Via a EurekAlert release with the catchy headline “As graduation rates go down, school ratings go up”, a new study of the Texas school system, which provided the inspiration for “No Child Left Behind”. It’s not pretty: A new study by researchers at Rice University and the University of Texas-Austin finds that Texas’ public school… Continue reading 67% of Children Left Behind
Month: February 2008
Maryland at Duke
My Terps lost to the hated Dukies 77-65 last night, in a game I barely watched. Vitale and Patrick had the call, and were their usual intolerable selves, and I needed to do some cooking for today’s physics department luncheon, so I was in the kitchen more than in front of the tv. A few… Continue reading Maryland at Duke
links for 2008-02-14
Highly Allochthonous : Battleships in space! The importance of “Pre-Atomic” steel. (tags: physics nuclear history science space) Particle physicists plumb the depths for Roman lead – 13 July 1991 – New Scientist “Pre-Atomic” steel is for wimps– real experiments use ancient lead… (tags: physics science nuclear history) Jim C. Hines – The Money Post Financial… Continue reading links for 2008-02-14
Trapping of Neutral Mercury Atoms and Prospects for Optical Lattice Clocks
I’m not hugely enthusiastic about the ResearchBlogging.org project, but it’s a little ridiculous that they’ve been active for weeks now, and there still isn’t a single post in the “Physics” category. If they’re going to offer the category link, something ought to come up when you click it, so let’s give them some blogging on… Continue reading Trapping of Neutral Mercury Atoms and Prospects for Optical Lattice Clocks
Burying the Lede, Hoops Edition
I didn’t see the game last night, as I got distracted by some other tasks, but North Carolina narrowly beat Virginia last night, on a late jump hook by Tyler Hansbrough. This might seem surprising, given that UVA was .500 on the season, and 1-8 in the league, and indeed, the AP describes it that… Continue reading Burying the Lede, Hoops Edition
links for 2008-02-13
Jacks of Science â Bring Love to the Lab with a Science Valentine Love notes for the deeply dorky (tags: silly pictures science) telophase: AWESOMETASTIC MANGA OF AWESOMENESS A comic book about people who REALLY love trains and the boxed lunches you can buy in Japanese train stations. Don’t even try to understand it. (tags:… Continue reading links for 2008-02-13
What’s Opera, Doc?
Over at Musical Perceptions, Scott has something that seems like a “meme”: go to the Metropolitan Opera archives and see what they were playing on the day you were born (keyword search with your birth date written out). For me, the answer was “Concert Cavalleria Rusticana {471}.” You know, this would probably be more fun… Continue reading What’s Opera, Doc?
Science Debate Update
Chris and Sheril have been working tirelessly to make a Presidential Science Debate happen, and there’s been real progress: ScienceDebate2008 is now co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies, and the Council on Competitiveness. We were looking at venues, and finally settled on an offer from the Philadelphia-based Franklin… Continue reading Science Debate Update
Starting Young
I don’t get this Internet thing. I was sure that yesterday’s dog dialogue about evolution would generate some traffic, if only from biologists whining that I didn’t explain evolution correctly. But– nothing. I guess I failed to include the magic attention-generating phrase– “Darwin Day” or “Michael Behe is Dumber Than My Dog,” or something. Anyway,… Continue reading Starting Young
links for 2008-02-12
heathervescent: Powerpoint Karaoke – The g33k way A new party game for geeks and academics. (tags: academia games silly meetings) Unasked-For Advice to New Writers About Money “[W]hen it comes to money — and specifically their own money — writers have as much sense as chimps on crack.” (tags: writing economics)