I’m speaking, of course, about this past weekend’s Bloggingheads conversation between Jennifer Ouellette and Diandra Leslie-Pelecky. They both blog at Cocktail Party Physics, and Diandra has written The Physics of NASCAR. It’s a good Bloggingheads, covering a wide range of topics related to physics, sports, and entertainment. Jennifer talks about the work of the Science… Continue reading Women, Fast Cars, and Physics
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2009-04-23
Particulate pollution cuts carbon dioxide, model shows – physicsworld.com "Falling levels of aerosol pollution could make it much harder to curb the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. That is the conclusion of climate researchers in the UK and Switzerland, who have found that pollution in the form of aerosol particles gives a dramatic… Continue reading links for 2009-04-23
Eight Months and Counting
The official release date for How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is December 22nd, exactly eight months from today. It’s probably a little too early to go into countdown mode, but I thought I would mention a couple of recent developments with the book. First, the book itself continues its steady progress toward publication.… Continue reading Eight Months and Counting
Academic Poll: Bribery
No, I’m not talking about students bribing faculty for good grades, but the reverse: faculty bribing students to attend events outside of class. For example, I offered the students in my class five bonus points on tomorrow’s mid-term exam if they attended last night’s Alan Lightman lecture. I’m fairly certain that 12 of the 16… Continue reading Academic Poll: Bribery
The Art and Science of Naming Things
We had a talk last night by Alan Lightman of MIT, a theoretical physicist and novelist, best known as the author of Einstein’s Dreams. He spoke for about an hour about his own background, and the similarities and differences between the worlds of science and the arts. One of the differences he mentioned was the… Continue reading The Art and Science of Naming Things
links for 2009-04-22
Pop Quiz – Advanced Placement – Education Life – Interactive Quiz – A.P. Economics – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com I got 14/18, which isn’t all that bad if you consider that I never took economics at any level. (tags: economics business quiz) Think Progress » TAKE ACTION: Tell Congress To Hold Impeachment Hearings Against Judge… Continue reading links for 2009-04-22
Strunk and White Is Not for You
I tagged Geoffrey Pullum’s rant against The Elements of Style for del.icio.us a few days back, because it struck me as interesting, but I didn’t have time to say more. In the subsequent days, I’ve seen a bunch of “Preach it, Brother Pullum!” responses, most recently from revere. I’ve also received the copyedited manuscript of… Continue reading Strunk and White Is Not for You
Technology Query: Making Animation?
The book-in-production will be released eight months from tomorrow, which means that I’m thinking of ways to promote it on-line. One obvious possibility would be some sort of YouTube video type thing, showing a conversation with the dog about physics. This runs into problems, though, given that the dog is, well, a dog, and thus… Continue reading Technology Query: Making Animation?
links for 2009-04-21
The Washington Monthly "[S]trange to say, in 2007 the median family income in New York City was $52,871. Maybe New York takes in floods of new residents every year, and so many of them die of starvation that the median income is actually below the level needed to survive. Maybe over half of the families… Continue reading links for 2009-04-21
I Do Not Think That Means What You Think It Means
A couple of physics stories in the last few days have caught my attention for reasons that can be lumped together under the Vizzini Effect– that is, they say things that involve unconventional uses of common words. Take, for example, the Physics World story Physicists distinguish between the indistinguishable, which starts off: Spurred on by… Continue reading I Do Not Think That Means What You Think It Means