Category: Links Dump

Swans on Tea » Going UP (Very Precisely) "Ignoring that we’re working in English units, which scientists don’t really do very much, the big thing that pops out to the budding, fully-bloomed, or dying scientist is the misuse of significant digits. Do we really believe the estimate of the house’s weight is exact? No, it’s… Continue reading links for 2009-06-05

kitchen table math, the sequel: alternate universe "While visiting schools in a variety of districts, I began to notice something that puzzled me. Some of these schools, particularly those with large numbers of poor and minority children, are working against daunting — some would say unreasonable — expectations for improvement in test scores. In more… Continue reading links for 2009-06-04

slacktivist: Killing in the name of "In 1973, most evangelicals regarded opposition to abortion as a Catholic Thing — and therefore vaguely suspect, as though it might lead to praying to Mary or something. But throughout the 1970s and into the ’80s, that changed. The person most responsible for that change was Francis Schaeffer. He… Continue reading links for 2009-06-03

Silence Is The Enemy | The Intersection | Discover Magazine Today begins a very important initiative called Silence Is The Enemy to help a generation of young women half a world away.Why? Because they are our sisters and children–the victims of sexual abuse who don’t have the means to ask for help. We have power… Continue reading links for 2009-06-02

The Boston Terrier Break Dance | The Intersection | Discover Magazine A photo essay. (tags: dog animals silly pictures) Vagabond Scholar: Anti-Terrorist Fantasy Dream Team on the Case ""I believe a fictional threat is best met with decisive fictional force," explained President Obama. "Jack Bauer and Wolverine are among the very best we have when… Continue reading links for 2009-06-01

Off the Kuff: Saturday video break: Literally! "Mullet with headlights?" (tags: music silly video youtube nostalgia) Career Advice: Preparing for the Non-Academic Interview – Inside Higher Ed "People assume the only reason to earn a Ph.D. is to become a professor to the exclusion of all other careers. They don’t realize there are at least… Continue reading links for 2009-05-31

Could an iphone tell if your parachute didn’t open with its accelerometer? | Dot Physics "The first and simplest answer would be “no”." (tags: physics education science technology gadgets dot-physics blogs) Robert J. Lang Origami Awesome origami art, and science as well. (tags: art math science) Don’t Be Such a Scientist Everybody with a blog… Continue reading links for 2009-05-30

The Washington Monthly "This is one of the things I love most about blogs: Barack Obama nominates Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court; I, a non-lawyer, wonder what her record is like, and find the summaries in newspapers much too shallow and focussed on the politics of her appointment rather than her record; but voila!… Continue reading links for 2009-05-29

Race and the Full Court Press at Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture A good piece on the creepy racial subtext of that Malcolm Gladwell article. (I can stop posting about that any time I want to. Really.) (tags: race culture sports basketball society) Confessions of a Community College Dean: Men "I… Continue reading links for 2009-05-28

Unscientific America: The Table of Contents | The Intersection | Discover Magazine 2009 promises to be a good year for science-y books by people with blogs. (tags: books science social-science society politics intersection culture) Tor.com / Science fiction and fantasy / Blog posts / Is the right book winning the Hugo? "The problem we usually… Continue reading links for 2009-05-27