Who Underestimates Their Systematic Uncertainties ? "It is a well-known fact that it is much easier to measure a physical quantity than to correctly assess the magnitude of the uncertainty on the measurement: the uncertainty is everything! " (tags: physics particles experiment statistics blogs dorigo science) Acephalous: Photo reference at the National Review "The logicâsuch… Continue reading links for 2009-06-08
Month: June 2009
The Irritation of Being a Captive Market
Two annoying technology moments yesterday: 1) Kate and I got cell phones when we bought this house, and have been overpaying for them for quite some time. We rarely use them (partly because we get no signal inside the house), and have never come close to using our monthly allocation of minutes. Verizon now offers… Continue reading The Irritation of Being a Captive Market
Our Little Hoodie Baby
SteelyKid attempts to show off her street cred: Of course, her attempt at looking tough is kind of undermined by the Princess Tutu type duck on her hoodie… That’s ok, though, because it’s all fun:
links for 2009-06-06
Diary of a Trade Book (Newton and the Counterfeiter) 7.1: Rewards and Bribes « The Inverse Square Blog "[W]hen sheer love of words and sentences and ideas canât carry you through, what can you fall back on? Bribery." (tags: writing books levenson) Matthew Yglesias » Book Launch 2.0 As someone who created a Facebook page… Continue reading links for 2009-06-06
Academic Poll: Forms of Address
This may be too late in the day to generate much action, but I thought of it just a little while ago. Two questions: 1) If you were writing a letter of recommendation for a student, would you refer to them as “Firstname” or “Mr./Ms. Lastname”? 2) Does your answer depend on the level of… Continue reading Academic Poll: Forms of Address
Quantum Switching of Light
Physics World posted a somewhat puzzling story a few days back, headlined Ultra cold atoms help share quantum information: Scientists in the US have demonstrated a novel “light-switch” in an optical fibre that could become a new tool in the communications industry. The device created by Michal Bajcsy at Harvard University and colleagues could be… Continue reading Quantum Switching of Light
Congratulations to Serge Haroche
Physics World reports on the awarding of a major French prize in science: A physicist has been awarded France’s top science prize for his work on atomic physics and quantum optics. Serge Haroche — one of the founding fathers of cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) — was presented with this year’s “gold medal” by the French… Continue reading Congratulations to Serge Haroche
links for 2009-06-05
Swans on Tea » Going UP (Very Precisely) "Ignoring that weâre working in English units, which scientists donât really do very much, the big thing that pops out to the budding, fully-bloomed, or dying scientist is the misuse of significant digits. Do we really believe the estimate of the houseâs weight is exact? No, itâs… Continue reading links for 2009-06-05
Thursday Baby Blogging 060309: Bonus Grandma Edition
My mom was in Saratoga Springs for a meeting, and stopped by tonight to make a guest appearance in this week’s Baby Blogging. Here, SteelyKid shows off how she can haul herself into a standing position on the big tub of outgrown baby clothes sitting in the living room: “How do we know she did… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 060309: Bonus Grandma Edition
Writing Is Easy, Except When It Isn’t
Tom Levenson has another excellent piece in his series on the writing of his forthcoming book on Newton, this one on hitting a wall: The one bit of history specific to the Newton and the Counterfeiter project came when I hit a wall. I had written about a quarter of the manuscript by the autumn… Continue reading Writing Is Easy, Except When It Isn’t