slacktivist: L.B.: Speakerphone “If you’re a book editor, you should own a copy of Left Behind to take along to your annual performance reviews. Just open to a random page, have your boss read it, and then remind them that this is why you’re worth every penny and then some.” (tags: books writing politics religion… Continue reading links for 2008-05-10
Author: Chad Orzel
Interdisciplinarity
Timothy Burke has some interesting thoughts about the College of the Atlantic, which represents a real effort to build interdisciplinarity on an institutional level. “Interdisciplinary” is the buzzword of the moment in large swathes of academia, and the College of the Atlantic, which doesn’t have departments and works very hard to make connections between disciplines,… Continue reading Interdisciplinarity
What’s Wrong with “Atom Laser”
There’s a news piece in Physics World this week titled “Atom laser makes its first measurement” and you might think this would be right up my alley. Mostly, though, it serves to remind me that the term “atom laser” has always kind of pissed me off. This is somewhat ironic, as it’s a beautiful piece… Continue reading What’s Wrong with “Atom Laser”
Exhausted Dog Blogging
You have no idea how hard it is to be the Queen of Niskayuna. Between the talking about Relativity, and the people working on the house, and the nice weather, and the squirrels, and the cleaning service coming by, and the inferior dogs in the neighborhood, well, she’s just wiped out: She was too tired… Continue reading Exhausted Dog Blogging
links for 2008-05-09
Solar System Visualizer Look at those planets and moons go! (tags: astronomy planets science computing internet gadgets) Polar vortex replicated in a bucket – physicsworld.com “The centre of the vortex is usually circular, but occasionally it assumes a triangular or even a square shape. Now researchers in Canada claim to have replicated this behaviour for… Continue reading links for 2008-05-09
Digital Is Not Infallible
I’ve been grading lab reports in two different classes, and I’ve been struck once again by the way that students attach mystical properties to anything with a digital readout. The uncertainty used in calculations is invariably put down as half of whatever the least significant digit displayed was, even in cases where the readout visibly… Continue reading Digital Is Not Infallible
Non-Dorky Poll: Beer Pong
The video that accompanies this PopSci.com article is pretty impressive. A bunch of college kids show off their ability to hit trick shots with ping-pong balls, bouncing them off walls, doors, floors, moving skateboards, people, and items of furniture and into beer cups. As the PopSci piece notes, there’s a good deal of physics in… Continue reading Non-Dorky Poll: Beer Pong
Caw!
In honor of the Japanese crow story in today’s Links Dump, here’s a filler post with a picture of a Japanese crow:
links for 2008-05-08
Japan Fights Crowds of Crows – New York Times “This is the Crow Patrol of utility company Kyushu Electric Power, on the hunt for crows whose nests on electric poles have caused a string of blackouts in [Kagoshima] on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.” (tags: Japan animals travel) Breaking Murphy’s Law “There are a lot… Continue reading links for 2008-05-08
Pimp Me Old Papers
As seen in a recent links dump, gg at Skulls in the Stars posted a fun challenge for science bloggers: My “challenge”, for those sciencebloggers who choose to accept it, is this: read and research an old, classic scientific paper and write a blog post about it. I recommend choosing something pre- World War II,… Continue reading Pimp Me Old Papers