Here’s yesterday’s turkey a la Good Eats, a little while after coming out of the oven: As in past years, we brined it overnight. Unlike past years, we didn’t have any of the plastic roasting bags, so instead we took advantage of the spiffy new roasting pan (a Christmas gift after the liquid turkey incident) […]
Month: November 2009
Links for 2009-11-27
Spins spotted in room-temperature silicon – physicsworld.com “Physicists in the Netherlands are the first to show that spin-polarized electrons can be injected into silicon at room temperature. The team injected the electrons into both p-type and n-type silicon and measured how long the polarization lasted. Although the lifetime was shorter than expected the physicists believe […]
Thursday Baby Blogging 112609
We hosted Thanksgiving this year, and SteelyKid was the life of the party. When she saw Grandpa make the unwise decision to sit down on the couch with a glass of red wine, she came running, and spilled it all over him. To make up for it, she graciously decided to include him in this […]
What I’m Thankful For
Chiefly, this: Also, this: Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers; the rest of you, have a lovely Thursday.
Links for 2009-11-26
The Mid-Majority : Assistant Coach for a Night “[Northwestern State Coach] McConathy did things a little differently than most coaches — he subbed his players five-in, five-out, ran an offense that was almost as old as the NCAA Tournament itself. He often allowed coaching friends and local children into the locker room at halftime, even […]
Poll: Holiday (Music) in Hell
The Onion kindly provided this Patton Oswalt demolition of the “Christmas Shoes” song. while it’s funny, it is a reminder that we have reached the time of year when radio stations across the country will begin inflicting holiday “cheer” on their listeners. which seems like an excellent subject for a poll: Which of these holiday […]
Science Ahead of Its Time?
Thony C has a post about the Great Man theory of science spinning off some thoughts about Darwin by ex-ScienceBlogs silverback John Wilkins. As Thony writes: Now you may ask why I as a historian of Renaissance mathematics should comment on a blog post about a 19th century work of biology and its author? The […]
Links for 2009-11-25
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Teaching Governance “As an administrator, I’m constantly struck by the unacknowledged contradiction among many faculty between “consult us in all things” and “back off and leave us alone.” It’s not that I don’t understand the impulse; depending on local practice, ‘service’ may or may not count for tenure or […]
Tenure: Threat, Menace, or Market Failure?
I’ve been a little too busy to participate, but His Holiness and Eric Weinstein on Twitter have gotten into an interesting exchange about the structure of academia, and the appropriate number of Ph.D.’s in science. As usual, I suspect I’m not fully understanding the majesty of whatever Eric is arguing in favor of, but it’s […]
Book Countdown: T Minus 4 Weeks
The official release date for How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is exactly four weeks from today. So here’s a dramatic reading of Chapter 3 to mark the occasion: I’ve put this up before, but I edited it to remove the URL, which was apparently a deal-breaker for booksellers. And yes, I will post […]