Links Dump
drorzel | January 1, 2011
How can I be a more awesome crackpot?
"Let me begin by saying that the vast, vast majority of the emails and questions I get are really good. But every now and again, I'll get an email where the implied question (if there is any) isn't so much,"Is this theory any good?" but:
How can my crackpot theory be more awesome?
While I've gotten a few that admit of no correction whatsoever, there are a few that still need a bit of work before making it to crackpot greatness.
As a public service (and as a bit of a respite after my last few relatively hardcore columns), let me tell you what separates…
drorzel | December 31, 2010
Christopher Guest | Film | Gateways To Geekery | The A.V. Club
"No comic filmmaker is more intimately associated with improvisation than Christopher Guest, an alum of The National Lampoon Radio Hour and Saturday Night Live who made his name as a filmmaker co-writing, directing, and co-starring in improvised films riffing loosely on show business and music. In his most beloved films as a director, Guest comes up with a loose framework for a film with collaborator Eugene Levy, then has a cast of skilled, veteran improvisers fill in the blanks with their comical genius. "
(tags: avclub movies…
drorzel | December 30, 2010
slacktivist: Excruciating
"The work of a senator doesn't have to be so painful. If you find yourself complaining because you're being forced to defend indefensible positions by voting on them, it might be that the problem doesn't lie with those forcing you to cast a vote and take a stand. It seems more likely that the problem lies with where you have chosen to stand and why you have chosen to stand there."
(tags: politics society blogs slacktivist us class-war race gender culture)
Anna Griffin: Let's all adopt the attitude: No whining on the yacht | OregonLive.com
"In the name of full…
drorzel | December 28, 2010
Do dogs need sweaters when it's cold? Plus: Is road salt edible? - By Brian Palmer - Slate Magazine
"A major blizzard dropped 20 inches of snow on New York City on Sunday night as it made its way up the East Coast. Monday-morning dog-walkers had their animals decked out in sweaters and booties to protect them from the snow and ice. Are warm doggie outfits really necessary?
They can be. Some dogs are bred to handle cold weather. Labrador retrievers and Newfoundlands, for example, naturally grow out their locks in winter for added insulation. They're so good at keeping warm that they don't…
drorzel | December 23, 2010
The Greatest Letter Ever Printed On NFL Team Letterhead
"In 1974, a Clevelander wrote the Browns complaining of the menace posed by the then-fad of throwing paper airplanes, and implicitly threatened litigation. The Browns' response is just about the most awesome thing ever committed to paper."
(tags: sports football law history stupid)
The Christmas sermon -- Crooked Timber
"Lukas, it seemed, had served mixed drinks with the best of them at the Paris Ritz, the Waldorf-Astoria and everywhere else on that circuit. But he'd jacked it in and taken up a defunct lease in the City, to follow a…
drorzel | December 22, 2010
Hyperbole and a Half: The Year Kenny Loggins Ruined Christmas
"I walked through my front door with purpose and gathered my family members in the living room to tell them about my vision. I was going to rewrite the birth of Jesus Christ and I was going to make it POP.
My mom, always wanting to nurture my creative side, agreed on behalf of everyone that we should go forward with the production. I would be playing the part of Mary and my dad would be Joseph. My aunt and my grandma would play the wise men. My mom would be filming. The dogs were slated to play the animals in the manger, but they…
drorzel | December 21, 2010
Tron | Film | Better Late Than Never? | The A.V. Club
"What's odd about all this is that the more I see these movies, the more I become convinced they could have been used in happy little object lessons about how God wants only to save us. That includes Tron, a mostly mediocre-to-awful film with some fascinating ideas about the nature of divinity and the relationship between God and humanity rattling around in its empty little skull. At the time, I wasn't allowed to see it, because it placed computers at the same level as humans. Now that I've actually seen the film, it's hard to see how it…
drorzel | December 20, 2010
Let It Dough! - NYTimes.com
A different take on Christmas cookies.
(tags: art pictures holiday nytimes)
Crash Test: 2009 Malibu vs. 1959 Bel Air | Wired Science | Wired.com
"Not sure why they (whoever they are) did this test, but it is pretty cool. This is a crash test between an old and new car. Check it out.
I sure would rather be in that 2009 Malibu than the 1959 Bel Air. Wouldn't you? How about some video analysis?"
(tags: science physics blogs dot-physics video transportation)
drorzel | December 19, 2010
slacktivist: One win; one loss
"At the end of the day, what this means is that if you want to serve your country and put your life on the line to defend the freedoms enjoyed by Republican U.S. senators, those senators will begrudgingly and belatedly allow you to do so if you are gay or lesbian. But if you want to serve your country and put your life on the line to defend the freedoms enjoyed by Republican U.S. senators and you're also brown-skinned and weren't born here, then most of those senators would sooner see you deported than to allow you to express your patriotism for a nation they…
drorzel | December 18, 2010
Eric Cornell: an experimental maestro - physicsworld.com
"Winning the Nobel prize aged just 39 could easily have gone to the head of Eric Cornell, the physicist who shared the 2001 prize for creating the world's first Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). But when Physics World reporter, James Dacey, caught up with Cornell he encountered a firmly grounded experimentalist who can immediately spot the danger of complacency. In a wide-ranging discussion Cornell describes the speed at which his discovery was accepted by the community, his latest research project, and his unease with the…
drorzel | December 16, 2010
The Top 14 Astronomy Pictures of 2010 | Bad Astronomy | Discover Magazine
Pretty pictures, plus science.
(tags: astronomy science pictures space planets blogs)
very small array » United States of America Map
A map filled in with the first result from Google's auto-complete. Don't read the comments.
(tags: internet technology pictures us)
Poetry in filing
"Described in our archive catalogue as "verses on the contents of 14 collections of papers", and dated to approximately 1690, this charming little poem describes an eclectic collection of material in surprisingly modern terms."
(tags:…
drorzel | December 15, 2010
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Cost-Effectiveness, or Cost?
"The goal of the study -- which is entirely to the good -- is to encourage colleges to base resource allocation decisions on actual effectiveness, rather than on what sounds good or what has usually been done. The authors break out two-year and four-year sectors -- thank you -- and actually define their variables. (Notably, the productivity decline over the past forty years has been far more dramatic in the four-year sector than in the two-year sector.) Even better, they acknowledge that most of the research done on…
drorzel | December 14, 2010
Monday Matchup, Giants vs. Vikings From Detroit - NYTimes.com
"Tired of building vinegar-and-baking-soda volcanoes for your children's science projects? Recreate the collapse of the Metrodome roof instead.
Materials needed: green construction paper, some wooden dowels, a paper towel, about 500 artificial sweetener packets, and a cellphone. Glue some wooden dowels to green construction paper. Moisten a paper towel and fasten it to the top of the dowels. Then puncture it slightly and keep dumping artificial sweetener on or near the puncture spot until the roof gives way. Once the "field" is…
drorzel | December 13, 2010
What scientists in 1903 wanted for Christmas! | Skulls in the Stars
"Recently, while I was looking for a paper published in Nature in 1903, I happened across a series of advertisements in a supplementary issue of the magazine. These ads, clearly targeted towards those of a scientific persuasion, immediately fascinated me. They provide a unique snapshot of not only the science of the time, but also the business of science at the time. They illustrate what scientific discoveries were new and "hot" in the community, what kinds of equipment were popular enough to become commercial products,…
drorzel | December 12, 2010
New York Governor Vetoes Fracking Bill - NYTimes.com
"New York Gov. David A. Paterson on Saturday vetoed legislation intended to curtail natural gas development using the technique called hydraulic fracturing until a closer review of its effects can be undertaken.
Instead, the governor issued an executive order instituting a moratorium that extends until July 1, 2011 -- beyond the date specified in the legislation -- and that more narrowly defines the types of drilling to be restricted."
(tags: energy environment politics new-york news)
US LHC Blog » When Feynman Diagrams Fail
"We've…
drorzel | December 11, 2010
Physics Buzz: Holiday Instability
"Holiday decorations are unstable. (We're talking about physics here. We'll leave their emotions aside.) To take a closer look at what we're dealing with, I've considered three of the most popular items from the array of December decor: The Christmas tree, the Hanukkah menorah and, of course, the Festivus pole.
Which of the three is the most likely to topple over when cousin Fred bumps into it after sampling too much egg nog?"
(tags: science physics holiday education blogs physics-buzz)
slacktivist: Getting laid off is not the same as getting fired
"…
drorzel | December 10, 2010
Academics for Mere Politicians | Wired Science | Wired.com
"It's not personal, and it's not business
This is a big one (that is why I put it first). A university isn't a business in the normal sense. Oh sure, they bring in money and they spend money. From the outside, it is easy to mistake it for a business but it isn't. But don't universities produce students? Well, the outcome is to have students, but that is not really the purpose. What nonsense do I speak? Let me just say what a university should be. It should be a community of learners. That is it. All this grades and graduation stuff…
drorzel | December 9, 2010
YouTube - Inception in Real-Time
All four levels of the dream caper synched up in one video clip.
(tags: movies video youtube culture)
Making omelettes inside of eggshells - Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories
Weirdly fascinating food geek blogging. "Weirdly," because I don't like eggs at all, and yet I read this whole article about ridiculous ways of cooking them.
(tags: food blogs technology science silly)
Balancing the Budget, One NSF Grant at a Time - The Quantum Pontiff
"But clearly this is barking up the wrong tree! The NSF budget is only $7 billion-ish (and there is no WAY that this…
drorzel | December 8, 2010
Locus Online: Locus Magazine Digital Editions
"Starting January 2011, we will be launching our first digital editions of Locus magazine. Subscriptions will be available in, at minimum, PDF format, and we hope to have e-pub and Kindle versions also. We plan to primarily distribute from our own website, though we will be looking into other distribution options as well. Many of our readers have requested digital editions, and we are excited to be able to offer this alternative."
(tags: sf books magazines internet publishing)
Dropping the turkey to cook it - another method | Wired Science |…
drorzel | December 7, 2010
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Research Design in a Recession
"My college is planning a major student survey for the Spring. We're drawing up questions that we think could help shape budget priorities over the next few years, assuming there's actually enough money to have some level of discretion. (That's far from certain.) We've got several of the usual questions: have they seen their academic advisor, how often do they use the library, etc. I suggested one asking whether they have internet access at home, so we could get a sense of the degree to which more open computer labs…