Congratulations to SpaceX for successfully launching a payload into orbit after three failed attempts: The two-stage Falcon 1 rocket built by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) lifted off at about 7:15 p.m. EDT (2315 GMT) from the U.S. Army’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Defense Test Site on the Kwajalein Atoll in the about 2,500 miles (4,023 km)… Continue reading Fourth Time’s the Charm
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2008-09-29
Cocktail Party Physics: prime time science Why you should stop worrying and learn to love science-themed tv shows. (tags: television science culture society) blarg? » I’m Sorry, Are You From The Past? Standards-compliant Web design, Microsoft style. (tags: computing internet stupid)
Letter Books, or the Benefits of a Digressive Writing Style
I’m currently reading David Foster Wallace’s Everything and More: A Brief History of ∞, because his recent death made me want to read some of his stuff, and I haven’t read this (which turns up on best-science-books lists) before, so it seemed like a good way to go. Reading Wallace does tend to affect my… Continue reading Letter Books, or the Benefits of a Digressive Writing Style
Earmarks and the Ridicule of Science
There’s an interesting exchange over at the Reality-Based Community around the topic of “earmarks” for science, like the grizzly bear DNA study McCain keeps mocking. Michael O’Hare argues that science should not be funded by earmarks: Almost any piece of scientific research, especially in biology, that isn’t called “Cure cancer!” is liable to the kind… Continue reading Earmarks and the Ridicule of Science
Awesome Dragon Baby Blogging
SteelyKid has a new friend, courtesy of my sister: It’s a shlumpy google-eyed dragon, stuffed with pure awesome. I’m dubbing this guy “Wellington,” for family-historical reasons. A side shot (with extra bonus baby in the mirror) is below the fold:
links for 2008-09-28
Editors for Obama : Editors for Obama Change in which we can believe. (tags: language education silly internet)
Stochastic Baby Blogging
Here’s an update to the SteelyKid feeding pattern, with almost twice as much data as the previous graph: Still no solid pattern to the feedings, time-wise, but there has been some change, in that the individual feedings have gotten more distinct. They tend to be longer, and the intervals between feeding are somewhat longer.
Big-Picture Debate Commentary
As I said last night, I wound up watching all of the presidential debate. I turned it on expecting to get disgusted and flip away in half an hour or so, but it was remarkably better than the last two elections’ worth of debates. Almost as if both participants were qualified to be President. I’m… Continue reading Big-Picture Debate Commentary
links for 2008-09-27
Primer: TV Detectives | The A.V. Club "A brief history of–and notable highlights from–television’s long-term love affair with procedurals, mystery stories, and the colorful characters who figure out whodunit." (tags: television review culture avclub)
Everything That Is Wrong With American Political Culture
God help me, I watched all of the debate tonight. I’m not sure why, but I did, and I’ll say something about it in an overall sense tomorrow. It occurs to me, though, that one moment after the debate sums up everything that has gone wrong with this country over the last N years. I… Continue reading Everything That Is Wrong With American Political Culture