It’s late October, which means that the thoughts of small children and adults who have never quite grown up turn to selecting appropriate costumes for Halloween. In the spirit of these literary suggestions and these abstract concept suggestions, I thought it would be useful to offer some suggestions for physics-themed costumes, for those who want… Continue reading Conceptual Physics Costumes for Halloween
Month: October 2010
Academic Poll: Exam Philosophy
I’m spending a good chunk of the morning grading the exam that I gave yesterday, so here’s a poll on what you might call exam philosophy. Our classes are small, so the bulk of our exams are free-response problems, and we tend to break those problems into sub-parts (1a, 1b, 1c, etc.). There are two… Continue reading Academic Poll: Exam Philosophy
Links for 2010-10-27
Video: Fingerless Robotic Hand Can Pick Anything | Wired Science | Wired.com “The simple gripper is made of a bag of coffee grounds and a vacuum, though other grains such as couscous and sand also work, says study coauthor Eric Brown of the University of Chicago. To pick something up, the bag of loose grounds… Continue reading Links for 2010-10-27
It’s All About the Offensive Line
Last night’s Giants-Cowboys game was not one of the finer displays of football you’re ever see– the score makes it seem like a close game, but the Giants turned the ball over five times and gave up a punt return for a touchdown, basically handing the Cowboys 28 points. Other than that, you know, they… Continue reading It’s All About the Offensive Line
Links for 2010-10-26
Should Students buy an iPad or a Year’s Supply of Pot Noodles? | blog@CACM | Communications of the ACM “Suppose you gave up washing clothes for a year, or relied on your mum to do it for you. According to the budgeting guide this would save £222, just about half of the iPad. You could… Continue reading Links for 2010-10-26
Poll: Halloween Books
I almost forgot something that I need to do today, so no lengthy and detailed blogging this morning. Instead, a quick poll regarding Neil Gaiman’s suggestion of giving kids scary books for Halloween: Neil Gaiman suggests giving kids scary books for Halloween. What do you think?online surveys Halloween is a classic holiday, which means you’re… Continue reading Poll: Halloween Books
Links for 2010-10-25
Hugo Nominees: Introduction | Tor.com | Science fiction and fantasy | Blog posts “I haven’t, of course, read every single book nominated for the Hugos since 1953. (What have I been doing with my time?) If I haven’t read it, I shall say so, and I shall say why. Otherwise I shall talk briefly about… Continue reading Links for 2010-10-25
The Problem With Innate Differences
In yesterday’s post about the experience of science, I mentioned that I had both a specific complaint about the article by Alexandra Jellicoe (which I explained in the post) and a general complaint about the class in which the article falls. I want to attempt to explain the latter problem, partly because I think it… Continue reading The Problem With Innate Differences
How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Around the World
Between my long-ago high-school French and Google Translate, I can tell that this is a good review of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. It does note, though, that reading the book requires knowledge of English to understand it, which is a problem. And, as far as I know, French translation rights haven’t been… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog Around the World
Links for 2010-10-24
Hey, Tea Partiers, this wine’s for you! – By Mike Steinberger – Slate Magazine “In response to the advent of the Tea Party movement, some people have demanded to know where all these deficit hawks and defenders of the Constitution were during the Bush years. I have a different question: “Where’s the Madeira?” If the… Continue reading Links for 2010-10-24