SteelyKid is six months old today! To celebrate, here’s some video of her bouncing around in her jumper: (That’s spliced together from a bunch of shorter clips. You can here me babbling inanely in the background, because my brain turns to cheese whenever I’m within about five feet of her. I was tempted to mute… Continue reading Half a Year!
Month: February 2009
Twenty-Five Things
Since everybody I know on Facebook seems to have done this, it seems I’m obliged to post a list of twenty-five random facts. I wouldn’t want to have my Internet License revoked, or anything.
links for 2009-02-07
The Crowd-Sourced Reading List | The Loom | Discover Magazine "Last week I blegged for examples of great science writing from over the years, and you did not disappoint. Rania Masri, who teaches writing to scientists in Lebanon, asked if I could share the list. Itâs the least I can do in exchange for everyoneâs… Continue reading links for 2009-02-07
Two Cultures in Beginnings and Endings
Not long after I posted my comments about textbook prices, I went to a panel discussion on teaching, where a social scientist made an interesting observation about the ways different disciplines interact with books. In the humanities, the whole point of the class is to discuss the books. Nothing useful can be done until and… Continue reading Two Cultures in Beginnings and Endings
Science and Sociology of Dark Matter
There’s a new paper from the PAMELA dark matter search out that’s written up in Physics, including a link to a free version of the PDF. This paper is considerably less dramatic than one that appeared last year, leading Physics World to suggest that they’re backing off the earlier claim. What’s the deal? Sean Carroll… Continue reading Science and Sociology of Dark Matter
Congratulations to Pat Summitt
Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt got her 1000th win last night, a record that will probably stand for a good long while. Nobody else in college basketball really has much of a shot– the record for men’s basketball coaches is Bob Knight at 902, and the most wins by an active coach is Mike… Continue reading Congratulations to Pat Summitt
links for 2009-02-06
Textbooks have jumped the shark | Dot Physics "I have been afraid to really speak my mind on this issue because I donât want to completely enrage the textbook publishers. They do send me free books sometimes. Oh well, first what is the chance they will read this? Second, I already have tons of books… Continue reading links for 2009-02-06
Thursday Baby Blogging 020509
This week’s Baby Blogging is in honor of SteelyKid’s continued growth: she had her six-month checkup on Wednesday, and has now officially exceeded the weight limit on the bassinet attachment to her porta-crib. We’ve had to lower her all the way down to the bottom of the crib, where she can look out at the… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 020509
The Swashbuckling Physicist’s Guide to Complex Numbers
Having mentioned this a few times in course reports, I thought I’d throw out a link to my lecture notes (PDF) on complex numbers. This is the one-class whirlwind review of complex numbers from defining i to Euler’s theorem about complex exponentials. To answer a slightly incredulous question from a commenter, this is necessary because… Continue reading The Swashbuckling Physicist’s Guide to Complex Numbers
Thank God for Barry Bonds
As you may or may not have heard, the evidence in the upcoming perjury trial of Barry Bonds was unsealed yesterday, and includes a number of positive drug tests. And, really, my main reaction was “Oh, thank God.” It’s not that I’m enthusiastic about hearing steroids-in-baseball talk again, but the alternative was most likely another… Continue reading Thank God for Barry Bonds