Category: Links Dump

The winners of Slate’s "Define Baseball in 150 Words" contest. – By John Dickerson – Slate Magazine "Seven guys wait for these other two guys to play catch but this other guy is jealous because he wants to play and so he’s trying to stop them with a stick." should’ve won. (tags: silly sports slate)… Continue reading links for 2009-05-10

The Final Frontier: The Science of Star Trek: Scientific American "To get a sense of how much actual science has made its way into the science fiction universe of Star Trek, ScientificAmerican.com spoke to Lawrence Krauss, author of The Physics of Star Trek, the first edition of which appeared on bookshelves in 1995. […] We… Continue reading links for 2009-05-09

Evolution and the Second Law | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine "Without even addressing the question of how “life” should be defined, we can ask what sounds like a subsequent question: does life make thermodynamic sense? The answer, before you get too excited, is “yes.” But the opposite has been claimed – not by any… Continue reading links for 2009-05-08

‘Columbine,’ by Dave Cullen — New York Magazine Book Review Most of what you think you know about the Columbine school shooting is wrong. (tags: society books review history media) The Laptop in the Classroom « Easily Distracted "I am sure there are students in my classes who have multitasked during a lecture or discussion.… Continue reading links for 2009-05-07

Why Can’t You? « Easily Distracted "I had a fun conversation with a student this week who had a number of challenging questions about issues to pose to me. The question I’m still knocking around: if academic cultural critics understand expressive culture so expertly, why can’t they create it? Wouldn’t it be better to always… Continue reading links for 2009-05-06

International Act Like A T-Rex Day "Our trademark application for "Act Like A T-Rex Day" has been OPPOSED by a very large company. In other words, we got served… The company opposing the trademark is a restaurant called "T-Rex Cafe, Inc.". They have trademarked the word "T-REX". Any merchandise with the word "T-REX" anywhere on… Continue reading links for 2009-05-04

The Washington Monthly "It’s simple, really. If a private school wants to discriminate, fine. I don’t like it, but it’s a private religious entity. Don’t, however, discriminate and then ask the government to use tax dollars to subsidize the institution." (tags: education politics US religion) Destroying the planet… with science! « Skulls in the Stars… Continue reading links for 2009-05-03

slacktivist: TF: Bruce’s Big Plan "Bruce, like Tim LaHaye, has a way of running off the rails when he gets into the details of his prophecy scheme. One can, in fact, open the book of Revelation and find mentioned there seven "seals" of divine judgment. By mentioning that fact first, Bruce casts a kind of… Continue reading links for 2009-05-02

theweaselking: Never trust a marsupial. (tags: silly video animals) Do You Have Swine Flu? Because you need confirmation from the Internet. (tags: silly medicine internet) Jacks of Science » Blog Archive » Learning Science through Comic Books, A List "Reading textbooks gives me scary flashbacks of my days as an undergraduate (about 2 weeks ago).… Continue reading links for 2009-05-01

Confessions of a Community College Dean: The Boy, On Scientists "My hero is a scientist. Every day they mak EXITING discoveries. They also make AWESOME potions, space probes and cool new ships. They launch rockets and space ships. I like it when the Space Shuttle goes up. It always makes me think of the scientists… Continue reading links for 2009-04-30