We’re into our third day without power at Chateau Steelypips, and as a result, the household has temporarily been relocated to a hotel near SUNY Albany. National Grid says probably Tuesday, but they really don’t know when they’ll get our electricity back. This is, of course, deeply annoying, but it feels sort of churlish to… Continue reading Ice Storms and Liberal Guilt
Month: December 2008
links for 2008-12-14
nanoscale views: Manhattan and Apollo project metaphors "Relatively regularly these days there are calls for a Manhattan or Apollo style project to address our energy challenges. While this may sound good, it’s worth considering what such a project would actually mean." (tags: science economics energy environment US politics blogs) Brandon Sanderson: Sanderson’s First Law "For… Continue reading links for 2008-12-14
links for 2008-12-13
Introduction to conservation of momentum and collisions | Dot Physics "This is an introduction to objects that interact. To describe this, I will need to pull several different ideas together (that you have probably already looked at)." (tags: physics science blogs education) Spot the math errors! « Skulls in the Stars The ins and outs… Continue reading links for 2008-12-13
Ice Station Zebra
A big storm has coated everything in the vicinity of Chateau Steelypips with a quarter-inch of ice. Trees are coming down all over the place (a big limb smashed the gate to our back yard), and the power is out for God knows how long. We’ve temporarily relocated to Kate’s office, which has heat and… Continue reading Ice Station Zebra
Reflections on Quantum Reflection
I subscribe to Scientific American, but I’m usually several weeks behind on reading it, so it was only Thursday that I noticed this surprising article about particles bouncing back from attractive forces: This effect is the converse of the well-known (if no less astounding) phenomenon of quantum tunneling. If you kick a soccer ball up… Continue reading Reflections on Quantum Reflection
links for 2008-12-12
Mike the Mad Biologist : Why Aren’t U.S. Toyota Workers Paid Better? "What has struck me throughout all of these discussions, however, is that Honda’s and Toyota’s current lower wages and benefits are seen as ‘natural’, while the Big Three’s are seen as inflated. It’s odd to hear progressives and liberals argue that the Big… Continue reading links for 2008-12-12
Thursday Baby Blogging 121108
Following last week’s picture with Kate for scale, here’s one with me holding SteelyKid and Appa: And, just for kicks, here’s last week’s picture again:
Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck, 2008
I’m beat, and I have a ton of stuff to do today, so here’s some seasonally-appropriate filler. I spent a while in a big chain bookstore’s cafe area yesterday, doing some edits on the book-in-progress (I can’t do this effectively anywhere where I have Internet access), and was stuck listening to some sort of “quirky”… Continue reading Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck, 2008
links for 2008-12-11
Water confirmed on distant planet – physicsworld.com Any lingering doubts about whether water exists on a planet orbiting a star 63 light years away have been quashed by astronomers in the US. The team measured infrared light emitted by the planet, known as HD 189733b, and found distinct spectral features that, they say, can be… Continue reading links for 2008-12-11
Change Physicists Can Believe In
Cosmic Variance (among others) reports that 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics Steve Chu will be the next Secretary of Energy. Sean gives a good run-down of the many reasons why this is a Good Thing. Like Sean, I’ve met Chu in person. Unlike Sean, my one meeting with him doesn’t shed any light on anything.