In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Green Energy – Series – NYTimes.com The power of framing in action. (tags: science politics environment energy society culture religion media communication nytimes) Physics Buzz: Twin Paradox a Paradox in Low-Earth Orbit “Relativity enthusiasts will be excited to learn that in a few months, twin brothers will meet in space […]
Month: October 2010
How Many Incompetent Teachers Are There, Really?
As mentioned in the previous post, there has been a lot of interesting stuff written about education in the last week or so, much of it in response to the manifesto published in the Washington Post, which is the usual union-busting line about how it’s too difficult to fire the incompetent teachers who are ruining […]
“Line Plot” is Never the Right Choice (Why Excel Sucks, aleph-nought in a series)
There have been a bunch of interesting things written about education recently that I’ve been too busy teaching to comment on. I was pulling them together this morning to do a sort of themed links dump, when the plot at the right, from Kevin Drum’s post about school testing jumped out at me. This shows […]
Links for 2010-10-19
Confessions of a Community College Dean: Tossing Bottles One of the staples of 80’s teen movies was the moment when the screwup hero realized that he had imbibed (or allowed others to imbibe at a forbidden party) much of what was in the parents’ liquor cabinet — these houses always had well-stocked liquor cabinets — […]
How to Teach Physics to [Your Pet’s Name Here] (DonorsChoose Challege 2010)
As you may or may not be aware, we are once again in the middle of a DonorsChoose fundraiser to support public school students and teachers. The good news is, the Uncertain Principles entry for the 2010 Challenge is in second place among ScienceBlogs blogs with $373 in donations thus far; the bad news it […]
Links for 2010-10-18
The Trouble with Scientists | Speakeasy Science “Scientists won’t talk to journalists; they don’t want to waste their time “dumbing it down”; they don’t see it as “making us smarter.” So many of the good stories in science don’t get covered at all. Or the stories get covered only for an already science-literate audience – […]
Toddler See, Toddler Do
I’m always taking pictures of SteelyKid going about her business, so a little turnabout is fair play: The “camera” she’s using is actually a small calculator that my mom gave her. She also uses this like a phone, to carry on lengthy conversations with her great-grandmother and sometimes friends from day care. She’ll also sometimes […]
Links for 2010-10-17
It’s Time To Forgive George Lucas “I cannot defend the prequels, despite their many laudable qualities: often wonderful if no longer industry-defining special effects; Jedi Knights that are warriors to be feared and respected; a glimpse of a splendid Republic of majestic alien races, a galaxy worth fighting for. What I can say now, after […]
Short Story Club: “No Time Like the Present” by Carol Emshwiller
This week’s short story club entry is Carol Emshwiller’s “No Time Like the Present,” a sort of timeless time-travel story. It’s narrated by a teenage girl in an unnamed town somewhere in the US whose town sees a sudden influx of tall blond people who behave very oddly. While it’s pretty obvious to the reader […]
Links for 2010-10-16
Scale of Universe – Interactive Scale of the Universe Tool A spiffy interactive guide to the scale of things. (tags: science astronomy physics biology measurement computing internet) slacktivist: Hold on to the good “Test everything. Hold on to the good. That’s from the Apostle Paul, actually. It’s a bona fide biblical commandment. Both parts of […]