There’s a nice write-up about the World Science Festival in the New York Times today: The second annual World Science Festival, a five-day extravaganza of performances, debates, celebrations and demonstrations, including an all-day street fair on Sunday in Washington Square Park, began with a star-studded gala tribute to the Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson at… Continue reading Festive Science
Author: Chad Orzel
We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges, But We Do Have Some
Dave Ng has recently upgraded the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique site, which provides a variety of achievement badges for members to claim and post. I’m not a big one for extra graphics on the blog (they delay the loading of the cute baby pictures), but if you’re… Continue reading We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Badges, But We Do Have Some
links for 2009-06-12
Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive « alex.moskalyuk "50 scientifically proven ways constitute 50 chapters of the book, longest of which take 7 pages. The authors take the position that persuasion is a science, not art, hence with the right approach anybody can become the master in the skill of persuasion. So, what… Continue reading links for 2009-06-12
Hugo Nominees: Longer Short Fiction
A little while ago, I griped about the Short Story nominees for this year’s Hugo Awards. I’ve now finished the nominees in the Novella and Novelette categories, so I thought I’d comment on them as well. As a general matter, I’d just about be willing to contribute money toward a fund to buy supporting memberships… Continue reading Hugo Nominees: Longer Short Fiction
Thursday Baby Blogging 061109
You get Baby Blogging early today, because I have a ton of grading to finish today, and don’t have time for bloggy things. This week, SteelyKid shows off two new-ish skills: She can stand up, and she’s strong enough to lift a bison! Look out, world…
links for 2009-06-11
Random musings of Lizard Bench Mango – an affirmation? "When I am struggling with something, I sometimes think ‘Damn this is hard for me. I wonder if I am stupid,’ and then I remember I have a degree in astrophysics from Cal Tech; I must not be stupid." (tags: psychology silly academia)
Selective Response: An Open Letter
Dear Email Recipients: Thank you very much for responding rapidly to the question I sent you. Now, please go back to my original message, and respond to the other four questions that were in that message. Thank you for your reading comprehension, Annoyed Re-Sender of Emails
Matter and Interactions: Post-Mortem
OK, it’s not really a full post-mortem, because I haven’t graded the final exams yet, but I wouldn’t tell you about those, anyway. Still, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on the past term, which was my first teaching introductory mechanics on the Matter & Interactions curriculum. On the whole, I continue to… Continue reading Matter and Interactions: Post-Mortem
Unhealthy Obsessions of Academia
Over at Cosmic Variance, Julianne is annoyed at Nature‘s embargo policy. It seems that somebody or another posted a paper to the arxiv while submitting it to Nature, and included a note on the arxiv submission asking people to abide by Nature‘s embargo. So, instead of blogging about the Incredibly Exciting Discovery (which I’d loooove… Continue reading Unhealthy Obsessions of Academia
links for 2009-06-10
Connecticut District Tosses Algebra Textbooks and Goes Online – NYTimes.com "Westport school officials say their less-is-more approach has already resulted in less review in math classes, higher standardized test scores and more students taking advanced math classes. The percentage of the districtâs 10th graders receiving top scores on state exams rose to 86 percent last… Continue reading links for 2009-06-10