March 11, 2011
I've got three months to decide. I'll be giving an invited talk at the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics (DAMOP) with this title, with a goal of introducing the field to students and physicists from other fields:
In recent years, DAMOP has expanded to the point where the meeting…
March 11, 2011
One thing that I thought of while writing yesterday's mammoth post about scientific thinking and stereotypes was the notion of stereotype threat, the psychological phenomenon where students who are reminded of negative stereotypes right before a test tend to score worse than they do when taking the…
March 11, 2011
Among the Assisterati: Bottoms Up with the Highbrow Bottom Feeders | The New York Observer
"For six weeks, at a cost of $7,000, Columbia University offers recent college graduates forgettable workshops, fleeting encounters with important editors and access to the best unlisted job openings in…
March 10, 2011
"I do not, for one, believe that the problem was that the band was down. I believe the problem may have been that there was a sky bison on the stage that was in danger of being crushed by a toddler.
"Alright? That tended to understate the hugeness of the animal."
(A tiny bit of context. And no, we…
March 10, 2011
A few more comments on the scientific thinking thing, because it's generated a bunch of comments. As usual, some of them are good points, and some of them have completely misunderstood what I was trying to say. so let's take another crack at it.
While the post was worded somewhat strongly, I'm not…
March 10, 2011
When Lew Alcindor defeated Scott Ostler at Pauley
"The UCLA freshman team featured Lew Alcindor (later Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), Lucius Allen and three other prep All-Americans. In a game to open the new Pauley Pavilion, UCLA's frosh beat the varsity by 15. The varsity was coming off back-to-back…
March 9, 2011
As a sort of follow-on from yesterday's post, thinking about the issues involved reminded me of a couple of browser tabs that I've had open for a while, namely this story about an education session at the AAAS meeting, and this Inside Higher Ed article on "Teaching Ambiguity". From the IHE piece:…
March 9, 2011
How Much Could the Real Floating House Lift? | Wired Science | Wired.com
"The internet is all pumped up over this real floating house recreating the scene from Up! (the movie). Here is a video:
Or perhaps you prefer some pictures. Here is a website full of pictures. here is the deal. National…
March 8, 2011
Everybody's favorite science blogger did a podcast with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and has been posting highlights of it. One of these, on scientific thinking, has a bit that I don't quite agree with. Tyson says:
I think the, if it were natural to think scientifically, science as we currently practice it…
March 8, 2011
It's the last week of the winter term here, so here is a totally serious and important music-related poll question:
Which do you prefer?survey software
(OK, maybe the end-of-term craziness is making me just a tiny bit punchy...)
March 8, 2011
syracuse.com : Upstate NY schools bear the brunt of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's cuts
"Syosset is nearly 3 1/2 times wealthier than West Genesee. It spent $25,990 per pupil in 2008-09, compared to West Genesee's $13,854.
And that disparity is likely to grow under Gov. Andrew Cuomo's proposed budget.
The…
March 7, 2011
How bad is the Templeton Foundation? : Thoughts from Kansas
"This is the consistent pattern in [Sunny] Bains's story [about the Templeton Foundation]. The problem is not that her conclusions are demonstrably wrong - she may well be right about Templeton, and she may even have gathered evidence…
March 6, 2011
I've been sticking to my "no Internet before writing something" quota fairly well the last several days, with a couple of exceptions: 1) writing or no writing, I read a bunch of RSS feeds on my phone when I'm putting SteelyKid to bed at night, and 2) I keep following events in the Middle East via…
March 4, 2011
As has been mentioned numerous other places, ESPN is backing a new Bill Simmons project, which basically sounds like a pop-culture blog network kind of thing, headlined by Simmons and Chuck Klosterman. I saw this a while ago (I think I may have tagged a press release for a Links Dump), but was…
March 4, 2011
The man who went nuclear: How Ernest Rutherford ushered in the atomic age - Science, News - The Independent
"Rutherford regarded "all science as either physics or stamp collecting" but saw the funny side when he received the 1908 Nobel prize for chemistry for this seminal work. By then he was in…
March 3, 2011
When I told her it was Thursday, and thus time for a picture with Appa, SteelyKid sprang into action with a very definite idea of what she wanted. As a result, there's a lot going on in this week's Toddler Blogging photos:
This is my favorite, which was an intermediate step on the way to her final…
March 3, 2011
Brigham Young University dismissed one of its best post players, Brandon Davies, from the basketball team for violations of the university's honor code. Reportedly, this was for sex, which is one of many enjoyable things forbidden by the school's rules, which stem from the principles of the LDS…
March 3, 2011
Gnome Physics - Cap'n Refsmmat's Blog of Doom
"All subatomic particles -- electrons, protons, neutrons and so on -- are composed of extremely small gnomes.
While relatively unknown, the gnome theory of matter can successfully explain many physical phenomena, including gravitation,…
March 2, 2011
Another shameless self-promotion post, but since I was confirming some arrangements this morning, I thought I'd throw up a post, so:
- On March 15, two weeks from yesterday, I will be giving a talk for the Mid-Hudson Astronomical Association at 8pm on the campus of SUNY-New Paltz. If you're in the…
March 2, 2011
Charlie Sheen Quotes Cats « Medium Large
"Because turnaround is fair play...or some nonsense like that."
(tags: internet silly culture television movies pictures)
Neil Tyson's Advice to Young Science Communicators | The Intersection | Discover Magazine
"So in graduate school, I wrote a…
March 1, 2011
Blogging will continue to be minimal, as I'm buried in grading, and feeling significant time pressure regarding the book-in-progress. I thought I'd pop up briefly, though, to provide a look at the current status of the book-in-progress.
The way this process works (or at least has worked for me) is…
March 1, 2011
Science education for all « through the looking glass
"A friend recently said that schools are so important because it's the only time when everyone is exposed to science. I couldn't agree more. Not because it means a load of young people will have to sit in a room while a teacher bangs on about…
February 28, 2011
Every year, Kate runs a fundraiser to help support SF fans who want to attend Wiscon, which takes the form of an auction of various cool items, such as a signed book about quantum physics. You can find a big listing of everything at the Con or Bust community on LiveJournal, but some items of…
February 28, 2011
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Fracking | The Intersection | Discover Magazine
"I just watched this video of Cornell University engineering prof Anthony Ingraffea giving a lecture on fracking-a long, long lecture. But it's tremendously informative, gives more perspective than I've found…
February 27, 2011
A few lines of dialogue that I wrote today:
"So, the treats I eat represent the matter falling into the black hole, while my poop--"
"You are not coming to my class and pooping to demonstrate Hawking radiation. Don't even think about it."
"I guess that means you don't want to hear my take on the…
February 26, 2011
Go To Hellman: HarperCollins and the Suspension of eBook Disbelief
"A good business requires a good story. The customer needs to understand the story of how the business can help solve a problem or deliver a benefit. There are many ways of telling a business story. Some stories are utilitarian;…
February 25, 2011
We're having our umpteenth winter storm here, which means everybody has to work at clearning snow away. And I do mean everybody:
OK, I did most of the work of clearing a path to the door, but SteelyKid insisted on helping sweep some snow up with her little broom afterwards. The color's a little…
February 25, 2011
Since people have asked about the lack of Thursday Toddler Blogging to this point, here's an update: We had a bit of a meltdown last night at dinner, which ended with SteelyKid asking to go to bed an hour earlier than usual. This morning, she slept in, and we got a bunch more snow overnight, so…
February 25, 2011
Caltech Scores First Conference Victory Since 1985 - NYTimes.com
"The team's 46-45 home victory over Occidental, in the final game of the season, was the first Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory for Caltech since a 1-point win over La Verne more than 26 years ago,…
February 24, 2011
My talk at the AAAS meeting was part of a symposium on the results from the 2008 Trends in International Math and Science Survey (TIMSS) Advanced. This is an international test on math and physics given to high-school students in nine different countries (Armenia, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Netherlands…
