I’m pretty sure the folks at Inside Higher Ed don’t know that it’s International Blog Against Racism Week, but they’ve provided some good material all the same. Today, Alan Contreras offers some provocative thoughts on diversity in academic hiring: Anyone interested in actual improvement of the presence of good nonwhite faculty in our universities needs […]
Month: July 2006
New Vacation Destination
So, you’ve finally achieved (through a combination of hard work and inheritance) a livable monthly income, and are looking for a way to cut loose and splurge a little? Well, for just $35 million, you can both visit the Space Station and walk in space ($20 million to get there, $15 million for the spacewalk). […]
Are the (Dimensionless) Constants Constant?
In the previous post, I said that the fine structure constant alpha provides us with a way to measure whether the fundamental constants making it up (the electron charge, Planck’s constant, and the speed of light) have changed in the last few billion years. How, exactly, does that work? The easiest way to see how […]
The (Dimensionless) Constants of Nature
As noted yesterday, someone going by “who” (who may or may not be a doctor) took me to task in the comments to the dorky poll for talking about fundamental constants that have units, preferring dimensionless ratios instead: I would be really interested to hear what your readers come up with if the popularity constest […]
Clustering of Athletes
In the wake of academic scandals involving the Auburn football program, Inside Higher Ed reports on a study looking at the majors of athletes. The results will be shocking to, well basically no-one who has ever set foot on a college campus: While accusations of widespread abuse like that alleged at Auburn are unusual, “clustering” […]
Race and Cleaning
Kate and I both hate doing housework, so a year or so ago, we broke down and hired a cleaning service. Every other week, they send a crew in to vacuum and dust and clean the bathroom and kitchen, so we don’t have to. IT’s not a terribly expensive service, and we’re happier as a […]
Astronomy and Literature
Via James Nicoll, there’s a new press release from the Cassini mission talking about new radar maps of a region on the surface of Titan that’s been dubbed “Xanadu.” The topography looks very Earth-like, with rivers and lakes and oceans of methane, providing Dr. Jonathan Lunine an opportunity to show off the benefits of a […]
Nuclear Power and Security
Scientific Curmudgeon John Horgan reads calls for more nuclear power and offers a slightly different objection to nuclear power than most people: Five years ago, I might have considered climbing aboard this bandwagon, even though Indian Point has an imperfect safety record, but not any more. In fact, I want to whack the neo-nukers and […]
Changing Constant Place-Holder
I was planning to write a big, long post tying together Nathan’s mention of an ICAP talk on the time-variation of fundamental constants with Rob Knop’s post on same and this comment regarding the dorky poll (still time to vote!) and a conversation I had with Kate about the meaning of the fine structure constant. […]
Excellent Teaching Advice
I’d be remiss in my academic-blogging duties if I failed to point out this Inside Higher Ed piece on teaching core courses. Like many articles published in academic magazines, it’s aimed directly at English composition, but the main points can be extended to intro classes in other disciplines. In particular: 10. Don’t compare students’ attitudes […]