October 23, 2007
I had a doctor visit and a meeting schduled for this morning, which cut into my blogging time. And I have another meeting in an hour, and I need to get lunch. This sounds like a job for a Dorky Poll!
So here's a quick pair of questions, based on a glance at my office shelves:
What's your favorite…
October 23, 2007
The Science Times this week appears to be the Special Coturnix Issue, at least judging from the titles in my RSS reader-- a huge stack of articles about sleep and biological clocks. Bora must be thrilled.
Mixed in there, though, are two articles about NASA. One bears the dramatic headline "NASA…
October 22, 2007
Cocktail Party Physics: they do it with mirrors
What's up with those "It's the mirrors" commercials for DLP. Still no explanation of the elephant.
(tags: physics industry science materials gadgets)
A.C.C. Teams Thinking About the Final Four Already - New York Times
Let's not get ahead of…
October 22, 2007
As mentioned in the previous post, Cut to the Chase offers two lists of skills to look at: The Popular Mechanics list of "25 Skills Every Man Should Know" and a new list of "20 Practical Skills Every Self-Sufficient Adult Should Have."
This seems ripe for an Internet "meme" thing, so here's a the…
October 22, 2007
A little while back, Popular Mechanics published a list of 25 Skills Every Man Should Know. Seven of the 25 are car-related, another four have to do with construction, and an additional six are outdoorsy things. Of course, they also threw in "extend your wireless network," for the nerds out there,…
October 22, 2007
I've been Netflix-ing and sloooowly watching the anime Last Exile over the last few months, and finished it over the weekend. It's all very pretty, but I really don't understand what the hell happened at the very end. Some fun stuff along the way, though.
This means that I have once again run out…
October 21, 2007
The Right-Wing Facebook - Welcome
"Rudy Giuliani is wondering how he can fit 9/11 into a speech about agriculture policy."
(tags: politics US silly)
A Paler Shade of White: Musical Events: The New Yorker
An attempt to find cultural significance in the fact that the author doesn't like indie…
October 21, 2007
Well, the DonorsChoose challenge came up short of the "stab myself with a fork" threshold by the Friday deadline, though the whole business turned out to be surprisingly effective. Go figure.
At this point in things, militant atheist baiting is pretty much played out as a fundraising strategy,…
October 21, 2007
The occasional writing update, with bonus LOLEmmy:
(Photo credit: Kate)
Introduction
Current Revision: 1
Total Words: 422 (dialogue only)
Chapter 1: Particle-Wave Duality
Current Revision: 5a
Total Words: 5,279
Chapter 2: The Uncertainty Principle
Current Revision: 7
Total Words: 4,499
Chapter 3:…
October 21, 2007
I appear not to have booklogged Naomi Novik's earlier books, which is something of an oversight. I think they got lost in the transition between the old booklog, and posting booklog entries here.
At any rate, Empire of Ivory is the fourth book in the Temeraire series, which starts with the Hugo-…
October 20, 2007
...My heart's in Accra » Pop!Tech 2007
More interesting conference blogging posts than I can link individually
(tags: gadgets society science computing economics education)
The Prize That Even Some Laureates Question - New York Times
Nobody likes the Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences…
October 20, 2007
While I'm passing on announcements from my email, there's an online event scheduled for Tuesda and Wednesday about nanotechnology and the consumer:
Nanotechnology--the ability to measure, see, manipulate and manufacture things between 1 and 100 nanometers (1 billionth of a meter)--is seen as the…
October 20, 2007
As noted a little while ago, ScienceBlogs has recently redesigned the channel pages on the front page, and they now include images supplied by the bloggers. For example, the doomsday weapon photo that currently graces the Physical Science page is a picture of my lab.
Now, any idiot can take…
October 20, 2007
The Union of Concerned Scientists emails me fairly regularly with news items and calls to action-- one of the benefits of being a C-list blogger, I guess. This week's is a "Call your Senator" item opposing Executive Order 13422:
Government agencies need to use the best available science to protect…
October 19, 2007
Terra Sigillata : News Flash: Unathletic Kids Unpopular and Lonely
Also, bad at sports.
(tags: education silly sports)
slacktivist: Gay-Hatin' Gospel (pt. 2)
Part two in Fred Clark's series attempting to explain evangelical gay-bashing
(tags: politics US religion)
Optical Dilution and…
October 19, 2007
I'm not going to explain exactly what prompted this, but I want to remind my readers of one of the absolute essential rules of life in academia:
The most important person in any academic department is the secretary.
Naive outsiders often think that the department chair is the most important person…
October 19, 2007
For those keeping score, the DonorsChoose Challenge stands at $3,262 right now. Only hours remain before this week's incentive deadline, so act quickly:
For another $290, I'll stab myself with a fork.
For another $540, I'll read and respectfully review Richard Dawkins's book, or some other atheist…
October 19, 2007
An anonymous donor cashes in a $30 donation to ask:
Homework solutions from intro physics through grad school physics are available online, and while working through Jackson and Goldstein problems can be miserable without some guidance, the temptation is there to plagiarize. When you teach, do you…
October 19, 2007
To the men and woman campaigning for the President of the United States:
Hey, how's it going. Boy, I bet it seems like this campaign has been going on forever, huh? All those pancake breakfasts and rubber-chicken dinners... I don't know how you guys manage it.
But here's the thing: the campaign…
October 18, 2007
Mixing Memory : Women in Math, Science, and Engineering, and Playing Video Games
The solution to the gender disparity in science: Mandatory first-person shooters for everyone!
(tags: gender science psychology)
Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education - Inside Higher Ed :: Sweetening the…
October 18, 2007
I'm not sure whether it was prompted by James Watson's little outburst (for which he has apologized "unreservedly") or just serendipity, but Cosma Shalizi offers an exhaustive demolition of the idea of a single general intelligence factor:
Anyone who wanders into the bleak and monotonous desert of…
October 18, 2007
While we're being all charitable, here's a link to FreeRice's charity vocabulary quiz. It's pretty simple: They give you odd words, you guess the meanings, and for each word you get right, they donate 10 grains of rice to an international aid agency.
Do you have a large vocabulary? Are you looking…
October 18, 2007
So, let's review the week in DonorsChoose fundraising:
Atheist baiting netted about $60, from three donors.
Appealing to your better nature brought in zip, zero, nil, nada. Not one person donated to the highlighted proposal after I posted that.
Offering to stab myself with a fork brought in $200…
October 18, 2007
Over at The Island of Doubt, James Hrynyshyn has a post about solar skepticism on the part of some researchers, who think that claims of increased efficiency are often overhyped.
Of course, efficiency isn't the only issue. A couple of weks ago, we had a colloquium talk by Peter Persans of RPI, who…
October 17, 2007
Hopkins Is Boeheim's Designated Successor at Syracuse - New York Times
Bernie Fine: Don't hold your breath, Mike...
(tags: basketball)
yoco :: College Basketball || (a sports weblog) analysis and commentary on college basketball and the ncaa tournament
Georgie suspends three players for missing…
October 17, 2007
Separated at birth?
James Watson, a Nobel Prize winner for his part in the unravelling of DNA who now runs one of America's leading scientific research institutions, drew widespread condemnation for comments he made ahead of his arrival in Britain today for a speaking tour at venues including the…
October 17, 2007
My least favorite part of academic research has to be waiting for vendors who aren't actually going to call me back. Even when it's a company I've done a lot of business with, "a lot of business" by my standards is peanuts to them, so I'm way, way down the priority queue when it comes to callbacks…
October 17, 2007
That's exactly the sort of thing you won't have to read if I meet my Challenge goal by Friday. Or even get $1000 or 100 new donors by Friday, in which case I'll have to do a respectful review of his book.
Thus far, we've only picked up $120 in new donations, so it's not looking real likely. But,…
October 17, 2007
Over at Unqualified Offerings, Thoreau has encountered the dark side of academic life:
I was assigned to the curriculum committee, so I went to the meeting today. (I don't go to committee meetings for my health.) I learned that one of the tasks before us was demonstrating that we have assessments…
October 17, 2007
In comments to my previous fundraising incentive offer, tceisele asks a good question:
Just out of curiosity: if you will read "The God Delusion" for $1000 [in donations], how much will it cost just to get you to stab yourself with a fork?
(based on my statement that I'd rather stab myself with a…
