I watched (bits of) a couple of basketball games last night for the first time in ages: Syracuse put up a good fight for a bit more than a half before being put away by a really good Connecticut team, and North Carolina blew Duke away late to win their fourth straight in Durham. These… Continue reading Why Do Sports Media Hate Me?
Author: Chad Orzel
Best Physical Science Writing of 2008?
I didn’t expect the post griping about the Best American Science Writing anthology to generate as much discussion as it did. Shows what I know. In comments, “bsci” made a good suggestion: Instead of complaining about this volume, I’d love it if you and your readers made a list of the best physics writing in… Continue reading Best Physical Science Writing of 2008?
Wanted: News Smoothing
Back in the fall, I got all caught up in the election, like everybody else, and I added a bunch of blogs to my RSS feeds in Google Reader. I’m thinking that I might need to cut back to pre-election levels, if not lower, though. Following too many political blogs is giving me whiplash. This… Continue reading Wanted: News Smoothing
links for 2009-02-11
Fish Food « Easily Distracted "Let me add to the âStanley Fish is just kind of patheticâ dogpile a bit here. In many ways, Fishâs latest column kind of reveals just how naked the emperor has become when it comes to hack complaints about the leftist intolerant academic-freedom abusing groupthink academy. " (tags: stupid academia… Continue reading links for 2009-02-11
Heads Talking About Quantum History
I’m running a little behind this week, but I wouldn’t want this week’s Science Saturday bloggingheads to slip by without a mention. It’s a conversation between George Johnson and Louisa Gilder about The Age of Entanglement, which I liked quite a bit: The conversation is primarily about her book, the story it tells, and how… Continue reading Heads Talking About Quantum History
Essential Skills and Experiences?
Like a lot of physics departments, we offer an upper-level lab class, aimed at juniors and seniors. There are a lot of ways to approach this sort of course, but one sensible way to think about it is in terms of giving students essential skills and experiences. That is, i’s a course in which they… Continue reading Essential Skills and Experiences?
links for 2009-02-10
Backreaction: Singularities in your Kitchen "I was fascinated most by what I’ve learned since then about singularities in fluid dynamics – singularities that actually occur in the kitchen, every time a drop of water falls off the tap." (tags: science physics blogs liquids backreaction) Attack of the 50-Foot Baby blocks turn your toddler into a… Continue reading links for 2009-02-10
Physics Gets No Respect
Kind of a belated gripe, but something I was reminded of today that I forgot to blog when I first noticed it. I griped last year about the fomulaic nature of the “Best Science Writing” anthology, but I had no idea that the 2008 version would be worse. OK, I haven’t read it, but I… Continue reading Physics Gets No Respect
Book Report: Slouching Toward Production
The Book-in-Progress is slowly but surely moving toward being the Book-in-Production. There isn’t an officially official date yet, but I’ve gotten what should be the last round of edits, and been told that it should be out this fall, just in time for holiday gift-buying. Between the book and my class, I don’t have a… Continue reading Book Report: Slouching Toward Production
links for 2009-02-09
A physics history-mystery: magnetism from light? « Skulls in the Stars "Iâve been looking into Faradayâs contribution to the understanding that light is an electromagnetic wave. That investigation led me to some early work by other researchers on the light/magnetism connection, and led me in turn to a puzzler: how significant and accurate is that… Continue reading links for 2009-02-09