It’s March now, which means that we’re at the absolute peak of the college basketball season. Small conferences have already started their tournaments, playing for the one shot those teams have of getting into the NCAA’s. Big conference tournaments start next week, with the Big Dance the week after. So, of course, ESPN and all… Continue reading Seasonal Sports Peeve
Month: March 2009
links for 2009-03-07
Michael Faraday, grand unified theorist? (1851) « Skulls in the Stars "The common thread of many of these discoveries is their goal: demonstrating that all the physical forces of nature are but different manifestations of a single, âuniversalâ force. This idea was a surprisingly modern one for Faradayâs time, and is known today as a… Continue reading links for 2009-03-07
Numbers of Order Unity
Over at Unqualified Offerings, Thoreau is bemused by his students’ reaction to unusual numbers: [I]t is fascinating how we condition people to be used to numbers in a certain range, and as soon as a number is either very big or very small it becomes disconcerting. On one level, I’m glad that they are able… Continue reading Numbers of Order Unity
The Open Laboratory 2008
The much-promoted science blogging anthology is now complete, and available in paper or electronic format from Lulu. If you’re dying to have dead-tree copies of the best science blog posts of last year, here’s your chance.
Feats of Strength Baby Blogging 030609
SteelyKid turned 30 weeks yesterday, and to celebrate this arbitrary numerical milestone, she shows off what a big strong baby she’s become: “Look at me! I can lift a whole bison by myself!”
links for 2009-03-06
For Free Throws, 50 Years of Practice Is No Help – NYTimes.com "Since the mid-1960s, college menâs players have made about 69 percent of free throws, the unguarded 15-foot, 1-point shot awarded after a foul. In 1965, the rate was 69 percent. This season, as teams scramble for bids to the N.C.A.A. tournament, it was… Continue reading links for 2009-03-06
You Can’t Get To DAMOP From Here
I’m looking travel arrangements for this year’s DAMOP meeting in Charlottesville, VA in May, and, boy, do the options suck. Flying into Charlottesville itself involves at least one stop, and undoubtedly one of those ridiculous little prop planes that require me to spend the whole flight in something close to a fetal position. Driving would… Continue reading You Can’t Get To DAMOP From Here
Science Is Festive
Two announcements of science-related festivals have turned up in my email in the last week or so: The second annual World Science Festival will be held in New York June 10-14 this year. They feature an impressive array of speakers again, including Nobel laureates (Physicists David Gross, Frank Wilczek, and William Phillips), well-known authors, distinguished… Continue reading Science Is Festive
How Not to Write a Press Release
EurekAlert had a press release yesterday titled Quantum paradox directly observed — a milestone in quantum mechanics, which sounds like it ought to be great. The actual release, though…. For one thing, the description of the actual experiment is so vague as to be completely useless. It’s not easy to quote without copying the whole… Continue reading How Not to Write a Press Release
links for 2009-03-05
The Verne Gun â KarlSchroeder.com "I call it the Verne gun because frankly, a name like THE ATOMIC CANNON would just not go over well in certain circles. In any case, the principle is the same as Verne’s original idea, but using modern technology: you set off a nuclear charge underground where the blast, heat,… Continue reading links for 2009-03-05