: Yes, but you need to remove the dead animal or you will need to keep applying it.
Q: Will this deodorizing spray get rid of dead animal smell?
A: Yes, but you need to remove the dead animal or you will need to keep applying it.
November 27, 2025 at 5:49 AM
You know this was added after someone complained that the dead animal smell "kept coming back" and after a lot of back and forth they finally acknowledged that they didn't get rid of the dead animal first.
I mean, the answer is obvious: Charlie the pupper
November 26, 2025 at 9:38 PM
I mean, the answer is obvious: Charlie the pupper
"You will be visited by three spirits."
The three spirits
The three spirits
November 26, 2025 at 12:52 PM
"You will be visited by three spirits."
The three spirits
The three spirits
A very of-the-moment game by @gregschwanbeck.bsky.social : schwanbeck.org/67/
6-7 CHALLENGE!
schwanbeck.org
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 PM
A very of-the-moment game by @gregschwanbeck.bsky.social : schwanbeck.org/67/
Reposted by Chad Orzel
Me tracking which movie is on which streaming service
November 25, 2025 at 7:59 PM
Me tracking which movie is on which streaming service
Some thoughts on how negative stereotypes are actually mostly a plane-with-red-dots-dot-jpeg situation:
open.substack.com/pub/chadorze...
open.substack.com/pub/chadorze...
Awkward Nerds and Dumb Jocks Are Notable Because They're Unusual
On the persistence of unflattering stereotypes
open.substack.com
November 25, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Some thoughts on how negative stereotypes are actually mostly a plane-with-red-dots-dot-jpeg situation:
open.substack.com/pub/chadorze...
open.substack.com/pub/chadorze...
Charlie the pupper is bemused by me doing the thing where I go through a draft talk and say all the words to an otherwise empty room.
Also, he isn't completely convinced by my presentation of the Everett Interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Also, he isn't completely convinced by my presentation of the Everett Interpretation of quantum mechanics.
November 25, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Charlie the pupper is bemused by me doing the thing where I go through a draft talk and say all the words to an otherwise empty room.
Also, he isn't completely convinced by my presentation of the Everett Interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Also, he isn't completely convinced by my presentation of the Everett Interpretation of quantum mechanics.
Reposted by Chad Orzel
Movie premise.
Nine Russian “volunteers” killed their escort after deciding not to go fight in Ukraine. Taken straight from prison to the front under contract, they murdered the convoy driver en route and are now on the run in Leningrad region. Russian police are actively searching the outskirts of Kudrovo.
November 25, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Movie premise.
Reposted by Chad Orzel
Definitive Stars Wars ranking:
1. Yojimbo
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
3. Metropolis
4. Casablanca
5. Spaceballs
1. Yojimbo
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
3. Metropolis
4. Casablanca
5. Spaceballs
November 24, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Definitive Stars Wars ranking:
1. Yojimbo
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
3. Metropolis
4. Casablanca
5. Spaceballs
1. Yojimbo
2. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
3. Metropolis
4. Casablanca
5. Spaceballs
Reposted by Chad Orzel
my haters have become my waiters at the table of success. I'm receiving terrible service, they're spitting in everything.
November 24, 2025 at 9:59 PM
my haters have become my waiters at the table of success. I'm receiving terrible service, they're spitting in everything.
Reposted by Chad Orzel
If the Yankees weren't profitable (lol), the Steinbrenner family would immediately sell the team for several billion dollars. Never believe anything any owner says about money ever.
November 24, 2025 at 7:20 PM
If the Yankees weren't profitable (lol), the Steinbrenner family would immediately sell the team for several billion dollars. Never believe anything any owner says about money ever.
It really just feels Not Right to be getting "Black Friday" subscription sales from UK-based magazines.
November 24, 2025 at 10:49 AM
It really just feels Not Right to be getting "Black Friday" subscription sales from UK-based magazines.
Reposted by Chad Orzel
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
One of the bragging rights that the US ed system had in the 20th century is that we didn't have education tracks. Essentially, any kid could go to a CC or state school & major in whatever they wanted to (obviously an oversimplification). I fear this aspect of the American dream is dying.
November 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.