Backreaction: Universal Scaling at Deadlines “[Physicists] have analysed the distribution of registrations for two conferences…[and] they can describe this distribution by a simple model, assuming that the ‘pressure to register’ is inversely proportional to the time left before the deadline.” (tags: science silly physics meetings) Dinosaur Interactive – National Geographic Magazine An interactive guide to… Continue reading links for 2007-11-18
Author: Chad Orzel
“Year’s Best” Season Arrives: Amazon’s “Best Books of 2007”
An email from Amazon arrived yesterday announcing their Best Books of 2007 lists. This is an earlier-than usual opening of the “Year’s Best” season, in which every publication in the universe produces a list of the N best Whatever of the past year, but with the Christmas shopping season now starting before Halloween, I suppose… Continue reading “Year’s Best” Season Arrives: Amazon’s “Best Books of 2007”
Simple Answers to Needlessly Complicated Questions
Kevin Drum is thinking about debate formats: Now, there’s nothing wrong with a few beachballs. Giving every candidate a couple of minutes to simply explain their healthcare plan — or whatever — without interruption is fine. But then what? Do we really want several months of “debates” in which candidates do nothing but rattle off… Continue reading Simple Answers to Needlessly Complicated Questions
links for 2007-11-17
Court Rejects Fuel Standards on Trucks – New York Times The decision is not what I expected, given that headline, but hey, it’s the Ninth Circuit… (tags: environment news politics) YouTube – Not The Daily Show, With Some Writer “What do the writers of the Daily Show think of the ongoing writers’ strike? If only… Continue reading links for 2007-11-17
Blogpost for Bangladesh
As you’re probably aware, a cyclone hit Bangladesh yesterday, and has wreaked a good deal of havoc on what is already a fairly fragile country. Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum have been all over this, and are urging people to contribute to relief efforts in both text and video. So, well, consider this an extra… Continue reading Blogpost for Bangladesh
What’s the Worst Reason for Being an Atheist?
Turnabout, after all, is fair play.
The Pipeline Problem
Inside Higher Ed has an article on yet another study of why there aren’t more conservatives in academia: Colleges have been increasingly competing to offer “family friendly” policies — in the hopes of attracting the best academic talent from a pool of Ph.D.’s that includes both more women than ever before as well as many… Continue reading The Pipeline Problem
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Kate and I went to see Bruce Springsteen last night in Albany. The show was listed as starting at 7:30, but it was 8:25 before the band took the stage. At about 9:30, they were playing “Devil’s Arcade,” one of the slower and more political songs off the new record, which gave me time to… Continue reading Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
links for 2007-11-16
Environment plays key role in children’s readiness for school “Genetic factors played a significant role in the children’s core abilities underlying the four components of school readiness, but the environment shared by twins of the same family remained the most important factor overall.” (tags: education science news) White children more positive toward blacks after learning… Continue reading links for 2007-11-16
Dark Matter in Sixty Seconds
Via email, a plug for the newish site 60 Second Science, which is a project from Scientific American built around a podcast featuring one-minute explanations of, well, science. The email was specifically highlighting their new project, a set of video podcasts going by the name of Instant Egghead. The first video (also the only one… Continue reading Dark Matter in Sixty Seconds