Category: Links Dump

The Ostrom Nobel — Crooked Timber “To amplify what Kieran has just said – political scientists are going to be very, very happy today. I had seen Lin cited as a 50-1 outsider by one betting agency a few days ago, and had been surprised that she was at the races at all, given that… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-13

Britain’s Nobel winner condemns science funding reform | Science | guardian.co.uk “”There is a lot of focus now on trying to get very quick pay-offs in research. It is a huge mistake. Basic science has paid off far more than any directed research,” Ramakrishnan said. “If you don’t invest properly in fundamental science, then you… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-12

Physics – Protecting quantum superpositions from the outside world “Quantum information science relies on superpositions of quantum states with a definite phase relation, but such superpositions are inherently fragile against interactions with their environment. Fortunately, if some kind of common property bounds these interactions, it is possible, though by no means easy in a practical… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-11

Green Energy Should Trump Politics: Daniel Lyons | Newsweek Daniel Lyons | Techtonic Shifts | Newsweek.com “[L]ook at what [scientists] are up against: a noisy babble of morons and Luddites, the “Drill, baby, drill” crowd, the birthers, and tea-party kooks who have done their best to derail health-care reform and will do the same to… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-10

From Gourmet to the Daily Gazette « Easily Distracted “This is the real issue for a lot of old media. They used to be a habit, a tradition, a part of life. As such, you ignored what you didn’t use or like the same way you ignore a tear or a stain in a piece… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-09

Less-Convergent Culture « Easily Distracted “Here’s what I find as far as standard commercial outfits [for Halloween costumes]. If you’re female and a kid and you want to be a superhero, you’re basically out of luck unless Wonder Woman is your favorite. “ (tags: kid-stuff gender stupid comics blogs society culture easily-distracted) Nobel Physics Prize… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-08

Confessions of a Middlebrow Professor – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education “Beam makes light of Adler’s inflexibility, but he does not entirely embrace the by-now clichéd disdain for the Great Books, because they represent something admirable that, perhaps, should be revived in our culture: “The animating idea behind publishing the Great… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-07

Career Advice: I’m Sorry I Published – Inside Higher Ed “Given that it seems to be common wisdom that publications are helpful, two anecdotes I heard in the past week or so scare me a little bit. Both anecdotes are about departments that were searching or are planning a search. Both departments see their department… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-06

Posthumous Novels by Vladimir Nabokov, David Foster Wallace and Ralph Ellison – WSJ.com “A new wave of posthumous books by iconic authors is stirring debate over how publishers should handle fragmentary literary remains. Works by Vladimir Nabokov, William Styron, Graham Greene, Carl Jung and Kurt Vonnegut will hit bookstores this fall. Ralph Ellison and the… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-04

Effect Size (Again) « Easily Distracted “I agree that if a researcher can establish that a particular effect or phenomenon has a statistically significant influence or role in social behavior, it matters, that this is a finding worth reporting. The problem is, as McCloskey notes, that some findings matter more than other findings, and that… Continue reading Links for 2009-10-03