One of the top players in college basketball this year was Texas freshman Kevin Durant, whose team lost over the weekend. Durant is 6’10”, and averaged something like 30 points a game from January on, so the automatic assumption is that he’s going to enter the NBA draft, where he would be one of the… Continue reading Leaving Early
Month: March 2007
The “Marketplace of Ideas”?
Over at Backreaction, Sabine has posted a lengthy essay on the problems of treating scientific research in economic terms: I vividly recall the first thing my supervisor told me when I was an undergrad: “You have to learn how to sell yourself.” Since then I have repeatedly been given well meant career advises how to… Continue reading The “Marketplace of Ideas”?
I Told You So
There have been a few good posts recently on topics that I’ve discussed here a fair bit. I don’t really have anything new to say on either topic, though, nor do I have the energy to repeat myself, so I’ll just post the links: – Gordon Watts on the collapse of corporate research labs, based… Continue reading I Told You So
Race and Hoops
In a weekend wrap-up post, Dave makes a passing reference to one of the more uncomfortable aspects of basketball: Early in the day, I happened upon an NIT game on TV, where Mississippi State was playing someone. While I was watching, I saw a quick, aggressive Bulldog guard drive through the defense for an impressive… Continue reading Race and Hoops
The Real Oldest Profession…
… is astronomy, as the New York Times notes in explaining the equinox: Archaeological evidence abounds that astronomy is among the oldest of professions, and that people attended with particular zeal to the equinoxes and the solstices. The Great Sphinx of Egypt, for example, built some 4,500 years ago, is positioned to face toward the… Continue reading The Real Oldest Profession…
Bérubé is Back
Well, ok, he hasn’t posted anything yet, but Michael Bérubé will be joining Crooked Timber. This is good news indeed for the academic blogging community. I didn’t read his blog as regularly as it deserved the first time around, but he was one of the sharper writers out there, and it’s good to see him… Continue reading Bérubé is Back
Advertising Note
You may notice that there are some new ads on the site. They’re short videos done by DuPont, with an excessively perky anchor talking about science topics and the wonders of chemistry, and that sort of thing. We were promised that the ads would not auto-play or break people’s browsers, and as far as I… Continue reading Advertising Note
Dorky Poll: Research Adaptation
I’m giving an exam this morning, and I needed to get to work early to make copies, so I didn’t have time for lengthy, insightful blogging. So here’s a dorky poll. This one needs a little background. A post-doc in my old group at NIST used to say that he always wished he had a… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Research Adaptation
NCAA Tournament 2007: Not Quite Enough
The first weekend of the NCAA tournament wound down pretty much the way it started. There were a few good games, but almost all the higher seeds won. Only one of the top eight seeds failed to advance, and that was Wisconsin, who have looked shaky since the loss of Brian Butch. Purdue gave Florida… Continue reading NCAA Tournament 2007: Not Quite Enough
Crucial Questions of My High School Years
Over at Kurt’s Krap, there’s extensive discussion of the relative merits of Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth as the front man for Van Halen. You can also find them discussing a bunch of other songs, but the Hagar/Roth question is the important one. By a weird coincidence, I read Chuck Klosterman’s Fargo Rock City… Continue reading Crucial Questions of My High School Years