From Fish to Infinity – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com I’ll be writing about the elements of mathematics, from pre-school to grad school, for anyone out there who’d like to have a second chance at the subject — but this time from an adult perspective. It’s not intended to be remedial. The goal is to give… Continue reading Links for 2010-02-04
Month: February 2010
Quantization of Books 5: Decay of Books
It’s been a while since I’ve done a fun with graphs post about the Amazon sales rank of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, but that’s not because I’ve stopped tracking it. It’s getting to be enough data, though, that it’s worthwhile to look on a slightly coarser scale, so here’s the sales rank… Continue reading Quantization of Books 5: Decay of Books
Accelerated Twins: The Answer
Yesterday’s post on a variation of the “Twin Paradox” with both twins accelerating was very successful– 337 people voted in the first poll question, as of a little before 9am, and the comments to the original post are full of lively discussion. That’s awesome. I wish I could take credit for it, but the problem… Continue reading Accelerated Twins: The Answer
Weather Explains Politics
In the wake of recent political developments, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about why Democrats in Congress are so spineless, and have been unable to pass meaningful legislation despite huge majorities. After thinking about my travel plans last night, I think I have the key to the Grand Unified Theory of American politics.… Continue reading Weather Explains Politics
Links for 2010-02-03
Researchers use infrared cameras to determine taste quality of Japanese beef “Imagine going into a local supermarket or butchery, pulling out your cell phone and using its camera to instantly check for the best piece of meat on display. That is one of the applications that some in Japan hope could become possible one day… Continue reading Links for 2010-02-03
Snowpocalypse Contingency Plans?
As mentioned previously, I’m giving a talk at the University of Maryland, College Park this Thursday, Feb 4 at 3:30 pm in the Lecture Hall (room 1110) in the Kim Engineering Building. The title of the talk is “Talking to My Dog About Science: Why Public Communication of Science Matters, and How Weblogs Can Help”–… Continue reading Snowpocalypse Contingency Plans?
Physics Quiz: Accelerated Twins
Just about everybody has heard of the Twin Paradox in relativity: one twin becomes as astronaut and sets off for Alpha Centauri, the other remains on Earth at mission control. Thanks to time dilation, the two age at different rates, and the one who made the trip out and back ends up younger than the… Continue reading Physics Quiz: Accelerated Twins
Academic Poll: Pop Quiz, Hotshot
Tuesday is a heavy teaching day for me– I’m in lab from 9-4, basically– so here’s something to occupy the time. Oh, no! It’s a pop quiz: Pop quizzes are:(survey software) (In case the phrase is an American idiom, a “pop quiz” refers to a short test given in class with no advance warning.) This… Continue reading Academic Poll: Pop Quiz, Hotshot
Wolf Prize for Quantum Pioneers
Congratulations to Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger for winning the 2010 Wolf Prize in Phyiscs: The 2010 Wolf Prize in Physics will be shared by Prof. John F. Clauser of the US; Prof. Alain Aspect of France’s Ãcole Normale Supérieure de Cachan; and Prof. Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna. The jury… Continue reading Wolf Prize for Quantum Pioneers
Links for 2010-02-02
Is Our Students Learning? « Easily Distracted “That’s what I worry about when I hear that there are too many “relativists” around: that the people complaining the most about that supposed surplus are the most supremely relativistic folks you might ever imagine encountering. “a (tags: academia education politics blogs easily-distracted philosophy ethics society culture) Career… Continue reading Links for 2010-02-02