December 28, 2009
When I saw the data generated by the sales rank tracker Matthew Beckler was kind enough to put together, I joked that I hoped to someday need a logarithmic scale to display the sales rank history of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. Thanks to links from Boing Boing, John Scalzi, and Kevin Drum, I…
December 28, 2009
Various and sundry updates regarding How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, now available wherever books are sold:
Well, ok, that last sentence is a slight exaggeration. I spent a little while punching ZIP codes of places I've lived into the Barnes and Noble page, and couldn't find any stores that have…
December 28, 2009
John Crowley Little and Big - Health Care Reform
"At least where I live, and I bet for almost everyone with health insurance, it's very difficult to avoid making several trips to the pharmacy to have various prescriptions filled. If you take (say) four pills a day, and will forever (or until…
December 27, 2009
The DogPhysics Pet Gallery is up to seven dogs, but as yet nobody has sent in a picture of a non-dog pet learning physics from How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. Emmy thinks this is because other pets are dumb, but I think she's getting a little conceited. You can prove her wrong by sending in a…
December 27, 2009
We're back in Niskayuna after a fun visit with my parents. I'll have more to say about How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in the near future (including number crunching on the sales rank tracker), but I'm running a little slow at the moment thanks to what was either food poisoning, or some short-…
December 24, 2009
SteelyKid says "Look, Daddy! Somebody got me tissue paper!"
"It's the best Christmas present ever!"
Here's hoping you get everything you want this holiday season.
December 24, 2009
A couple of quick book-related items that I can't resist posting, even while on vacation:
First, the sales rank cracked the top 500 on Amazon last night, peaking at 396. I don't know if this is just a matter of relative sales volume being low, or what, but it's a huge kick all the same. For the…
December 23, 2009
Janet has a post grappling with the ethical implications of telling children about Santa Claus. SteelyKid is too young for this to be an issue yet, but on this issue, like many others, I turn to my favorite literary philosopher, Terry Pratchett:
"All right," said Susan. "I'm not stupid. You're…
December 23, 2009
Trapped in the USA: You're Just Not that into Science
"It's sad to say this but most people I work with are just not that into science. It's not that they're not good at it - they clearly are - it's just that they're interested only in their little niche, and are thoroughly satisfied with all…
December 22, 2009
"Hey, dude, whatcha doin'?"
"I'm making dinner."
"Yeah? What are you guys having?"
"Well, since the book was published today, we're having a couple of nice steaks to celebrate."
"Just a couple?"
"Hmm? What do you mean?"
"Well, you might remember, I had something to do with the book..."
"It'd be…
December 22, 2009
Not that I'm obsessed, or anything (current Amazon rank: 1106), but here are the results from my incomplete survey of local book stores regarding How to Teach Physics to Your Dog:
Barnes & Noble: "Out of Stock" in all local stores. Has never been in stock, really.
Borders in Crossgates Mall: "…
December 22, 2009
I'm typing this from the local Barnes and Noble, waiting for the dealership next door to finish changing my oil and inspecting my car. Sadly, they don't have How to Teach Physics to Your Dog on the shelves in their (rather small) science section. Grump, grump, grump.
The disappointment at not…
December 22, 2009
Today is the official publication date for How to Teach Physics to your Dog!
I've got another reason or two why dogs should love quantum physics that I'll probably post later, but if the ones posted so far haven't sold you on the book, how about a really nice review from Cory Doctorow at Boing…
December 22, 2009
The Mid-Majority
"Sports information is like electricity or water. When the power's on and everything's flowing regularly, nobody notices. Everybody takes these things for granted. But whenever anything goes wrong, people act like it's the end of the world. Sports information directors are…
December 21, 2009
Paul Krugman had a post today calling Obama the WYSIWYG President:
There's a lot of dismay/rage on the left over Obama, a number of cries that he isn't the man progressives thought they were voting for.
But that says more about the complainers than it does about Obama himself. If you actually paid…
December 21, 2009
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog goes on sale in fine bookstores everywhere tomorrow. But maybe the four previous posts explaining why dogs should care about quantum physics haven't yet convinced you to go buy a copy. So here's another reason, one appropriate to this solstice season, when dogs in…
December 21, 2009
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is officially released tomorrow, because Tuesdays are New Book Days, but Amazon has been shipping them for a few days now, so it's very likely they are already appering "in the wild," as it were. So it seems like a good time to announce a new feature at dogphysics.…
December 21, 2009
Janet has a typically thoughtful post about tuition benefits, following on a proposal to eliminate tuition benefits for employees of the University of Illinois. Janet does a great job of rounding up the various pros and cons of the benefit and its possible elimination.
It takes no time at all for…
December 21, 2009
Make it Sir: Star Trek's Patrick Stewart to be knighted | SCI FI Wire
Sadly, William Shatner is not British.
(tags: sf silly television movies theater world awards)
Are Texas' auto safety inspections worth the hassle? | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News
"Texas is one of…
December 20, 2009
I've been playing around with the spiffy sales rank tracker Matthew Beckler wrote, because I'm a great big dork, and enjoy playing with graphs. Here's a graph of the sales rank vs. time through 2pm EST today (plotted in Excel from the data table at the bottom of the page):
As I noted in my…
December 20, 2009
I was Googling for "How to Teach Physics to Your Dog" last night, to check whether a review of said book that I know is coming has been posted yet (side question: Does anybody know a good way to exclude the umpty-zillion versions of Amazon and other sellers from this sort of search? Most of the…
December 20, 2009
Upper Mismanagement | The New Republic
"Since 1965, the percentage of graduates of highly-ranked business schools who go into consulting and financial services has doubled, from about one-third to about two-thirds. And while some of these consultants and financiers end up in the manufacturing…
December 19, 2009
I gave a talk last night to the Albany Area Math Circle, a group of high-schoolers who are interested in science and math, and enter and do very well in national math competitions. I think there were 48 kids there last night, which was pretty impressive.
I gave basically the same talk I gave at…
December 19, 2009
The Mighty Power of Blogosaurus? | The Loom | Discover Magazine
"I've heard this sort of story many times before, and this is where it usually ends. Blogosaurus slinks back to his office and sulks.
But today the story has another ending. Wedel now reports that someone from the Discovery Channel…
December 18, 2009
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is now listed as "In Stock" at Amazon, so it's the perfect time to order a dozen or so copies for your last-minute holiday gift needs.
"But, wait," you say, "why do I want to teach my dog physics? Particularly quantum physics-- why does anyone need to know that?"…
December 18, 2009
I've been dimly aware that physics in the UK was being hit hard by a financial crisis for a while now. It seemed to be a bit deeper than what people in other countries complain about, but I hadn't given it much thought until I read this Physics World story on the latest cuts, which includes the…
December 18, 2009
I continue to be boggled by the Bob Dylan Christmas album. Thus, a deeply silly poll:
Having recorded a Christmas album, what should Bob Dylan's next project be?(polls)
Happy Holidays!
December 18, 2009
As a physicist with a blog, I am contractually obligated to do a post on the CDMS almost-a-result. This is that post.
The short version: they expected at most 0.8 events (that's total events, not events per day, or anything-- this is a whole community built on detecting nothing at all), and got 2,…
December 18, 2009
Creating Citizen Scientists § SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
"A few days ago, sitting in my office, I contributed to peer-reviewed scientific research in biology, astronomy, and psychology. Even though I don't hold degrees in any of these fields, my contributions will help advance science: I was doing real…
December 17, 2009
It's Thursday again, and that means Baby Blogging. But first, SteelyKid has a message:
"Thanks for the awesome rocking frog, Aunt Erin!" Of course, as with any toy at this age, the box is just as much fun:
And, of course, the obligatory Appa picture, showing that she is an enormous baby:
She's…
