Comments on: Time to get schooled by the professor!

Time to get schooled by the professor!

BartFargo — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:14:44 -0800

Some kind soul has uploaded an exhaustive collection of Professor Julius Sumner Miller's Science Demonstrations to YouTube. This is my playlist, I thought the other fans of JSM on Metafilter might enjoy it.

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:19:21 -0800

Why?? Why is it so?

By: demiurge

demiurge — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:26:42 -0800

I loved this guy. I remember being home from school for a snow day or something and watching episodes of this for three hours straight on PBS. I was mesmerized.

By: mexican

mexican — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:26:59 -0800

I've never heard of this guy. I find him and his demonstrations awesome.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:37:27 -0800

Watch it! Watch it! Watch it!

By: mds35

mds35 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:39:08 -0800

Physics is his business. Thank you thank you thank you for finding this.

By: wheelieman

wheelieman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 19:55:44 -0800

Uh is "my playlist a selff link?

By: cgc373

cgc373 — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:05:44 -0800

MeTa re: self-linking.

By: Ironmouth

Ironmouth — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:07:26 -0800

Uh is "my playlist a selff link? sorta maybe kinda. Technically one could call it a self link, but I would suggest the reason for the rule is to prevent members from using the site as method for gaining traffic and click-through ad revenue. His yt list is strictly a tribute.

By: sdodd

sdodd — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:07:29 -0800

a self link I wish more YouTube posts were organized into convenient playlists. It cuts down on clicking and fiddling with tabs or browser history.

By: puke & cry

puke & cry — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:14:51 -0800

Uh is "my playlist a selff link? No. You ought to be kissing his ass for organizing them for you.

By: roll truck roll

roll truck roll — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:23:52 -0800

Hooray! This guy's show falls squarely into the "Things I eventually just convinced myself I'd imagined" category, along with This Tuesday in Texas and Madballs.

By: solotoro

solotoro — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:26:17 -0800

Go back I say, or I will destroy you!! I need to ask for a copy of Millergrams for Christmas.

By: bumpkin

bumpkin — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:26:18 -0800

This guy is awesome. Thanks for the links.

By: Brockles

Brockles — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:27:28 -0800

You get the sense that the guy is so utterly excited by his subject matter that he has to constantly rein himself in so as not to get perpetually sidetracked as each new element occurs to him. Excellent and very entertaining. I like this one where he is so keen to get on and show you what he means by the energies he is listing, that he can't be arsed to write the names on the board properly or (when he gets to static) even make it legible before HE'S OFF to the showing bit. Loved it. He reminded me of my Applied Maths teacher at sixth form. He'd start the problem off slowly, and as the equations would slowly start to resolve and make sense he'd get faster and faster and more animated until he'd finish with "And therefore we find thAT X IS SEVEN!!!" with a HUGE swoosh of chalk underlining the full width of the board and spin around on his heel to face the class all triumphantly. Entertaining post and provoked amusing memories. Thanks.

By: janetplanet

janetplanet — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:36:22 -0800

"that's so terrific I'm going to do it again!" I never heard of JSM before but am totally hooked! Thanks Bartfargo!!

By: ZachsMind

ZachsMind — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:45:48 -0800

That old man rocks! To witness him in action is to celebrate the life of a man who could find awe and wonder and mystery in anything. Julius Sumner Miller is a Short Duration Personal Savior and if he hasn't yet been made a SubGenius Saint, he should be. I wonder how I go about doing that?

By: nola

nola — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:46:12 -0800

BartFargoBartFargoBartFargoBartFargoBartFargo!

By: Wolof

Wolof — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 20:47:38 -0800

Chocolate is energy.

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:00:13 -0800

Man, I'd much rather people did play lists then put 900 links into their FPPs.

By: Andrew Brinton

Andrew Brinton — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:01:06 -0800

I want to do that again. Cause I like it!

By: delmoi

delmoi — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:14:17 -0800

Bleh, the "that's so terrific I'm going to do it again !" video perpetuates the Bernoulli airplane wing urban legend. In fact, the lower pressure on top of the wing is not enough to actually lift the plane into the air (Unless it's going very fast)

By: uncanny hengeman

uncanny hengeman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:18:05 -0800

In one of the Physics lectur theatre foyers where I went to University, there is a wooden profile of Einstein. The workman ship could be best described as average. The creator? Professor Julius Sumner Miller. Funny on sooo many levels. Growing up at just the right time to see his oddball Cadbury adverts helped. His quotes were part of the lexicon of Oz children in the 80s.

By: phooky

phooky — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:28:21 -0800

"One hundred and twenty geniuses!" How have I never heard of this man before? He's a shoo-in for my personal canon.

By: blenderfish

blenderfish — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:31:42 -0800

Hey! Mini AskMe time! Can someone link a video (with timecode too plz) of him saying "sucCESS!!"?

By: amyms

amyms — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 21:42:07 -0800

This is very cool. I'm bookmarking this so I can show it to my son tomorrow. Thanks, BartFargo.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:14:34 -0800

I liked it so much I'm going to watch it again! Maybe 3 or even 4 times!

By: Rumple

Rumple — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 22:35:29 -0800

This is great, thanks so much. Links to playlists on youtube are just so much fucking better than long strings of individual youtube links.

By: well_balanced

well_balanced — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:10:49 -0800

I never noticed it at the time but apparently the good professor only owned one shirt.

By: aftermarketradio

aftermarketradio — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:18:44 -0800

Physics is pants! And so is this guy.

By: maryh

maryh — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 23:38:37 -0800

Thanks for this! Prof Miller is an absolute delight! (Altho' I'm getting disconcerting hits of Garry Marshall and Kate Hepburn off his delivery)

By: algreer

algreer — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:29:00 -0800

More food for me and my physics hungry girlfriend (she's a physics teacher) - thanks!

By: DU

DU — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 04:39:26 -0800

Back in the days when TV was an adjunct to real education ("you can read about them in your books") and you didn't need to comb your hair or be conventionally sane to be on TV. Great stuff.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:32:09 -0800

That's terrific! That's fantastic!! Thanks for this post—and thanks, delmoi, for that very enlightening "urban legend" link, though I don't think it's fair to blame Professor Miller for getting it wrong when so many great scientists did as well. (And people like that 6th grade science teacher should be flogged and not allowed near schools.)

By: SpiffyRob

SpiffyRob — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 05:33:47 -0800

Damnit! Why didn't I see this until this morning! I have to go to work! I only got a chance to watch a few, and so I couldn't find the one I was looking for: I vividly remember watching one in High School where he, not understanding the inherent danger (not that anyone did at the time), was just sorta messing around with some mercury. It was quite the cringe-fest to watch at a time when we knew the risks, especially when a classmate of ours lost his mother in a pretty high-profile mercury poisoning case. Anyway, if anyone finds it (I recognize that it might not be among the vids posted) please let me know!

By: tarantula

tarantula — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:26:11 -0800

now that's terrific i tell you! thanks.

By: Mayor Curley

Mayor Curley — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 06:40:44 -0800

I love him. Starting with is Old New England Grandad accent.

By: jewzilla

jewzilla — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:28:36 -0800

Thank you! I thought for sure I would go to my grave not knowing this man's name. Watched him every afternoon during summer vacation. My favorite: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DhR6EjBCQJw

By: No Robots

No Robots — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 07:49:28 -0800

For 35 years, because of this guy, I haven't been able to use the word "suction" without laughing.

By: space2k

space2k — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 09:29:02 -0800

thank you thank you thank you. The image of a liquid nitrogen frozen rose has been stuck in my head since 1972.

By: bhance

bhance — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:33:10 -0800

Metafilter: we say this is fantastic, and if anyone has any other view he is lifeless and dead.

By: thefinkler

thefinkler — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:35:31 -0800

Wow, what a great find. It certainly takes me back to another time, and gives me a strange yearning for chocolate (he promoted Cabury's here in Australia)

By: Megafly

Megafly — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:48:50 -0800

"he, not understanding the inherent danger...mercury" Mercury vapors may be dangerous, but mercury in it's liquid form is harmless. it is no more "inherently" dangerous than lead or antimony.

By: SpiffyRob

SpiffyRob — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 12:23:45 -0800

Mercury vapors may be dangerous, but mercury in it's [sic] liquid form is harmless. From the Canadian Centre for Health and Occupational Safety: "The harmful effects of long-term exposure to elemental mercury are generally thought to be caused by inhalation exposure. However, mercury liquid and vapour are absorbed through the skin in small amounts and this route of exposure can contribute to the overall exposure. Effects following absorption through the skin are expected to be similar to those reported for long-term inhalation exposure." As bad as huffing? No. Harmless? No.

By: evilcolonel

evilcolonel — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 13:15:06 -0800

I'm one of a whole generation of Canadian kids that only know this guy from his regular segment on the endlessly-rerun "Hilarious House of Frightenstein."

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 14:15:52 -0800

AWE. SOME.

By: JHarris

JHarris — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:16:42 -0800

I find the mode of production interesting. No second takes at all, no letting things steep in the liquid nitrogen before the production, not much in the way of editing. The production must have been really bare-bones. Great lectures all the same though. The guy had style.

By: goo

goo — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 10:50:44 -0800

Man, I was just about to make a JSM post, searched and found this one. Love him. Why is it so? Here are the ads he did for Cadbury in Australia, because the first thing you think of when you think of chocolate is, of course, physics: 1, 2, 3 and 4. Previously and previously.