Friday at DAMOP ended up being more about socialization than science. I went to a few talks, but there wasn’t that much on the program that looked exciting, and I had to spend some time in the middle of the day grading papers and dealing with some panicky emails from students. As a result, the… Continue reading Conference Blogging: DAMOP Wrap-Up
Month: June 2007
Framing Science in Canada
For the third year running, the after-dinner speaker at DAMOP was a politician– a Canadian one, this time, former MP Preston Manning (who also has his own official web site). I was a little surprised to see him described as a “right-wing populist” because he sounded very reasonable, but on reflection, this is Canada, and… Continue reading Framing Science in Canada
Lesson: Never Check a Bag
You know those guys you see getting on planes with big shoulder bags that couldn’t possibly be made to fit in those little test boxes they put by the gates that everybody ignores? I’m one of them, for good reason: whenever I check luggage, something goes wrong. Take yesterday, for example. I was out late… Continue reading Lesson: Never Check a Bag
Dorky Poll: Quantum Statistics
I was trying to think of something deep and meaningful to post today, but I’ve been in conference mode too long to do anything all that deep. So here’s a simple binary choice for all the nerds in the audience: Bosons or fermions? It’s a tough call after a few days of conferencing: On the… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Quantum Statistics
Conference Blogging: DAMOP Day 2
The highlight of Day 2 of DAMOP was, obviously, the special Undergraduate Research session. OK, it’s possible that I’m only saying that because one of my students was talking in that session… Mike did a really good job with his talk, though there were a couple of phrases in there that I would’ve preferred not… Continue reading Conference Blogging: DAMOP Day 2
Semi-Dorky Poll: Best and Worst Required Reading
Sort of in the same spirit as yesterday’s summer reading post, another book-related question: What’s the best book you were ever forced to read for school? What’s the worst? The best, for me, is probably The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien, a sort of metafictional Vietnam novel in stories. I had a loaner copy… Continue reading Semi-Dorky Poll: Best and Worst Required Reading
Conference Blogging: DAMOP Day 1
With attendees still trickling in after Tuesday’s storms upset pretty much every mode of travel in Alberta, the DAMOP meeting opened with the Plenary Prize Session, and the first two talks were probably the highlight of the day, as far as I was concerned. Jun Ye and Jim Bergquist both work in precision measurement, and… Continue reading Conference Blogging: DAMOP Day 1
Semi-Dorky Poll: Summer Reading
Greetings from sopping wet Calgary, where thunderstorms and local flooding delayed my arrival until after midnight (2 am my time), which really put a damper on the 8am talks. I had meant to schedule some book-related posts to appear here while I’m gone, but I’m an idiot, and didn’t select “Scheduled” from the posting status… Continue reading Semi-Dorky Poll: Summer Reading
Semi-Dorky Poll: Airplane Books
I’m off to the 38th annual meeting of the Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics of the American Physical Society this week, which will be in Calgary, Alberta. Another province on the list of North American place I’ve visited… I’m taking the tablet PC with me, so there may be some conferecne blogging, but… Continue reading Semi-Dorky Poll: Airplane Books
The Wisdom of Crowds of Frat Boys, Redux
Inside Higher Ed reports on a new study of RateMyProfessors showing that the ratings correlate well with “official” evaluations: What if RateMyProfessors.com — the site that professors love to hate — is more accurate than they think? Or what if officially sanctioned student evaluations of faculty members — which many professors like to contrast with… Continue reading The Wisdom of Crowds of Frat Boys, Redux