The Limits of Rohirrim Vision

Over at Tor.com, Kate has a Lord of the Rings re-read post about the Battle of the Pelennor Fields, which includes a shout-out to me that I missed because I was driving to NYC: Éomer is “scarely a mile” away when the standard unfurls and is clearly seen to bear the White Tree, Seven Stars,… Continue reading The Limits of Rohirrim Vision

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update

We missed the formal presentaion at the World Science Festival stargazing event last night, and it was cloudy enough to prevent actual stargazing, but the giant mock-up of the James Webb Space Telescope is giant and cool even in the dark. More importantly, Neil deGrasse Tyson is awesome. We got there around 9:30, and he… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Festive Update

Required Reading in Science

Over at Inside Higher Ed they have a news report on complaints about the content of required reading for students entering college. This comes from the National Association of Scholars, a group dedicated to complaining that multiculturalism is corrupting our precious bodily fluids pushing aside the shared heritage of Western civilization, so most of it… Continue reading Required Reading in Science

The Periodic Table Is Not a Crossword Puzzle

A number of SF-related sites have been talking about the “Periodic Table of Women in SF” put together by Sandra McDonald, presumably passed around at Wiscon. James Nicoll has a list of the authors, and SFSignal has a link to the table, which I will reproduce here to save you the annoyance of opening a… Continue reading The Periodic Table Is Not a Crossword Puzzle

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Upcoming Events

Two noteworthy events related to How to Teach Physics to Your Dog in the next month: First, and most important, I’m going to be signing books at the Author’s Alley portion of the World Science Festival Street Fair. The fair itself is in Washington Square Park in Manhattan, though the name of the signing program… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Upcoming Events

What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics (2.0)

This is the presentation I gave to the International Baccalaureate class from Schenectady High School today. I tend to re-use talk titles a lot, but this is substantially different than the last talk with this title, as the previous group had read How to Teach Physics to Your Dog first. For this group, I spent… Continue reading What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics (2.0)

Crikey, I’ve Been Anglicised!

I spent yesterday going over proposed copy edits to Anglicise How to Teach Physics to Your Dog for the forthcoming UK edition, which adds “Quantum” to the title, and will have all new cover art, etc. This means that clergy in the book are now permitted to marry, all book property belonging to the Catholic… Continue reading Crikey, I’ve Been Anglicised!

Evil Squirrels from Extra Dimensions

It’s been a very long day, so I’m lying on the couch watching “Pardon the Interruption” on ESPN. They’re having a boring conversation about baseball, and I’m just drifting off into a pleasant doze when: “Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake! Fear! Fire! Foes! Awake!“ I jolt awake. “What are you barking at?!?” I yell at the… Continue reading Evil Squirrels from Extra Dimensions

How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update

A few upcoming events related to How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: The big one is that I’ll be aprt of the “Author’s Alley” portion of the World Science Festival Street Fair in New York City on Sunday, June 6th. The last couple of these have coincided with out-of-town trips for me, so I’m… Continue reading How to Teach Physics to Your Dog: Obsessive Update