What is this whole DotPhys thing about?

This is site focusing on things that I find interesting.

Who am I?
Rhett Allain, an Associate Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana University. I first started posting stuff because an introductory physics class. The class (as always) asked about extra credit projects. I said that they could turn in something and I would look at it. Well, most of the stuff they turned in was not too good. I decided to do a couple of "extra credit" projects as an example. Well, it appears I enjoyed it a little too much and I couldn't stop. Here are some of my favorite projects:

• The Physics of Line Rider
• Optimal Commuting Speed Calculator
• Ford F-150 Truck Stopping a Plane
• The Physics of Scooting
• Analysis of Mythbusters Lead Balloon

In general, I like projects that:

• Applying some physics model in a novel way or to a new situation
• Measuring stuff - using computers and data acquisition systems
• Video analysis (similar to measuring stuff) and analysis of commercials and videos (similar to the fist item)
• Numerical calculations
• Statistical analysis (even though I am not very good at it)
• Currently, I am also looking at how students understand the nature of science. You can see more on this project at my academic page.

Some things I would like (in case someone wants to get me a present):

• High speed video camera
• Infrared thermal camera
• Free alternative to Flash
• LabView to really work with Mac OS X (like it used to)
• VPython to really work on Mac OS X without X11
• For everyone to just get along.