SteelyKid is home from the hospital now, and settling in to her new environment. She had a pediatrician appointment yesterday, and all is well. Of course, the more difficult adjustment is for me and Kate, trying to learn to speak Infant while also maintaining a semblance of a normal life. And, of course, freaking out… Continue reading Thank God for Grandparents
Author: Chad Orzel
Jolly Good Fellows
I hate to break up the pattern of alternating cute baby pictures with rants about science and the general public, but I wanted to sneak in a plug for a new initiative that I’m very tangentially involved in on campus. Union has launched a new fellowship program, the “Minerva Fellows”, providing funding for 7-ish students… Continue reading Jolly Good Fellows
The Consequences of Poor Science Popularization
You may be wondering whether the recent spate of blogging about science in popular media and peer review (by the way, you should definitely read Janet’s two posts on these issues) has any connection to my talk next month at the Science in the 21st Century workshop. Yes, yes it does– I figure that I’m… Continue reading The Consequences of Poor Science Popularization
Sky-Bison Included for Scale
Kate and I have been watching DVD’s of the show Avatar: The Last Airbender via Netflix for a while now. Around the originally predicted due date for SteelyKid (that is, a week and a half before she actually arrived), we were joking about what she could possibly be waiting for. During one episode, she squirmed… Continue reading Sky-Bison Included for Scale
Peer Review Does Not Define Science
In the comments to yesterday’s post about science in popular media, ZapperZ responds with a comment that illustrates the problem: I am not saying that the media shouldn’t report ABOUT science, as accurately as they can. I am saying that DOING science isn’t done in popular media. Science isn’t done that way, especially when “research”… Continue reading Peer Review Does Not Define Science
Meet the Empress
The dog sniffs gently at the baby in my lap. “So, what the heck is this?” “This is SteelyKid. Be nice to her.” “But, I mean, what is it? It’s not a bunny, is it?” She sniffs some more, just to be sure. “What do you mean? Of course she’s not a bunny. She doesn’t… Continue reading Meet the Empress
Popular Media Should Do Science
Lest you think I’m transforming the entire site into cute-baby-pictures-dot-com, let me reassure you that while the posting frequency may drop off a bit, Uncertain Principles will always be your go-to site for slightly ranty blogging about issues of science and larger culture. Well, one of them, anyway. This is brought to you by a… Continue reading Popular Media Should Do Science
FutureBaby Betting Pool Winner
A few weeks back, I started a betting pool, inviting people to guess the birth date and sex of FutureBaby (now SteelyKid). Looking back over the entries, the winner was Kylinn, who correctly guessed August 7th and female. Kylinn wins, according to the original wager: The winner gets bragging rights, plus their choice of something… Continue reading FutureBaby Betting Pool Winner
Babies Are Bosons
SteelyKid was born in a small local hospital specializing in maternity care, with maybe 40-50 beds in the whole place. It’s insanely crowded right now, with most of their patients doubled up in rooms that are often private, and one of the nurses said that they had 24 babies in the nursery last night, including… Continue reading Babies Are Bosons
Meet SteelyKid
Behold, the cutest burrito in Niskayuna: 8 lbs, 2 oz, 20 inches long. Do your own metric conversions. The obligatory mother-and-child picture is below the fold: