Category: Links Dump

james_nicoll: In the spirit of Christopher Wren “How much would it cost to rebuild Port-au-Prince with the infrastructure a modern, first-world city should have? Large sections of it will have to be rebuilt so it might as well be done right.” (tags: economics politics world blogs james-nicoll) Hester Prynne, Schmester Prynne, or Sarah Palin’s Ressentiment… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-20

Cocktail Party Physics: a bevy of bloggers (#scio10) “I especially liked Carl’s (I think it was Carl) description of this emergent media enterprise as a delicately balanced ecosystem, each segment interdependent on the others for survival. Several weeks ago, Bora! posted one of his occasional rants relishing the collapse of traditional media, in which he… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-19

BOOK VIEW CAFE BLOG » It seemed like a good idea at the time: The Slushpile Smackdown “The traditional method of sifting slush is in-house – a job usually handed out to a junior because it’s time consuming and occasionally injurious to mental well being. Why? Because anyone with a word processor can submit a… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-18

News: Duncan Challenges NCAA to Change – Inside Higher Ed “Education Secretary Arne Duncan pulled no punches in a high-profile address here Thursday at the annual convention of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, proposing a series of policy changes that he said could rid college sports of the “tiny minority” of bad actors that “stains”… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-16

Pondering a Ponderous Pendulum : Built on Facts “Why the long discussion about the period of a pendulum yesterday? Because we’re actually going to take a look at a particular pendulum today. This one hangs in the central atrium of the George P. and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy, which constitutes… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-15

“There was a lot of smoke.” « Quantum Moxie That is how my son, who is in 3rd grade, described a class science experiment gone awry. The experiment involved electrical tape, a battery, lightbulb, and a piece of insulated wire with the insulation stripped off on the ends. Yes, amazingly simple, but it’s 3rd grade.… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-14

Official Google Blog: A new approach to China “These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-13

Technology Review: Blogs: arXiv blog: Neutrino Telescope Measures Temperature of the Ozone Layer “The IceCube neutrino observatory is a kilometre-scale array of photon detectors buried under the ice at the South Pole. When neutrinos pass through the ice, they occasionally bump into atoms creating particles called muons. These muons then generate light as they pass… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-12

Cut This Story! – The Atlantic (January/February 2010) An essay about how newspaper articles are too long. In keeping with the Iron Laws of the Internet, it could probably stand to be cut down a little. (tags: journalism writing media internet politics) Writing About Writers: An article by Bob Thompson | The American Scholar “I… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-11

Philip Guo – On Popularity “In sum, whether you are popular in middle and high school is largely out of your control, so it is unreasonable to aspire to become popular if you are not already popular. From my experience, the happiest teenagers are the ones who have accepted their status in the high school… Continue reading Links for 2010-01-10