I’m not sure whether he’s making some kind of obscure point, or just trolling, but John Scalzi gave a recent installment of his “Big Idea” series over to the witterings of “Vox Day,” talking about his book The Irrational Atheist. Curse you, Scalzi, for getting me to even look at that. And it’s not just… Continue reading John Scalzi Should Be Ashamed of Himself
Author: Chad Orzel
Humorless Scold Smackdown
Inside Higher Ed notes in passing that several NCAA Presidents are complaining about alcohol advertising during the NCAA Tournament. The source for this is a study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest: According to CSPI’s analysis of broadcasts of the semifinal and championship basketball games, the NCAA is exceeding the limits on… Continue reading Humorless Scold Smackdown
links for 2008-04-10
Satisfying application of physics Another great idea for an intro mechanics lab. (tags: physics academia education experiment science) Michigan laser beam believed to set record for intensity Includes a great lab-porn picture of the laser in action. (tags: science physics optics news experiment) ‘U.S. News’ Adds Surveys That Could Alter Methodology :: Inside Higher Ed… Continue reading links for 2008-04-10
Dorky Poll: Calculators
Over at Cosmic Variance, Julianne waxes rhapsodic about her calculator, a HP-15C. This is such an obvious Dorky Poll topic that I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier: What sort of calculator do you use? My students, particularly the future engineers, are always shocked by my answer:
Neil Lewis of the New York Times
The much-promised peer-reviewed research post is going to slip by another day, becuase I had forgotten about a talk by Neil Lewis last night on campus. Lewis is an alumnus of Union, and a writer for the Times best known for writing about the prison camps at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and he was speaking as… Continue reading Neil Lewis of the New York Times
Web Design Is Stupid
The College maintain an “OnCampus” page, intended to serve as a clearinghouse for electronic resources on campus. I have it set as the home page for all my campus computers, because it lets me access a lot of stuff very quickly– Blackboard, course rosters, academic calendars, etc. This page has always consisted of two bands… Continue reading Web Design Is Stupid
links for 2008-04-09
Most powerful laser in the world fires up “The Texas Petawatt laser reached greater than one petawatt of laser power on Monday morning, March 31,” Good thing, or they’d feel pretty dumb about the name. (tags: physics optics science news) Cats Laughing Everybody’s favorite band of SF authors, on the Intenet. (tags: SF music internet)… Continue reading links for 2008-04-09
What Do You Need to Make a Quantum Computer?
(This is the second of two background posts for a peer-reviewed research blogging post that has now slipped to tomorrow. I started writing it, but realized that it needed some more background information, which became this post. And now I don’t have time to write the originally intended post…) Making a quantum computer is a… Continue reading What Do You Need to Make a Quantum Computer?
Political Indoctrination by Faculty
An ad-lib from yesterday’s lecture about interactions between electric fields and neutral matter, paraphrased: So, we can divide macroscopic objects into two categories, based on what happens when you bring large numbers of atoms together. In materials that are insulators, the electrons aren’t free to move. The atoms hold onto their electrons very tightly. They’re… Continue reading Political Indoctrination by Faculty
Vitale in the Hall of Fame
The world’s best known shrieking basketball analyst was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame yesterday, and event which ESPN is understandbly hyping to no end. I’ve written before about how Vitale is, in my opinion, one of the very worst color commentators in the business, so you might be wondering “What do you think… Continue reading Vitale in the Hall of Fame