It’s probably a little foolish to continue this on a Saturday, but I’d like to wrap up the giant framing/ religion/ screechy monkeys mess and get back to more pleasant topics, at least for a while. Putting it off until Monday would make this more visible, but it would also drag things out, so I’m… Continue reading The Problem of Moderation
Author: Chad Orzel
What’s in a Name?
I am obscurely glad to learn from this Times human-interest story that Kansas center Sasha Kaun is from Russia. Otherwise, he is at the age where any parent naming their child “Sasha Kaun” would’ve had to deal with everybody thinking “Sasha Kaun Sasha Kaun everybody Sasha Kaun…” Yes, I am both a Bad Person and… Continue reading What’s in a Name?
links for 2008-04-05
Inactive kids face 6-fold risk of heart disease by teen years, study finds Correlation or causation? (tags: education medicine US social-science science news) Reassigned Time: PSEUDONYMITY is not Anonymity, duh “Pseudonymity is not about being untraceable but rather about taking on a traceable identity that is distinct from one’s legal identity, or one’s identity at… Continue reading links for 2008-04-05
The Sticky Tape Lab
I had the first lab of the term yesterday in my introductory E&M class. This is the first time I’ve taught out of this book (Matter & Interactions by Chabay and Sherwood), which actually includes the basic elements of this lab as suggested activities in the second chapter of the text. The lab was more… Continue reading The Sticky Tape Lab
The Cost of Not Framing
In the comments to yesterday’s post about framing, Damian offers a long comment that doesn’t actually contradict anything I said, but re-frames it in terms more complimentary to the Dawkins/ Myers side of things. I may deal with some of what he says over there (probably not today, though, as I have a class to… Continue reading The Cost of Not Framing
Science in the 21st Century
The Perimeter Institute will be hosting a workshop in September on “Science in the 21st Century“: Times are changing. In the earlier days, we used to go to the library, today we search and archive our papers online. We have collaborations per email, hold telephone seminars, organize virtual networks, write blogs, and make our seminars… Continue reading Science in the 21st Century
links for 2008-04-04
VQR » The Christian with Four Aces A biography of the deeply creepy and corrupt Pat Robertson. (tags: culture religion television journalism politics US society) Coming to New York, a Science Event for the Masses – New York Times “Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, who described himself as being from Muppet Labs, extolled the family-oriented programs. The… Continue reading links for 2008-04-04
Cut and Paste Error of the Year
EurekAlert provides a sort of firehose feed of press releases, some of which contain really hilariously awkward phrases. This release about a graphene-based measurement of the fine structure constant is one of the all-time greats, though: Prof Geim, who in 2004 discovered graphene with Dr Kostya Novoselov, a one-atom-thick gauze of carbon atoms resembling chicken… Continue reading Cut and Paste Error of the Year
Let’s Zen!
Wow. I’m cranky today. I really need to be more Zen about things. Here’s a picture to meditate on: This is the famous “Crane and Turtle” garden at Konchi-in in Kyoto. It’s one of very few gardens absolutely known to have been designed by the great garden-desing master Kobori Enshu, out of the huge number… Continue reading Let’s Zen!
Social Class and Educational Access
Via Matt Yglesias, the Quick and the Ed offers an absolutely terrific article about the effect of class on access to college, using AJ Soprano as an example. On The Sopranos, AJ was a delinquent, who nevertheless got sent off to college because of the tireless efforts of his mother, and the family’s money. Drawing… Continue reading Social Class and Educational Access