I’m watching Pardon the Interruption after work, and they’re talking about the Belmont Stakes. They show a clip of horses running, and Emmy pipes up: “I like horses!” She does this when she feels I’m not paying her enough attention. “Horses are okay,” I say. “Okay? Horses are really neat!” She thumps her tail on… Continue reading A Day at the Races
Author: Chad Orzel
Algebra Is Like Sunscreen
Every year around this time, references to that damn sunscreen speech pop up again, as people start thinking of graduations. It’s in the air (Union’s graduation is this Sunday, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see the end of an academic year). And, of course, I have actually been asked to give… Continue reading Algebra Is Like Sunscreen
links for 2009-06-09
Youâre Like School in the Summer⦠« The First Excited State "Summertime is a time to focus on your research, without the distractions of tests, homeworks, and (hopefully) teaching duties. But many grad students, at least in physics, take the summer as an opportunity to attend summer schools, which are short, intense sessions aimed at… Continue reading links for 2009-06-09
Kissing and Comic Books
Two things that are worth a plug beyond the Links Dump level: 1) Over at the Intersection, Sheril Kirshenbaum wants you to look at pictures of people kissing. This is for Science, so stop giggling, and tell her what you think of the pictures. 2) There’s a new blog, Ecocomics, dedicated to exploring the burning… Continue reading Kissing and Comic Books
Anonymity and Pseudonymity
Somebody recently asked me whether I had figured out who Female Science Professor is. I truthfully replied that I haven’t even tried. That was the first thing that came to mind when some jerk from the National Review revealed the identity of “Publius”, kicking off another round of discussion about the etiquette of revealing identities… Continue reading Anonymity and Pseudonymity
Meetings From Hell: Round Wire or Square Wire?
Tom at Swans On Tea comments on an article about meetings: The most common meeting in my experience is the status meeting, where everyone gets together and reports on what they’ve accomplished. If it’s a small group, these are usually fine because you already have familiarity with the tasks. But when you get a large… Continue reading Meetings From Hell: Round Wire or Square Wire?
links for 2009-06-08
Who Underestimates Their Systematic Uncertainties ? "It is a well-known fact that it is much easier to measure a physical quantity than to correctly assess the magnitude of the uncertainty on the measurement: the uncertainty is everything! " (tags: physics particles experiment statistics blogs dorigo science) Acephalous: Photo reference at the National Review "The logicâsuch… Continue reading links for 2009-06-08
The Irritation of Being a Captive Market
Two annoying technology moments yesterday: 1) Kate and I got cell phones when we bought this house, and have been overpaying for them for quite some time. We rarely use them (partly because we get no signal inside the house), and have never come close to using our monthly allocation of minutes. Verizon now offers… Continue reading The Irritation of Being a Captive Market
Our Little Hoodie Baby
SteelyKid attempts to show off her street cred: Of course, her attempt at looking tough is kind of undermined by the Princess Tutu type duck on her hoodie… That’s ok, though, because it’s all fun:
links for 2009-06-06
Diary of a Trade Book (Newton and the Counterfeiter) 7.1: Rewards and Bribes « The Inverse Square Blog "[W]hen sheer love of words and sentences and ideas canât carry you through, what can you fall back on? Bribery." (tags: writing books levenson) Matthew Yglesias » Book Launch 2.0 As someone who created a Facebook page… Continue reading links for 2009-06-06