One of the things I forgot to mention in yesterday’s post about why I like AMO physics is that AMO systems have proven to be outstanding tools for solving problems from other fields of physics. In particular, ultra-cold atoms have proven to be a fantastic venue for studying problems from condensed matter physics. There’s a… Continue reading Making Cold Atoms Look Like Electrons
Month: December 2009
Monetizing Neuroses
You know, if somebody were to put together an application that would periodically check the Amazon sales rank of a given book and generate a Google Analytics style time series graph, and charge authors $5/book to see the output, I bet they’d make a bunch of money. Granted, it would put that person on the… Continue reading Monetizing Neuroses
Worst. Course Evaluations. EVER.
Everybody in academia has a story about the worst teaching evaluations they’ve ever received. None of them will ever be able to top James Marchbanks of UC Davis, though: Two documents obtained by The Bee on Wednesday illustrate vastly different interpretations of what happened in a UC Davis acting class last week that led campus… Continue reading Worst. Course Evaluations. EVER.
Links for 2009-12-11
Blu-ray Review: “Living Fireplace Volume 2” | Popdose “Yes, I’ve written a review of a Blu-ray disc that features little more than a burning fireplace. I know it’s a little weird. Here’s something even weirder: Everyone has their favorite television holiday special, right? Mine is the Yule Log.” (tags: review television video holiday silly popdose… Continue reading Links for 2009-12-11
Thursday Baby Blogging 121009
SteelyKid was kind of overtired today, so she needed a little nap around dinnertime. This provided a nice opportunity to get a sleepy-baby picture for this week’s Baby Blogging: Bonus Kate for extra “OMG! Huuuuuge Baby!!!1!” effect. She’s wearing a way-cool roaring dinosaur shirt (purchased from the boys section, again…), but you can’t really see… Continue reading Thursday Baby Blogging 121009
Poll: Cat Vacuuming
A purely hypothetical situation for today’s poll. Purely. You have agreed to read and review six grant proposals by Sunday. Today is Thursday, and you have not read them yet. What do you do?(poll) If anybody needs me, I’ll be in an undisclosed location not responding to email.
DonorsChoose Payoff: Why AMO Physics?
Months ago, during the DonorsChoose fundraiser, I offered to answer questions from people who donated to the Challenge. I then promptly forgot to respond to the questions sent in. Mea maxima culpa. Here’s a way-too-late response to a good question from “tcmJOE”: I’ve spent the past few years trying to explore physics and figure out… Continue reading DonorsChoose Payoff: Why AMO Physics?
Links for 2009-12-10
The Elusive Open Mind: Ten Years of “EVERYONE THINKS they are open-minded. Scientists in particular like to think they have open minds, but we know from psychology that this is just one of those attributes that people like to apply to themselves. We shouldn’t perhaps have to worry about it at all, except that parapsychology… Continue reading Links for 2009-12-10
Even in Education, The House Always Wins
Harry Brighouse at Crooked Timber has a very good post about schools that appear to “beat the odds”, getting good results with populations that don’t typically do well in school. It does an excellent job of laying out the problems with the vast majority of attempts to determine which schools are “beating the odds,” let… Continue reading Even in Education, The House Always Wins
Snowy Poll
I just finished shoveling six-plus inches of snow off our cars and driveway (the forecast called for something like 3-5″, but we’ve got more than that, with no slowing in the fall). In honor of the first significant snowfall of the year, a poll: It’s snowing:(survey) This one has ticky-boxes, which will play hell with… Continue reading Snowy Poll