I tagged Steinn’s post on publishing a comment a few days ago, because I thought it was pretty funny. In the interim, it’s been picked up by the usual suspects as more evidence of the need to completely discard the current publishing model in favor of something more blog-like. None of the subsequent discussion has… Continue reading Why Are You Publishing a Comment, Anyway?
Category: Physics
The Importance of Distraction
Kate recently signed up for Facebook, and I was talking to her earlier about some of the options for wasting tons of time entertaining yourself with Facebook, and mentioned the ever-popular trivia quizzes and “personality tests” and the like. Of course, I had to caution her that most of the quizzes are really lame, because… Continue reading The Importance of Distraction
Dorky Poll: Maxwell’s Equations
One of the blogs I hyped at the science blogging panel at Worldcon was Built on Facts, Matt Springer’s blog explaining introductory physics concepts. You might not think that you want to read a blog that goes through freshman physics problems in detail– I would’ve been dubious on the concept, had you explained it to… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Maxwell’s Equations
Change Estimation and the Wisdom of Crowds
The results of the estimation contest are in. There were 164 serious entries (I excluded the $12,000 and $1,000,000 “guesses” from the final data). The mean value guessed by commenters was $83.30, and the median was not far off, at $77.12. The standard deviation was high– $43.10– but as you would expect with a large… Continue reading Change Estimation and the Wisdom of Crowds
Estimation Contest: Guess the Total, Win a Book
This wooden box sits on top of my dresser, and every afternoon when I come home, I dump the change from my pockets into it. It’s getting close to full, as you can see: I’ve got a couple of extra galley proofs kicking around, so here’s a contest: Guess the total dollar value of the… Continue reading Estimation Contest: Guess the Total, Win a Book
Dorky Poll: Thermodynamics
I have a thousand things to do today, and blogging isn’t high on the list. So here’s a dorky poll to pass the time, because it’s been a while: What’s your favorite Law of Thermodynamics?(polls) We’re working in the classical limit, here, so you’re not allowed to choose a linear superposition of all four laws.… Continue reading Dorky Poll: Thermodynamics
Book Report: Blurb-tastic
A cosmologist, a science writer, three best-selling science fiction authors, a best-selling mystery novelist, and a Nobel laureate walk into a bar– Oh, wait, that’s not the opening to a joke. That’s the list of people who have provided blurbs for my book… Kind of an eclectic bunch, but I’m pretty psyched. I’m not quite… Continue reading Book Report: Blurb-tastic
Physics for Dragons
One of our poetry contest winners has been reading his proof copy of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, and posted some comments. Actually, it was posted last week, but I was at Worldcon, and not dealing with much of anything else. The comments are pretty positive, but he asks a couple of questions… Continue reading Physics for Dragons
Majors Are a Choice, Not an Obligation
ZapperZ links to an interview with David Saltzberg about careers for students with an undergraduate degree in physics. As is often the case, ZapperZ proclaims himself “disappointed” with things that I think are about right. In particular, he writes: [W]hen asked on why one should major in physics, is the best that can be answered… Continue reading Majors Are a Choice, Not an Obligation
Worldcon Talk: How to Effectively Talk About Science to Non-Scientists
My talk was Friday morning at 10am, on the title given above. This wasn’t my choice– when I volunteered to be on programming, I said some general areas that I’d be willing to talk about, and left it at that. Somebody else made up the title and description for the talk, which made it very… Continue reading Worldcon Talk: How to Effectively Talk About Science to Non-Scientists