This week’s Short Story Club entry is a Tor.com story, “The Cage” by A. M. Dellamonica. This is a story about a general contractor and the Most Adorable Werewolf Pupppy Ever. In the world of the story, supernatural monsters are “out,” known to the general public (though I don’t think it mentions anything other than… Continue reading Short Story Club: “The Cage,” by A. M. Dellamonica
Month: October 2010
Science Is Solitary?
Some time back, I took issue with an article about “masculine” and “feminine” approaches to science that struck me as a little off. The author of the original post, Alexandra Jellicoe, has a new post on the same topic that she pointed out in comments to my original post. I have two major problems with… Continue reading Science Is Solitary?
Musical Poll: Remix This!
On the way in to work, I heard yet another example of the deplorable trend of taking the vocal tracks of slow songs– in this case, “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” by Vampire Weekend– and replacing the musical backing with a 120 beats-per-minute dance beat that sounds like it was generated by a high-end… Continue reading Musical Poll: Remix This!
DonorsChoose Payoff: Where Do Ideas Come From?
As promised, an answer to a question from a donor to this year’s DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. Sarah asks: Chad, can I get a post about how you (or scientists in general) come up with ideas for experiments? You’ve covered some of the gory detail with the lab info posts, but I think it would be… Continue reading DonorsChoose Payoff: Where Do Ideas Come From?
Links for 2010-10-22
US LHC Blog » I’ve Invented a New Theory, What Do I Do Now? Surprisingly, “Start a kooky-looking webpage, and make a million dollars” isn’t one of the options. Probably an oversight. (tags: physics theory experiment lhc-blogs science blogs particles) …My heart’s in Accra » The ley lines of globalization “To use Maersk’s calculator, you… Continue reading Links for 2010-10-22
Thursday Bedtime Blogging
This week, we see Appa and SteelyKid with all the essential elements of bedtime: From right to left, we have: Goodnight Moon, the Winnie-the-Pooh collection I’ve started reading to her after her bottle, and the brown-and-white doggie she has adopted as her essential comfort animal. This was apparently a Valentine’s Day promotion from some chain… Continue reading Thursday Bedtime Blogging
DonorsChoose Reminder: Tuckerize Your Pets, and Program This Blog
I haven’t been flogging the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge as hard this year as in past year, but I do want to post a reminder that the challenge is ongoing. If you donate, the money will go to help deserving school kids; if that’s not enough, it can also earn you cool stuff like: The largest… Continue reading DonorsChoose Reminder: Tuckerize Your Pets, and Program This Blog
Teaching, Research, and Teaching Research
Melissa at Confused at a Higher Level has a nice post on the tension between faculty research and teaching: Malachowski writes, “We all know that working with undergraduates is time consuming and in some cases it slows down our research output, but work with undergraduates should be supported, celebrated, and compensated at a high level.… Continue reading Teaching, Research, and Teaching Research
Links for 2010-10-21
Views: The Real Cost Equation – Inside Higher Ed “All of these arguments place the higher education system at the center of the universe worth examining. Holding up a magnifying glass to the industry can indeed yield a wealth of detailed information, but without context that information is partial, and it can be quite misleading.… Continue reading Links for 2010-10-21
Poll: The Peter Threshold
As a sort of follow-up to yesterday’s post asking about incompetent teachers, a poll on what you might call the “Peter Threshold,” after the Peter Principle. Exactly how many incompetent members can an organization tolerate? The acceptable level of incompetence in any organization (that is, the fraction of employees who can’t do their jobs) is:Market… Continue reading Poll: The Peter Threshold