The baseball playoffs are upon us, which means that most of the sports media are consumed with baseball talk. I find this faintly annoying, as I’m not really a fan of baseball. And, really, I can’t be a fan of baseball, for the same reason that I can’t be a conservative Republican activist– I don’t… Continue reading Baseball and Tea Parties
Month: October 2009
Links for 2009-10-13
The Ostrom Nobel — Crooked Timber “To amplify what Kieran has just said – political scientists are going to be very, very happy today. I had seen Lin cited as a 50-1 outsider by one betting agency a few days ago, and had been surprised that she was at the races at all, given that… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-13
Notes Toward a Master’s Thesis in Sociology of Higher Education
Somebody should look to see if there’s a correlation between the weather on the days of campus visits and the number of prospective students who apply/ enroll at a given school.
Hey to Blind Brook High School, Hickory High School, and Terrill Middle School
It’s Adopt-a-Physicist time again, and I’ve been “adopted” by three classes: Susan Kelly’s class at Blind Brook High School in Rye, NY; Lisa Edwards’s class at Hickory High School in Hickory, NC (insert your own Hoosiers joke); and Suprit Dharmi’s class at Terrill Middle School in Scotch Plains, NJ. So here’s a shout-out to all… Continue reading Hey to Blind Brook High School, Hickory High School, and Terrill Middle School
Many Worlds, Many Comics
The Digital Cuttlefish looks at the Archie comics, and waxes poetic: Two paths play out in a comic book, When Archie walks down memory lane “The road not taken” is the hook; So now, the writers take a look And re-write Archie’s life again, This time with Betty as his bride; Veronica the woman spurned,… Continue reading Many Worlds, Many Comics
Links for 2009-10-12
Britain’s Nobel winner condemns science funding reform | Science | guardian.co.uk “”There is a lot of focus now on trying to get very quick pay-offs in research. It is a huge mistake. Basic science has paid off far more than any directed research,” Ramakrishnan said. “If you don’t invest properly in fundamental science, then you… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-12
What the Pope’s Astronomer Thinks
Over at Physics and Physicists, ZapperZ notes a fairly useless interview with Guy Consolmagno, and suggests some alternative questions: 1. How old do you estimate the universe to be based not only on your observation, but also the consensus among astronomers? Would this be contrary to the biblical interpretation on the age of the universe?… Continue reading What the Pope’s Astronomer Thinks
Links for 2009-10-11
Physics – Protecting quantum superpositions from the outside world “Quantum information science relies on superpositions of quantum states with a definite phase relation, but such superpositions are inherently fragile against interactions with their environment. Fortunately, if some kind of common property bounds these interactions, it is possible, though by no means easy in a practical… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-11
Where I’m Going to Be
In the last couple of weeks, I have suddenly acquired a rather full travel schedule for the coming months. The odd thing is that none of these trips are book-publicity junkets– they’re all basically professional-type appearances, several of them taking place before How to Teach Physics to Your Dog hits stores on December 22. My… Continue reading Where I’m Going to Be
Links for 2009-10-10
Green Energy Should Trump Politics: Daniel Lyons | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com “[L]ook at what [scientists] are up against: a noisy babble of morons and Luddites, the “Drill, baby, drill” crowd, the birthers, and tea-party kooks who have done their best to derail health-care reform and will do the same to… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-10