New Physics Blogs

A couple of new-to-me but good physics blogs to point out this week: All That Matters by Joerg Heber. This looks like it will be updated weekly-ish, and has a couple of good entries, including a nice write-up of an ultrafast laser experiment that I had flagged to write about before I got distracted by… Continue reading New Physics Blogs

Links for 2010-08-15

YouTube – Beat It + epic Crazy Chinese Omnipotent China red army The Internet is a very silly place, but I’m glad we have it. (tags: video music world silly internet youtube) Why Does College Cost So Much? – Forbes.com “Instead of holding up a magnifying glass to the industry, we take an aerial view.… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-15

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Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik [Library of Babel]

Tongues of Serpents is the nth book in the Temeraire series started with His Majesty’s Dragon (in the US, anyway), and another “Meh” review from me. In this case, this is probably less to do with the book itself than with the fact that I am not really in the target demographic for this book.… Continue reading Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik [Library of Babel]

Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold [Library of Babel]

I don’t believe the actual book is out yet, but you can get an electronic Advance Reading copy of the Nth Miles Vorkosigan book, Cryoburn already. Kate picked up a copy, and while she hasn’t gotten around to it yet, I read it this week while putting SteelyKid to bed. The book is another “Lord… Continue reading Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold [Library of Babel]

Links for 2010-08-14

Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » Eight Signs A Claimed P≠NP Proof Is Wrong “So, in the future, how can you decide whether a claimed P≠NP proof is worth reading? I’ll now let you in on my magic secrets (which turn out not to be magic or secret at all). The thing not to do is… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-14

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Live Music Poll

Over at the Whatever, one of Scalzi’s guest bloggers has posted a ginormous list of upcoming live music shows in the DC area. This makes me sad, because when I used to live in the DC area, I was a grad student, and couldn’t afford to go to any of the dozens of great concerts… Continue reading Live Music Poll

What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Part 3: Test and Measurement

The third category in our look at lab apparatus, after vacuum hardware and lasers and optics is the huge collection of electronic gear that we use to control the experiments. I’ll borrow the sales term “test and measurement” as a catch-all description, though this is really broader than what you’ll usually find in that category.… Continue reading What Do You Need to Make Cold Atoms? Part 3: Test and Measurement

Do Not Look In Laser Pointer With Remaining Eye

Some folks I used to work with at NIST have looked at cheap green laser pointers, and found a potential danger. Some of the dimmer-looking green lasers are not so dim in the infrared, and in one case emitted 10X the rated power in invisible light. This could be a potential eye hazard. You can… Continue reading Do Not Look In Laser Pointer With Remaining Eye

Links for 2010-08-13

Think Globally, Compromise Locally – Green Blog – NYTimes.com “Bill McKibben, whose 1989 book, “The End of Nature,” helped coalesce and spread worry about climate change, views the national environmental groups’ strategy of winning support for energy and climate legislation by compromising with industry as a complete failure. “The result: total defeat, no moral victories,”… Continue reading Links for 2010-08-13

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Thursday Toddler Blogging 081210

Now that she’s officially two years old, SteelyKid gets to sit in the big chairs: She also insisted on the forced-perspective thing to make her look even bigger compared to Appa. And the string cheese. She’s all about the string cheese.