As you can see from the picture at right, we’ve got our Christmas tree up, waiting to surprise SteelyKid when she comes home in a couple of hours. This also means it’s getting toward the time when I switch over to the holiday music playlist on iTunes. Christmas music is, of course, a problematic genre.… Continue reading Annual Request: Christmas Songs That Don’t Suck
Month: December 2010
Links for 2010-12-12
New York Governor Vetoes Fracking Bill – NYTimes.com “New York Gov. David A. Paterson on Saturday vetoed legislation intended to curtail natural gas development using the technique called hydraulic fracturing until a closer review of its effects can be undertaken. Instead, the governor issued an executive order instituting a moratorium that extends until July 1,… Continue reading Links for 2010-12-12
Literary Interlude: Bearded Mentor Figures in the Literature of the Fantastic
It’s time now to talk about two of the greatest mentor figures in the literature of the fantastic. You know their stories well, I’m sure, but the parallels between them are eerie: Both are gruff but kindly mentor figures who provide crucial guidance for the young and naive protagonist of the story as he moves… Continue reading Literary Interlude: Bearded Mentor Figures in the Literature of the Fantastic
Links for 2010-12-11
Physics Buzz: Holiday Instability “Holiday decorations are unstable. (We’re talking about physics here. We’ll leave their emotions aside.) To take a closer look at what we’re dealing with, I’ve considered three of the most popular items from the array of December decor: The Christmas tree, the Hanukkah menorah and, of course, the Festivus pole. Which… Continue reading Links for 2010-12-11
Spooky Action at High Speed
I’m currently working on a book about relativity, but I still spend a fair amount of time thinking about quantum issues. A lot of this won’t make it into the book, because I can’t assume people will have read How to Teach Physics to Your Dog before reading whatever the relativity book’s title ends up… Continue reading Spooky Action at High Speed
Links for 2010-12-10
Academics for Mere Politicians | Wired Science | Wired.com “It’s not personal, and it’s not business This is a big one (that is why I put it first). A university isn’t a business in the normal sense. Oh sure, they bring in money and they spend money. From the outside, it is easy to mistake it… Continue reading Links for 2010-12-10
Thursday Toddler Blogging 120910
SteelyKid is off spending a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s, so this week’s picture was actually taken early Wednesday morning: The early hour accounts for both the pacifier (she wasn’t willing to give it up yet) and the frizzy hair (bed-head toddler!). I’m pretty sure she hasn’t grown measurably since yesterday, though. This photo is… Continue reading Thursday Toddler Blogging 120910
Eat My Dust, Darwin!
How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog, the UK edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog continues to sell very well. The vanity search today led me to this, screen captured from the Guardian newspaper in the UK, which sells our book in its online bookshop: Woo! Take that, biology! Yeah, yeah,… Continue reading Eat My Dust, Darwin!
Academic Poll: Lesser Evils
Over at Backreaction, Bee runs through the pros and cons of different presentation methods for academic talks. As she quite correctly notes, both PowerPoint presentations and chalk talks have strengths and weaknesses. You can give a good talk with either, and a bad talk with either. This does suggest a topic for a reader poll,… Continue reading Academic Poll: Lesser Evils
Fredette-apalooza
SteelyKid is off spending the weekend with her grandparents, so Kate and I went out to a nice restaurant last night (we love SteelyKid dearly, but miss eating in restaurants without a kids menu). I was kicking myself for forgetting to set the DVR to record a basketball game, though. Not the Duke or Kentucky… Continue reading Fredette-apalooza