Links Dump
drorzel | April 14, 2010
slacktivist: L'affaire Waltke
"This is a story about control. It is about, in the unintentionally candid terms of one of the main actors, "absolute authority" and the desire to wield that authority over a text so that the text, in turn, may be used to wield absolute authority over others.
It is a story, in other words, about mortals who covet the authority of God and the lies they tell themselves and others when trying to usurp that authority.
Our story takes place at an institution calling itself "Reformed Theological Seminary.""
(tags: slacktivist religion politics science evolution…
drorzel | April 13, 2010
Michelson and the President (1869) « Skulls in the Stars
"I'm currently working my way through the book The Master of Light: a Biography of Albert A. Michelson (1973), written by one of his daughters, Dorothy Michelson Livingston. I typically find the beginnings of biographies to be rather slow-moving, with some sort of statement like, "There was little to indicate in his/her childhood what a great scientist he/she would become," but this is definitely not the case for Michelson -- his life story is interesting starting pretty much at birth!
I thought I'd share another anecdote from the…
drorzel | April 11, 2010
Mightygodking.com » Post Topic » The Accidental Trilogy: Logan's Run, Soylent Green, and The Omega Man
"The problem is, Lucas made [Star Wars] so immersive that nobody noticed the allegory, and the effects so beautiful that everyone judged all subsequent films by the standards he set. From now on, an important aspect of all science-fiction movies would be, "Are the effects realistic?" The cinema of ideas was replaced, in that instant, by the cinema of visceral experience. Sci-fi became all about making you feel as if you were there, recreating the documentary feel of Star Wars instead of…
drorzel | April 10, 2010
Neil Fraser: Hardware: Lava Lamp Centrifuge
"Would a Lava Lamp work in a high-gravity environment such as Jupiter? Would the wax still rise to the surface? Would the blobs be smaller and faster? With broad disagreement on the answers, I built a large centrifuge to find out."
(tags: physics gravity experiment science video planets astronomy silly)
LaserFest | SpectraSound Music Transmission Device
"All too often a great dance party is ruined because the stereo is far off over yonder. Well never let that happen to you again. We at LaserFest present you with SpectraSound -the device that…
drorzel | April 9, 2010
Physics Buzz: 490 billion nanometers tall
"There are seven SI base units: meter (m), kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere (A), kelvin (K), mole (mol), and candela (cd). The other SI units are derived from these seven: acceleration is m/s^2, density is kg/m^3, magnetic field strength is A/m, etc.
According to the International Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM), the keeper of the units, the SI is "a living system which evolves, and which reflects current best measurement practice."
Here is a quick rundown of the basis for the SI base units, as defined by the governing body, the General…
drorzel | April 8, 2010
Wave interference: where does the energy go? « Skulls in the Stars
The two waves cancel each other out, leaving a completely unmoving string due to destructive interference. My student asked me: what happens to the energy? As posed, it seems that we started with two waves carrying energy, but they canceled each other out, leaving no energy! This interpretation cannot possibly be correct, so where is the flaw in our description?
There are actually two aspects to the answer that I want to address, each of which is rather important in the understanding of wave phenomena. The first of…
drorzel | February 17, 2010Final 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 showed that diatomic molecules containing potassium and rubidium are much less likely to react with each other, when cooled to just 500 nK, if they are all prepared in the same quantum state. As well as providing important information about the quantum nature of chemical reactions, the technique could…
drorzel | February 16, 2010Penultimate 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 these diagrams a a certain aesthetic appeal, though as one might imagine there are many layers of meaning behind them. The good news is that's it's really easy to understand the first few layers and today you will learn how to draw your own Feynman diagrams and interpret their physical meaning."
(…
drorzel | 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, he traveled the world on a shoestring budget, chasing down qualifying races as he lugged his skis across Europe on a train. His goal is to inspire a nation of citizens -- most of whom haven't seen snow.
"What he's proving is that when you put your heart to it, it doesn't matter where you were born,"…
drorzel | 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 go as long as possible without obtaining a small piece of pervasive data. Mastering this game requires a careful balance of hiding and plain-sight activity, enough of the latter to make sure that things still get done. It's mental paintball. And I'd like to believe that I'm the world's premier…
drorzel | 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 have to spend time explaining the basics to an expert. But you'd be surprised how hard it is to put that into practice. [...]
But that's not all that you have to worry about, either. The next problem is expressing that knowledge clearly in a way that will allow the listener or reader to follow your…
drorzel | 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 academic work; while students in the biological sciences reported spending 13.7 hours on academic work; students in the arts and humanities, 11.9 hours; and students in the social sciences, 11.5 hours.
In average weekly study time, the difference between a 3.60 GPA and a 2.79 or lower GPA is only…
drorzel | 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)
Bright Idea: The First Lasers -- A history of discoveries leading to the 1960 invention.
An excellent step-by-step history of the development of the laser, including interviews with laser pioneers.
(tags: lasers science history physics optics atoms molecules)
The highs and lows of this year's Super…
drorzel | 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, there were only two reported cases in Rockland, according to the Department of Health's year-end communicable disease report."
(tags: medicine vaccine health-care stupid science news)
Temple Grandin | Other Shows | TV Club | TV | The A.V. Club
"Playing Grandin in the HBO biopic Temple Grandin,…
drorzel | February 7, 2010
Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6, 010101 (2010): Teaching and understanding of quantum interpretations in modern physics courses
"Just as expert physicists vary in their personal stances on interpretation in quantum mechanics, instructors vary on whether and how to teach interpretations of quantum phenomena in introductory modern physics courses. In this paper, we document variations in instructional approaches with respect to interpretation in two similar modern physics courses recently taught at the University of Colorado, and examine associated impacts on student perspectives regarding…
drorzel | February 4, 2010
Failure rate for AP tests climbing - USATODAY.com
"The newspaper's analysis finds that more than two in five students (41.5%) earned a failing score of 1 or 2, up from 36.5% in 1999. In the South, a Census-defined region that spans from Texas to Delaware, nearly half of all tests -- 48.4% -- earned a 1 or 2, a failure rate up 7 percentage points from a decade prior and a statistically significant difference from the rest of the country."
(tags: academia education class-war us statistics)
Physics Buzz: Study Physics - It's the Whole Enchilada
"If you're gonna study something, you might as…
drorzel | February 4, 2010
From Fish to Infinity - Opinionator Blog - NYTimes.com
I'll be writing about the elements of mathematics, from pre-school to grad school, for anyone out there who'd like to have a second chance at the subject -- but this time from an adult perspective. It's not intended to be remedial. The goal is to give you a better feeling for what math is all about and why it's so enthralling to those who get it.
(tags: math education science society culture blogs)
drorzel | February 3, 2010
Researchers use infrared cameras to determine taste quality of Japanese beef
"Imagine going into a local supermarket or butchery, pulling out your cell phone and using its camera to instantly check for the best piece of meat on display. That is one of the applications that some in Japan hope could become possible one day from scientific research into using infrared cameras to grade the taste of high-quality beef."f
(tags: optics food science physics biology Japan news)
I don't know what this has to do with eBooks, but I'll blog it anyway § Unqualified Offerings
"The Defense Secretary and…
drorzel | February 2, 2010
Is Our Students Learning? « Easily Distracted
"That's what I worry about when I hear that there are too many "relativists" around: that the people complaining the most about that supposed surplus are the most supremely relativistic folks you might ever imagine encountering. "a
(tags: academia education politics blogs easily-distracted philosophy ethics society culture)
Career Advice: Balance Is a Myth - Inside Higher Ed
"Most tenure-track faculty members I work with seem to believe that they can achieve harmonious balance in their lives during the tenure-track years. To me, this is a…
drorzel | February 1, 2010
YouTube - Neil Degrasse Tyson: "If you're scientifically literate the world looks very different to you"
"If you're not scientifically literate, in a way, you're disenfranchising yourself."
(tags: science education video youtube politics society culture)
The Digital Cuttlefish: The Spirit Of Spirit
"Why do we care about poor little Spirit?
A robot is shutting down; why all the fuss?
My theory, assuming you might want to hear it--
It's not just a bot: it's a real part of us."
(tags: poetry science astronomy space planets mars robots blogs)
Fundamental Examples « Combinatorics and more
"…