Somebody really needs to arrange a game between the Giants and the Titans, so they can have an inept-off. Tennessee thoroughly outplayed Baltimore in just about every way, but coughed the ball up twice on stupid plays (LenDale White carrying the ball like the proverbial loaf of bread, Todd Heap trying to hurdle a defender),… Continue reading Final Football Thoughts
Month: January 2009
Back From the Dead
The ScienceBlogs upgrade is now complete, so I’m typing this in an entry box that looks different that it used to, and my text is appearing in an ugly font. There are no clearer indications of progress, at least as defined by the software industry. I had had big plans to get out in front… Continue reading Back From the Dead
Software Update Baby Blogging 010908
SteelyKid says, “Yay, Movable Type Upgrade!” ScienceBlogs as a whole is having some work done under the hood, upgrading the back end that we use to manage all the blogs. The system is highly customized, so it’s going to take a while– the site will be static (in the sense of “not changing,” not “the… Continue reading Software Update Baby Blogging 010908
links for 2009-01-09
Lin leads Harvard to 82-70 upset over No. 17 BC – College Basketball – Rivals.com Score one for the smart kids. Don’t talk to me about Maryland. (tags: sports basketball) Michael Nielsen » Three myths about scientific peer review "The myth that scientists adopted peer review broadly and early in the history of science is… Continue reading links for 2009-01-09
Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments
A couple years ago, we revised the General Education requirements at the college to require all students to take a “Sophomore Research Seminar” in their second year. These classes are supposed to be writing-intensive, and introduce students to the basics of academic research. The specified course components are pretty heavily slanted toward the humanities– library… Continue reading Half-Baked Course Idea: Great Experiments
Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Over at the theoretical physics beach party, Moshe is talking about teaching quantum mechanics, specifically an elective course for upper-level undergraduates. He’s looking for some suggestions of special topics: The course it titled “Applications of quantum mechanics”, and is covering the second half of the text by David Griffiths, whose textbooks I find to be… Continue reading Applications of Quantum Mechanics
Reasonably Comfortable Questions: Modern Physics
In the “uncomfortable questions” comment thread, Thony C. suggests: You say you’re teaching “modern physics” so how about a running commentary on the stuff your teaching? That’s a good suggestion, and I’ll start posting some sketchy reports soon. First, though, Bora asks: What is un-modern physics? Roughly speaking, physics gets divided into “Classical Physics” and… Continue reading Reasonably Comfortable Questions: Modern Physics
The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
My senior thesis student this year came to my office today to ask a question as he’s starting to work on writing his thesis. I’ve given him copies of the theses of the last couple of students to work in my lab, and asked him to start on a draft of the background sections. He… Continue reading The Fine Line Between Plagiarism and Necessary Repetition
links for 2009-01-08
The Quantum Pontiff : Relatively Right in Front of Your Nose "In other words, there is a reference frame in which what is "right under your nose" is far far away, and just seconds after the big bang (let’s ignore cosmology for now.) " (tags: science physics blogs relativity) The Best Jobs in the World… Continue reading links for 2009-01-08
Peevish Question: Word Attachments
I get tons of all-campus email, and more and more of these seem to be of the form “Please see the attached Word file, containing a plain text document with minimal formatting that could just as easily have been pasted into the body of the message.” Happily, I have my campus email forwarded to my… Continue reading Peevish Question: Word Attachments