Taking my time to copy a meme from Dave, here’s the list of cities where I spent at least one night in 2007: Niskayuna, NY (duh) Whitney Point, NY Tewksbury, MA Mineola, NY Boston, MA New York, NY Holland, MI San Rafael, CA Calgary, Alberta, Canada Cruz Bay, St. John, USVI Kyoto, Japan Yokohama, Japan… Continue reading The Year in Cities
Author: Chad Orzel
links for 2008-01-12
YouTube – Svezia, Inferno E Paradiso (1968) The origin of everybody’s favorite Muppet earworm, via the AV Club. (tags: music video youtube silly movies television) YouTube – Muppets – Mahna Mahna The Muppet version. You can thank me later. (tags: music silly television youtube) Jobs, News and Views for All of Higher Education – Inside… Continue reading links for 2008-01-12
True Lab Stories: The Oaf Effect
It’s been a while since I did one of these (see “How to Tell a True Lab Story” for an explanation), but yesterday’s laser tech story reminded me of one. The lab next to mine in grad school also used an argon ion laser to pump another laser, but they were much more cramped for… Continue reading True Lab Stories: The Oaf Effect
Sheep!
An example of what academics do to blow off steam: This is a detail of a long whiteboard hanging in the basement hallway near my research lab. Sometime this fall, a colleague divided part of the board into a grid, and wrote “Sheep drawing contest! Rules: Draw a sheep” at the top. Students and other… Continue reading Sheep!
Your Cheery Race-in-America Thought for the Day
From Inside Higher Ed: Data drawn from the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s annual survey of graduation rates, analyzed by Inside Higher Ed, show that scholarship athletes make up at least 20 percent of the full-time black male undergraduates at 96 of the nearly 330 colleges that play sports in Division I, the NCAA’s top competitive… Continue reading Your Cheery Race-in-America Thought for the Day
links for 2008-01-11
Why don’t we drop medical waste and nuclear waste into active volcanoes? – By Daniel Engber – Slate Magazine The Question of the Year. I was rooting for “Is it possible I have the softest cat in the world?” (tags: environment science silly) Hubble finds double Einstein ring Three galaxies, all in a row. (tags:… Continue reading links for 2008-01-11
Hugo Nominations
Kate and I got our Hugo nomination ballots in the mail yesterday (as members of the 2007 Worldcon, we get the right to nominate works for the 2008 Hugo Awards). The nomination deadline isn’t until March 1st, but this still seems like a good time to ask: What should I be nominating for the 2008… Continue reading Hugo Nominations
Variational Principles and the Story of Your Life
As I mentioned a few days ago, a colleague asked me if I’d be interested in doing a guest lecture for a class on science fiction. She suggested that a good way to go might be to pick one story to have the class read, and talk about that. Kicking ideas around with Kate, I… Continue reading Variational Principles and the Story of Your Life
Dorky Poll: Low-Tech Solutions to High-Tech Problems
Back when I was a grad student at NIST, we had a large frame argon ion laser that put out 10-15 watts of green light that we then used to pump a Ti:Sapph laser to produce the infrared light we used for laser cooling. This particular type of laser had a small design flaw– the… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Low-Tech Solutions to High-Tech Problems
links for 2008-01-10
Lounge of the Lab Lemming: Geophysicists moderate neutrons Estimating conference attendance by the attenuation of the cosmogenic neutron flux due to people on the exhibit floor. (tags: physics silly science) A Natural Scientist: Before You Sign Up For Indentured Servitude The three most important decisions in grad school: Advisor, Advisor, Advisor. (tags: academia science education)… Continue reading links for 2008-01-10