One of our senior physics majors has made a video promoting sustainability to students, and posted it on YouTube. I need to figure out the best way to link it from the department web page, but it occurs to me that I have this big Internet platform I can use to plug it: It’s a… Continue reading Student Sustainability Video
Month: September 2007
Doctorow on Asimov
Discussing Isaac Asimov’s non-fiction a bit yesterday reminded me of my absolute favorite panel at Worldcon, Saturday’s “Mundane or Transcendent?” with Cory Doctorow, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Charlie Stross, and Robert Silverberg as moderator. They’re all really smart people, and they’re all good at turning phrases on the fly, so it was terrifically entertaining. Some of… Continue reading Doctorow on Asimov
Tablet PC Query
So, for the last several months, I’ve had a loaner tablet PC from our ITS department, that I used when teaching in the Winter and Spring terms. It’s a Toshiba, and a few years old, but it worked pretty well for what I was doing. Since I’ve got some book money coming in, I’m looking… Continue reading Tablet PC Query
Totally Non-Dorky Poll: Canine Enlightenment
A critical question has come up in looking over stuff for the book: Does a dog have Buddha nature? I mean, a dog has particle character, obviously. And quantum theory tells us that a dog has wave nature. But does a dog have Buddha nature? Hard questions make Emmy sad. Or maybe she’s just pondering… Continue reading Totally Non-Dorky Poll: Canine Enlightenment
The Clothes Make the Faculty Member
Via Steinn, the Incoherent Ponderer ponders academic clothing: For some strange reason, whenever it is not clear whether the attire is formal or informal, I am much more concerned about overdressing, than dressing too informally. I think that this is because it’s very difficult to be dressed too informally in academic environment – unless of… Continue reading The Clothes Make the Faculty Member
Modern Science Popularizers
James Nicoll has a question about pop science: Who today fills the niche of science popularizer once filled by people like Ley or Asimov? That is, who writes essays covering a wide range of the sciences, as opposed to covering one in detail for the public? If you look in the comments, the second plugs… Continue reading Modern Science Popularizers
Great Ideas in World Cuisine
Two words: Beef Sushi
Watching Wavefunctions Collapse
In a comment to the book announcement, “HI” makes a request: Would you be able to summarize the recent paper “Progressive field-state collapse and quantum non-demolition photon counting” (Nature. 2007 Aug 23;448(7156):889-93) for non-specialists? How do you interpret it? This probably would’ve slipped by me if not for this comment, but it’s a really nice… Continue reading Watching Wavefunctions Collapse
Worldcon Thoughts
Before it slips too far into the mists of memory, I should probably post some summary thoughts about Nippon 2007, the World SF Convention in Japan that Kate and I attended last week. To some degree, this will be inside-baseball stuff, but if you’re not interested in fannish stuff, rest assured, there is some good,… Continue reading Worldcon Thoughts