Chad Orzel – Page 601 – Uncertain Principles Archive

I Told You ‘Bout the Swans, That They Live in the Park

The guys over at the World’s Fair have created an Order of Science Scouts, for those who find themselves longing for merit badges to display on their blogs. Such as, for example, this one: The “has frozen stuff just to see what happens” badge (LEVEL III) In which the recipient has frozen something in liquid… Continue reading I Told You ‘Bout the Swans, That They Live in the Park

Takayama or Kanazawa?

So, as mentioned previously, Kate and I are planning to go to Japan for the World SF Convention, and spend a couple of weeks doing touristy stuff. We’re down for about a week in Kyoto, and a week in the Yokohama/Tokyo area (where the con is). Then, there are 3-4 days at the end of… Continue reading Takayama or Kanazawa?

Science Journalism Awards

Via EurekAlert, the American Association for the Advnacement of Science has announced the 2006 winners of their science journalism awards. Most of the written pieces are available online, so if you’re looking for science-y things to read, this could be a good source of material. None of the winners are bloggers, and there’s no blogging… Continue reading Science Journalism Awards

Three for Three (SU-SJU, UMD-Duke, IM)

Light blogging today, because yesterday was a Hoops Day here in Chateau Steelypips. A goog hoops day, too, with victories in all three games that mattered: Syracuse edged St. John’s, Maryland beat the hated Dukies, and the intramural team I’m playing on won a tough game last night to more or less lock up first… Continue reading Three for Three (SU-SJU, UMD-Duke, IM)

Cognitive Dissonance

There’s an interesting story in the New York Times this morning about a young earth creationist studying paleontology [Marcus Ross’s] subject was the abundance and spread of mosasaurs, marine reptiles that, as he wrote, vanished at the end of the Cretaceous era about 65 million years ago. The work is “impeccable,” said David E. Fastovsky,… Continue reading Cognitive Dissonance

Chart Attack!

Here’s something a little lighter than the last couple of entries, seeing as it’s a weekend and all: Pop-music blogger Jason Hare has a regular Friday feature called “Chart Attack!” in which he posts the Top Ten songs from a past week ending on the same date, and goes through the songs. This week’s entry,… Continue reading Chart Attack!

Evolution Sunday

Kate passes along a link to a New Scientist article noting this today has been proclaimed Evolution Sunday 2007 by the Clergy Letter Project: On 11 February 2007 hundreds of congregations from all portions of the country and a host of denominations will come together to discuss the compatibility of religion and science. For far… Continue reading Evolution Sunday

Virtual Journalism

I don’t have a lot to add to this link, I just wanted to quote Ethan Zuckerman on virtual journalism, from a post about being interviewed for Pitchfork magazine: The most interesting aspect of the discussion to me was the idea that Chris brought to the table – that we might pay more attention to… Continue reading Virtual Journalism

Elitism and Blaming the Victim

I’ve long been of the opinion that if sanity is ever restored to the relationship between politics and religion in America, it will owe a lot to people like Fred Clark. He writes passionately and persuasively about the many problems caused by the “Religious Right” from a Christian perspective, in religious language. His Left Behind… Continue reading Elitism and Blaming the Victim

Basic Concepts: Fast Break

The term “fast break” refers to those situations in the game of basketball in which the offense is attempting to push the ball up the court and score quickly, rather than running a play from their normal offensive set. This usually involves a temporary numerical advantage for the offensive team, as the defenders hurry to… Continue reading Basic Concepts: Fast Break