February 18, 2010
Look out, it's a Giant Monster Baby!
OK, she's not really gigantic, but she does tower over Appa these days. And she's strong enough to lift Appa one-handed, while drinking juice with the other:
That's really just about the perfect Appa-for-scale shot. For comparison, here is the very first Appa…
February 18, 2010
While Adam Roberts was kind of an ass regarding last year's Hugo ballot, the summary of his latest, Yellow Blue Tibia, sounded pretty entertaining to me, and it was on the Locus Recommended Reading list, so I got it out of the library.
The book is presented as the memoir of Konstantin Skvorecky, a…
February 17, 2010
A couple of reviews, an offer, and a mystery regarding How to Teach Physics to Your Dog:
The reviews:
A review at suite101 that went up a while ago, but I somehow missed in the vanity search. It's a nice, detailed review, and if I had to pick a pull quote it would probably be: "You can be prepared…
February 17, 2010
Final Links Dump for forty days, give or take.
Physicists watch chemistry in slow motion - physicsworld.com
"Physicists in the US have observed chemical reactions taking place at such low temperatures that they are dominated by quantum effects, rather than thermal collisions. The researchers…
February 16, 2010
Boskone this past weekend was held at the Westin Waterfront in Boston, which has these funky double showerheads that they charmingly call the "Heavenly(R) Shower" (hype aside, they are very nice showers). The picture at right is courtesy of lannalee on Twitter, as I didn't bring a camera.
Why am I…
February 16, 2010
Penultimate Links Dump (for a while)
US LHC Blog » Let's draw Feynman diagams!
"There are few things more iconic of particle physics than Feynman diagrams. These little figures of squiggly show up prominently on particle physicists' chalkboards alongside scribbled equations.
The simplicity of…
February 15, 2010
I'm giving up reading blogs for Lent.
The proximate cause of this is Bora's latest blame-the-media post, which is just deja vu all over again, because I'm pretty sure this exact conversation has gone on ten times before (the fact that scientists find other scientists compelling speakers does not…
February 13, 2010
Since I'm at Boskone, talking and listening to people talking about science fiction and fantasy literature, it seems appropriate to do a quickie post listing notworthy genre stuff I've read recently. There isn't that much of it, as I've been doing a lot of non-fiction reading, and also slightly…
February 13, 2010
WINTER OLYMPICS: Robert Teklemariam will raise Ethiopia's flag | Richmond Times-Dispatch
"On Monday in Vancouver, Robel Teklemariam will compete for Ethiopia in the 15-kilometer cross country skiing event.
This will be his second Olympics but the first with his mother in attendance. To qualify,…
February 12, 2010
What's the application? Optical tweezers use focused light beams to trap small particles in the focus of the beam, and drag them around by moving the beam.
What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) "How do we move these tiny little things around without touching them?" 2) "How do we measure the…
February 12, 2010
There have been a bunch of stories recently talking about quantum effects at room temperature-- one, about coherent transport in photosynthesis , even escaped the science blogosphere. They've mostly said similar things, but Thursday's ArxivBlog entry had a particular description of a paper about…
February 12, 2010
Miscellaneous stories and links about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog:
-- There's a nice review by Margaret Fisk (who has been reading it for a while, and mentioning it on her blog, which kept turning up in the vanity search):
Orzel does a wonderful job of finding physical parallels to explain…
February 12, 2010
The Mid-Majority : Last Man
"For the past 20 years or so, I've played my own game every year at this time. It's called The Last Man In America To Know Who Won The Super Bowl, or just "Last Man." It's a game heavily reliant on tactics, organizational skill, and evasive procedures. The object is to…
February 11, 2010
SteelyKid has had a bit of a sore throat the last few days, which has led to a bit of screaming and crying. Those have been interspersed with her usual cute-toddler behavior, and we managed to squeeze in the traditional Baby Blogging photo:
"Why is she waving around a Triscuit box?" you ask.…
February 11, 2010
Relevant to yesterday's discussion, I let Windows install its critical updates on my work computer last night. So far this morning, I have: 1) Spent five minutes looking at the blue Vista start-up screen, as the computer was hung up-- not a screen with a "Configuring updates" message, mind-- an…
February 11, 2010
What's the application? Measuring the distance from the Earth to the Moon by bouncing a laser off one of the retro-reflector arrays left there by the Apollo missions.
What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) "How does the distance from the Earth to the Moon vary over time due to things like tidal…
February 11, 2010
Cocktail Party Physics: a few choice words from the red pen brigade
"The hardest thing about teaching anybody anything is finding the right level of communication, and the right way to express the concepts. It would seem logical that you don't go all jargony on a rank beginner, anymore than you…
February 10, 2010
The never-ending discussion of whether the Web can or should replace books has shifted into the corners of blogdom that I follow again, with Kevin Drum arguing for more books, Henry Farrell arguing for shorter books, and Jim Henley agreeing with Henry, and expanding it to fiction. They're all at…
February 10, 2010
What's the application? Using lasers to reduce the speed of a sample of atoms, thereby reducing their temperature to a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero.
What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) "How can I make this sample of atoms move slowly enough to measure their properties very…
February 10, 2010
We had a meeting yesterday with the chair of the CS department, who wanted to know about our computing needs. Sadly, she just meant that she wanted to know what computing things we would like our students to be taught, because my real computing need, as I said to Kate last night, is "I need the…
February 10, 2010
News: Anything But Studying - Inside Higher Ed
"Students' relatively small dedication of time to out-of-class studying has remained about the same since the survey was first conducted in 2003. In 2008, students in the physical sciences and engineering averaged 15.1 hours each week on out-of-class…
February 9, 2010
Just a reminder, I will be on KSOO radio Tuesday evening, 6:30 pm ET, if you'd like to hear about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog on the radio at the end of an extremely long day. If you're in broadcast range of Sioux Falls, SD, tune it in, or you can listen live via their web site.
I'll also be…
February 9, 2010
No substantive blogging for you today, as my alarm clock decided not to go off, causing me to oversleep by the hour that I usually spend on bloggy things. So that you're not left without blog-related entertainment, though, here's an appropriate poll topic:
How early do you have to set your alarm…
February 9, 2010
BBC News - More cat owners 'have degrees' than dog-lovers
My favorite bit is the note that "Cat and dog numbers were last estimated in a scientific peer-reviewed journal in 1989," because, of course, peer review is critical to the process...
(tags: pets dog society education social-science)…
February 8, 2010
What's the application? The use of lasers to provide an entertaining light show for humans, dogs, or cats.
What problem(s) is it the solution to? 1) "How will I entertain my dog or cat?"
2) "How can we distract people from the fact that Roger Daltrey has no voice left?"
Why are lasers essential…
February 8, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, I announced a contest to determine the Most Amazing Laser Application. After a follow-up post listing the likely candidates, we have a final list of candidate applications, an even dozen of them (after consolidating some related topics):
Cat toy/ dog toy/ laser light show…
February 8, 2010
The usual "This is the stuff that looks interesting to me" post, based on the preliminary online program. Subject to change if they move things around, or if I discover something I overlooked that sounds more interesting, or if I decide I'm hungry, and opt to blow off panels in favor of food.
This…
February 8, 2010
There was some discombobulation yesterday afternoon that kept me from posting these-- I had meant them to be a Super Bowl alternative for the non-football-inclined. They'll work just as well as a Monday brightener, though. So here's a clip of SteelyKid a couple of weeks ago, laughing at the "got…
February 8, 2010
More than 300 cases of mumps reported in Monsey, New Square | LoHud.com | The Journal News
"At least 60 percent of the people in Rockland who have gotten mumps during the current outbreak had not been fully immunized, Facelle said.
Mumps were common before the vaccine became available. In 2008,…
February 7, 2010
It occurs to me that if you take the Super Bowl as a comment on the current state of the US of A-- which, you might as well, because it's as good as anything else-- we are totally screwed.
I mean, consider the fact that two-thirds of the ads were for Bud Light. OK, that may be a slight exaggeration…
