The Year In Film 2007 | The A.V. Club I don’t see enough movies to do a sensible “Year’s Best” list any more, but the AV Club is one of the most reliable review sites out there. (tags: movies) Are We Not Men? Jon Zobenicaoverthinks Playboy and Maxim (tags: culture gender journalism sex society) Ampere… Continue reading links for 2007-12-20
Author: Chad Orzel
College Basketball Gets a Little Quieter
Having ranted at great length about the awfulness of Dick Vitale’s caterwauling during games broadcast on ESPN, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that he’s having vocal cord surgery. In his own words: The past six weeks have been very emotional for me and for my family as we’ve visited some of the… Continue reading College Basketball Gets a Little Quieter
Michigan Tenure Lawsuit
A former Michigan law professor is suing the university because he was denied tenure: The professor, Peter Hammer, won a majority of votes of the faculty of the law school in his case. But the 18-12 margin was two shy of the two-thirds requirement to win tenure, so he lost his job, and now is… Continue reading Michigan Tenure Lawsuit
Idle Consumer Electronics Question
Why does my new car stereo (with spiffy direct iPod connection) come with a remote control? Just where do they think I’m going to go?
Tree of SCIENCE!!! #7
Another cold December day, another ornament from the Tree of SCIENCE!!! This one’s for the doctors in the house: That’s a little elf guy smoking a pipe, and he represents the science of public health.and epidemiology.
Congratulations to Doctor Gazebo
Travis Hime of Arcane Gazebo has just finished his Ph.D. on Solid-State Qubits with Current-Controlled Coupling. Go congratulate him on bringing quantum spam that much closer to reality. (“Dear sir or madam, I may or may not be the widow of the former president of Nigeria, and I may or may not have the sum… Continue reading Congratulations to Doctor Gazebo
links for 2007-12-19
Monkeys perform arithmetic as well as college students I knew that. (tags: academia education biology math psychology news science) Merck Manual for Pet Health – Ferret Hit by an Arrow? Here’s a Book for You – New York Times The Merck/Merial Manual for Pet Health: Home Edition: Because hypochondriacs have pets, too. (tags: animals medicine… Continue reading links for 2007-12-19
Lazy Particle Physics Query
I could probably tease this information out of the Particle Data Group website, given enough time, but somebody with a background in particle physics can probably answer this in two seconds, so I appeal to the Internets: What is the shortest lifetime of a particle that has been directly detected? By “directly detected” I mean,… Continue reading Lazy Particle Physics Query
Kate and the Dragon
There’s a chance that, if I make a serious push this week, I can have a first pass through the book complete before Christmas. So, of course, I’m procrastinating madly. I understand it’s traditional to post pictures in these circumstances, so here’s one of my favorite shots from the Japan pictures: This is Kate getting… Continue reading Kate and the Dragon
The Year in First Sentences
2006 Was Just This Year, You Know: I lost a lot of weight, read a lot of books, taught a lot of classes, did a bit of research, and oh, yeah, I got tenure. Dorky Poll: Favorite Tool: In the comments to the post where I noted how many more people had least favorite textbooks… Continue reading The Year in First Sentences