We’re going to host the New York Section meeting of the American Physical Society next spring (joint with the New England Section, which will tax our resources), with the theme of the meeting being applications of nuclear physics. We’ve divided up the job of finding speakers for the meeting, and I’m supposed to be inviting… Continue reading Wanted: Nuclear Energy Speakers
Month: November 2009
Sportz Is Hurting America
Over at the Mid-Majority, Kyle Whelliston (formerly of espn.com) has a great essay on the “Sportz” phenomenon: Sports are great. Actual participation is awesome, but watching other people do sports can still be pretty good too. These days, people can watch sports anytime, anywhere and in whatever state of undress they choose. These are truly… Continue reading Sportz Is Hurting America
Only Seven Weeks Left…
… until the release of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. The official release is set for December 22nd, though the books are set to start printing in about three weeks. Exciting, isn’t it? Are you excited about the upcoming release of _How to Teach Physics to Your Dog_?(survey) If you’re still wondering what… Continue reading Only Seven Weeks Left…
Links for 2009-11-03
Fafblog! the whole world’s only source for Fafblog. “I’m not real sure how I got here in the first place, and when you think about it you really have to go all the way back to school, and mom thought I should be a doctor and dad thought I should be an industrial wood lathe… Continue reading Links for 2009-11-03
DonorsChoose Wrap-Up
This year’s DonorsChoose Challenge entry came up just short of $8,000, at $7,976. Many thanks to everyone who donated. As promised during the challenge, I will be giving away one advance copy of the book (either a real copy when they start printing in a few weeks, or a galley proof if you want one… Continue reading DonorsChoose Wrap-Up
What Keeps Me Up at Night
One of my pet peeves about physics as perceived by the public and presented in the media is the way that everyone assumes that all physicists are theoretical particle physicists. Matt Springer points out another example of this, in this New Scientist article about the opening panel at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival. The panel… Continue reading What Keeps Me Up at Night
Links for 2009-11-02
Boo! The optics behind “ghost” imaging « Skulls in the Stars “Ghost imaging is in fact a fascinating and relatively new technique in which a detector can produce an image of an object that it cannot see! The physics behind this effect is somewhat subtle, and resulted in at least one minor controversy since its… Continue reading Links for 2009-11-02
Links for 2009-11-01
Another dumb article on why spaceflight is bad for you — KarlSchroeder.com “But really, people, think! This doesn’t mean that space flight is intrinsically dangerous. It means that badly shielded tin-can environments that aren’t spun for gravity are a bad idea. And that is quite a different conclusion.” (tags: space science sf economics blogs karl-schroeder)… Continue reading Links for 2009-11-01