A cadaver certainly has its medical scientific uses and it's still as dead as a doornail to me...

*dead as a doornail

Yup - *dead as a doornail. Dang - it was so good, too!

>> ^wraith:

That was my point. Fluids are incompressible.
Unfortunately, those bad analogies seem to stick in the minds of the physics lay-person. Just think of the mother of bad analogies: Schroedinger's Cat. The particle may be in a undecided state between "life" or "death", yet the cat certainly isn't. It's either alive and very pissed or dead as a doornail.
When explaining science, avoid analogies whenever possible or clearly mark them as such and point out their deficiencies.


I think explaining qubits does a better job for first time quantum beginners. It also makes them see the potential for awesome. BUT, it is hard to explain--plainly. I blame my college professors and books. Scientific American has an awesome article for the "lay"-man for qubits.

I get blank stares with entanglement.

That was my point. Fluids are incompressible.

Unfortunately, those bad analogies seem to stick in the minds of the physics lay-person. Just think of the mother of bad analogies: Schroedinger's Cat. The particle may be in a undecided state between "life" or "death", yet the cat certainly isn't. It's either alive and very pissed or dead as a doornail.

When explaining science, avoid analogies whenever possible or clearly mark them as such and point out their deficiencies.

That's too bad. It's a great documentary and that Russian host is the only one that seems to have it.

You can watch it there... http://rutube.ru/tracks/3971045.html?v=b291fb1f625e36b9863c25366e7bbda8

But it's *dead as a doornail here.

Damn I want to watch this, but it's as dead as a doornail...

*dead like a doornail. Or sink nail, floor nail, ceiling nail, light nail, bedroom nail, brad nail etc.. etc...

*dead as a doornail

The thing about doornails is that they are hammered through the door until they stick out the other side, then are pounded flat to keep the boards together. during the early days of the American West, people used to burn down their houses when they moved, allowing them to collect the nails. All, except for the doornails, of course.

In reply to this comment by blankfist:
Dead as a doornail... what is a doornail, anyways, and why is it dead?

Dead as a doornail... what is a doornail, anyways, and why is it dead?